Channeling 2001

Directed by Cheryl Donegan

Juxtaposing two restagings of a melodramatic scene from Tommy, The Who's rock opera, Channeling analyzes the ways in which media cannibalizes, revises, and resurrects itself. In Donegan's almost psychedelic renditions, a silver-garbed, red-wigged performer capers in a theatrical non-space of foil, plastic, police tape, and rescanned video images of Tommy star Ann-Margret. In Channeling in 4 Versions, actress Garland Hunter enacts the scene, and then, in a silent version (Channeling in 5 Versions), Donegan herself takes the role.