The Transit Rider
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A theatrical production created by Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables, as well as related CD and song cycle.
[edit] Genesis and Stage Production
The inspiration for the show was McCarthy's experiences on the New York City subway system starting when she relocated there in 1994[1].
As a live performance, The Transit Rider premiered as a full-length theater show in San Francisco in 2002.
In April through June 2006, the four-member version of Faun Fables including Fuzzy Cousins Jenya Chernoff and Matt Lebofsky toured North America. The tour culminated in a large-scale performance at the Oakland Metro Opera House in Oakland, California on May 26th and 27th.
Fuzzy Cousins opened the show with a set of their own material.
Then followed the "first act" of The Transit Rider: the stage was set to resemble a light-rail train, with a row of chairs along the upstage wall. Behind the "transit riders" three large "windows" showed projected images which are the work of visual artist Eric S. Koziel. Performers then entered the stage as if entering a rail car. As each performer "reached his stop" (announced with inscreasingly cryptic commentary by Frykdahl as The Train Conductor) he moved to a microphone near the "door" of the "train car", performed a song, and then exited the stage. Performers included Sean Lee, Mick Runolfsson, and others.
Finally, Moe! Staiano entered downstage and played an improvised piece on 78 RPM records in which he developed ryhthmic motifs while beating the 78's with mallets until they broke into pieces; as the pieces get smaller, the pitch rises, and Staiano used this as a motive to increase the tempo and intensity until the fragments of the records flew off the stage under the power of his mallet-strokes.
Meanwhile, as McCarthy's interactions with the Train Conductor become more psychomimetic. Frykdahl enters in the guise of a travelling salesman, who offers McCarthy elixirs or charms which offer protection from various things including fire and castration, foreshadowing a song from the second act. At the end of the trip, McCarthy was left alone on the rail car, with only the disembodied Train Conductor (Frykdahl), veiled in shadow and making cryptic announcements over the public address system. McCarthy attempts to comply to rigorous regulations as intoned by the Train Conductor, as she tries in vain to try to find an appropriate stop along the rail line to have a picnic. This concluded act one, which was followed by an intermission.
The "second act" consisted of the four-member Faun Fables performing The Transit Rider song cycle in a faithful reproduction of the music as it appears on the Drag City CD.
