High Kindergarten Performance Group
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2005 / Selected work

Spade Cooley’s Nightmare

Open Circle Theater, Seattle, 2005

Performers in gray shirts wearing photographic face masks, with another performer behind them.

Cooley’s life inspired in HKPG a litany of performance actions exploring celebrity, Hollywood, the Wild West, violence, Hell, and redemption.

The performance structure was based on a church service, alternating straightforward readings and music in the first part and culminating with a transcendent Eucharistic ritual.

“The premise seems promising—an experimental show inspired by country star Spade Cooley’s brutal murder of his wife—but the concept never gels. There’s too little dark humor, too much affectless speaking in unison, and a whole mess of dull, pretentious nonsense. I did, however, enjoy the sprightly rendition of the Oklahoma state song.”

— Annie Wagner

Performers tossing playing cards around a table.Close view of a performer with tousled blond hair.A shirtless performer wearing necklaces raises one arm.An upside-down close view of a performer wearing glasses and red lipstick.An ensemble of performers, including a pair facing one another with hands at their necks.A figure under a brown blanket beside scattered playing cards.Close view of two performers, one wearing red lipstick and one wearing necklaces.