Alive from Off Center

The series Alive from Off Center took performance into the realm of broadcast television by featuring groundbreaking work on the frontiers of comedy, dance, music, performance, and video from a new generation of international artists. This Lecture Room program features three landmark episodes.

In What Do You Mean “We?”, artist Laurie Anderson parodies celebrity culture as she joins a phony talk show in which she interviews herself about her popularity. Sister Suzie Cinema is a high-voltage 1950s-style “doo-wop” opera about adolescent love and romantic movies of the ’40s and ’50s, featuring music by 14 Karat Soul. A Personal History of the American Theater demonstrates the unique talents of celebrated actor/storyteller Spalding Gray. 1986, video, 28 minutes each episode.