David Lasagna is onstage and is seated before an
audience at the Emerson Umbrella Theater in Concord
Massachusetts delivering banter before he performs a
poignant song The Melancholy Blues:
 |
| David Lasagna, the subject of the film COOKING WITH LASAGNA directed by Jon Goldman developed out of interest at the Woods Hole Film Festival.
Photo: ©thought balloon productions 2k6 |
"I should explain...we are all on TV. These
people (indicating the various camera people around
the auditorium) here tonight are all from Woods Hole,
Massachusetts and they are trying to find out if I
really AM a vampire; but it is a scientific thing and
I don't pretend to understand...or maybe it is
homeland security (pause)... WHICH I ALSO DON'T
UNDERSTAND."
Welcome to one of the world's most original
satirical minds from one of the most diversely
engaging and eclectic universities the world has never
heard
of, The University of Dave.
Sprung like an Athenian leak from the head of Zeus,
David Lasagna and the band of merry lecturers who spin
his "truths" appear on stage in a new
documentary profile called LAYERS OF LASAGNA. The film
uncovers the current world's increasingly infuriating
political and social incongruities (not to mention the
mysteries of olive loaf).
Yes, Lasagna is his real name and no, this is not
some wild excursion into the nether reaches of lost
archives of the Food Fight Network. This is the work
in progress - LAYERS OF LASAGNA - a film discussing
how a formerly reclusive yet very talented performer
changes through the empowering act of performance.
Directed by Jon Goldman, the film is a portrait of
Lasagna, a fifty-six year old political satirist/
humorist/musician and is based in part on his recent
performances called "The University of Dave
Lecture Series: Partisan Politics Meets the Tooth
Fairy." Dave's humor is a cathartic journey of
self-discovery and is positioned somewhere between a
modern Prof. Irwin Corey, Steven Wright, Spaulding
Gray, Estelle Parson's/Roberto Athayde's Miss
Margarida and Woody Allen.
Emanating from a workshop in the summer of 2004 at
the Woods Hole Film Festival from an idea tossed about
between two filmmakers, Judy Laster and Kate Davis,
(both co-founders of the festival) a collaborative
filmmaking project began.
The film would be centered on the day of a
performance of an iconoclastic performer who was to
appear at the 2004 Cape Cod-based festival.
The project changed course after the end of that
year's festival and, with Jon Goldman directing, the
newly named project sought to encompass not only
Lasagna's irreverent comedic "styling", but
his growth over his recent performances. With the
addition of interviews, the film was no longer just a
glimpse into a "day in the life of a performer as
he neurotically prepares for a show", each
performance became a way for an entertainer to emerge
over time from behind his fears to find comfort in his
rapport with an audience.
"I knew of David's infamous pre-show jitters,
which is what the first idea was to focus on; but it
became clearer to me that the more poignant story was
about a very talented guy who survives on the margins
for so long almost as a hermit even though he's been
performing for 25 years. His performances have a
transformative effect both on him and his audience.
His characters/alter egos Cowboy Bob-Bart, Willy of
the Slow and Dr. Physician Pepper are the physical
embodiment of his self-education, his intellectual
grappling with the big issues of our time, and how
their (his) "truths" can be a combination of
tragic and hilarious and at the same time be deeply
moving."
Currently in post-production, the piece is
scheduled for release this summer. Come ready to feast
on a real treat.
Interested parties can contact Jon Goldman via
email at j@goldmanarts.com
For the past ten years, J.C. Bouvier has led an
impassioned life as an arts administrator, freelance
writer and high technology gun for hire.
His clients and employers include: The Sundance
Film Festival, Media 100, Inc., Film Threat, Cytel
Inc., Boris FX, The Northampton Film Festival,
IndieWire, EditShare, Avid Technology and The Woods
Hole Film Festival where he currently hangs his hat as
the Managing Director. J.C. can be reached via his web
site, www.jcbouvier.com
