Painted Snake in a Painted Chair

Written by Ellen Maddow and presented by The Talking Band, Painted Snake in a Painted Chair is a story of five long-time friends, whose unexpected friendship is as solid and intense as a family’s. The character’s stories unfold in a manner that induces the sensation of reading a novel: one savors the discovery of seemingly disparate events until they are ultimately linked together. The house where they meet also functions as a character in the play. When they gather there they feel hyper-real and larger-than-life. On the evening in which the play is set, they gather to expel a swarm of bees that have moved into the attic. As a result, the house reveals some of its mysterious secrets. Music amplifies the heightened sense of meaning the friends have when they are together. It pours forth suddenly from unexpected places: when someone lifts the lid of a pot of soup, switches on a lamp, or sinks down onto a sofa, drenching the atmosphere with mystery, hunger, fear or beauty.