Remy Charlip didn't live so much over the rainbow as inside it. Early on in a new multi-disciplinary piece about the multi-disciplinary artist, Charlip declares that colors have an absolute value no matter that an individual may perceive, say, red with hints of orange. "Red is red," he says categorically, adding, "I'm an eyeball freak."
Rainbow Logic is a term coined for an aesthetic Charlip employed in his life as a matter-of-fact gay man and in a spectrum of art forms, and it is an appropriate title for a new performance piece dedicated to this singular talent. With the subtitle Arm in Arm with Remy Charlip, the ambitious and sometimes unwieldy creation is now having its world premiere at CounterPulse's new home on Turk Street.
Despite the fact, or maybe because Charlip ventured into so many disciplines in the performing and visual arts, his name isn't of the same renown as many of his celebrated collaborators who sustained a singular focus. One of those collaborators was the groundbreaking choreographer Merce Cunningham, who at one point in Rainbow Logic wants to fire dancer Charlip from his troupe because his loyalties have spread into other areas, at this point on an experimental theater company for young audiences and a series of illustrated storybooks for children. Charlip wanted to do it all, and to do so on his own iconoclastic terms.
Written, directed, and conceived by Seth Eisen, Rainbow Logic sets forth on a mighty mission: to capture Charlip's life, career, and evolving aesthetic from birth in 1929 until death in 2012. His early years growing up in New York are presented in relatively straightforward fashion, with a father who disparages the young Remy's artistic efforts and a mother who fans their flames. "If you look at the moon through a feather, it looks like a rainbow," his mother says, in consolation after his father has snapped the neck of a live turkey that will become dinner.
Nearer the end of the two-hour show, it grows more impressionistic in its explorations of Charlip's later life that seem meant more to be absorbed than simply understood. Scenes can vary wildly in tone, as slapstick satire may bump up against writhing movements, and they don't benefit from consistent arcs within themselves. Pacing can be uneven as well, though the latter should improve as the run continues.
Eisen, who has previously explored queer ancestors through his unique theatrical lens in Homo File and Pansy Craze for Eye Zen Presents, may be the person best equipped to explore the Charlip experience. Eisen became friends with Charlip after the considerably older artist had relocated from New York to San Francisco in 1989, then helped organize his archives after Charlip's stroke in 2005. In addition to having access to the trove of the material that Charlip accumulated, Eisen also interviewed many of those who knew him, and they are heard in recorded voiceovers.
Using puppetry, live actors, acrobatics, shadow play, dance, movement, and projections, Rainbow Logic offers both the uninitiated and those familiar with Charlip's legacy an expansive view of his multiple talents and insights into the inner workings of the man behind the art. The charismatically agile Colin Creveling and a craggier Paul Loper play Remy, respectively, as his younger and older selves, either in individual scenes or together in occasional antagonism. Molly Shaiken plays all other characters, including Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Andy Warhol, and most notably, Charlip's nurturing mother.
The performers receive program credit for their help in creating the piece, and so many other components deserve mention that all that can be done is to cite the names of some of the providers: musical direction by Miguel Frasconi, choreography by James Graham, visual designs by Diego Gomez, puppet creation by Terrance Graven and Rich Hutchinson, costumes by Keriann Egaland, lighting by Jim Cave, and video design by Ian Winters.
It has clearly taken a village to create this show, and while Remy Charlip very much marched to the beat of his own drum, he also appreciated supporting accompaniment if it followed his beat. Rainbow Logic has that beat, and it often feels that his spirit is at the podium.
Rainbow Logic: Arm in Arm with Remy Charlip will run through Nov. 20 at CounterPulse. Tickets are $20-$35. Go to counterpulse.org.