Process

The creation of 1984: The Future Repeats Itself began with daily homework assignments to
(re)read chapters from the novel 1984 by George Orwell. Early rehearsals (Monday through
Friday) included discussions about specific concepts from the book, generating lists that
were then processed into actions using various exercises developed by the Frankenstein
Collective (see METHOD for a detailed description of that group and the techniques it
developed). Each of the performers – Chazz Dean, Kurt Fulton (referred to in the supporting
materials by his nickname, City), Melanie Monios, and James Siena – kept a notebook filled
with detailed notes of the resulting movements. Director Iris Rose wrote the script throughout
the rehearsal process, concurrently with the development of the visual material.
Inside the Ministry of Truth, Part 2 script
cover of Kurt’s notebook

The section Big Brother provides a good example of this process. A wide-ranging list of Big
Brothers – ever-present symbolic figures that are meant to inspire us and direct our actions –
that the group assembled included JFK, Abraham Lincoln, the Pope, Walter Cronkite, Big
Bird, Bob Hope, Robert Young, Dear Abby, Superman, Smokey the Bear, parents, and the
American corporation.
Big Brother list
Big Brother script

Each of the thirty names on the list was turned into an Emblem, and the resulting thirty
Emblems were then blended together using an old theater game called Triangles*. In our
version, two participants performed different Emblems simultaneously, interacting and
adopting bits and pieces of each other’s actions and words. A third Emblem joined them,
affecting both of the original Emblems and being in turn affected by them. The one that had
been in the game longest left and a new one joined them. Director Iris Rose made notes of
the most interesting combinations and included them in the script and choreographic
routine. Big Brother Triangle notes The only existing video, slightly incomplete, of 1984: The
Future Repeats Itself is a version of Big Brother that was revived for Watchface’s Greatest Hits
in 1986.

Each section used a variation on the process, tailored to its specific function within the show.
In The Hate, the group discussed who, as a society, we were encouraged to hate by the
media, specifically by local newscasters on the 11-o’clock news, and these were compiled
into a chant. The targets ranged from simple curses and racial epithets to:

Draft dodger
Drug dealer
Child beater
Christian Scientist

Social climber
Name dropper
Snob

Wife beaters
Breeders
Cheater-cheater-cheater-cheater
Welfare cheat

Punk!
Drunk!
Crook!

The Hate included movements from multiple exercises: Abstractions created in reaction to
short excerpts from Orwell’s description of a Two Minutes Hate; Frankensteins for each
performer based on the word Hate; and Walter Kendall Fives for Twitch, Laugh, Shrink, Annoy,
and Spit, chosen to answer the question “What does hate make people do – physically?”
The many movements and rhythmic hate speech were combined for an intense two minutes.
The verbs for the Walter Kendall Fives came from an exercise that was commonly used in
early Watchface shows, Word Processing*, applied to the word “hatefully.” It was based on
an old parlor game called Adverbs, in which the person who was “it” asked the others
present to execute simple, everyday tasks in the manner of an adverb they had chosen
without the taskmaster’s knowledge – slowly, abusively, heartily, etc. “It” was expected to
guess the word after three assignments. In Watchface rehearsals, the point of the game was
not to guess the word but to gain new perspective on it by close observation of the actions.

History Lesson was created by making a list of the most common topics covered in a typical
American History class, and then allowing the participants’ media-saturated brains to free
associate on each one. In the resulting script, two students study for an exam, but all they
can remember is popular culture-mediated associations of historical figures and events:

Melanie:
OK, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth rock…

Chazz:
We used to have a Plymouth.

Melanie:
And they invented Thanksgiving…

Chazz:
Did you ever make those turkey things where you draw around your hand, you know
like in kindergarten?

Melanie:
Oh, yeah. Ben Franklin…

Chazz:
He was on Bewitched.

Melanie:
Did you ever read Ben and Me? About the little mouse?

Chazz:
I saw the cartoon. I think that was Disney.

Melanie:
I didn’t know there was a cartoon.

Chazz:
Did you ever see the Disney movie about Davy Crockett? Remember those Davy
Crockett hats?

Melanie:
Who was in it? Fess Parker?

Chazz:
I think it was Clint Walker. You’re thinking of Dan’l Boone.

Prole Quarter and A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste concerned the “prole quarter”, as
Orwell called it – the poor section of town, where Big Brother’s dominance was more limited
and the possibility of some individuality still existed. The section called Prole Quarter was
made up of regular Emblems based on a list of things that were a common sight in poor
neighborhoods. James created and performed: Peeling Paint, Dirty Streets, Missions,
Animals, and Industry. Melanie was assigned: Old Cars on Blocks, Ethnic Grocery Stores,
Wedding Stores, People Sitting Outside, and Playing in the Street. Chazz did: Graffiti,
Targeted Billboards, Religious Articles, Trashy Yards, and Pawn Shops. The Emblems were
jumbled up using the triangle technique described for Big Brother above.

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste was the birth of the Remblem, which later became a common tool in the creation of Watchface shows. Rhythmic Emblems, with or without words or sounds, set to a regular 4-count beat, were created for a list of ways that smart but undereducated people make use of their intelligence. For example: Raising a Large Family on a Budget, Music, Bible Study, Getting Things for Free, Cheap Entertainment, and Repairing Machinery. James and Chazz performed the resulting Remblems, often in unison, in an energetic dance-like routine.

Love Song was a purposely misguided attempt to write a hit song using clichéd sentiments,
choreographed with clichéd movements, set to a canned Casio beat. Love Song lyrics

The creation of The Dance That Everybody Does began with a list of simple actions that most
humans do. Walter Kendall Fives were produced for all of the actions and these were
choreographed into a quartet of ordinary movements. Dance That Everybody Does choreography

The finale, Room 101: The Worst Thing in the World, from a text written by Iris based on
discussions of the worst things the ensemble could imagine happening to them, was
illustrated by movements selected from Bodies in Space. Room 101 Bodies in Space notes Since
Bodies in Space movements tended to be bigger than those created with the other tools,
taking up more room and traveling through space, they were particularly useful for a
climactic scene such as Room 101: The Worst Thing in the World.
Room 101 list
Room 101 text
 
Looking back, Kurt recalled the process of creating 1984: “The thing I remember most was
how much fun putting this together was; how much we laughed, as well as how we worked
meticulously and authentically to use all these new, to us, techniques.”
 
 
*When this piece was being produced, Watchface had not yet narrowed its collection of
techniques down to the six described in METHOD that formed the spine of its style (along with
the Remblem, which was developed during 1984). In the back of Iris Rose’s director’s notebook for the show, there is a list of 12 exercises, titled “TOOLS,” Word Processing and Triangles among them. Most of these fell into disuse or became such an integral part of the process that they were no longer thought of as separate techniques.