Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 405
Date: 1987-01-01
Subject: Interpersonal relations
People: Day, Dennis; Eyeford, Dean; Martin, Christine
Copyright Holder: Dennis Day

Clip Description
In this playful and humorous look at relationships scripted by Dennis Day, Rebecca, a graphics consultant, and Kevin, a systems analyst, have continuing encounters with each other. The nature of their relationship is never quite clear. Are they meeting for the first time or are they already embroiled in a relationship? The somewhat nonsensical conversations they have do little to clarify the situation. While Rebecca downs sugar cereals and candies and mourns the death of her cat, Kevin types away at a computer terminal, wearing his signature shades. Eventually, the two meet up again. "Please let's decide our future," Kevin implores. Rebecca contemplates. "Get in," she finally says, opening her brief case. The bright color palette employed sets the tone for the work. music is by Peter Gmehling. The bright-colored costumes and make-up worn by the performers were designd by Caroline Christie.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features the dance work "Sydney an der Wupper" by Bettina Woernle, and the comic piece "Oh Nothing" by Dennis Day.

"Sydney an der Wupper" is a film featuring the Australian dancer Meryl Tankard. Copyright: Eine X-Film Produktion, Bettina Woernle.

Dennis Day's humorous look at relationships centers on the continuing encounters between Rebecca, a graphics consultant, and Kevin, a systems analyst. Copyright: Dennis Day.

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/Oh139.HTML