I shaped this solo work into three parts: The Past, where we encounter the character of Swan Boy in his naive youth; The Future, where he consults the Tarot and keeps uncovering cards with lemons painted on them, almost like a slot machine, card after card of lemons; and The Present, where Swan Boy opens a gift box and the present is a skull.

He then uncoils a thick length of rope and places it in a circle on the floor around himself, the chair, and the lemons. He sits in the chair and turns to face the audience. The skull has become part of his body; it rests in his crotch. Opening a pocketknife, he exposes a bare wrist and places the tip of the blade on the tender skin. A hanging lightbulb illuminates above his head. He then finds himself looking past the pain, past his wrist, past the disease, the turmoil, the savage sense of loss, down to the floor. Something has distracted him.

He moves the point of the blade past his wrist toward the ground where it then punctures a lemon, which he bites into, embracing his fate, taking part in the continuation of his life, choosing to become a collaborator, not a victim; a participant, not a bystander.

Story, choreography, direction, text, set design by John Kelly
music by Wal Berg and Camille Francois, Georges Bizet, George Enescu, Ari Frankel, Gustav Mahler, Joni Mitchell, Morrissey, Henry Purcell, Robert Schumann, The Smiths and Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
musical arrangements by Philip Lasser
lighting design by Carol Mullins
sound design by Tim Schellenbaum
costume mistress: Hebe Joy

Work-in-progress premiere produced by The Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, NY, October 1995.
Premiere produced by The Joyce Theater and Liz Dunn for John Kelly Performance, The Joyce Theater, NY, October 10, 1996.