World Premiere of Live Performance with Video Projection by Fearless Actress/Playwright

The San Francisco Film Society will present a new KinoTek program ‘The Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim by Erin Markey,’ a live performance by the Brooklyn-based writer/performer Erin Markey, December 2–4 and 9–11 at San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema.

Erin Markey has been training for this performance all her life. Based loosely on her childhood, this show is set in the maniacally normal American family environment of Bay City, Michigan. Primarily a portrait of mother Molly Dardy, but including the whole Dardy clan (father Hardy Dardy and children Sarah, Penny and Geoffrey), each character is given depth and roundness by the ultratalented Markey. Molly cares about her kids, but they grew up and are now far away. Her house feels weird and empty and enormous. Nothing to do but sing about it! Markey’s strategy is to first slyly disarm audiences by presenting the touching charm of Midwestern home life and then burrow into the frailties, anxiety and even horror that underpin the familial unconscious, made all the more palpable through Markey’s animal magnetism. New York-based Markey’s darkly comedic, surreal performances have garnered a devoted following. Molly’s keen obsessiveness is the perfect vehicle for Markey’s investigation of everyday details. Home movies and memories play a vital role in revealing the silliness, worry and heartbreak that unites all Dardys. Well, that and the fact that any of them might break into song without notice at any moment.

Erin Markey is an “outlandishly riotous” (Village Voice) playwright, actress, comedienne and performance artist. Her performance in Half Straddle’s ‘Family’ was recognized in Time Out NY’s Top Ten Plays as “the scariest performance of 2009.” She was recently featured on the cover of the New York Press (July 2011), where she was described as “fearless” and “affecting.” As playwrights, she and Joseph Keckler were invited to the 2007 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab with their musical ‘Looking for Limbo.’ Markey’s solo musical, ‘Puppy Love,’ played at PS 122 in May 2010 as part of the SoloNOVA festival. As a performance and cabaret artist, she regularly presents original work at ‘Our Hit Parade’ at Joe’s Pub (the Public Theater), Dixon Place and Envoy Enterprises Gallery and has shown work at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Comix and Ars Nova.

KinoTek is a programming stream presenting nontraditional, cross-platform and emergent media. Throughout 2011 and 2012 the Film Society will present eight KinoTek programs, each featuring the work of an artist or practice that challenges the boundaries of screen-based art.

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