Masque of the Red Death

Masque of the Red Death was a collaboration between grunt and Public Dreams of a multimedia performance production based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same title. In this version, produced during the height of the AIDS crisis, seven artists were commissioned to develop installations addressing levels of denial within our culture. Public Dreams then commissioned individual artists to produce performances in each of the rooms, based on the artists’ themes; the audience participated in the event by becoming the guests that attended Prince Prospero's ball. Many participated through all nine performances. Masque was an important milestone for grunt for a host of reasons. It was the largest project we had ever produced and it changed the way we did things. Because it included a full-scale renovation of a 5,000-square-foot warehouse space that fully complied with permitting, fire code and zoning laws, it really tested the limits of both organizations. It was an important lesson in dealing with city hall and the regulators, and we learned a lot through it. More importantly it served as an introduction to the First Nations community, working with Archer Pechawis, Aiyyana Maracle, and Donald Morin. It started a relationship between grunt and the First Nations community that exists to this day. Also, the mix of grunt and Public Dreams started a relationship that has reaped bounties for this type of work.