By
Lisa Lucas
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Lisa Kron performs her solo piece this weekend at the International Arts Center
Audience members may not be physically flipped upside down during Lisa Kron's dramatic "roller-coaster" performance this weekend, but they may leave the theater feeling a bit shaken up.
Kron, a well-known lesbian performance artist, will intertwine the tales of three major events in her life, as well as her general experiences as a lesbian, in her show "2.5 Minute Ride" this weekend in the International Arts Center, 516 N. Fifth Ave.
Kron said "Ride" has been touring for about six years, although the first four were spent developing the performance she uses today. She added that working on the piece was "a very complex and intense experience."
Ken Foster, executive director of UApresents, organized Kron's appearance at the University of Arizona this year after seeing her perform a little over a year ago in New York.
"I was blown away by what she had done," Foster said.
He described her performance as "amazing," reminiscing about her middle-class, Jewish family taking annual trips to an amusement park, while intertwining other tales along the way.
"Her dad was the ring-leader of this trip because he wanted to ride the roller-coaster," Foster said. "That's the '2.5 minute ride.' The title is that the roller-coaster ride takes two and a half minutes."
Foster described the tale of Kron's family trips as "hilarious," even though the story is countered by a tale of Kron's father's experience during his first trip back to Auschwitz, the concentration camp in which his parents had been imprisoned during World War II.
This portion of the show "has to do with my relationship to my father's history as a German-Jewish Holocaust survivor," Kron said.
Foster compared Kron's performance to the three-time Academy Award winning film "Life is Beautiful."
"In 'Life is Beautiful,' you found yourself laughing and giggling and playing along with this concentration camp thing," Foster said.
Comparing this to Kron's performance, he added "2.5 Minute Ride" "has that feel to it that you take something horrible and juxtapose it with something funny."
"Because of the way (Kron) juxtaposes the amusement park with the Holocaust, you may find yourself laughing and crying at the same time," he added.
Foster said he thought students would easily relate to the material Kron presents. He thought the aspect of the family trip would strike a chord with most students - as well as other audience members - since the topic is universal.
He added that he felt the presentation of the Holocaust would allow for a more "deeply felt" understanding of the event by students. He said the performance would elaborate on information students may have already acquired about the Holocaust through reading or television.
Foster said it would be a really "cool" performance since it will be held at the International Arts Center. He described the center as "a big empty room" that used to be a YMCA gymnasium.
Now a theater, Foster said the center promotes a more intimate feeling between Kron and her audience.
"What's neat about it is it connects the audience to the performer," he said. "You're seeing a single performer and you're in this big room with her and you're up very close."
Kron will captivate her audience for approximately one hour in two nightly performances this weekend. Foster said the length of the show reveals yet another aspect of how extraordinary a performer Kron really is.
"She's an amazing performer so she really engages you," Foster said. "She has you laughing hysterically over the roller coaster story one minute and the next minute, you're in tears over the Holocaust story. The way she can flip you back and forth between emotions like that is pretty extraordinary."
Kron said she hopes people are entertained by her performance but that they come away from it seeing the world from a new perspective.
"It's my intention always to do something that's different from what people have seen before," she said. "(To) make (them) see the world a little differently."
Foster added the show would not leave audience members in a melancholy mood.
"It's definitely not a downer show," he said. "You will laugh during this show, you will have fun during this show, but it's also very poignant - it's very touching."
Lisa Kron performs tonight and tomorrow night at 8 in Nations Hall at the International Arts Center, 516 N. Fifth Ave. General tickets are $35. Call 903-0918 for more information.
