HYBERNATE
2014
Premiering in March 2014 at Philadelphia’s historic Latvian Society, HYBERNATE was created during an especially brutal Philadelphia winter. Montana described the idea as “reverse therapy on the season.” Instead of trying to escape the cold, he decided to exaggerate it and build an entire world inside of it.
The performance space was transformed into a handmade winter landscape. Shredded paper collected from around Philadelphia became snow that fell inside the theater. Seven foot snow queens towered over the performers while strange creatures moved through the room.
One of those creatures was a giant snow bear performed by Montana himself. Wearing jumping stilts, he transformed into a towering animal that moved through the winter landscape. The show also brought burlesque and drag into the frozen world, mixing those forms with contemporary dance.
One of the highlights of the show was a solo performed by Montana to four minutes of dialogue pulled entirely from love scenes and romantic comedies. With no traditional music driving the choreography, movie quotes became the soundtrack as Montana danced through an exaggerated collage of cinematic romance.
What made HYBERNATE especially unusual was how quickly it came together. Montana conceived and assembled the entire production in approximately one month. It was also his first production created and promoted entirely independently, outside of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Montana created the choreography and edited the music himself. He constructed the environment and fabricated the costumes and sculptures by hand. The cast also served as the crew. When scenery needed to move or part of the installation needed to be operated, the performers waiting offstage handled it themselves before stepping back onstage for their next scene.
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That lack of separation between cast and crew became another foundation of Montana’s work. Backstage developed its own choreography, with a precise order of operations happening alongside the performance the audience was watching. In many ways, the show happening backstage was just as interesting as the one happening onstage.
It also created a particular bond within the cast. Every night, the performers depended on one another to make the production work. That sense of everyone carrying the show together would become an important part of the way Gunnar Montana Productions worked.
Philadelphia Magazine called HYBERNATE a “winter wonderland burlesque” and highlighted the strange world Montana had created. G Philly named it one of its top events of the week, drawing attention to the seven foot snow queens and the indoor snowfall. The Philadelphia Inquirer also featured the production and its combination of performance styles and found materials.
HYBERNATE showed Montana that a complete theatrical world did not necessarily require months of development or the structure of a festival. In roughly one month, he could take an idea inspired by something as ordinary as a miserable Philadelphia winter and build an entire environment around it.
