Series: Alive From Off Center
Program: Mountain View
Date: 1989-01-01
Duration: 00:01:30

Subject: Drama; Interpersonal relations
People: Alexander, Jane; Alexander, Jace; Desmond, Jim; Elkins, Doug; Grossman, Caroline; Hidaka, Chisa; Lee, Nathaniel E. ; Miller, Marta Jo; Phillion, Christine; Renzi, Marta; Sayles, John; Shultz, Mary
Copyright Holder: John Sayles and Marta Renzi

Clip Description
John Sayles and Marta Renzi's work spans a period of 24 hours in a motel named "Mountain View." This short excerpt shows a frenetic dance sequence in the hotel bar. While this sequence features the music of The Pogues in the actual program, it is mute throughout this short clip.

Program Description
This episode of "Alive From Off Center" features "Mountain View," a dance drama work created by choreographer Marta Renzi in collaboration with director John Sayles.

"Mountain View," 1989, is a dance drama work created by choreographer Marta Renzi in collaboration with director John Sayles that, through movement and very little spoken text, details the interaction of several people residing at or visiting a motel or motor inn named Mountain View. The work spans a period of about 24 hours, following the individuals through late afternoon, an evening spent in the motel bar, and a picnic-style social gathering the next day. Some of the characters encountered are the family who run the motel (a mother, her young adult son, and an older man, perhaps her father); a spunky, tomboyish girl; an interracial couple lodging at the motel; a young mother; a pair of newlyweds; a barfly; three people involved in a love triangle; and the punkish friends of the motel owner's son. Cynthia Flint designed the costumes. The varied musical score consists of works by Schubert, Tammy Wynette, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, The Pogues, and the Stanley Brothers. The work won the Procirep Award in Cannes, France, for best Short Feature in 1989. Produced by Susan Dowling, Grace Prinzi and Marta Renzi. Directed by John Sayles.

"Alive From Off Center" was established in 1985 as a production of KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis) . The show featured independent works by artists in a variety of media. Its showcase format was similar to the Workshop's "New Television" series. At some point the series changed its name to "ALIVE TV." Many works created by or for the Workshop were also shown on "Alive From Off Center." Additionally, some Workshop produced pieces were co-produced and/or commissioned by KTCA specifically for the series. Susan Dowling served as Executive Producer for these programs.

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/Mountain10.HTML