KA MOUNTAIN AND GUARDenia TERRACE: a story about a family and some people changing
Directed by Robert Wilson, Andrew de Groat, Cynthia Lubar, James Neu, Ann Wilson, Mel Andringa, S.K. Dunn, and others; Texts by Robert Wilson, Andrew de Groat, Jessie Dunn Gilbert, Kikuo Saito, Cynthia Lubar, Susan Sheehy, Ann Wilson; Music and sound by Igor Demjen; Performed by Robert Wilson and The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds
Performed from September 2 to 9, 1972 at Haft Tan Mountain, Shiraz, Iran
A vast and complex piece, subtitled “a story about a family and some people changing,” KA MOUNTAIN involved hundreds of performers and lasted seven full days. Created for the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of the Arts in Iran, the work was performed outdoors on Haft Tan Mountain near Shiraz. At the core of the action was the story of an old man who, after leaving his family at the base of the mountain, traveled upward toward the summit, stopping at various points along the way where different performances took place. Here Wilson’s expansive theatrical vision took on epic proportions. He included performers from a wide variety of backgrounds, age groups, and nationalities, along with a menagerie of animals and an eclectic assortment of costumes, properties and sets. Wilson employed these elements against the harsh and barren geography of Haft Tan Mountain to create a piece that seemed to recount the entire history of mankind. (Text by Joseph Bradshaw)