Prose and Confluence: A Queer Cowboy Musical at Shotgun Players

Prose and Confluence is a queer cowboy musical, featuring an original score and script, that playfully explores themes of loss, mourning, and understanding. Telling the tale of a grieving river hermit and his homunculus like creation, The WaterBoy, Prose and Confluence is a surreal performance and existential experiment utilizing theatrical scenes, projections, soundscapes, live music, essay, and visual art to explore the profound grief which stems from an inability to articulate pain to others. With musicality as the throughline the Klanghaus team crafts an experience that is intimate, soft and meditative while maintaining a childlike playfulness. Akin to a lullaby, Prose and Confluence seeks to heal the harm caused by the romanticized delusion of the stoic individual ‘man.’

Following the success of their recent production How We Spend Our Days, CounterPulse House Artist Klanghaus invites audiences to float in the waters of Prose and Confluence, a touring performance that will perform in theaters around the Bay Area including Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse and Z Below. These community partnerships represent a new and holistic direction for larger theater companies of the bay area–supporting experimental arts groups creating new and exciting performances. Klanghaus hopes to demonstrate the possibilities that can arise from partnerships between established companies with decades of experience with emerging art ensembles.