Nice to Understand You
Nice to Understand you is a tangent in seven parts. Based on interviews with a machine specialist and conversationalist in Gowanus, Brooklyn, it is also a micro-study of one working man with a lot to say.
Nice to Understand You began as a research and performance project documenting people working in and around the Gowanus manufacturing neighborhood. A series of questions were developed to gain insight into their experiences of work, attributes of their daily lives, and their individual characters. Hugo Picciani’s unique perspective and gregarious personality changed the nature of the project. A childhood walk became the frame for a collection of stories about work, music, radios, women, aging and New York.
Conceived by Stephanie Skaff and developed with: Johanna Linsley (direction); Paul Damian Hogan (original music/sound); Kelly Kivland (choreography); Nathan Elbogen (site/visuals); and Hugo Picciani (text). Performed at the Old American Can Factory, with radio transmitters from Free103.9 and additional support from the Puffin Foundation.