ON GRIFFIN ALLEY - EXPANDED CINEMA PERFORMANCE BY CONNIE WINSTON AND JOEY HUERTAS AKA JANE PUBLIC

ON GRIFFIN ALLEY: A Recreation of the Life, Trial, and Execution of Lena Baker Expanded Cinema Performance by Connie Winston and Joey Huertas AKA Jane Public Saturday, July 26 at 8 PM Le Petit Versailles 346 East Houston St. (at Ave. C) -- On Griffin Alley is a re-imagining of the trial of Lena Baker, a 44-year old Black American female who was convicted of killing Ernest B. Knight, her 56-year old white male employer with whom she also was engaged in an illicit love affair in Jim Crow Cuthbert, Georgia. Baker became the first and only woman to ever be electrocuted in the State of Georgia. The year was 1944. Baker’s trial lasted for less than one full day, and her jury was comprised of twelve white males. The trial transcript is approximately ten pages long. On Griffin Alley, a work in progress, is an interdisciplinary experiment, fusing theatre and expanded cinema techniques. The goal is not to have a “clean, finished product,” but rather, it is an exploration of the process of the work, which subsequently becomes the work. Through the use of found artifacts, archival film footage, and sound design we hope to create a new language of performance. -- Connie Winston has performed at New York City venues as varied as HB Studios, the WorkShop Theater, McGinn/Cazale Theatre, HERE, LaMaMa, New Dramatists, the Ohio Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Soho Rep, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lincoln Center. She has had the pleasure of working with the Talking Band founded by former members of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theatre. Regionally, she has performed as Mrs. Muller in Doubt at the Riverside Theatre, Sadie Delaney in Having Our Say at the Hangar Theatre and Libby in Bee-luther-hatchee at Florida Studio Theatre. Joey Huertas (aka Jane Public) holds a BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase's Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film, and an MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work. He has exhibited around the world, at PS1 MoMA, MASS MoCA, North Adams, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Participant, Inc, NY among others. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including Art forum, the New York Times, Cineaste, and has been featured on NPR, BBC, and PBS. He has published two books, Homewrecka (JanePublicPress, 2010) and The Colors of Spring (JanePublicPress, 2011). The artist lives, blogs and works in New York. -- Le Petit Versailles events are made possible by Allied Productions, Inc., Gardeners & Friends of LPV, GreenThumb/NYC Dept. of Parks, Materials for the Arts, and the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs. LPV Exhibitions are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.