Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 409
Date: 1986-01-01
Duration: 00:00:48

Subject: Interpersonal relations
People: Lord, Chip; Marcus, Richard
Copyright Holder: Chip Lord

Clip Description
In Chip Lord's "Ballplayer" Richard Marcus delivers a stark monologue about the disintegration of a relationship and his interest in baseball. Marcus describes how an unnamed woman met his plane at the San Francisco airport and told him, "I'm seeing someone else. " He describes his reactions and his (not unrelated) interest in the upcoming baseball season. Marcus discusses the loyalties fans have for the sport and for particular teams, even as players move from club to club and teams move from city to city. He recounts his participation in a pick-up game and a big play he makes to win the game. "On the strength of that catch, I'm a ballplayer again, " he tells us. Except for headshots of Richard Marcus, there is little peripheral footage. Scenes from the San Francisco airport precede his monologue, and images and sounds of a baseball stadium bring the piece to a close.

In this short excerpt, Chip Lord reminisces about the big play he makes to win the game, and his miraculous catch.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features Chip Lord's "Ballplayer" a monologue-based work with Richard Marcus, and "Dancers, Buildings, and People in the Street," a video dance homage to critic Edwin Denby by Rudy Burckhardt with choreographer Douglas Dunn.

In Chip Lord's "Ballplayer," Richard Marcus delivers a stark monologue about the disintegration of a relationship and his interest in baseball. Copyright: Chip Lord.

Named after a collection of dance writings of the same name, "Dancers, Buildings, and People in the Street," is "for and from" the dance critic Edwin Denby. Copyright: Rudy Burckhardt?

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Ballplayer114.HTML