House Building Time

House Building Time
First National Tradeswoman Conference
Chicago, Illinois
1989

Conceived, choreographed, directed and produced by Pottenger to celebrate the 1st National Tradeswomen Conference, House Building Time is a 15 minute choreographed construction of a small house, including framing out the walls, windows and door, wiring an overhead light, plumbing water, and setting a roof of rafter trusses. In the time it takes Maria Callas to sing the “Mad Scene” from Donizetti’s Lucia de Lammamor, a team of working women, real carpenters, plumbers, electricians and laborers, all in yellow slickers, execute approximately 80 cues and finish as a lone electrician walks back towards the completed house, leans in, and pulls the light’s chain, turning on the light as the aria ends. 1st National Tradeswomen Conference in Chicago, Illinois.