MIND ON HEAVEN

A hybrid performance – part documentary, part conjuring, part performance art – MIND ON HEAVEN explores the boundaries of memory and embodiment. Using live audio and video mixes, original animation, archival texts, storytelling, and dance, two performers tune in to the vibrations of the late Dennis Palmer, a self-taught, avant-garde musician (The Shaking Ray Levis), painter of the American South, and a co-founder of the non-profit organization The Shaking Ray Levi Society.Sound designer Ben Williams and filmmaker Brian Cagle perform their own special ritual with MIND ON HEAVEN: a serious meditation on death, a humorous exploration of an artist’s identity, a nostalgic and bittersweet exploration of stereotypes and cultural tropes of the American South from 1950-1990, and an attempt to channel a very personal feeling associated with a close friend – a spirit of creation, generosity, and originality.Ben Williams works in the theater as an actor, sound designer, and director. He has collaborated with Elevator Repair Service, minor theater with Julia Jarcho, Christina Masciotti, Suzanne Bocanegra, Lily Whitsitt, Sibyl Kempson, Rich Maxwell and the NYC Players, The Wooster Group, and many others.

New York Times article about Ben Williams: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/26/theater/from-trump-to-grieg-a-terrifying-soundscape.html

Brian Cagle is a filmmaker (writer, director & executive producer) currently living in Chicago but originally hailing from the hills of East Tennessee. His films have been screened at a number of museums and film festivals around the US and particularly in the Southeast, such as Downstream International Film Festival, IndieGrits, and IndieMemphis.