OHPN Events

1996

August, 1996 Lurana invited a dozen friends to the apartment to read aloud two of her translations of plays by Catherine the Great. This occasion marked the first time the plays were ever heard in English! The plays, Oh, These Times! (1772) and The Siberian Shaman (1786), will be published in 1998 by Harwood Academic Publishers.

August, 1996 August brought the passing from this world of one of the country's greatest bohemian character, author, artist, chef and "doity old man" Howard Mitcham. Memorial services and parties were held in both of Mitch's longtime homes, New Orleans and Provincetown. Gray Smith (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) sent in an essay from 1985 he had written, entitled "Of Skyscrapers, Steak Pits, and Preservation Halls." Below is the section on Mitch and his home in the 1810 Le Monnier building, the same four-story "Skyscraper" that has housed Johnny Donnels' studio for over fifty years--where Lurana was never without a book a poetry, stories or drama given to her by Mitch.

"Howard Mitcham, whose absence from this third floor corner in the Skyscraper for any length of time causes the building to tilt slightly out of plumb, is one of my mentors. . . . . From around the old table in the center of his 18" high domed ceilinged Skyscraper room, the creative Mitch has imparted the Bohemian philosophy of artist, writer, poet, raconteur, cookbook author and chef (Creole and Cajun of course), to his many friends and lovers, in great humor and frivolity--amidst Picayune cigarettes, hot peppers, chicory coffee, okra gumbo and whatever kind of six-pack you're bringin'!"

July, 1996 Lurana and Sean (Honolulu, Hawai'i) along with Joan and John Donnels (New Orleans, Louisiana) visited the many Homes of Catherine the Great in Russia, and produced a large photoessay (read: album of snapshots). Highlights were the Amber Room in the Ekaterina Palace (exterior is pictured here) and the Grand Cascade Fountain at Peterhof Palace.

Photos: The Ekaterina Palace of Tsarskoe Selo (St. Petersburg) and the Tsaritsyno Palace (on the outskirts of Moscow).

Catherine was displeased with Tsaritsyno's design (some say with Masonic and Rosicrucian symbols included in the architecture) and so she never lived at the palace, which was allowed to decay over the centuries until it reached its present state: a picturesque ruin which serves as a park next to a popular summer lake.

Catherine adored the Ekaterina Palace in Petersburg, however. The Grand Hall there is an extraordinary feast of candles, mirrors, and gilt. Our favorite room, though, was the Amber Room; its famous walls of luminous amber inlay were destroyed during the Nazi occupation and only now are being slowly replaced and restored.

June 3, 1996 Ian O'Malley (Moorestown, New Jersey), according to Daddy Keith, "has been working on a piece involving the elaboration of monumental amounts of mucus entitled 'Cherub in Green Glaze.' Plenty of artifacts, most of which go into containers . . . would be glad to send some if you really desire them." Ian was about 9 months old at the time of this contribution.

June 3-July 29, 1996 Joseph Connelly (Madison, Wisconsin) sent to OHPN a series of e-mails telling the tale of his Adventures with $WEEP$TAKE$ CLEARINGHOUSE.

April 26, 1996: Joseph Connelly (Madison, Wisconsin) described his ongoing 1996 performance of "BINDING."

"I have been working on a year-long project called BINDING. On the last Friday of every month, I remove the staples from a telephone pole in Madison, Wisconsin. Once all the staples have been removed, I wrap the telephone pole in homemade bandages (2" strips of white cloth, over 6' long). By the end of the year, there will be 12 bandaged poles in Madison that have had all the staples removed from them. The pulled staples are kept in Mason jars, one each for every month, for storage. When the project is finished, the jars will be displayed as part of the documentation of performance, along with the equipment I have used during the piece--the bandage box, the pliers.

On the first Friday of every month, I attend to the previously wrapped poles (i.e. resecuring the loose bandage strips, recovering areas that have been exposed). If anyone is in Madison on the last Friday of any month this year, between 10 am and 2 p.m. (more or less) you are welcome to stop by the performance site."

May, 1996 Matthew, Sean, and Lurana O'Malley held nightly songwriting sessions during Matt's visit to Honolulu. Sean and Matt wrote "The Looker", "Another Indiana," and "Faustifications." Lurana wrote "The Song of the Woman" immediately after M's departure.

May 25, 1996 Brian O'Malley (Haddon Heights, New Jersey) gave us copies of dozens of annual handmade Valentines sent by his father Joseph O'Malley (Sean's grandfather) to Mary Alice McCarthy O'Malley.

Follow this link to see Joe O'Malley's illustration.

March 24, 1996: The Virtual Drama Society (a new organization that promotes virtual dramatic activity of all kinds) presented a 30 minute, live, on-line, interactive lecture/demo on "Chat-Theater" on Sunday, March 24th at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, in ATHEMOO's new theatre, located in the Aphra Behn Theatre Complex."

March 7, 1996: Studio Z and Juli Burk hosted a cyberspace gathering of theatre artists at the ATHEMOO.

February 20, 1996: Lurana and Sean O'Malley (Honolulu, Hawai'i) hosted the fifth annual Mardi Gras Party. The annual question? Tell us about Your Dream House--

January 5, 1996: O'Malley Family Band (Kensington, Maryland) Housebound by over two feet of snow, the O'Malleys (Sean, Lurana, T.J., Julie, and Matthew) held "The Vermeer Sessions." Inspired by their pre-snow visit to the Vermeer exhibit (privately funded to be kept open in spite of the government shutdown), the band played music at the family home at 10019 Frederick Avenue in appropriate Vermeerian attire, drank from wine glasses held at the base, smiled mysteriously, and always let the light shine in from the left. The Vermeer Session cassette is available on demand from OHPN.

January 1, 1996: M.W. Engler (San Francisco, California) sent us his "epic camp" play, Gigi and the Golden Voyage. Writes Engler, "If the word home can be a metaphor for finding love, then I would like to give this copy of the play to the Open Home Network as my latest contribution to the collective cause." The saga concerns Gigi, a sexy feminine young thing with a cup and saucer on her head who flings off the yoke of banality, only to meet the "miserable, misogynistic, woman-eating, scum-sucking" Leather Bunny. In this excerpt, Gigi Meets the Anti-Censorship Circus:

GIGI: So far I have quit my job, found a mystic guide and left on what was to be my Golden Voyage. I've lost my suitcase, Madame Olna, and nearly my life to a demonic waitress. At least I still have my self-respect. Hell, that's the one thing I don't need.

Leather Bunny enters wearing a red rubber clown nose and addresses the audience.

LEATHER BUNNY: In the cleaver disguise I can keep an eye on our tragic heroine. You know, something about the smell of red rubber makes me want to smear cake and ice cream all over my ass and cream, "Spank me Boffo. Make a wish Evil Clown." --And now without further delay. Ladies and lesbians let me present to you the one the only--the only one with a cup on her head . . . Gigi. Blow them a kiss you little bitch and let's get this show going. First, our traditional mooning of the Virgin Mart, just for contractual reasons. And now for our first act. Gigi the magnificent will astonish you while simultaneously burning the American flag, advocating pro-choice, and masturbating . . . with a miniature Statue of Liberty, no less.

MADAME OLNA: Just a minute, clown. This has gone far enough. Release Gigi this instant. I will not allow you to use her in your malicious, anti-establishment schemes.

LEATHER BUNNY: Oh, get over it Olna. She's a natural. Just come back in an hour and it will be all over the Internet. Hey, I'll even throw in a complimentary video-tape of it all.

 

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