The Four Stages: A Hysterical Manual

Amanda Plus James Productions

The Four Stages: A Hysterical Manual 
MANUAL + Film + Performance
An instructional triptych for the aspiring hysteric.

Premiere:
Christie’s New York I September 2017
Additional Performances: 
Triskelion Arts Dance Film Festival I September 2017
Ludlow House I November 2018
Raw Pop Up Art Basel Miami I December 2018
Raw Pop Up The Moore Building Miami I May 2018
Sarah Lawrence Dance Film Festival I March 2019

The art of diagnosis has long belonged to theory in medicinal practice. In some circumstances, it has been represented, demonstrated, and defended in the theatrical setting. The most famous stage in this sense was constructed by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot in 19th-century Paris at the Salpêtrière hospital—where Charcot’s influential study of hysterical women dissolved the boundaries between performance and illness.

The Four Stages turns Dr. Charcot’s diagrams and writings into choreographic directives. His lectures are molded into a multimedia triptych that explores and celebrates the performance of female insanity.

"I imagine everyone is more or less familiar with the bizarre characteristics of nervous women."