Stay Me With Flagons

Stay Me With Flagons is Annie's solo journey through contemporary life in song, story, and foot percussion. Wise, irreverent, reckless, introspective and unpredictable, she walks through poignant, evocative and unforgettable vignettes with a light step, a painter's eye, and a mean guitar. Annie describes the show as "story kind of songs I've recorded previously, and some new ones of the type, with instrumental or spoken word segues."

She explains, "I used to be strictly a singer/songwriter (and guitar player). Then my style began to evolve away from songwriting and into storytelling. As a result, most of my songs are now narrative pieces. And they started becoming theatrical. So it seemed the next logical step was to put them into a theatrical setting, to present them as stories. This show strings together a series of narrative songs and spoken narrative, linked by music.

"At the theater you can also control the lighting, which is a big part of optimizing a performance. You bring focus to the important elements and darken extraneous ones."

And the theme? "Reflecting on contemporary culture, on the culture I grew up in. It reflects from a lot of different angles. It's not autobiography. I'm a fiction writer. But I've collected a lot of images over my life, hearing, observing, and living out stories. Then I kind of digest and recycle them.

"One song takes place in Ann Arbor in the early '70s, a war protest as seen from an observer's standpoint. There's also a segment on growing up. I was a little kid in the '60s, and I remember major events from the perspective of a very small child. That's reflected in the play. There's a scene of experiencing President Kennedy's assassination through my mother's actions, only vaguely comprehending that something is terribly wrong."

Stay Me With Flagons premiered in Ann Arbor, MI, July 19-22, 2001.

New!

Annie has a new theatrical piece, Skinny Arms, set to debut in August 2002. Details here! If you can help arrange a performance in your area, please contact Annie.