Quarry (1978)
Monk’s meditation on WWII and recurring cycles of intolerance, fascism, and cruelty in history originated in 1976 as a live stage work utilizing elements of music, images, movement, dialogue, film, sound, and light. This film version, shot on 16mm in the Lepercq Space at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1977, was created in partnership with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts as part of their initiative to document ground-breaking live performance for future restaging. QUARRY centers on a sick American child (played by Monk herself) whose world darkens as her illness progresses, this darkening including the rise of a dictator. A unique document of this innovative, boundary-blurring production, and a work of art on its own terms, replete with a film-within-a-film directed by Monk in 1975.
Directors: Meredith Monk, Amram Nowak.
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Meredith Monk as Child |
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Ping Chong as The Dictator |
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Steve Clorfeine as Dictator's Aide |
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Tone Blevins as Old Testament woman / Dictator |
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Daniel Ira Sverdlik as Old Testament man / Dictator |
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Lanny Harrison as Radio Singer / Announcer / Woman in a flowered dress / Dictator |
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Monica Moseley as Woman at a table / Dictator |
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Pablo Vela as Man with grey hair / Dictator |
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Lee Nagrin as Woman with Gray Hair |
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Mary Shultz as Woman at Table |
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Gail Turner as Woman at a table |
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Anne Gentry as Visitor at the table |
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Coco Pekelis as Maid |
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Andrea Goodman as Organist |
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Steve Lockwood as Organist |
| Production | Peter Sciscioli | Producer |
| Crew | David Lerner | Cinematography |
| Costume & Make-Up | Lanny Harrison | Costume Design |
| Art | Ping Chong | Production Design |
| Crew | Jerry Pantzer | Cinematography |
| Costume & Make-Up | Steve Clorfeine | Costume Design |
| Writing | Meredith Monk | Writer |
| Art | Jean-Claude Ribes | Production Design |
| Crew | Meredith Monk | Choreographer |
| Editing | Adam Bernardi | Editor |
| Sound | Meredith Monk | Original Music Composer |
| Production | Kirstin Kapustik | Executive Producer |
| Lighting | Beverly Emmons | Lighting Design |
| Editing | Bob Rosen | Editor |
| Directing | Meredith Monk | Director |
| Directing | Amram Nowak | Director |