The B-Side - St. Ann's Warehouse

“A STEREOPHONIC SÉANCE…stirring…refreshing…perseveringly SOULFUL… ” —The Los Angeles Times

“Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons” was brought to The Wooster Group by performer Eric Berryman after he saw the Group’s previous record album interpretation Early Shaker Spirituals. THE B-SIDE is an original performance based on an LP of work songs, spirituals, and toasts recorded in 1964 in Texas’ then-segregated prison farms. Eric Berryman, Jasper McGruder, and Philip Moore channel the inmates’ voices, via in-ear receivers, and transmit them live. Berryman also provides context from the book Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues by Bruce Jackson, the folklorist who recorded the album.

“Nothing short of TRANSCENDENT” —The New York Times

Runtime: 60 minutes, no intermission

Reviews: The B-Side

Powerful, lucid, and profound...Astonishing...it feels as if the theater’s air itself might shock you.
A patient, expansive stunner... meticulous, confident, and painfully beautiful...
Graceful, staggeringly gentle punches to the gut...
—VULTURE / NEW YORK MAGAZINE
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Nothing short of TRANSCENDENT...
Vinyl SINGS across the decades...
–THE NEW YORK TIMES, CRITICS’ PICK!
Read Ben Brantley’s Review>>

A lovely display of the mimetic and historical possibilities of vocal music.
— THE NEW YORKER
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A STEREOPHONIC SÉANCE...stirring...refreshing...perseveringly SOULFUL...
—THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
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SPELLBINDING... An unearthly meld of past and present...
—LIGHTING & SOUND AMERICA
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A RAVISHING new show by The Wooster Group...
The experience is history in melody...forging bonds through music.
—THE WASHINGTON POST
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