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THRILLING THRILLINGSTORIES STORIESFROM FROM THE THEWILDERNESS: WILDERNESS: DANCE DANCEOFOFTHE THEBANDITS BANDITS AASEASON SEASONTOTOREMEMBER REMEMBER AAGIRLS GIRLSNIGHT NIGHTOUT OUT#2#2 NATURE NATUREISISCALLING CALLING THE THEPREAMBLE PREAMBLETOTOTHE THE WILDERNESS WILDERNESS&& CEREMONY CEREMONYOFOFCLOTHES CLOTHES

DD ININN ER ERDD ATAETEATAT CHEZ CHEZWOODSTOCK WOODSTOCK OFOF ANDAND OTHER OTHER FAIRY FAIRY TALES TALES

AMERICAN AMERICAN MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING

SETH SHAPIRO’S AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

A DINNER DATE AT CHEZ WOODSTOCK WINTER 2002

THE COLLECTIONS PRESENTED IN THIS BOOKLET CAN BE VIEWED AT

http://www.sethshapiro.com

SETH SHAPIRO’S

INQUIRIES CAN BE MADE AT AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

thegathering@sethshapiro.com

by Liz Bougotsos

PLAYBILL

Introduction to the WILDERNESS Chapter 1: The Dance Of The Bandits

A DINNER DATE AT CHEZ WOODSTOCK

ADMIT 2

Notes for a New Company

Chapter 2: A Season To Remember (Autumn 1999) RE: A QUALITY DEFINED AND INTRODUCTION TO A PLAY: When ex-factory workers around the world inspire a mass exodus from work and a world crisis (a shortage of clothes) ensues...

Chapter 3 A Girls Night Out #2 (Spring 2000) A young boy enters the deep woods and stumbles upon a band of women who transform themselves into wolves. He in turn is transformed into a fairy prince :>{)!

Chapter 4 Nature Is Calling (Fall 2000) An irresistible force...in praise of the wilderness and wildness....romantic caravanning, homesteading, and the grassroots movement. Re-enactment of the 'Lost' Colony.

Chapter 5 The Preamble To The Wilderness (Spring 2001) A young boy eager to possess a beautiful wild stallion near the River Rhone ultimately wins his confidence, tames him, and rides off with him into the sea...

Chapter 6 The Ceremony Of Clothes, Universe & Stars: A Gathering at the Cimarron (Fall 2001)

OK

When word gets out of a gathering on the Cimarron, a mythical force ignites a mass exodus from the city.

THE GREEN-GHETTO: WHEN NATURE RECLAIMS ITS The Final Chapter PLACE...WHERE ONCE THERE WERE ONLY BUILDINGS MAD What’s in a Name?

OF STONE NOW THERE ARE BIRDS AND TREES SINGING

THE WILDERNESS

SETH SHAPIRO’S AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

Background : Cris Moor. Clips: Caroline Torem-Craig, Dan Lecca

?

The Wilderness is everywhere. It lays in-between the cracks of the city and grows like weed in the night; it manifests itself in lovers where passion invents the language under which the state will buckle and fall; and it’s investments buried deep within music, impossible to suppress or keep behind bars. For these are the beginnings, as in every new beginning, when n a t u r e r e v e a l s i t s e l f a n d i n d u l g e s i n s p o n t a n e o u s a c t i v i t y. . .

Children turn over the paradigm and become teachers, factory workers transform themselves into their own image of beauty and abandon work, women return to a primordial state to rid the world of wickedness, Europeans & Native Americans unite to defend the wilderness from subjugation, and a love affair between a boy and his horse is the rootstock for a new society ‘as beautiful and free as the stars that shine above the Arizona Desert.’ These stories are decisively AMERICAN M A N U FA C T U R I N G . “ A D I N N E R D AT E AT C H E Z W O O D S T O C K ” i s t h e f o l l o w - u p to the classic liberation from sadness manifesto, “A FashionEvent for Fashion Week” (Pub. 1994). It is a collection of stories that comes to life when two people meet for what will now be known as a fictional date, in a fictional restaurant, set in a mystical place somewhere beyond boredom and fascination.

Whether these events are imagined or real they form the basis for the collections and shows presented by AM from 1999-2001 of which this book serves as a memento.

NIGHT OF STARS ON THE RIVER CIMARRON

C-H-A-P-T-E-R 1 THE DANCE OF THE BANDITS Notes For A New Company IN

A LAND JUST BEYOND THE IMAGINATION WHERE NO ONE HAD DARED TO G O T H E R E L I V E D A S T R A N G E R W H O S E N A M E W A S 'S H A D O W '.

MANY FORBIDDING STORIES WERE TOLD ABOUT SHADOW AND LIKE THE BOOGIE MAN HE WAS SAID TO BE A CREATURE WITH ABOMINABLE FEATURES; A VICTIMLESS LONER, UNCONTROLLABLE, FREE AND, WILD. HOWEVER, CHILDREN HAD THEIR OWN STORIES TO TELL AND WERE OFTEN VERY CURIOUS ABOUT SHADOW. AT NIGHT WHILE EVERYONE WAS SLEEPING THEY WOULD SNEAK OUT OF THEIR PARENTS’ HOMES IN AN EFFORT TO FIND HIM. THE ‘TASK’ WAS DIFFICULT. ONE THAT BEGAN BY SWIMMING ACROSS THE RIVER SET UP WITH BARRICADES AND PERUSING IN UNKNOWN TERRITORY.

Ave

BRING BACK RETURNABLES

FROM THESE DARING JOURNEYS RARELY DID ANY ONE RETURN AND IT WAS OFTEN SAID THAT ‘MISSING CHILDREN’ WERE KIDNAPPED BY

SHADOW. A

VERY SERIOUS EPI-

DEMIC CALLED THE ‘L O N E L Y P A R E N T S ’ S Y N DROME LITERALLY SWEPT THROUGH THE CITY: WHEN PARENTS WERE SEPARATED FROM THEIR CHILDREN THEY WOULD TURN INTO A FRENZY AND BRAVE THE LIMITS OF THE HORIZON TO RECLAIM THEIR YOUNG.

THE

FIRST BOUNTY OF CONCERNED PARENTS WAS AWESTRUCK BY THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE THE LAND THAT WAS BELIEVED TO BE WHERE SHADOW LIVED. DESIRING TO CLAIM IT FOR THEMSELVES THEY SET UP PERMANENT CAMPS. GREED BROUGHT MANY MORE AND SOON IT BECAME SO CROWDED THAT EVERYONE LOST THEIR MINDS. NO ONE COULD MAKE ANY SENSE OF THE SITUAION OR WHY THEY HAD COME AND SO A WAR BROKE OUT AMONGST THEM TO REFLECT THE SURROUNDING CRAZINESS. BUT THIS WAS NO ORDINARY WAR - ONE THAT WAS FOUGHT WITH TRADITIONAL ARMS - THIS WAR WAS FOUGHT WITH SYMBOLS WHICH WERE THOUGHT TO UNIFY THE PEOPLE AND WIN BACK SELF-AWARENESS.

SETH SHAPIRO’S

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

A NIGHT OF STARS ON THE RIVER CIMARRON

(THE FINAL CHAPTER:-))

WHAT’S IN A NAME? S O M A N Y S Y M B O L S W E R E D E P L O Y E D T H AT T H E I R ' U S E ' B E C A M E I N E F F E C T U A L A N D T H E WA R S O O N E N D E D I N VA I N .

NO ONE BECAME THE VICTOR AND

T H E E M P T I N E S S D I D N O T C E A S E B U T WA S I N S T E A D REINFORCED.

T H I S G AV E W AY F O R A N E W K I N D O F

PROBLEM TO EMERGE... THE LAND THEY THOUGHT O N C E B E A U T I F U L W A S N O W C O M P L E T E LY O V E R RUN

BY

SYMBOLS.

FOR

T H AT

WA S

ALL

T H AT

R E M A I N E D , I T S N AT U R A L B E A U T Y H A D L O N G S I N C E G O N E A W AY. IN

THE

TRANSIENT

TOWN

OF

THE

‘ L O N E LY

BORN FROM A DESIRE TO CREATE A REGIONALIST AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE, THE NAME AMERICAN MANUFACTURING* IS SYNONYMOUS WITH NATIVE AMERICANS, THE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT (DECENTRAL IZATION, ENVIRONMENT, ETC.), THE HUDSON VALLEY, AND COSMIC AMERICAN MUSIC AND TAKES A MUCH NEEDED AND DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO TURN AWAY FROM LARGE CENTRALIZED AREAS THAT ARE VULNERABLE TO THE PERSUASION OF CONSENSUS AND TO INTELLECTUAL ATROPHY AND SEEKS TO "ELECTRIFY" THE FRONTIER IN SEARCH OF NEW, EXCITING, DRAMATIC, AND UNIQUELY AMERICAN IMAGES...

C R O W D S , ’ A L L T H AT C O U L D B E D O N E W A S T H E E V E R Y D AY

R E N E WA L A N D

REMAKING

S P O I L S O F T H E WA R O F S Y M B O L S .

FROM

THE

SINCE NO ONE

W A S R E A L LY S U R E A S T O H O W T H E Y C A M E T O B E , A G R E AT

DISPUTE

RAGED AMONGST

THEM.

THE

TA S K T O D E C I P H E R T H E S I G N S E N G A G E D A L M O S T EVERYONE BUT BECAUSE NO ONE COULD AGREE O N I T ’ S M E A N I N G , B E C A U S E I T WA S I M P O S S I B L E T O U N D E R S TA N D A N D , B E C A U S E M E A N I N G C O M E S AND

GOES

AND

M U LT I P L I E S

(PUTTING

THEM

T O G E T H E R A N D S L I C I N G T H E M A PA R T, C R E AT E D MORE MEANING.)

L I F E W A S H E LT E R S K E LT E R .

ANTHROPOLOGICAL

SINCE THERE ARE NO ACTUAL FRONTIERS LEFT, EACH SEASON, WE ARE BROUGHT THROUGH A METAPHYSICAL JOURNEY WHERE THE EARTH, TREES AND, ANIMALS ARE USED AS WORDS IN DESCRIBING A LANGUAGE THAT IS MORE REPRESENTATIONAL RATHER THAN ACTUAL WHERE THE "WILDERNESS" IS IN OUR HEARTS RATHER THAN A PHYSICAL PLACE WE HAVE NOT YET VISITED. A "SIGNATURE" THAT WE CAN RELATE TO BUT DO NOT YET HAVE WORDS FOR AND A "QUALITY" THAT IS OBJECTIVE AND PRECISE BUT CANNOT BE NAMED FOREVER MORE.

STRATEGIES

CH*APT*ER 6 FAR-REACHING

THE CEREMONY OF CLOTHES, UNIVERSE & STARS: A GATHERING AT THE CIMARRON (FALL 2001) WHEN

VERY

IN THE

WEST AND

RACES THROUGH

ARIZONA- A

MYTHICAL FORCE INCITES A MASS EXODUS FROM THE CITY. IN PURSUIT OF THEIR LIBERATION (I.E. WILD EX-FACTORY WORKERS TURNED LOOSE), WHILE REMEMBERING THEIR LESSONS IN ART, MUSIC, AND FASHION “COMMUNICATIONS” AND REALIZING THAT THEY HAD BEEN BROUGHT DOWN BY POVERTY AND ENSLAVED BY THE CITIES, THEY ENVISIONED A STYLE THEY HAD NEVER DARED TO BEFOREHAND.

WHAT DID THEY HAVE TO

LOSE EXCEPT THE ABILITY TO GAIN BACK THEIR PERSONAL FREEDOM AND LIBERATION?

TO MOVIE

ILLUSTRATE THIS POINT MORE EFFECTIVELY, THEY RECITE A SCENE FROM THE

GONE

WITH THE

WIND-

WHEN

SCARLET O’HARA,

REALIZING SHE HAS NOTHING

TO WEAR BECAUSE HER LIFE HAD BEEN TRAGICALLY RUINED BY WAR, PULLS DOWN THE VELVET CURTAINS, (HER ONLY REMNANTS OF A CIVILIZED LIFE), AND IN A MOMENT OF REBELLIOUS INSPIRATION MAKES A DRESS IN DEFIANCE OF HER SITUATION.

FOR

WAS GOING TO MEET THE LOVE OF HER LIFE AND SHE WAS NOT GOING IN RAGS.

EXPENSIVE AND LUXURIOUS FABRICS STITCHED TO CAREFULLY

PICKED HOMESPUN FABRICS TO CREATE A QUILTING EFFECT OF DIVERSE

WORD GETS OUT OF A GATHERING DOWN ON THE SOUTHERN MOST END OF THE

CIMARRON- A RIVER THAT FLOWS

IDEALS MEET CAREFUL AND OBTAINABLE RESOURCES.

SHE

THE

CONQUEST OF A PERSONAL AND LIBERATED STYLE, NO MATTER HOW CRAZY, WAS FOR

In the future Broadway turns into a canal, theSYMBOL development of Cleveland .

HER THE ULTIMATE STATUS Square is won in a lottery that is open to children, Central Park turns into a trailer park, and there will be more public bathrooms and dancing in the streets...

AND SURPRISING COMBINATIONS. EVENING.

EVENING

CUTS

ARE PRIMARILY FOR THE

LENGTH FLOUNCE TULIP-LINED DRESSES, MULTI-

TIERED LAYERING, JUMPERS, AND SHAPELESS WAISTS.

LARGE

HATS

WITH BLOOMING SATIN BOWS OR TURKEY FEATHERS THAT REMIND US OF THE FRONTIER AND A HINT OF VOR AND SURPRISE.

SPAIN

TO ADD A BIT OF FESTIVE FLA-

COLORS: RICH

REDS AND BROWN EARTH

TONES, VARIABLE COLUMNAR BLOCKING, HUGE GINGHAM PLAID WITH A BURST OF FLORAL PRINTS LIKE IN THE DESERT, TWEED WITH RICH SILK VELVET BLOCKING, VERY RICH AND LUXURIOUS FABRICS STITCHED TO VERY CHEAP ONES CREATING NEW AND UNEXPECTED COMBINATIONS OF COLORS.

HAIR & MAKEUP IDEAS: A

YOUNG LADY ENTERS HER MOTH-

ER’S BOUDOIR AND SITS IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR.

SHE

ATTEMPTS

TO EMULATE THE ELEGANCE AND GRACE BUT THEN IS INSTEAD HUMOROUSLY DISAPPOINTED.

DISASSOCIATING, INDEPENDENT, SELF-VALIDATING, WILD &, FREE. FAR-REACHING, ESSENTIAL, IMMEDIATE &, IDEAL. THESE ARE THE STORIES THAT SUPRISE EVERY AM DRESS!

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING*

T HEN

F R O M T H E M O U N TA I N S C A M E A G R O U P O F

M A S K E D B A N D I T S T O S A V E T H E D AY.

T H AT I S ,

THEY LOOKED LIKE BANDITS AND THEY SOUNDED L I K E B A N D I T S B U T A L L T H E Y D I D WA S D A N C E .

THEY WOULD CALL THE PRESS HOUSES AND IN THE ‘CROWDE D R O O M S ’ O N LY P E R F O R M E D T H E I R D A N C E .

AT F I R S T, P E O -

P L E W E R E R E A L LY B E W I L D E R E D B Y T H E D A N C I N G .

DANCING

PERSISTED.

E V E RY T H I N G

POSSIBLE

THIS WA S

G E N E R AT E D

DONE

TO

BUT THE

A N N O YA N C E .

DISCREDIT

THEM...

F R U I T S A N D V E G E TA B L E s W E R E T H R O W N , B A D W O R D S U S E D , ETC.

BUT THE MORE THEY WERE CURSED THE MORE THEY

F E L T A N E E D T O W A L T Z , TA P, J A Z Z , S A L S A , TA N G O , F O X T R O T, R U M B A , C H A C H A C H A …

THE DANCING OCCURRED WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THERE

EVISOLPXE

EXPLOSIVE

WA S A N A U D I E N C E A N D W H E N T H E Y W E R E N O T D A N C I N G T H E Y MADE

COSTUMES

TO

ENHANCE

THEIR

DANCING

(THUS,

STRENGTHENING THEIR BELIEF AND FORMING A LANGUAGE THEY COULD USE).

SOON, THE DANCING OCCUPIED ALL THE

P E O P L E S ’ M I N D S A N D I T WA S D I F F I C U LT TO T H I N K A B O U T ANYTHING ELSE.

S O M E D E C I D E D TO J O I N T H E M A N D F O U N D

T H E Y W E R E H AV I N G A L O T O F F U N A N D T H E Y F O R G O T H O W L O N E LY T H E Y W E R E .

EVEN MORE.

MORE PEOPLE JOINED THEM AND THEN

SHADOW APPEARED AMONG THEM BUT BEFORE

A N Y O N E C O U L D R AT H I M O U T A L L T H E P E O P L E O F T H E V I L LAGE HAD ALREADY BEGUN REJOICING IN DANCE AND SONG. WHEN EVENING FELL, THE MASKS WERE REMOVED AND THE BANDITS

REVEALED

T H E M S E LV E S

TO

THEIR

G R E AT G A S P O F J O Y W A S P R O N O U N C E D .

PA R E N T S .

A

THE CHILDREN HAD

R E T U R N E D TO T E A C H T H E I R PA R E N T S H O W TO L I V E .

THE

PA R E N T S , C H I L D R E N , A N D S H A D O W L I V E D TO G E T H E R H A P P I LY E V E R A F T E R .

When the great stallion could travel again, Folco tried to slip quietly onto his back. But White Mane was a wild horse and could not bear to be mounted. So he kicked, bucked, threw Folco, tore the halter and ran away, again leaving the one being whom he really believed to be a true friend.

He may have longed to rejoin the wild horses, but the horse herder and his henchmen very quickly spied him and took out after him in pursuit. The herders counted on getting him back from the small cavalier.

Now they felt certain of capturing the horse and the child who was directing its course straight toward the Rhone, the river with the impassable current.

White Mane preferred throwing himself into the river to being taken captive by the men whom he despised.

The current was carrying White Mane and the child: and the herder, filled with remorse, cried, “Come back, little fellow! I’ll give you your horse! He’s yours! Come back! Only come back!”

C-H-A-P-T-E-R 2 A SEASON TO REMEMBER (FALL 1999) It all began with an idea for a play... .

When an elegant lady entered 'Rainbow Fashion' to pick up the clothes she had ordered, A receiving factory woman is awestruck, unable to look at such a perfect and elegant lady. But when this awe turns to loathing she races to the bathroom and pukes. When the other factory women notice this, they all follow her in what might be called “a puking orgy.” .

What happens next is the sudden realization of collectivization. In an uprooting moment, the women piss off their boss and vow never to make clothes for other people again and to make clothes 'for them-selves.' (If beauty is magical power, then you should only give the secrets of this power to people you like). .

Now there is a worrisome transition they have to make. That is, they have to make the difficult transition from making other people beautiful to making themselves beautiful. What kind of beauty is pos“Serenity” by Rita Ackerman sible in the overworked and rundown minds of the ex-factory slaves-turned loose, starving and free?

In Cinderella, there is a grand delusion on the part of the heroin. She imagines that pumpkins turn into a carriage, but pumpkins do not really turn into carriages. She believes that rats turn into male servants, but rats never turn into footmen. And then she imagines the glass slipper. What is a glass But the little fisher boy paid no heed to the herder or his slipper? It is invisible. But we are convinced that these things are real. That is because while she is making the desired so are we.

Through play,him. the ladiesWith make theWhite transformation.

And he men whotransformation already had lied so to Mane through play, they nurture and learn new values and participate in the making of a new language, which isdisappeared the clothes they are into maKing.the waves before the eyes of the men. . And White Mane, who They swam for a long, long time.

THE IDEA

Play is similar to 'quality' in that it is the formal aspect of any design consideration.

In that sense it is a structure, it teaches us, it forms patterns in our minds. It's the ultimate transmitter of ideas. If there is no play there is no design. What we see now is anti-play, which is design that tries to influence behavior and although we agree on particular designs, since there is no integral relationship, people meet without touching and overcrowding results in isolation, contempt, and impersonality. So through play we are looking for a deep and integral relationship. Choice of fabric or a line cannot define it. It is also not the transference of the human spirit, as in artistic clothing. It is defined by the relationships between people. .

Background Sketch By Sadie Laska

was endowed with great strength, carried Folco to a beautiful isle where children and horses are always friends.

For the wild women to play successfully, they needed to find a place where they can be free to 'play' without hindrance or obtrusion. They needed a place outside of 'the law.' A place freed from the yoke of (delineated) time.

This leads them to the underground. That is where they learn to play. As time passes, the unusual nature of their relationship/experience creates remarkable clothes that get them noticed. Children all around the world romanticize and idolize the factory workers like they were rock stars. Surprisingly, their activities bring upon a 'world crises' (a 'world shortage' of clothes), as factory workers around the world join in a mass exodus from work.

Since there are no more beautiful clothes except the ones worn by the women who make them, the elegant ladies are now in rags. Bribes are offered, higher wages for a return to work...to no avail. The shameless elegant rag ladies try to form their own wild underground....to no avail. So they call the cops. Stating that these activities are "a threat to our way of life" and “to our very existence.” “Make them “go back to work." Since the elegant ladies virtually own the police they agree. When news of an impending raid spreads underground, an action is organized, a city-wide party to burn the liberated wild women’s clothes. For one thing, if they were separated from the clothes, the clothes would no longer have meaning. And another, if the elegant ladies got their hands on the clothes you may as well just “Fisherboy”

by Rita Ackermann murder them. But, before the bonfires begin, a so-called designer sneaks by to steal the clothes. This is the story of how he American Manufacturing.

In started the south of France where the Rhone tumbles

into the sea, there is a desert-like bit of land called the “Camargue,” inhabited by herds of wild horses.

Folco, who was a friend of all animals, and himself a little unspoiled savage, lived not far away in a little white hut in the swamps.

On a particular day, as on every morning, while his grandfather mended the nets and his younger brothers played in the sun, he set out in his little boat to fish.

CHApTER 3

A

DASH

SOFT

OF

AND

LEAVES

PATCHOULLI , INNOCENT

AND

AS

WINTER

Folco, moving soundlessly among the white blossoms BERRIES; ROSEMARY, SAGE, that covered the waterways, suddenly came upon OKRA, MORE TENDER THAN White Mane. Never had he seen a horse so beautiful WILD OAK AND MUSHROOMS; or so wild. He approached him quietly, scarcely , CINNAMON breathing, just as he did TRUFFLES when he was going to snare STICKS , CLOVES , SANDAL a big fish.

WOOD, AND JELLYBEANS AS

Then quickly he tossedFRAGRANT a rope around theSUMMER stallion’s ’S AS THE WhiteWOLVES Mane, infuriated, bounded at a DESSERTaway SPOONS HEAT; TWO HOW neck, THEY and BECAME gallop, dragging the poor little fisher boy after him.

OF WILD OATS, 1 CUP PENNY-

BONE BY BONE, HAIR BY HAIR, WORT HERB , 600 ML OF Finally White Mane and he saw the little WILDNESS COMES BACK.stopped VODKA, A SMALL HANDFUL OF covered with mud, looking at him in the THROUGHsavage, NIGHT DREAMS, , THREE friendliest fashion.

And CRUSHED when FolcoLEAVES had picked himTHROUGH EVENTS HALF UNDER. C RUSHED SAW PAL TBSP up and approached STOOD self AND HALF REMEM- him, White Mane permittedMETTO AND ELDER himself toCOMES be caressed forBERRIES the first time.

BERED, WILDNESS , SPO FLOWERS BACK. SHE COMES IfBACK White Mane loved the THROUGH K little E Nfisher boy, he loved galloping STORY.off with the other horses even more.L And I K E

when he heard their whinnying he could not CAVES resist the summons. He reared up before the astonished A N D children, tore his halter and broke through the barriWINTER cade Folco had taken the *precaution NATURAL to set up.

* D E T S MA BERRIES .

C AF GIC R EN C White Mane was wounded.

Blood trickled down H *. . his C DE T I foreleg.

He licked it but the blood continued to flow.

NT *W S B G E N I Then he thought of his little friend, the fisher boy.

And when Folco and his little brother, both of whom believed White Mane had left them, saw him returning, they cried for joy, so happy they were to have him back. And they gave him such loving care that White recovered Synopsis: a young man enters the forest Mane and discovers a band of womenquickly. who transforms themselves into wolves. If such an occasion were to arise, if primordial restoration returns in such a deliberate & intentional way, one must ask, what are the possibilities of one's own transformation?

ACT I - FANTASY OF THE CIRCLE Wolf/Woman #1 Bianca from NEW YORK MODEL Bianca is wearing a DEAD LEAF cotton canvas single-breast jacket with multi-placement self-covered button-appliques with matching silk hobotai lining (J01) over a SWAMP silk crepe-de-chine l/sleeve front yoke dress (D01). She is accessorized with a raw hide waistband with tree bead trimmings and bandanna with semi- precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #2 Eunis from NEW YORK MODEL Eunis is wearing an EVERGREEN 4-ply silk overlay dress that is buttoned at the waist side front with self-gathered shoulder emphasis and drawstring sleeves (D03) over a SULFUR silk hobotai tailored bodysuit (B03).

She is accessorized with a tree bead trimmings and a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #3 Kirstin Pieters from NEW YORK MODEL Kirsti is wearing an AUTUMN MAPLE silk chiffon double-face robe dress with shawl collar, drop sleeves and, metal waist fastener (D02) over a VERDIGRIS silk charmeuse tailored bodysuit (BO1). She is accessorized with tree bead trimmings and a MANUFACTURING bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

SETH SHAPIRO’S

AMERICAN

WOLF/WOMAN #4 Leah Wagner from WOMAN MANAGEMENT Leah is wearing a MELON colored silk crepe-de-chine drape waist dress accentuated with kitty-cornered ribbon beads and puff sleeves (D05) over a ROSE PETAL silk charmeuse chinoise bodysuit (B05).

Wolf/Woman #5 Janelle from FORD Janelle is wearing a POLLEN silk crepe-de-chine halter dress with drip waist lowered yoke hang and self-buttoned closure at side hip (D06) and accessorized FOUNDED 1999 with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #6 Nicola Vassel from NEXT

ULTIMATE POTLATCH

Nicola is wearing a DENIM FEATHER silk chiffon plaited drop neck-to-waist dress (D04) over a BIRCH BARK mock leno cotton tailored bodysuit with petal sleeves (B04). She is accessorized with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

www.sethshapiro.com

ACT II - LET GO

C*H*A*P*T*E*R 3 Wolf/Woman #7 Micki Olin from FORD

Micki is wearing a TOOTH BLOOD silk crepe-de-chine caftan with boat neck and bowler sleeves (D09) and a hat made from straw and human hair. Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

THE PREAMBLE TO THE WILDERNESS Wolf/Woman #8 Verginie from T MANAGEMENT

Verginie is wearing a FLESH COLORED silk double georgette tank dress pull over with front plaiting at c.f. drop point and elasticized back waist detailed with ribbon string (D06) over a BIRCH BARK naturally grown cotton chamwith petal sleeves (B10) and ROSEWOOD double silk charmeuse (SPRINGbray 2001) trousers (P01). She is accessorized with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #9 Marianne Schroder from New York Models Rakel is wearing a DANDELINE cotton tailored bodysuit (J04) beneath a CRYSTAL GEYSER silk crepe-de-chine cowl waist skirt (S03). she is accessorized made with a bandanna with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #10 Kimberly from FORD

Kimberly is wearing an ALGAE cotton canvas self enclosed sheathing with self covered c.f. applique with matching silk hobotai lining (J02 ) and matching skirt with cowl waist (S04). She is accessorized with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #11 Jessica Joffe from NEXT Jessica is wearing a CELESTIAL silk crepe-de-chine princess dress with double sleeve emphasis and self-gathered waist with matching silk hobotai lining (D07). Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #12 Catherine from NEW YORK MODEL Marianne is wearing a CANTELOPE cotton canvas tailored bodysuit (J03) beneath a PICKLE PINK silk crepe-de-chine suspended skirt with double up side vents (S02) her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #13 Rakel from IMG Catherine is wearing a BUTTERNUT NUT SQUASH silk crepe-dechine dress made with triple inverted pleats, applied waist hanky and, x9 self covered buttoned cuffs (D08). Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

ACT ZERO Wolf/Woman #14 Tasmin from IMG

ED!!!

Tasmin is wearing a DEAD FLESH block linen suiting w/double up fold trousers with full size legs and large cuffs (JO5, P02). She has on additionally, a silk covered raw hide waistband.

WOLF/WOMAN #15 Vanessa Novotny from MARILYN Vanessa is wearing FLIGHT OF THE IMAGINATION block linen flounce bodysuit with quadruple size tree beading banded around her waist. Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

AN !! !!M

TR

AN S FO R MED !! !

Kae is wearing a STONE BLOCK linen bodice with legof-mutton sleeves and flounce skirt made from DEAD FLESH silk chiffon.

SF OR M

WOLF/WOMAN #15 Kae from NEXT

!!!MA

N RA T N

ACT IV THE PAGEANTRY WOLF/WOMAN #17 Rie from ELITE Rie is wearing a BASALT ONE raw silk monk robe over an UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist made from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

WOLF/WOMAN #18 Josli from ELITE

ED!!!

Josli is wearing a BASALT TWO raw silk monk robe over an UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist made from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

SF OR M

WOLF/WOMAN #19 Malvina from IMG Malvina is wearing a BASALT THREE raw silk monk robe over an UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist made from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

WOLF/WOMAN #20 Lisa Davies from FORD Lisa is wearing a NATURAL cotton canvas peasantry robe over a black wool fully enclosed modesty jacket and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

WOLF/WOMAN #21 Ana Marie from FORD Ana Marie is wearing a BASALTFor FOUR raw silk one-sleeve monk robe over an a tambourine with your face painted on itmade email your UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice.

A band is worn on her waist from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil. request to: thegathering@sethshapiro.com (This service provided by the artist Sharon Lea Anderson)

THE FINALE

!!!MA

N RA T N

THE WOLF/WOMAN #22 Eunis from NEW YORK MODEL For the finale, Eunis is wearing a CLOVER silk chiffon multi-layer, multi-tier flounce chemise with a denim skirt with double up side vents and a bandanna quilt. Holding her hand is the man transformed: the fairy-prince, Seth Shapiro, is wearing a CLOVER silk chiffon cape and bandannas on the wrist and neck and MOSS colored velveteen pantalets elasticized below the knee.

FOUNDED 1999

C|H|A|P|T|E|R C|H|A|P|T|E|R4 4

ER EN E- A EN CT AC M TMEN T EN O T FT O H F E TH L E OS LO T ST CO C LO O N LO Y N Y

NATURE NATURE ISIS CALLING CALLING (Fall (Fall 2001) 2001)

In 1585, In 1585, the the firstfirst attempts attempts at European at European settlement settlement of America of America began began under unde Queen Queen Elizabeth Elizabeth I. Led I. Led

by Sir

by Walter Sir Walter Raleigh, Raleigh, a group a group of artists, of artists, musicians, musicians and and philosophers philosophers landed landed on Roanoke on Roanoke Island Island in order in order to prepare to prepare the wilderthe wilder nessness for colonization. for colonization.

TheThe firstfirst successful successful colony colony followed followed under under the leaderthe leader shipship of John of John White, White, whowho returned returned to England to England for supplies for supplies soonsoon afterafter its estabits estab lishment. lishment.

WarWar withwith Spain Spain interfered, interfered, and and White White waswas unable unable to return to return untilunti 1590.1590.

When When he returned, he returned, the colonists the colonists had had disappeared. disappeared.

TheThe onlyonly clues clues of the of the colony's colony's fate fate werewere the the letters letters "CRO" "CRO" carved carved intointo a tree a tree and and the the word word "CROATOAN" "CROATOAN" found found on aonpost. a post TheThe ultimate ultimate fate fate of the of Lost the Lost Colony Colony remains remains a mystery. a mystery.

R

OneOne theory theory suggests suggests theythey tooktook refuge refuge withwith friendly friendly Native Native Americans Americans on on nearby nearby Croatoan Croatoan Island Island and and eventually eventually incorporated incorporated intointo the the tribetribe and and disappeared. disappeared.

ThisThis theory theory gained gained credence credence in the in the latter latter partpart of the of the 19th19th Century, Century, when when a large a large group group of Native of Native Americans American withwith European European features features claimed claimed theythey werewere descendants descendant of the of the vanished vanished colonists colonists and and the the Croatoan Croatoan people. people However, However, these these claims claims of ancestry of ancestry cannot cannot be substantiated. be substantiated

Others Others believe believe thatthat by the by union the union of the of two the two racesraces came came about about the the origins origins of piracy, of piracy, when when pirates pirates soldsold themselves themselves to the to the crown crown to to fightfight piracy, piracy, a newer a newer group group known known as buccaneer, as buccaneer, emerged emerged to defend to defend America's America's home-front home-front fromfrom European European Settlement Settlement and and influence… influence…

OUR OUR PLAYLIST: PLAYLIST:

BURIED BURIED DEEP DEEP WITHIN WITHIN THE THE AMERICAN AMERICAN PSYCHE...

PSYCHE...

1. THE 1. THE KINKS KINKS - ANIMAL - ANIMAL FARM FARM 2. BIG 2. BIG STAR STAR - JESUS - JESUS CHRIST CHRIST 3. MC5 3. MC5 - RAMBLIN' - RAMBLIN' ROSE ROSE 4. MAHALIA 4. MAHALIA JACKSON JACKSON - COME - COME ON CHILDREN, ON CHILDREN, LET'S LET'S SINGSING 5. BIG 5. BIG STAR STAR - BLUE - BLUE MOON MOON 6. BEATLES 6. BEATLES - HELTER - HELTER SKELTER SKELTER 7. BLUE 7. BLUE CHEER CHEER - BABYLON - BABYLON 8. BLACK 8. BLACK SABBATH SABBATH - SWEET - SWEET LEAF LEAF 9. SUPREME 9. SUPREME DICKS DICKS - BLUE - BLUE ELEPHANT ELEPHANT 10. CLINIC 10. CLINIC - MONKEY - MONKEY ON YOUR ON YOUR BACK BACK 11. ROYAL 11. ROYAL TRUX TRUX - LAWMAN - LAWMAN 12. CAT 12. CAT POWER POWER - AMERICAN - AMERICAN FLAG FLAG 13. JONI 13. JONI MITCHELL MITCHELL - BIG- BIG YELLOW YELLOW TAXITAXI FOUNDED FOUNDED 19991999 14. BOB 14. BOB DYLAN DYLAN - SHE - SHE BELONGS BELONGS TO ME TO ME

ACT ZERO Wolf/Woman #14 Tasmin from IMG

ED!!!

Tasmin is wearing a DEAD FLESH block linen suiting w/double up fold trousers with full size legs and large cuffs (JO5, P02). She has on additionally, a silk covered raw hide waistband.

WOLF/WOMAN #15 Vanessa Novotny from MARILYN Vanessa is wearing FLIGHT OF THE IMAGINATION block linen flounce bodysuit with quadruple size tree beading banded around her waist. Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

AN M ! !!!

TR

AN S FO R MED !! !

Kae is wearing a STONE BLOCK linen bodice with legof-mutton sleeves and flounce skirt made from DEAD FLESH silk chiffon.

SF OR M

WOLF/WOMAN #15 Kae from NEXT

!!!MA

N RA T N

ACT IV THE PAGEANTRY

WOLF/WOMAN #17 Rie from ELITE

Rie is wearing a BASALT ONE raw silk monk robe over an UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist made from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

WOLF/WOMAN #18 Josli from ELITE

ED!!!

Josli is wearing a BASALT TWO raw silk monk robe over an UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist made from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

SF OR M

WOLF/WOMAN #19 Malvina from IMG

Malvina is wearing a BASALT THREE raw silk monk robe over an UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist made from raw hide and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

WOLF/WOMAN #20 Lisa Davies from FORD

Lisa is wearing a NATURAL cotton canvas peasantry robe over a black wool fully enclosed modesty jacket and she is accessorized with beaded jewelry made by Mended Veil.

WOLF/WOMAN #21 Ana Marie from FORD

Ana Marie is wearing a BASALT FOUR raw silk one-sleeve monk robe over an For a tambourine with your face painted it email UNREFINED silk/linen/cotton surplice. A band is worn on her waist madeon from rawyour hide and she is accessorized with beadedrequest jewelry made by Mended Veil. to: thegathering@sethshapiro.com (This service provided by the artist Sharon Lea Anderson)

THE FINALE

!!!MA

N RA T N

THE WOLF/WOMAN #22 Eunis from NEW YORK MODEL For the finale, Eunis is wearing a CLOVER silk chiffon multi-layer, multi-tier flounce chemise with a denim skirt with double up side vents and a bandanna quilt. Holding her hand is the man transformed: the fairy-prince, Seth Shapiro, is wearing a CLOVER silk chiffon cape and bandannas on the wrist and neck and MOSS colored velveteen pantalets elasticized below the knee.

FOUNDED 1999

ACT I - FANTASY OF THE CIRCLE Wolf/Woman #1 Bianca from NEW YORK MODEL Bianca is wearing a DEAD LEAF cotton canvas single-breast jacket with multi-placement self-covered button-appliques with matching silk hobotai lining (J01) over a SWAMP silk crepe-de-chine l/sleeve front yoke dress (D01). She is accessorized with a raw hide waistband with tree bead trimmings and bandanna with semi- precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #2 Eunis from NEW YORK MODEL Eunis is wearing an EVERGREEN 4-ply silk overlay dress that is buttoned at the waist side front with self-gathered shoulder emphasis and drawstring sleeves (D03) over a SULFUR silk hobotai tailored bodysuit (B03).

She is accessorized with a tree bead trimmings and a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #3 Kirstin Pieters from NEW YORK MODEL Kirsti is wearing an AUTUMN MAPLE silk chiffon double-face robe dress with shawl collar, drop sleeves and, metal waist fastener (D02) over a VERDIGRIS silk charmeuse tailored bodysuit (BO1). She is accessorized with tree bead trimmings and a AMERICAN MANUFACTURING bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

SETH SHAPIRO’S

OLF/WOMAN #4 Leah Wagner from WOMAN MANAGEMENT

eah is wearing a MELON colored silk crepe-de-chine drape waist dress centuated with kitty-cornered ribbon beads and puff sleeves (D05) over a OSE PETAL silk charmeuse chinoise bodysuit (B05).

olf/Woman #5 Janelle from FORD

nelle is wearing a POLLEN silk crepe-de-chine halter dress with drip waist lowed yoke hang and self-buttoned closure at side hip (D06) and accessorized FOUNDED 1999 th a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

olf/Woman #6 Nicola Vassel from NEXT

ULTIMATE POTLATCH

cola is wearing a DENIM FEATHER silk chiffon plaited drop neck-to-waist dress (D04) over a RCH BARK mock leno cotton tailored bodysuit with petal sleeves (B04). She is accessorized th a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

www.sethshapiro.com

ACT II - LET GO

C*H*A*P*T*E*R 3

Wolf/Woman #7 Micki Olin from FORD

Micki is wearing a TOOTH BLOOD silk crepe-de-chine caftan with boat neck and bowler sleeves (D09) and a hat made from straw and human hair. Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

THE PREAMBLE TO THE WILDERNESS

Wolf/Woman #8 Verginie from T MANAGEMENT

(SPRING

Verginie is wearing a FLESH COLORED silk double georgette tank dress pull over with front plaiting at c.f. drop point and elasticized back waist detailed with ribbon string (D06) over a BIRCH BARK naturally grown cotton cham2001)bray with petal sleeves (B10) and ROSEWOOD double silk charmeuse trousers (P01). She is accessorized with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #9 Marianne Schroder from New York Models Rakel is wearing a DANDELINE cotton tailored bodysuit (J04) beneath a CRYSTAL GEYSER silk crepe-de-chine cowl waist skirt (S03). she is accessorized made with a bandanna with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #10 Kimberly from FORD

Kimberly is wearing an ALGAE cotton canvas self enclosed sheathing with self covered c.f. applique with matching silk hobotai lining (J02 ) and matching skirt with cowl waist (S04). She is accessorized with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #11 Jessica Joffe from NEXT Jessica is wearing a CELESTIAL silk crepe-de-chine princess dress with double sleeve emphasis and self-gathered waist with matching silk hobotai lining (D07). Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #12 Catherine from NEW YORK MODEL Marianne is wearing a CANTELOPE cotton canvas tailored bodysuit (J03) beneath a PICKLE PINK silk crepe-de-chine suspended skirt with double up side vents (S02) her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

Wolf/Woman #13 Rakel from IMG Catherine is wearing a BUTTERNUT NUT SQUASH silk crepe-dechine dress made with triple inverted pleats, applied waist hanky and, x9 self covered buttoned cuffs (D08). Her look is completed with a bandanna made with semi-precious stones.

For the wild women to play successfully, they needed to find a place where they can be free to 'play' without hindrance or obtrusion. They needed a place outside of 'the law.' A place freed from the yoke of (delineated) time.

This leads them to the underground. That is where they learn to play. As time passes, the unusual nature of their relationship/experience creates remarkable clothes that get them noticed. Children all around the world romanticize and idolize the factory workers like they were rock stars. Surprisingly, their activities bring upon a 'world crises' (a 'world shortage' of clothes), as factory workers around the world join in a mass exodus from work.

Since there are no more beautiful clothes except the ones worn by the women who make them, the elegant ladies are now in rags. Bribes are offered, higher wages for a return to work...to no avail. The shameless elegant rag ladies try to form their own wild underground....to no avail. So they call the cops. Stating that these activities are "a threat to our way of life" and “to our very existence.” “Make them “go back to work." Since the elegant ladies virtually own the police they agree. When news of an impending raid spreads underground, an action is organized, a city-wide party to burn the liberated wild women’s clothes. For one thing, if they were separated from the clothes, the clothes would no longer have meaning. And another, if the elegant ladies got their hands on the clothes you may as well just “Fisherboy” by Ackermann murder them. But, before the bonfires begin, a Rita so-called designer sneaks by to steal the clothes. This is the story of how he started American In the south ofManufacturing.

France where the Rhone tumbles

into the sea, there is a desert-like bit of land called the “Camargue,” inhabited by herds of wild horses.

Folco, who was a friend of all animals, and himself a little unspoiled savage, lived not far away in a little white hut in the swamps.

On a particular day, as on every morning, while his grandfather mended the nets and his younger brothers played in the sun, he set out in his little boat to fish.

CHApTER 3

A

DASH

SOFT

OF

AND

LEAVES

PATCHOULL INNOCENT

AND

A

WINTE

Folco, moving soundlessly among the white blossoms BERRIES; ROSEMARY, SAGE that covered the waterways, OKRA suddenly came upon , MORE TENDER THA White Mane. Never had he seen a horse so beautiful WILD OAK AND MUSHROOMS or so wild. He approached him quietly, scarcely , CINNAMO breathing, just as he did whenTRUFFLES he was going to snare a big fish.STICKS, CLOVES, SANDAL

WOOD, AND JELLYBEANS A

Then quickly he tossed a rope around the FRAGRANT AS stallion’s THE SUMMER’ neck, White Mane, infuriated, bounded away atSPOON a ; TWO DESSERT HEAT HOW and THEY BECAME WOLVES gallop, dragging the poor littleOFfisher boy after him.

WILD OATS, 1 CUP PENNY

BONE BY BONE, HAIR BY HAIR, WORT HERB , 600 ML O Finally White Mane stopped and he saw the little WILDNESS COMES BACK. VODKA A SMALL HANDFUL O savage, covered mud, looking, at him in the THROUGH NIGHT with DREAMS, THRE CRUSHED LEAVES , friendliest fashion.

And when Folco had picked himTHROUGH EVENTS HALF UNDERCRUSHED SAW PAL TBSP . Mane self up and him, White permitted STOOD ANDapproached HALF REMEMMETTO BERRIES himself to be caressed the first time. AND ELDE BERED, WILDNESS COMES for , SPOFLOWERS BACK. SHE COMES If WhiteBACK Mane loved the little fisher boy, he loved THROUGH K E N galloping STORY. off with the other horses even more. And L I K

when he heard their whinnying he could not resist CAVE the summons. He reared up before the astonished A N children, tore his halter and broke through the barri* WINTE D cade Folco had taken the precaution set RA E * NATUto L up.

T S MA BERRIES C AF GC R E C WhiteNMane was wounded.H Blood trickled down Ihis *. .

C T I foreleg.DEHe licked it but the blood continued to flow.

W NT BEINGS *

Then he thought of his little friend, the fisher boy.

And when Folco and his little brother, both of whom believed White Mane had left them, saw him returning, they cried for joy, so happy they were to have him back. And they gave him such loving care that White Mane quickly.

Synopsis: a young man enters the forest recovered and discovers a band of women who transforms themselves into wolves. If such an occasion were to arise, if primordial restoration returns in such a deliberate & intentional way, one must ask, what are the possibilities of one's own transformation?

When the great stallion could travel again, Folco tried to slip quietly onto his back. But White Mane was a wild horse and could not bear to be mounted. So he kicked, bucked, threw Folco, tore the halter and ran away, again leaving the one being whom he really believed to be a true friend.

He may have longed to rejoin the wild horses, but the horse herder and his henchmen very quickly spied him and took out after him in pursuit. The herders counted on getting him back from the small cavalier.

Now they felt certain of capturing the horse and the child who was directing its course straight toward the Rhone, the river with the impassable current.

White Mane preferred throwing himself into the river to being taken captive by the men whom he despised.

The current was carrying White Mane and the child: and the herder, filled with remorse, cried, “Come back, little fellow! I’ll give you your horse! He’s yours! Come back! Only come back!”

C-H-A-P-T-E-R 2 A SEASON TO REMEMBER (FALL 1999) It all began with an idea for a play... .

When an elegant lady entered 'Rainbow Fashion' to pick up the clothes she had ordered, A receiving factory woman is awestruck, unable to look at such a perfect and elegant lady. But when this awe turns to loathing she races to the bathroom and pukes. When the other factory women notice this, they all follow her in what might be called “a puking orgy.” .

What happens next is the sudden realization of collectivization. In an uprooting moment, the women piss off their boss and vow never to make clothes for other people again and to make clothes 'for them-selves.' (If beauty is magical power, then you should only give the secrets of this power to people you like). .

Now there is a worrisome transition they have to make. That is, they have to make the difficult transition from making other people beautiful to making themselves beautiful. What kind of beauty is pos“Serenity” by Rita Ackerman sible in the overworked and rundown minds of the ex-factory slaves-turned loose, starving and free?

In Cinderella, there is a grand delusion on the part of the heroin. She imagines that pumpkins turn into a carriage, but pumpkins do not really turn into carriages. She believes that rats turn into male servants, but rats never turn into footmen. And then she imagines the glass slipper. What is a glass Butslipper? the little fisher boy paid no heed to the herder or his It is invisible. But we are convinced that these things are real. That is because while she is desired transformation so are the ladies make theMane transformation. menmaking whothealready had lied sowe.toThrough him.play,With White he And through play, they nurture and learn new values and participate in the making of a new language, disappeared the waves before the eyes of the men. which is the clothesinto they are maKing.

They swam for a long, long time. And. White Mane, who

THE IDEA

Play is similar to 'quality' in that it is the formal aspect of any design consideration.

In that sense it is a structure, it teaches us, it forms patterns in our minds. It's the ultimate transmitter of ideas. If there is no play there is no design. What we see now is anti-play, which is design that tries to influence behavior and although we agree on particular designs, since there is no integral relationship, people meet without touching and overcrowding results in isolation, contempt, and impersonality. So through play we are looking for a deep and integral relationship. Choice of fabric or a line cannot define it. It is also not the transference of the human spirit, as in artistic clothing. It is defined by the relationships between people. .

Background Sketch By Sadie Laska

was endowed with great strength, carried Folco to a beautiful isle where children and horses are always friends.

T HEN

F R O M T H E M O U N TA I N S C A M E A G R O U P O F

M A S K E D B A N D I T S T O S A V E T H E D AY.

T H AT I S

THEY LOOKED LIKE BANDITS AND THEY SOUNDED L I K E B A N D I T S B U T A L L T H E Y D I D WA S D A N C E THEY WOULD CALL THE PRESS HOUSES AND IN THE ‘CROWD E D R O O M S ’ O N LY P E R F O R M E D T H E I R D A N C E .

AT F I R S T, P E O

P L E W E R E R E A L LY B E W I L D E R E D B Y T H E D A N C I N G .

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING*

DANCING

PERSISTED.

E V E RY T H I N G

POSSIBLE

THIS WA S

G E N E R AT E D

DONE

TO

BUT THE

A N N O YA N C E

DISCREDIT

THEM..

F R U I T S A N D V E G E TA B L E s W E R E T H R O W N , B A D W O R D S U S E D ETC.

BUT THE MORE THEY WERE CURSED THE MORE THEY

F E L T A N E E D T O W A L T Z , TA P, J A Z Z , S A L S A , TA N G O , F O X T R O T, R U M B A , C H A C H A C H A …

THE DANCING OCCURRED WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THERE

EVISOLPXE

EXPLOSIVE

WA S A N A U D I E N C E A N D W H E N T H E Y W E R E N O T D A N C I N G T H E Y MADE

COSTUMES

TO

ENHANCE

THEIR

DANCING

(THUS

STRENGTHENING THEIR BELIEF AND FORMING A LANGUAGE THEY COULD USE).

SOON, THE DANCING OCCUPIED ALL THE

P E O P L E S ’ M I N D S A N D I T WA S D I F F I C U LT TO T H I N K A B O U T ANYTHING ELSE.

S O M E D E C I D E D TO J O I N T H E M A N D F O U N D

T H E Y W E R E H AV I N G A L O T O F F U N A N D T H E Y F O R G O T H O W L O N E LY T H E Y W E R E .

EVEN MORE.

MORE PEOPLE JOINED THEM AND THEN

SHADOW APPEARED AMONG THEM BUT BEFORE

A N Y O N E C O U L D R AT H I M O U T A L L T H E P E O P L E O F T H E V I L

LAGE HAD ALREADY BEGUN REJOICING IN DANCE AND SONG.

WHEN EVENING FELL, THE MASKS WERE REMOVED AND THE BANDITS

REVEALED

T H E M S E LV E S

TO

THEIR

G R E AT G A S P O F J O Y W A S P R O N O U N C E D .

PA R E N T S .

A

THE CHILDREN HAD

R E T U R N E D TO T E A C H T H E I R PA R E N T S H O W TO L I V E .

THE

PA R E N T S , C H I L D R E N , A N D S H A D O W L I V E D TO G E T H E R H A P P I LY E V E R A F T E R .

STRATEGIES

CH*APT*ER 6 FAR-REACHING

THE CEREMONY OF CLOTHES, UNIVERSE & STARS: A GATHERING AT THE CIMARRON (FALL 2001) WHEN

VERY

IN THE

WEST AND

RACES THROUGH

ARIZONA- A

MYTHICAL FORCE INCITES A MASS EXODUS FROM THE CITY. IN PURSUIT OF THEIR LIBERATION (I.E. WILD EX-FACTORY WORKERS TURNED LOOSE), WHILE REMEMBERING THEIR LESSONS IN ART, MUSIC, AND FASHION “COMMUNICATIONS” AND REALIZING THAT THEY HAD BEEN BROUGHT DOWN BY POVERTY AND ENSLAVED BY THE CITIES, THEY ENVISIONED A STYLE THEY HAD NEVER DARED TO BEFOREHAND.

WHAT DID THEY HAVE TO

LOSE EXCEPT THE ABILITY TO GAIN BACK THEIR PERSONAL FREEDOM AND LIBERATION?

TO MOVIE

ILLUSTRATE THIS POINT MORE EFFECTIVELY, THEY RECITE A SCENE FROM THE

GONE

WITH THE

WIND-

WHEN

SCARLET O’HARA,

REALIZING SHE HAS NOTHING

TO WEAR BECAUSE HER LIFE HAD BEEN TRAGICALLY RUINED BY WAR, PULLS DOWN THE VELVET CURTAINS, (HER ONLY REMNANTS OF A CIVILIZED LIFE), AND IN A MOMENT OF REBELLIOUS INSPIRATION MAKES A DRESS IN DEFIANCE OF HER SITUATION.

FOR

WAS GOING TO MEET THE LOVE OF HER LIFE AND SHE WAS NOT GOING IN RAGS.

SHE

THE

CONQUEST OF A PERSONAL AND LIBERATED STYLE, NO MATTER HOW CRAZY, WAS FOR

In the future Broadway turns into a canal, the STATUS development of. Cleveland HER THE ULTIMATE SYMBOL Square is won in a lottery that is open to children, Central Park turns into a trailer park, and there will be more public bathrooms and dancing in the streets...

EXPENSIVE AND LUXURIOUS FABRICS STITCHED TO CAREFULLY

PICKED HOMESPUN FABRICS TO CREATE A QUILTING EFFECT OF DIVERSE

WORD GETS OUT OF A GATHERING DOWN ON THE SOUTHERN MOST END OF THE

CIMARRON- A RIVER THAT FLOWS

IDEALS MEET CAREFUL AND OBTAINABLE RESOURCES.

AND SURPRISING COMBINATIONS. EVENING.

EVENING

CUTS

ARE PRIMARILY FOR THE

LENGTH FLOUNCE TULIP-LINED DRESSES, MULTI-

TIERED LAYERING, JUMPERS, AND SHAPELESS WAISTS.

LARGE

HATS

WITH BLOOMING SATIN BOWS OR TURKEY FEATHERS THAT REMIND US OF THE FRONTIER AND A HINT OF VOR AND SURPRISE.

SPAIN

TO ADD A BIT OF FESTIVE FLA-

COLORS: RICH

REDS AND BROWN EARTH

TONES, VARIABLE COLUMNAR BLOCKING, HUGE GINGHAM PLAID WITH A BURST OF FLORAL PRINTS LIKE IN THE DESERT, TWEED WITH RICH SILK VELVET BLOCKING, VERY RICH AND LUXURIOUS FABRICS STITCHED TO VERY CHEAP ONES CREATING NEW AND UNEXPECTED COMBINATIONS OF COLORS.

HAIR & MAKEUP IDEAS: A

YOUNG LADY ENTERS HER MOTH-

ER’S BOUDOIR AND SITS IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR.

SHE

ATTEMPTS

TO EMULATE THE ELEGANCE AND GRACE BUT THEN IS INSTEAD HUMOROUSLY DISAPPOINTED.

DISASSOCIATING, INDEPENDENT, SELF-VALIDATING, WILD &, FREE. FAR-REACHING, ESSENTIAL, IMMEDIATE &, IDEAL. THESE ARE THE STORIES THAT SUPRISE EVERY AM DRESS!

A NIGHT OF STARS ON THE RIVER CIMARRON

(THE FINAL CHAPTER:-))

WHAT’S IN A NAME? O M A N Y S Y M B O L S W E R E D E P L O Y E D T H AT T H E I R

U S E ' B E C A M E I N E F F E C T U A L A N D T H E WA R S O O N N D E D I N VA I N .

NO ONE BECAME THE VICTOR AND

H E E M P T I N E S S D I D N O T C E A S E B U T WA S I N S T E A D

REINFORCED.

T H I S G AV E W AY F O R A N E W K I N D O F

ROBLEM TO EMERGE... THE LAND THEY THOUGHT

O N C E B E A U T I F U L W A S N O W C O M P L E T E LY O V E R -

RUN

BY

SYMBOLS.

FOR

T H AT

WA S

ALL

T H AT

R E M A I N E D , I T S N AT U R A L B E A U T Y H A D L O N G S I N C E

G O N E A W AY.

N

THE

TRANSIENT

TOWN

OF

THE

‘ L O N E LY

BORN FROM A DESIRE TO CREATE A REGIONALIST AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE, THE NAME AMERICAN MANUFACTURING* IS SYNONYMOUS WITH NATIVE AMERICANS, THE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT (DECENTRALIZATION, ENVIRONMENT, ETC.), THE HUDSON VALLEY, AND COSMIC AMERICAN MUSIC AND TAKES A MUCH NEEDED AND DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO TURN AWAY FROM LARGE CENTRALIZED AREAS THAT ARE VULNERABLE TO THE PERSUASION OF CONSENSUS AND TO INTELLECTUAL ATROPHY AND SEEKS TO "ELECTRIFY" THE FRONTIER IN SEARCH OF NEW, EXCITING, DRAMATIC, AND UNIQUELY AMERICAN IMAGES...

C R O W D S , ’ A L L T H AT C O U L D B E D O N E W A S T H E V E R Y D AY

R E N E WA L A N D

REMAKING

P O I L S O F T H E WA R O F S Y M B O L S .

FROM

THE

SINCE NO ONE

W A S R E A L LY S U R E A S T O H O W T H E Y C A M E T O B E ,

A G R E AT

DISPUTE

RAGED AMONGST

THEM.

THE

ASK TO DECIPHER THE SIGNS ENGAGED ALMOST VERYONE BUT BECAUSE NO ONE COULD AGREE

O N I T ’ S M E A N I N G , B E C A U S E I T WA S I M P O S S I B L E O U N D E R S TA N D A N D , B E C A U S E M E A N I N G C O M E S

AND

GOES

AND

M U LT I P L I E S

(PUTTING

THEM

O G E T H E R A N D S L I C I N G T H E M A PA R T, C R E AT E D

MORE MEANING.)

L I F E W A S H E LT E R S K E LT E R .

ANTHROPOLOGICAL

SINCE THERE ARE NO ACTUAL FRONTIERS LEFT, EACH SEASON, WE ARE BROUGHT THROUGH A METAPHYSICAL JOURNEY WHERE THE EARTH, TREES AND, ANIMALS ARE USED AS WORDS IN DESCRIBING A LANGUAGE THAT IS MORE REPRESENTATIONAL RATHER THAN ACTUAL. WHERE THE "WILDERNESS" IS IN OUR HEARTS RATHER THAN A PHYSICAL PLACE WE HAVE NOT YET VISITED. A "SIGNATURE" THAT WE CAN RELATE TO BUT DO NOT YET HAVE WORDS FOR AND A "QUALITY" THAT IS OBJECTIVE AND PRECISE BUT CANNOT BE NAMED FOREVER MORE.

A NIGHT OF STARS ON THE RIVER CIMARRON

C-H-A-P-T-E-R 1 THE DANCE OF THE BANDITS Notes For A New Company IN

A LAND JUST BEYOND THE IMAGINATION WHERE NO ONE HAD DARED TO G O T H E R E L I V E D A S T R A N G E R W H O S E N A M E W A S 'S H A D O W '.

MANY FORBIDDING STORIES WERE TOLD ABOUT SHADOW AND LIKE THE BOO GIE MAN HE WAS SAID TO BE A CREATURE WITH ABOMINABLE FEATURES; A VICTIMLESS LONER, UNCONTROLLABLE, FREE AND, WILD.

HOWEVER, CHILDREN HAD THEIR OWN STORIES TO TELL AND WERE OFTEN VERY CURIOUS ABOUT SHADOW. AT NIGHT WHILE EVERYONE WAS SLEEPING THEY WOULD SNEAK OUT OF THEIR PARENTS’ HOMES IN AN EFFORT TO FIND HIM. THE ‘TASK’ WAS DIFFICULT. ONE THAT BEGAN BY SWIMMING ACROSS THE RIVER SET UP WITH BARRICADES AND PERUSING IN UNKNOWN TERRITORY.

Ave

BRING BACK RETURNABLES

FROM THESE DARING JOURNEYS RARELY DID AN ONE RETURN AND IT WAS OFTEN SAID THAT ‘MISSING CHILDREN’ WERE KIDNAPPED BY

SHADOW. A

VERY SERIOUS EPI-

DEMIC CALLED THE ‘L O N E L Y P A R E N T S ’ S Y N DROME LITERALLY SWEPT THROUGH THE CITY: WHEN PARENTS WERE SEPARATED FROM THEIR CHILDREN THEY WOULD TURN INTO A FRENZY AND BRAVE THE LIMITS OF THE HORIZON TO RECLAIM THEIR YOUNG.

THE

FIRST BOUNTY OF CONCERNED PARENTS WAS AWESTRUCK BY THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE THE LAND THAT WAS BELIEVED TO BE WHERE SHADOW LIVED. DESIRING TO CLAIM IT FOR THEMSELVES THEY SET UP PERMANENT CAMPS. GREED BROUGHT MANY MORE AND SOON IT BECAME SO CROWDED THAT EVERYONE LOST THEIR MINDS. NO ONE COULD MAKE ANY SENSE OF THE SITUAION OR WHY THEY HAD COME AND SO A WAR BROKE OUT AMONGST THEM TO REFLECT THE SURROUNDING CRAZINESS. BUT THIS WAS NO ORDINARY WAR - ONE THAT WAS FOUGHT WITH TRADITIONAL ARMS - THIS WAR WAS FOUGHT WITH SYMBOLS WHICH WERE THOUGHT TO UNIFY THE PEOPLE AND WIN BACK SELF-AWARENESS.

SETH SHAPIRO’S

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

THE WILDERNESS

SETH SHAPIRO’S AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

Background : Cris Moor. Clips: Caroline Torem-Craig, Dan Lecca

?

The Wilderness is everywhere. It lays in-between the cracks of the city and grows like weed in the night; it manifests itself in lovers where passion invents the language under which the state will buck le and fall; and it’s investments buried deep within music, impossible to suppress or keep behind bars. Fo these are the beginnings, as in every new beginning, when n a t u r e r e v e a l s i t s e l f a n d i n d u l g e s i n s p o n t a n e o u s a c t i v i t y. . .

Children turn over the paradigm and become teachers, factory workers transform themselves into their own image of beauty and abandon work, women return to a primordial state to rid the world of wickedness, Europeans & Native Americans unite to defend the wilderness from subjugation, and a love affair between a boy and his horse is the rootstock for a new societ ‘as beautiful and free as the stars that shine above the Arizona Desert.’ These stories are decisively AMERICAN M A N U FA C T U R I N G . “ A D I N N E R D AT E AT C H E Z W O O D S T O C K ” i s t h e f o l l o w - u p to the classic liberation from sadness manifesto, “A FashionEvent for Fashion Week” (Pub. 1994). It is a collection of sto ries that comes to life when two people meet for what will now be known as a fictional date, in a fictional restaurant, set in a mystical place somewhere beyond boredom and fascination.

Whether these events are imagined or real they form the basis for the collections and shows presented by AM from 1999-200 of which this book serves as a memento.

PLAYBILL

Introduction to the WILDERNESS Chapter 1: The Dance Of The Bandits

A DINNER DATE AT CHEZ WOODSTOCK

ADMIT 2

Notes for a New Company

Chapter 2: A Season To Remember (Autumn 1999) RE: A QUALITY DEFINED AND INTRODUCTION TO A PLAY: When ex-factory workers around the world inspire a mass exodus from work and a world crisis (a shortage of clothes) ensues...

Chapter 3 A Girls Night Out #2 (Spring 2000) A young boy enters the deep woods and stumbles upon a band of women who transform themselves into wolves. He in turn is transformed into a fairy prince :>{)!

Chapter 4 Nature Is Calling (Fall 2000) An irresistible force...in praise of the wilderness and wildness....romantic caravanning, homesteading, and the grassroots movement. Re-enactment of the 'Lost' Colony.

Chapter 5 The Preamble To The Wilderness (Spring 2001) A young boy eager to possess a beautiful wild stallion near the River Rhone ultimately wins his confidence, tames him, and rides off with him into the sea...

Chapter 6 The Ceremony Of Clothes, Universe & Stars: A Gathering at the Cimarron (Fall 2001)

OK

When word gets out of a gathering on the Cimarron, a mythical force ignites a mass exodus from the city.

THE GREEN-GHETTO: WHEN NATURE RECLAIMS ITS The Final Chapter PLACE...WHERE ONCE THERE WERE ONLY BUILDINGS MADE What’s in a Name?

OF STONE NOW THERE ARE BIRDS AND TREES SINGING

SETH SHAPIRO’S AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

A DINNER DATE AT CHEZ WOODSTOCK WINTER 2002

THE COLLECTIONS PRESENTED IN THIS BOOKLET CAN BE VIEWED AT http://www.sethshapiro.com

SETH SHAPIRO’S

INQUIRIES CANMANUFACTURING BE MADE AT AMERICAN thegathering@sethshapiro.com

by Liz Bougotsos