Located in the East Village, Dixon Place is an incubator for emerging artists in theater, dance, music, puppetry and burlesque, to name a few. Bottom Feeder was created by Julia Rose Duray and Lukas Papenfusscline. The piece concerns itself with garbage. What we throw away. This experimental work registers as a little odd yet heartfelt in its combination of sincerity and silliness. What do kids today have to say about trash pollution?
After a pre-show pantomime where garbage is artistically sorted through movement, a mother and daughter are trying on a wedding gown. The daughter doesn’t want her mother’s dress but instead this one made of plastic garbage bags. Another woman with 75 cats reads a poem and then proceeds to tell us that her cat, Princess Ying Yang, will lead us in communion. That communion is a dance break, both cute and ridiculous.
Bottom Feeder is filled with vignettes with varying degrees of success which comment on the past, present and future but vaguely. The tone is less “trash talking” and more spiritually resembles a “garbage-apalooza.” Not everything in the line up is as good as the better material but the performers were committed. At the end of the show, there was another dance break to entertain and leave us exiting on a light note.
Dixon Place is always a reliable choice for seeing new works in sometimes very early stages of development. From my seat, Bottom Feeder needed a bit more focus but portions were inspired gobbledygook.