Ellis Island (1982) by Meredith Monk
Sunday, March 10, 1985, 8:00 pm
Meredith Monk’s Quarry: An Opera in 3 Movements and Ellis Island
Meredith Monk is internationally famous for her work in a wide variety of media—dance, music composition, theater and performance. She performed before a sell-out audience during the S.F. Symphony’s New and Unusual Music Series in 1981. Tonight’s show is the Bay Area premiere of Quarry, a filmed performance of her 1976 Obie award-winning opera/theater piece.
Quarry: An Opera in 3 Movements (1977, 86 min.)—“Set around the time of World War II, Quarry explores a child’s eye view of the universe, distorted by illness, skewed by half-comprehension. Beginning with scenes of comfortable domesticity …at the end she is dressed to go out into that ominous world.” — John Mueller, Dance Magazine
Ellis Island (1982, 28 min.) — “When I first visited the island, I sensed the spirits of people still in those rooms. The strength and courage of the human spirit in a situation like that was very moving to me.” — M.M.