One of ERS' most popular pieces, Cab Legs infuses a classic love story with frantic choreography from Indian movie musicals and Betty Boop cartoons. Blending raucous 50s Colombian dance music and several very creaky antique chairs into its boisterous audio score, the show seduces audiences with a hushed intensity.

In 1997, Cab Legs marked a departure for ERS. For Cab Legs (the title being the group's name for a dance move it copped from a 1930s Cab Calloway routine), the company reconceived its comedic stylings from a new emotional center. The show combines ERS' characteristically broad physical comedy with subtler, quieter passages that are both funny and poignant.

Formally, Cab Legs is a reimagination of what sorts of actions, sounds and sets can constitute theater. In this piece, ERS radically extends its sound stage, with much of the show's action coming through sound from distant parts of the building. Another of Cab Legs'innovations: the company's actors paraphrase almost all their lines from night to night, setting each performance in a zone somewhere between improvisation and traditionally rehearsed recitation. Each performance of the piece maintains a fresh edge without sacrificing structure or direction.

PAST PERFORMANCES

• 1996 The Performing Garage (as "Catastrophe!")
• 1997 Performance Space 122
• 1997 Belluard-Bolwerk Festival, Fribourg, Switzerland
• 1997 Sommerszene, Salzburg
• 1997 Stadtklang, Münster
• 1998 XXX Festival / Holland Festival, Amsterdam
• 1998 Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brussels
• 1998 Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 1999 Berliner Festwochen, Sophiensaele, Berlin

PRESS

Performing Arts Journal May 1998
Some Sort of Awakening by Mark Zimmerman

de Volkskrant (Amsterdam) 25 May 1998
ERS toont dat het verhaal er niet toe doet by Marian Buijs

Le Soir (Brussels) 25 May 1998
Une imparable romance à l'eau d'eros by Laurent Ancion

Performing Arts Journal Nov 1997
North America by Tish Dice

New Yorker 15 Sep 1997
Illustration

Salzburger Nachrichten (Salzburg) 13 Aug 1997
Das schwer machbare Leichtfüssige by Mario Jandrokovic

CAST

• Peter Ackerman
• Steve Bodow
• Leo Marks
• Rinne Groff
• James Hannaham
• Scott Shepherd
• Susie Sokol
• Tory Vazquez

Jonathan Feinberg originated the role now played by Leo Marks.

Leslie Buxbaum played "Maggie" in Berlin.

• Directed by John Collins and Steve Bodow
• Lighting by Clay Shirky
• Sound by Blake Koh
• Choreography by Katherine Profeta and ERS
• Costumes by Colleen Werthmann and Carson Kreitzer
• Stage Managed by Zoe E. Rotter

Jay Worthington designed lighting for "Catastrophe!"