Incubator 2005: Beautiful Losers

Original Works inspired by Leonard Cohen
November 2-6, 2005
Tohill Theatre

Production Credits

Project Manager - Paule Turner
Project Advisors - Joe'l Ludovich & Leslie Elkins
Lighting Design - Robert Thorpe
Assistant Lighting Design - Rachel Stewart & Kristin Niemiec
Technical Director - Tom Fusco
Stage Manager - Brian Hook
Costume Shop Supervisor - Stephanie Nichols
Sound Board Operator - Chris Legentil
Poster Design - Jessica Kuderski

Are the stars tiny, after all?: Philadelphia Incubator

Collaborators - Leslie Elkins, Megan Mazariche, Paule Turner
Videography - Les Rivera
Music - Jonathan Bepler

No One Thought?: INCUBATOR TEAM

Choreography - Desiree Papadakis
Designer - Laura Reilly
Director - Angela Grimley
Videographer - Kathryn Morrison
Writer - Joanna Congalton
Ensemble - Lauren Cawey
Ensemble - Angela Grimley
Ensemble - Kelly N. Hailey
Ensemble - Megan Kovarovic
Ensemble - Lauren McClellan
Ensemble - Dave P. McConney
Ensemble - Desiree Papadakis
Ensemble - Lauren Reina
Ensemble - Jen Yorkanis
Director of Photography - Kathryn Morrison
Lighting - Mike Virgilio
Sound Recorder - Arden Niessner
Sound Assistant - Katie Lorenz
Production Assistant - Tim Schurmann
Grips - Tom Partyka & Brain Mintey
Make-Up Artist - Angelina Jerbasi

Porcelain: INCUBATOR TEAM A

Collaborators
Choreography - Alison Chrsitiano
Designer - Dana Bartus
Director - Pete Comperatore
Videographer - Arden Niessner
Psychiatrist - Megan Anderson
Patients - Dana Bartus, Arielle de Rouen, Jessica Leenig, Sarah Rigle, Nicole Roberto
Production Film Crew
Camera - Geoff Nichols, Michael Licisyn & Will Matthews
Editor - Will Matthews
Sound Record - Jon Waller
Sound Assistant - Neil Diamond

Strangers With Candy: Paule Turner/ c o u r t

Collaborators/Ensemble
Sean Courtney
Dave O'Donnell
Makoto Hirano
Dan "Paris" Trotter
Alexandra Holmes
Paule Turner
Video - Dave Cimetta
Music - Nina Simone, James Brown & YELLO

Director's Notes

The dust jacket on Leonard Cohen's second novel Beautiful Losers (1966) describes the novel as "a disagreeable religious epic of incomparable beauty." It is one of the most radical and extraordinary works of fiction ever published in Canada. Upon the publication of Beautiful Losers, The Boston Globe declared "James Joyce is not dead. He is living in Montreal under the name of Cohen." But not everyone is a fan.

The characters of Beautiful Losers surrender to a discourse of human desire. They are drunk on an ecstasy that allows for eternal travel across time, hurtling them through memory, history, and religion towards a most remarkable transformation. Cohen urges his readers to "place things side by side, but connect nothing." In response to a reader searching for meaning and understanding Cohen said, "Beautiful Losers was written outside, on a table set among the rocks, weeds and daisies. It was a blazing hot summer. I never covered my head. What you have in your hands is more of a sunstroke than a book."