Our So-Called Sleepover, or, Freud and Jung Crash 1995 Through a Ouija Board, a semi-autobiographical theatrical performance of female hysteria, karaoke dreamscapes, cannon feminist texts and Seventeen Magazine advice columns, presented most recently at Automata as part of the LAX Festival (October 2015)
Borrowing text from My So-Called Life, Freud & Jung’s work, and prominent feminist writings, ‘Sleepover...’ dives into a twenty-year-old female-centric pop culture time capsule, where Mireya Lucio and Sallie Merkel reenact versions of their pre-teen selves in a sleepover that never actually happened.
What begins as a naturalistic recreation of pre-teen female bonding is quickly disrupted by a supernatural plot twist which sends the performance into hyper theatrical territory. Utilizing musical numbers, masks, heightened physicality, impressions, and a whole lot of mansplainig, the performers embody and challenge the ways in which the history of psychoanalysis continues to circumscribe girlhood.
"Sleepover..." is a theatrical essay/assemblage complete with a pizza delivery!
It seemed like a typical Saturday night in 1995 for two pre-teen BFFs, until some mysterious characters crash the party through a Ouija board! Possessed by the spirits of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the friends must find their way through a psychoanalytical cat-fight while being caught at the intersection of MTV feminism and Lisa Frank style. Can karaoke dreamscapes and Seventeen Magazine advice help these two as they encounter the concept of "female hysteria?" Who are Freud and Jung, anyway? And will their legendary feud tear the girls apart?
Borrowing text from My So-Called Life, Freud & Jung's work, and prominent feminist writings, 'Sleepover...' dives into a twenty-year-old time capsule of pop culture and news headlines, where Mireya Lucio and Sallie Merkel reenact versions of their pre-teen selves in a sleepover that never actually happened.
Devised by Mireya Lucio
Developed in collaboration with Sallie Merkel
Performed by Mireya Lucio & Sallie Merkel
Movement developed in collaboration with Marina Libel
Masks by Yelena Zhelezov
SOURCES:
TEXT My So-Called Life TV Series (W. Holzman/ABC); The Freud/Jung Letters (ed. W. McGuire); Case of Hysteria (S. Freud); Studies in Hysteria (S. Freud); Archetypes & the Collective Unconscious (C.G. Jung); Man and His Symbols (C.G. Jung); Psychological Types (C.G. Jung); Freud and Psychoanalysis (C.G. Jung); Feminine Mystique (B. Friedman); Becoming the Third Wave (R. Walker); Speculum of the Other Woman (L. Irrigary); Girl Talk Book Series; Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (A. Schwartz); Metamorphosis (F. Kafka); Seventeen Magazine
VIDEO (1994-95) /Music Videos:/ Alanis Morissette; Garbage; Hole; Janet Jackson; Jewel; Bjork; No Doubt; T.L.C.; The Cranberries; /TV Shows & Movies:/ Alex Mack; Are You Afraid of the Dark?; Blossom; Clarissa Explains It All; Clueless; Mad Love; My So-Called Life
SONGS (1993-95) Stupid Girl (Garbage); Sittin’ Up In My Room (Brandy); Just A Girl (No
Doubt); Gotta Be (Des’ree); The Sign (Ace of Base); Strong Enoug (Sheryl Crow); You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette); Double Dare Ya (Bikini Kill); No More I Love You’s (Annie Lennox); Foolish Games (Jewel); She Walks On Me (Hole); Army of Me (Bjork); Return To Innocence (Enigma); Stay (Lisa Loeb); Dreams (The Cranberries); Dreams (Gabrielle)
Photo credit: Jonathan Potter
Collage by: Mireya Lucio