Fever Dream: A Return Performance Ritual

Fever Dream: A Return Performance Ritual by Scout Davis :: Supported by FRFAF (#2021-010) from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.

“Fever Dream” is a new solo performance work by CMU School of Drama MFA student Scout Davis, supported by Microgrant #2021-010 from the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier.

Fever Dream is a new solo work which explores the embodiment and re-embodiment of Scout’s past self through various forms and mediums including tapes of a Santa Monica Acting Class from 2004/2005 (where their mental processing/sexuality/gender identity was beginning to bud but remained silent inside their body), Peggy Lee’s Is That All There Is? (sung to them by their grandfather at a very young age-acting as a prophecy of the life to come and the dependency on drugs and alcohol to forget the trauma of the past) and other major moments of evolution.

The work utilizes the device of great augmentation of self within a larger than life drag persona (via lip syncs to past mediums and Scott themself as a material including family home videos etc.) In this exploration, there is something almost Artaudian, there is a working out of or exorcising out the secrets and lies that have kept Scott captive for so long. There is a great sense of cruelty when reacquainting oneself to past traumas and combining that with larger than life performance of self, a true cathartic act can take place. This layered process is supported through durational movement through great sustained endurance towards a new state of enlightenment, healing, and understanding.

Credits:

Conceived and performed by Scout Davis
Facilitated by Anne Cecelia DeMelo
Video projections by Matthias Neckerman
Scenic design by Lena Banchero
Full look designed by Jean Luc Deladurantaye and Gloria Swansong
Video assistance by Davine Byon and Jonathan Perez