"As an artist Amanda is fearless," echoes Gideon Lester, Bard's director of theater programs. "She's equally in love with the creative process and the actual results." Such artistic courage and affinity for drama's down-'n'-dirty development side have been imperative to "The Bed Show," which began with only a loosely defined concept—Palmer and cast are enticingly evasive on what it is—the substance conjured almost entirely through cathartic rehearsals.
What should audiences expect? "To be confused, awakened, and confronted with pain," the creator says. "It's a graphic piece, with heavy content. It's not for children, unless you're the kind of parent who wants to expose your kids to the elements." Should we anticipate more taboo-trouncing button pushing from an artist known for occasional on stage nudity? Palmer squints her famously filigreed eyebrows. "I don't like pushing people's buttons," she says. "I like making myself feel things, and making other people feel. That steps on buttons accidentally. But it's usually not the intention."
Whatever surprises Palmer has in store, the odds are good they'll have us talking long afterward.
"The Bed Show" will run at the Bard College Fisher Center for the Arts in Annandale-on-Hudson on November 5, 6, 7, and 8 at 7pm and November 8 at 2pm. Fishercenter.bard.edu. The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer (Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Group) is out now. On November 29, Palmer and Neil Gaiman will appear at area bookstores the Golden Notebook (Woodstock), Oblong Books (Rhinebeck), and the Spotty Dog Books & Ale (Hudson). Amandapalmer.net.
