DIVINE PROMISCUE is a meditation/lamentation on the public and personal, art and politics, the balance between work, love and survival. An artist named Randy works in his studio. He ventures out in search of sexual gratification and human contact. Frustrated by an unrewarding one-night stand, his fears spill from his dreams into his waking life when he wakes to find a huge pile of dirt, a “grave” symbol of his mortality, which triggers a furious, spasmodic dance, a masculine rendition of the mad scene from the ballet Giselle. With no one to blame, nowhere to turn, and no reasonable treatment on the horizon, he considers slashing his wrists with a broken beer bottle. Abandoning this route, he looks inside himself and voices his complaint to the gods: Why me?

“…the conscious, the unconscious … reality spilling into fiction … I am waging war … looking for a recognizable form with surprising content: a fish bowl filled with concrete … an eyelash on Buddha’s cheek, an absurdity to manifest … a kink in the ointment. I long to lose control, but I crave to give form.”

In the process of writing, Randy spills a pot of ink, which, it turns out, is white. In a moment of play and absurdity, he wipes the ink over his face and neck. Taking this idea further, he becomes that angel, the Winged Victory. As the white fabric of his shroud billows in the wind, he stands and sings The Cold Song by Henry Purcell, resolved to make music while waging victory.

Story, choreography, direction, set design by John Kelly; music by Adolphe Adam, George Enescu, Francesco Cilea, Joni Mitchell, Henry Purcell, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Kurt Weill; film sections by Anthony Chase; lighting design by Stan Pressner; taped piano accompaniment by Fernando Torm-Toha. Produced by the Serious Fun! Festival and Liz Dunn for John Kelly Performance. Premiere: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NY, July 23, 1992.