The premature death of a dream
Poor Dog Group’s show “Group Therapy” is a quiet, incomplete window into what happens when an artist
Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) is dedicated to the advancement of contemporary performing arts: dance, music, spoken word, and theater; as well as emerging digital, collaborative, and cross-art platforms inspired by today's leading artists and creators. Poor Dog Group's "Group Therapy" uses chance operations, spontaneous reflections, real-time rerecordings, and cinematic gestures to create a portrait of a generation’s hustle and, above all, what it is like to endure.
"What you get out of Poor Dog Group's show "Group Therapy" depends on what you bring to it.It's a lot like therapy itself - which, in one way, is what the show is.
"Group Therapy" is a play about a 10-year old Los Angeles ensemble theater company that entered group therapy with an actual therapist. The show, in part, is drawn from transcripts of those therapy sessions. It's the story of a posse of 18 year-olds who met in art school, formed a company, made art, became a sort of family and then . . . life happened.
Now, you could see this as a bunch of 30 year-olds navel gazing and complaining that life and art is tougher than they thought and things might not work out.
If that's your bent - this isn't the show for you.
But if you've ever been with a group of people who you thought would be your soulmates forever - be it a theater company or a family or even your buds from college - and things didn't quite turn out the way you dreamed ..then "Group Therapy" will be a profound experience."— Anthony Byrnes, Jan. 12, 2018
This post is an excerpt, read the full article at the KCRW website.
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