Human Flower Project
Curtain Rises on BOTANICA
A new play questions the human mastery of plant life in a “creepy futuristic black comedy.”
The Janitor (Chet Mazur) gets intimate with a flowering plant in BOTANICA, a play by Jeff Jackson and Jim Findlay.
Photo: Paula Court
“If frowzy little houseplants cry
For French Surrealists,
Why, oh, why can’t I?…”
Not a lyric from BOTANICA, soon to premiere in New York City, but we offer producer Joel Bassin the lines anyway. Thanks, Joel, for letting us know that this Human Flower Project will begin previews later this month. The play opens February 1.
Written by Jeff Jackson and Jim Findlay, BOTANICA takes place in a sealed “humanterrarium,” where two plant scientists are busy with experiments. But it appears to be the research facility’s janitor who’s really plumbing the mysteries of botany. The caretaker, played by Chet Mazur, stays up late reading French surrealist poetry and his own erotic verse to the green subjects.
Bassin explains, “Initially the experiments seem to demonstrate an astonishing scope of plant consciousness, but eventually the botanists hit a dead end. They decide to bring the janitor into their research.” What happens next? You’ll have to see the play to find out, though Bassin promises a taste of “chaos.”
The play includes literary works by George Bataille and Louis Aragon, and draws too from Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird’s 1973 best seller The Secret Life of Plants as well as the scientific discoveries of Jagadish Chandra Bose.
We’re intrigued and only wish we could be there for the premiere. If you’re within striking distance of The City, you’re eligible now for a $5 Early Worm discount. “Tickets can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/208806 To ge.t the $5 discount tickets must be purchased before 1/27/12 with the discount code ‘Green.’”
You may even win free tickets if you’re one of the first three people to identify this plant correctly by its Latin name. Easy! But be quick—deadline January 5:
BOTANICA will be staged at 2012 at 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street, in Lower Manhattan. Check here for details.
All good wishes to director Jim Findlay, the cast and crew. Break a stem! (Just quit punishing those poor accordions.)