Crack of Dawn
In developing Call It a Day we worked mostly with longform improvisations to develop material and ideas. Eventually this longform development grew into its own durational work. Crack of Dawn is a drop-in-drop-out performance that takes place continuously over the course of an entire day from sunrise to sunset, dictated by time zone and time of year. Me and three other performers feel our way through repeated versions of the same conversation for the whole day with no breaks, incorporating meals into the performance.
Crack of Dawn comes from the same conceptual centre as the theatre performance Call It a Day, but the two works play out much differently.
In January 2009, Greg Wohead and his then-partner found themselves in rural Illinois sitting at the kitchen table of an Amish couple, Samuel and Martha Herschberger. Across that table, they attempted to share a conversation across divergent perspectives.
Crack of Dawn is a day-long improvised durational performance that takes place continuously from sunrise to sunset, taking the idea of that original conversation as its source and replaying it again. And again and again and again.
As the day carries on, the performers work their way through against a live responsive soundtrack, becoming increasingly exhausted, drawing longform connections, letting their guard down and exploring ideas of understanding and misunderstanding, connection and disconnection and familiarity and strangeness.
Jokes recur, façades slip and there might be Time After Time karaoke.
Crack of Dawn (online)
We were invited to present Crack of Dawn online at GIFT Festival in 2020. This new version of the work converged with a specific moment in time, taking place live online from sunrise to sunset (BST) on 2 May 2020.
Live version:
Concept and performance Greg Wohead
Originally realised & performed with Tim Bromage, Mireya Lucio, Amelia Stubberfield and Ben Babbitt
Composing and sound design Ben Babbitt
Scene Design Consultant Shannon Scrofano
Producer Laura Sweeney
Photography Gema Galiana
Online version:
Concept and performance Greg Wohead
Performed with Tim Bromage, Catriona James and Amelia Stubberfield
Creative Production Management Jo Palmer
Original Music Maxwell Sterling
Images by Claire Nolan
Online version originally presented at GIFT Festival with technical and administrative support from Kate Craddock, Jason Crouch and Melanie Rashbrooke.
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With thanks to artists and performers who have been involved in the development of Crack of Dawn: Eirini Kartsaki, Ryan Masson, Lisa Dring, Ernie Silva, Mo Faraji, Vera Chok, Season Butler, Hector Dyer, Jesse Saler, Jessica Hanna, Jorge Andrade, José Capela, Vânia Rodrigues.
Crack of Dawn is co-commissioned by Theatre in the Mill, South Street, University of Reading, Chapter and The Yard with additional support from Shoreditch Town Hall. The development was supported by a residency programme with Los Angeles Performance Practice at CAP UCLA and mala voadora’s Dois por Dois residency program supported by Inresidenceporto. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England with additional funding by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.