![]() ![]() And you could get a ‘contact high’ trance just by listening. The hyperventilating style of preaching and the word-smithing going on was just fantastic! VERY shamanic. And it was that wild abandon that really fascinated me. The Pentecostals worshipped with wild abandon. These churches were a far cry from the more rational, non-theatrical churches my family would actually attend. I had a character named Sister Alice Tully Hall (that I performed at the Serious Fun! Festival at Alice Tully Hall) that was based on these folks. I would wake up before everybody else and watch shows (the church groups would buy the cheapest time which which was usually about 6 AM) where they would be singing hymns with these particular backwoods atonal harmonies that I would sing around the house and later incorporate into Bongwater songs. And there was always a story in the newspaper about someone dying from being bitten at church from snake handling. Now many people would just turn it off but I was very fascinated by it. These folks bought the cheapest TV time early in the morning and were on the radio a lot in West Virginia. ![]() Those were the folks from the hollers-with snake handling and strychnine drinking, speaking in tongues, and hyperventilating with the faith healing and laying on of hands. The churches we went to were quite middle class and staid compared to the Pentecostal folks represented on local radio and TV. This sort of hate-filled Christianity you see in the media these days was something I was not initially exposed to. Plus he loved all the little children of the world. My understanding was that Jesus preached unconditional love and complete acceptance. ![]() Grandma Magnuson was also one heck of an ‘outsider folk artist’ too-she made these fantastic otherworldly looking dolls out of pipe cleaners and old stockings and fabric remnants that I’m planning to use in a new set of videos called Dream Puppet Theatre.īetween her and my very benevolent Sunday school at the ‘First Presby’ Church in Charleston, West Virginia, I had a positive experience growing up with Christianity. I never knew him, he died long before I was born but my grandmother was a true believer and she was a really positive role model for me. Can you talk about that preoccupation and specifically the intersections you see in your own work between performance and religion?Īnn Magnuson: Well, my grandfather was a Swedish Evangelist and a minister in the Presbyterian Church. You come from West Virginia, and I understand that you grew up with a fascination for, and some access to, snake handlers. Wendy Clupper Meier: Let’s start with your beginnings. She names a staggering list of influences, including: “ Soupy Sales, Bugs Bunny, The Smothers Brothers, David Bowie, The New York Dolls, punk rock, The Ramones, Patti Smith, Alfred Jarry, Isadora Duncan, Broadway shows, avant-garde theatre (of the absurd), Ionesco, 50s, 60s and 70s TV variety shows, hippies, psychedelic, glam rock, outsider art, rituals, Jesus Christ, Carl Jung, The Wonderful World of Disney, especially the live action movies he produced in the 50s and 60s my brother and our long walks in the woods of West Virginia, and the hills and hollers and mostly my grandmother Magnuson.” What follows is an abbreviated discussion about Magnuson’s faith in both work and life in art.* If you watch her perform or listen to her solo recordings-“The Luv Show” (1995), “Pretty Songs & Ugly Stories” (2007), “The Jobriath Medley” (2012)-you will see a rare performer who can inhabit many characters while simultaneously referencing moments of personal/national socio-cultural significance. Right, Anything but Love, and Frasier) as well as the cult status of punk rock musician (Bongwater), cabaret singer, and solo performer. She has enjoyed both commercial success in the categories of popular film and television ( Modern Family, Panic Room, Clear and Present Danger, Making Mr. Arguably, Magnuson’s work has been largely neglected in theatre scholarship because it transcends genre. Wendy Clupper Meier talks with NYC East Village 80s icon, cult movie darling, performance artist, and chanteuse Ann Magnuson about her career, artistic inspirations, and growing up in a Christian church in West Virginia. Deas die Vind van my Mnr Megtaláljam a Mr Zistenie, môj Pán Právo Iskanju moje G. Right Encontrar a mi Señor Trouver mon Droit M. ![]()
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