Artists Space

Dear Jane

Puppet Show & Readings
January 23, 2017, 7pm

On the occasion of her centenary,
an evening in honor of Jane Bowles.


Featuring


A puppet play by Jane Bowles, staged by Nick Mauss, and starring Deborah Eisenberg and Lynne Tillman.

Black and white photograph of two women, one in a white dress and the other in a black niqab and sunglasses, walking arm in arm in a narrow street.
Jane Bowles with Cherifa in Tangier, 1967. Photo: Terrence Spencer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty. [Black and white photograph of two women, one in a white dress and the other in a black niqab and sunglasses, walking arm in arm in a narrow street.]

Readings by:


Gini Alhadeff
Negar Azimi
Yto Barrada
Lidija Haas
James Hannaham
Fran Lebowitz
Tiffany Malakooti
Nick Mauss
Ariana Reines
Christine Smallwood
Pamela Sneed
Emily Stokes

Music by Paul Bowles

The writer Jane Bowles passed away too early—in 1973 at the age of 56 after having spent two decades in the Moroccan port city of Tangier. At Tennessee Williams’ urging, The New York Times gave her a proper obituary, quoting John Ashbery: “Few surface literary reputations are as glamorous as the underground one she has enjoyed.” And yet despite her cultish following, she remains unknown to swathes of readers. The occasion of the Library of America’s publication of her collected works offers up a chance to look at her astonishing, antic work anew.


Organized by Bidoun with Negar Azimi, Pati Hertling, Tiffany Malakooti, and Lynne Tillman



Copies of Jane Bowles: Collected Writings (Library of America, 2017), edited by Millicent Dillon, will be available in the bookshop.

For more information on this publication click here

Excerpt from "Plain Pleasures," 1946, read by Gini Alhadeff. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure in a red sweater reads from a text, speaking into a microphone.]
Excerpt from a letter to Natasha von Hoershelman and Katharine Hamill by Jane Bowles, June 1954, read by Tiffany Malakooti. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure with wavy brown hair reads from a text, speaking into a microphone.]
Letter to Paul Bowles, late May/early June, 1958, read by Ariana Reines. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure wearing glasses and a white sweater reads from a text, speaking into a microphone.]
Excerpt from "Two Serious Ladies," 1943, read by James Hannaham. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure wearing a blue sweater reads from a text, speaking into a microphone.]
Excerpt from "Camp Cataract," 1949, read by Christine Smallwood. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure reads from a book, speaking into a microphone. She wears a front-facing baby carrier.]
A Quarreling Pair," a play by Jane Bowles, staged by Nick Mauss, and starring Deborah Eisenberg and Lynne Tillman. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [Two people sit on either side of a small puppet theater, reading from a printed text. Two puppets dressed in plastic bags perform as they read.]
Excerpt from "Two Serious Ladies," 1943, read by Lidija Haas. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure wearing a red scarf reads from a book, speaking into a microphone.]
Letter to George McMillan, New York City, 1935, read by Fran Lebowitz. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure wearing a suit jacket and glasses reads from a printed text, speaking into a microphone.]
Letter to “Spivy” LeVoe, Deal Beach, NJ, January 29, 1937, read by Nick Mauss. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 18, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure reads a printed letter to an audience, speaking into a microphone.]
Letter to Paul Bowles, August, 1948, read by Pamela Sneed. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 23, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure wearing glasses speaks to an audience through a microphone.]
Letter to Miriam Fligelman Levy, New York City, 1936, read by Emily Stokes. Dear Jane. Puppet play & readings documentation, January 23, 2017, Artists Space. [A figure reads from a text, speaking through a microphone.]