Mikel Rouse Film: John Cage On & Off the Air!

Mikel Rouse commissioned for a new ‘stage film’ for The City Wears a Slouch Hat. PHOTOS HERE! Saturday, November 17, 2012. John Cage: On & Off the Air! celebrates this engagement with an ever-changing program of works wrapped around a newly staged revival of Cage’s peripatetic The City Wears a Slouch Hat (CBS Radio, 1942). Based on a play by Kenneth Patchen, it features a newly commissioned film of light and shadows by the New York composer Mikel Rouse and performed by the celebrated Canadian-based percussion ensemble NEXUS. The film for The City Wears a Slouch Hat will incorporate the use of shadows to simulate characters of a live performance. In this way, the “shadow film” will mirror the live action appearing on stage, as well as becoming a “portable set.”

Photos by Emy Martin