written and performed by Becky Poole | directed by Carrie Morris
Jan. 23 – Feb 13, 2009 | Fri-Sat 11pm
“We demand new heroes.” – Alan Moore
“murder, hope” is a new play incorporating Neuroplasticity research, superhero mythology, family history and Appalachian murder ballads, presenting an impassioned collage of compelling characters who all have in common a distinct lack of balance. The show connects emotional and intellectual dots between these concepts, pulling them into a cohesive piece using, personal stories, character work from case studies, experimental movement based on Neuroplastic therapy, Batman comic books, and creative acoustic sound design featuring the musical saw. It is a show bent in the experimental theatre direction, steeped in an absurd sense of humor, but grounded in truth (factual and emotional). It’s a show that aspires to have new hope, complicated goodness and a skewed sense of balance. Along with Carrie Morris’s direction, multi-media knowledge, and inter-disciplinary work history, the two have created a heartfelt and disorienting piece of theatre. This show was workshopped in Seattle at Theatre off Jackson and under the direction of Carrie Morris at the Dreamland Theater in Ypsilanti Michigan. It will continue to run outside Seattle in the Canadian Fringe Festival Summer 2009.
BECKY POOLE is an actor, comedian, voice over artist, and saw player who recently moved to Seattle from Brooklyn. She was described by New York Theatre as having a “commitment to the absurd that is hilariously charming” and by New York’s Backstage magazine as being “a bizarre blend of perkiness and rage”. Becky has been performing, writing, and producing sketch comedy and performance pieces around the country for the last 10 years mainly with the critically acclaimed sketch comedy groups MEAT and Becky & Noelle. Seattle appearances include, Bumbershoot, On the Boards, Laff Hole, Live Girls Theatre, Theatre Off Jackson, and Annex Theatre. She started playing the musical saw in 2001 and has been playing it ever since in her own projects, as a special guest with bands like LA’s The Ditty Bops, Seattle’s “Awesome”, and as a member of NYC’s experimental cover band Stickerbook. Becky has done voice over work for Bill Plympton, Discovery Kids, Nickelodeon, PBS, and The Cartoon Network. You can hear a few of her original songs on Animal Planet’s Meerkat Manor website. And in 2008 her first published essay was put out by Soft Skull Press in “The Customer is Always Wrong. The Retail Chronicles.”
CARRIE MORRIS is an American director, multimedia artist and puppeteer. Her work has been seen nationally in New York (Galapagos, the Kitchen), Virginia (Flicker Film Festival, Artspace Gallery), North Carolina (Elsewhere Experimental Museum), Michigan (Detroit Artist Market, the Michigan Theater) and Ohio (Kennedy Museum of Art) while international performance credits include venues in Indonesia, Malaysia and Suriname. A recent Fulbright award winner in the field of performance art, Carrie’s creative works utilize crafted objects, electronic devices, other people and situations which may be at hand or may be created. You can see more examples of her work at www.carriemorris.com. Becky and Carried have worked previously together on a New York Fringe Festival Show, Becky & Noelle: Investigating the Bucket. She also directed sketch comedy group MEAT for a stint.
