Misterioso mimics magic loft

Has the fear of being imprisoned in a playhouse and forced to watch a production you found unbearable after the first 10 minutes kept you from exploring the world of theater?

Those bored by traditional plays should look no further than Misterioso-an unconventional theater experiment better described as a stroll through a museum exhibit. Here the theater experiences are many and varied, as the audiences possess total responsibility to create their own adventures once they step into the world of 1960s Manhattan. Misterioso seeks to challenge preconceived notions of modern theater as it recaptures the mood of New York City's jazz scene-where creativity flowed like wine, confrontation was encouraged and boredom strictly prohibited.

Misterioso continues the six-week-long homage to jazz great Thelonious Monk and is also part of the Center for Documentary Studies' Jazz Loft Project. The Loft's focus is on cataloguing and documenting cultural treasures found in legendary photographer W. Eugene Smith's New York City loft space. Approximately 3,000 hours of sound, recorded on 1,740 reel-to-reel tapes, and nearly 40,000 photographs were recovered. Smith's Manhattan loft was an epicenter for major jazz musicians of the day, including Monk, who would come to just hang out and play.

Artists such as Monk, Bill Evans, Roland Kirk, Chick Corea and even a young Bob Dylan could be typically found in the photographer's haven, playing music while an obsessed Smith recorded everything. The result is a monumental archive of the New York jazz scene from about 1957 to 1965, encompassing everything from musical genius to the NYC traffic below the 821 Sixth Ave. loft space.

Inspired by Smith's tapes, Misterioso was commissioned by the Theater Studies department with the goal of creating a "jazz play to recreate W. Eugene Smith's jazz loft scene," said Jay O'Berksi, play director and Department of Theater Studies Lecturing Fellow. The play comes together in Duke's own Smith Warehouse, an appropriate setting for this creative representation of original writing by students and faculty.

Within the confines of this warehouse space, nine separate 90-minute pieces all take place at the same time. Everything happens at once-actors portray the junkies, musicians and "hangers-on" that would be typically seen frequenting the loft space. Meanwhile, the audience is free to move between the works, similar to the way one meanders through a museum and its various exhibits.

"Misterioso is not just your dusty, chestnut type of theater that people are used to," O'Berski said. "This play is for people who are bored by passive theater and who enjoy an interactive experience that is a confrontational, dark and evil thing." The show culminates after an hour as the entire cast of musicians, singers and dancers come together for a live jazz concert.

Monk's legacy is revived in this unique fusion of pieces. O'Berski said he encourages the Duke population to come to Misterioso in order to experience the jazz loft culture and take advantage of the often overlooked Smith Warehouse space.