Blue Men Invade Crimson

The three founding members of Blue Man Group, a performance artist group from New York, discussed the group's philosophy before an overflowing crowd of about 500 in the Science Center yesterday afternoon.

After the three briefly showed pieces of their work on a video screen, Blue Man Chris Wink spoke for an hour about the group's underlying philosophy.

With an extensive slide show, he illustrated the distinction between "heroes" and "clowns". The clown, he explained, is the part of the human spirit that was pushed aside "when you went to the first day of school... ready to rock, ready to roll, and everyone was looking at you. Because you looked weird."

Wink described the Blue Man dynamic as an attempt to oscillate between heroism and "clownicity" without falling into the last of the three categories in their taxonomy: "regular people."

Heroes are driven by a sense of purpose, while clowns are content to simply be who they are, Wink said. Regular people are merely trying to avoid the unpleasantness of outside examination.

The slide show included photographs and sculptures by other artists, and Wink stopped frequently to read quotations he thought were appropriate. The central theme was what Wink called "masks": cultural expectations and images that both regular people and heroes display.

Wink said the Blue Man ensemble (now 12 people who rotate shows) tries to simplify and escape from obfuscation: "We've taken a dive into this magical realm called clowning, and there's a reason it doesn't use words."

Wink, along with co-founders Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton, expanded on the group's past when responding to questions afterward.

The music that currently forms the show's backbone was entirely absent at first. Then the three founders asked some musicians to improvise accompaniment and were shocked at the new-wave-ish response.

"Why did you do that?" they asked.

"Well," the musicians replied, "You know, you guys just looked...weird."

The powerful tribal drumming they now use came as a natural reaction.

After the official close of the program, Wink, Goldman and Stanton chatted with about 30 people, among them a graduate student writing a doctoral dissertation on the group. In this even less formal setting, they talked about topics such as grunge music, theater critics and psychotherapy.

Wink continually emphasized that the group wanted to avoid being seen only as teachers or presenters, both on-stage and off.

Near the end of his talk, he said, "we think of it less as theater and more as a ritual for the ritual-challenged." Then he grinned, and added, "Was that good? I just thought of that now."

The event yesterday was part of Harvard-Radcliffe's Learning From Performers program. The Blue Man Group is currently playing a long-term engagement at the Charles Playhouse in Boston

Wink, along with co-founders Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton, expanded on the group's past when responding to questions afterward.

The music that currently forms the show's backbone was entirely absent at first. Then the three founders asked some musicians to improvise accompaniment and were shocked at the new-wave-ish response.

"Why did you do that?" they asked.

"Well," the musicians replied, "You know, you guys just looked...weird."

The powerful tribal drumming they now use came as a natural reaction.

After the official close of the program, Wink, Goldman and Stanton chatted with about 30 people, among them a graduate student writing a doctoral dissertation on the group. In this even less formal setting, they talked about topics such as grunge music, theater critics and psychotherapy.

Wink continually emphasized that the group wanted to avoid being seen only as teachers or presenters, both on-stage and off.

Near the end of his talk, he said, "we think of it less as theater and more as a ritual for the ritual-challenged." Then he grinned, and added, "Was that good? I just thought of that now."

The event yesterday was part of Harvard-Radcliffe's Learning From Performers program. The Blue Man Group is currently playing a long-term engagement at the Charles Playhouse in Boston