Are you smarter than a fifth grader? More imaginative?
Doubt it. I don’t know about you, but my imaginative edge dulls with the days. At this stage in the game, our best shot, you and me, is to mine for creativity through crowdsourcing.
Peals has done just that in “Trillium.” Fifth graders from the Baltimore Montesorri Public Charter School respond to a prompt, “The woman in the room…”
The results, interesting enough on paper, are brought to life by director Albert Birney, animator Phil Davis, and performance artist Cricket Arrison. Arrison travels time and space through her chameleonic portrayal of the Woman in the Room. She turns into a T-Rex, gets shot by an arrow, eats pizza while playing guitar, meets an alien cat: Literal interpretations of creative storytelling played out in a barebones room with the occasional floating apple.
At one point, the Woman travels to an iceberg in Alaska. An excerpt from one student’s response is projected: “Is this just a dream?” To respond, “Trillium” is a whimsical dream at the intersection of education and entertainment. Merrily, merrily…
More about: Double Dagger, Future Islands, Peals
