Prelude.11: A supposedly FUN THING I’ll never do again: (after david foster wallace)
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
7:00 PM–8:00 PM
![](https://centerforthehumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Daniel-Fish-DROPBOX.jpeg)
Drawing exclusively from audio recordings of David Foster Wallace (readings he gave of his short fiction, essays, and an extensive interview he did for German television), Daniel Fish and a small ensemble of actors seek to re-create the amazing presence Wallace brought to everything he wrote about, be it professional tennis, a boy’s thirteenth birthday, or America’s obsession with entertainment. The selection, order, and tempo of the recordings are mixed live and sent to each actor’s Mp3 device during the performance. Wallace’s work as translated by the performers is like the garment of a dear, dead friend: an artifact that simultaneously and dramatically evokes his presence and his absence, asking us: How present can we be? How generous in the way we experience the cacophony of our world? Performances include artists Daniel Fish, Lisa Joyce, Laura Jellinek, Andrea Lauer, Bruce Steinberg, and David Conison.