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Podcasts The Frame
Bess Wohl's (almost) wordless play; Spike TV spiked; Gabriel Kahane
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Episode 17668
Listen 25:39
Bess Wohl's (almost) wordless play; Spike TV spiked; Gabriel Kahane

"Small Mouth Sounds" was inspired by the playwright's experience at a three-day silent retreat; the bro-centric Spike TV channel is re-branded as The Paramount Network; composer Gabriel Kahane took a cross-country train trip and the result was a song cycle about Trump-era America.

Small Mouth Sounds LWT 8-17 181
Small Mouth Sounds, by Bess Wohl, directed by Rachel Chavkin at Long Wharf Theatre 8/29/17
Set design: Laura Jellinek
Costume Design: Tilly Grimes
Lighting Design: Mike Inwood

Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson
© T Charles Erickson Photography
tcepix@comcast.net
A scene from Bess Wohl's "Small Mouth Sounds"
(
T Charles Erickson
)

"Small Mouth Sounds" was inspired by the playwright's experience at a three-day silent retreat; the bro-centric Spike TV channel is re-branded as The Paramount Network; composer Gabriel Kahane took a cross-country train trip and the result was a song cycle about Trump-era America.

Listen 6:59
After the 2016 presidential election, the composer and pianist left his cell phone and the news cycles behind and boarded Amtrak for a cross-country trip.
Listen 10:59
Using as few words as possible, "Small Mouth Sounds" hashes out the human condition and the universality of suffering. And yet, there are laughs.