I didn’t want to do another meditation on death. I wanted to ponder life and survival in its wake. The characters in MAYBE IT’S COLD OUTSIDE are the same as in DOWN IN THE MOUTH. The work was an elegy, tracing the lives of five characters from childhood through school into adulthood, focusing on their rivalries and loyalties, their hopes and fears.

The scenic design was a visual manifestation of Time to parallel the dramatic progression of the characters’ lives, containing a leitmotif of clocks, school benches, six dormitory beds with scrim-like curtains, a “science” table and, strung from the ceiling, sandbags that would plummet to the ground at seemingly random intervals, the fickle visitations of catastrophe.

In one scene, while the characters sleep in their dormitory beds, their dreams are black and white films projected on the scrim-like curtains, revealing their aspirations, their nightmares, or their hopes for future.

Story, choreography and direction by John Kelly; music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Vincenzo Bellini, Edward Elgar, Arvo Part and Igor Stravinsky; set design by Huck Snyder; film sections by Anthony Chase; lighting design by Stan Pressner; costume design by Katherine Maurer; wigs by Danilo; costume mistress, Hebe Joy. Produced by Liz Dunn for John Kelly Performance. Premiere: The Kitchen, NY, February 14, 1991. WITH: Kyle de Camp (Rage); John Kelly (Forge); Marleen Menard (Sympathy); Byron Suber (Tally); and Vivian Trimble (Tea). Cast shadows: Scott Pask and Scott Sensenig.