O.K. - THE MUSICAL

Christopher Kline

Exhibition and performance curated by insitu collective
(Marie Graftieaux, Nora Mayr, Lauren Reid)

(Pre-Production)

15 January - 21 February 2015
insitu, Berlin

(Dress Rehearsals)

26 February 2015
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

O.K. - The Musical (Dress Rehearsals) (performance view) 2015. Photo: Trevor Good

O.K. – The Musical is an evolving community theatre musical based around the history and lore of Kinderhook, a small, somewhat obscure town in upstate New York. Written and directed by artist and musician Christopher Kline, the musical is oriented around the propagation of the word “O.K.” and its associations with Old Kinderhook.

Taking place across two venues, this project consisted of an evolving exhibition and workshops, culminating in a large-scale musical performance with a cast of 30 actors and an 11 piece small orchestra.

70 people took part in creating this work of “community theatre as community theatre”.

CREDITS
PLAYBILL

O.K. The Musical (Pre-Production)

15 January - 21 February 2015
insitu, Berlin

For (Pre-Production) the two-room white cube gallery space of insitu was transformed into the front- and back-stage of a community theatre replete with stage, balcony, woodshop, dressing room, prop-storage, and make-up table.  The space was developed and used over the course of the exhibition for the production of all aspects of the musical, and was activated daily with set- and costume-making, rehearsals, children’s workshops, and presentations on the history of Kinderhook.

O.K. The Musical (Dress Rehearsals)

26 February 2015
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

On the last day of the exhibition at insitu the results were packed up and moved to KW Institute for Contemporary Art for the performance (Dress Rehearsals), a 30-minute romp through Kinderhook’s last 400 years.  Scenes included “Henry Hudson Encounters the Mohicans”, a take on Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a spooky encounter between the ghost of Martin Van Buren and his niece discussing the Indian Removal Act of 1830, a dramatic  lament by a family of Bigfoots freezing to death, and a Grand Finale of Kinderhook’s people and architecture joining together in a happy-go-lucky song and dance attempt to transcend 400 years of troubled history.