“The Technical Vocabulary of an Interior Decorator” is the fifth musical that Los Super Elegantes did. The main characters are Mimi Patino played by Milena and Ferrucio Wolf played by Martiniano. Mimi is an interior decorator that uses new ideas and progressive techniques for her practice. She has various methods the most popular being : pick a paisley, decorating with dogs, tropic is the topic and doggy bag disco.

Mimi Patino and her assistant Paul Gelman sing

Ferrucio Wolf is a man in crisis that can not stand the objects he is surrounded by. He is the owner of a travel magazine and abruptly decides to change career and start a pasta company along with this change he has decided to hire Mimi Patino to transform his home.

Ferrucio sings

sketches for TTVOID

Building the set in Los Angeles in 2005

ceramic piece for Mimi Patino’s office

Image of the installation at Dan Hug gallery in Los Angeles

The redecoration of Ferrucio’s Home

"THE TECHNICAL VOCABULARY OF THE INTERIOR DECORATOR"
Los Super Elegantes 2005


The volume of the music is rising simultaneously with the lights in the whole set. Each character walks on to the stage separately and does a dance step along with the music, each person has a small action (talking on the cell phone, slipping, meeting up with a friend opening of an umbrella, asking for directions, all of this is accompanied by a sound effect in the song) one by one they arrive to a large whole in the wall with a neon sign on it that says “The Library”. Some people form a line while others just enter and dance in the club, the music is loud and you can hear people yelling over the music. Once everyone is inside the lights turn off and there is a video projection with the people entering the club (this is filmed in another space) and getting cocktails, each character either dancing, jumping, laughing, drinking slowly it becomes more and more chaotic, someone throws a beer on someone else’s head , another person starts crawling around etc…

Ferrucio: Who got us on the guest list?
Shirley: Oh. Mimi Patino. She designed this club in 98’. I’m having her redo my kitchen right now.
Marti yells: what’s her name again?
Shirley: Mimi Patino, its Mimi Patino!


Ferrucio walks out of the library towards his house with Claire. They are arm in arm and enter Ferruccio’s house talking.


Claire : I was looking over the last issue of the magazine. The piece on the new resorts of New Guinea was really strong, but I feel like the format has to change , it seems a little generic, you know, like an airplane magazine

Ferrucio: That‘s why I choose you to be the editor, you do your job like no one else. Well it’s about time I break the news, things wont change a thing for you but I just had a meeting with Micheal Berlin and it’s a done deal. I sold Bon Voyage magazine.

Claire: Look. I’ve known you for fifteen years. Do you think this is a surprise? I’m not even flinching. Anyway, people already started talking about it at the office. Oh well lets toast for new beginnings.

Ferrucio: Look. The idea of the magazine was to give people an escape from their ordinary lives. The illusion that they can get away from it all and that idea is fine but now I realize that I am the one who needs an escape. The magazine has trapped me in this city and I need to get away from it all. (the cell phone rings)

Kashandra is walking out of the club with her cell phone.

Kashandra: So, anything going on tonight?

Ferrucio: No. We are just hanging out at my place. Come by. It’s to the left of the club , the red door.

Kashandra: (walks in): News is news, I had Michael over for dinner last night and he told me all about the magazine. So what is next?

Ferrucio : You know what it is going to be? I’m interested in starting a fresh pasta company. Where can you get pasta that’s made the same day you eat it?

Claire and Kashandra look at each other with expressions of disbelief.

Ferrucio: This is the beginning of a new era!

Kash: If you are really serious about this you better start thinking “Mimi Patino”
A new enterprise means a new house…

Ferruccio’s song starts.

Ferruccio: It’s as if the floor of my apartment were still sand and gravel or stone slabs over which I walk again today. Through the corridors and rooms I realize this place is a mournful remnant from another age. This big living-room has no end and it’s silent through thick carpets, deserted, encrusted with cold and heavy ornamentation, stucco, moldings, marble, black mirrors, shadowy paintings. It’s as if I lived very far away from this numb and barren, décor but I still find myself here…


Song ends and lights go on at Mimi Patino’s office

Mimi is in her office sitting at her desk throwing papers on the floor

Mimi:”Yep,Yep,Yep”

Paul her assistant walks into the office inside of a soft sculpture

Paul: Mimi you soft sculpture just arrived from Lichtenstein.

Mimi: Can you please put it on the wall, so what is left for you to do?

Paul: the research material for the catalogue hasn’t been finished yet, the proofs have to be at the printers next Tuesday, there are still major problems with the color reproductions, the living room hasn’t even been started because of a hold up with the Newton model and of course we have to pay the electricians to stand by or else we will loose them.

Paul has gashed a hole into the rice bag and is letting it fall all over the floor.

Mimi: I don’t care about all those things. Let’s see here, it seems like we are almost done with the Wilberson’s installation. We just have to order seven sacks of growing rocks for the bottom of the pool.

Paul: Wisconsin & co.?

Mimi: Yes. It will be a mountain in two years

Paul: The living end

Paul walk’s in with an egg carton filled with cut veggies and dip he puts it on Mimi’s desk and she shoves it away.

Mimi: Did you get a chance to stop by “The Library” last night

Paul: For a second, it is going great, all 60’s retro-grade you know girls with short hair boys with long hair, a real sham a lam. Unfortunately it is getting away from your signature style, which is the impermanent those kids are in there 72 hours a stretch, rooted to the floor, they are like stilagtytes. drip drip drip

Mimi: Yes I know this already, it really upsets me, isn’t the rainbow momentary, “The Library” should be empty that was my original idea. I have to do something about this.

Paul: Yeah shake it up baby, twist and shout. Disco a la’ carte

Mimi: No, No I have a better idea Doggie Bag disco, Bring the disco home.

Paul : WORK!!!!

KNOCK KNOCK

Jenna is at the door

Paul : Hi Doll

Jenna: Hi I just stopped by for 5 min. but I wanted to see you

Mimi: yes
Jenna: so what are we going to do?
Mimi: lets have lunch at la pleuche at around 2 pm. Frankie’s working as a hostess there tomorrow ,
Jenna: Frankie Sterling, she is starting to look really bad, I had no idea she was hostessing.
Mimi:Yes it’s unbelievable, she’s all washed up, we should have lunch there to support her.
Jenna: If there is a role available for a hysterical depressed woman Frankie would be perfect for the part.
Mimi: now, lets start working on the installation for your bathroom here are some papers you just have to look at them and re-act , what comes to mind when I show you this?(Mimi hands Jenna a blank piece of paper)
Jenna: an oak tree
Mimi: Good, very good, now this what do you think when you look at this?
Jenna: I think of a rocking chair.
Mimi: alright and this
Jenna: Nothing at all.
Mimi:Ok, what about this?
Jenna: Nothing comes to mind.
Mimi: Ok, and how about this one
Jenna: Nothing again
Mimi: perfect I’ll see you tomorrow at La Pleuche.



Paul walks into the office

Paul: Mimi I’m sorry for the interruption but you have a meeting with Ferrucio Wolf at 1:15.

Mimi speaks to Jenna: I’m sorry you will have to excuse me.

Paul: Mr. Ferrucio Wolf, Mimi is ready to see you.

Mimi: Hello Mr. Wolf, what brings you to Mimi

Ferrucio: My house is from another time period I want to bring it up to date

Mimi: Does that mean that we are getting rid of everything?
Ferrucio: Everything
Paul: I just received a fax from Florance
Mimi: Do you mind reading it to me out loud
Paul: Ocean beaches, riverfronts and lakesides produce a steady supply of materials redeemed from nature. Shells, stones, rocks and pieces of driftwood will probably be worn smooth by the effects of water and time. nature has a way of polishing the objects found on its shores
Mimi: See Ferrucio, what I do is I have a client send me a paragraph and I react to it, in this case my reaction would be that: “My favorite urban locations are less romantic perhaps but more easily accessible, for example I like to work with man made debris and the best place to find this is in city streets, parking lots, and construction sites. Here is where you will find industrial equipment, abandoned containers, gloves, bits of wire and chunks of cement. City streets are receptacles for all manner of rejects begging to be carted away.”
Ferr: That sounds just like my house right now “Manmade Debris”
Mimi: Listen. if you want to save a couple of bucks we can use my “zipp in, zipp out and zap it process “
Ferr: Do you have any other techniques ?

Mimi: Well I am interested in hypnosis so I will tell you a series of phrases and you will react to them follow me ,

Tropic is the Topic
Pick a Paisley
The Banana Split
Rock is the Rage
Furniture on wheels
and
Decorating with dogs

Hypnosis into poses

Ferr: Yes I like that one

Ferrucio collapses to the floor, song starts
Dance starts: Mimi drags Ferrucio across the floor and looks at him
Paul runs around frantically wearing a wig and with books in his hands Same sequence three times She forms his hands and legs and balances books on them Ferrucio throws the books
Three times Ferrucio puts chair through Mimi

Ferrucio leaves Mimi’s office.

Mimi turns off the lights and grabs her bags and starts heading over to The Library with Paul

She walks out of the club and brings the club kids that now look like Bums out of the club and leads them to Ferrucio’s house, she serves them a couple of drinks, the techno music starts and they begin to transform the space.

A video of Mimi and Ferrucio’s shoes walking around the city is projected, they walk in in sync and stop to look at things then continue to walk,

All of the Kids that were once in the club are now in Ferrucio’s home they are drunk or on drugs and begin to creatively destroy his home.
Club kid #1 has speed freak attacks on stage and brushes her legs, Club kid #2 pours flour all over the books and layers them on top of each other over the coffee table, Club kid #3 files the book shelves with fruit, Club kid #4 creates a volcano sculpture with dry ice in the center of the room, Club Kid #5 pulls the Sofa apart, Club kid #5 uses shoes to simulate sponge wall painting, and Club kid #6 glues oyster shells on the outside of the Chinese bowls.

The house has been completely rennovated, the house looks destroyed , Paul runs around with a bunch of flowers and puts then all over the house before Ferrucio and Mimi return.

Mimi, Ferrucio and Paul enter the newly done House


Ferrucio is excited but confused:

Ferrucio:This is amazing. I can’t even believe all the details.

Mimi: These new dishes are taken from an old boat that was shipwrecked in 1934, as you can see they are tainted by time and damaged by the depths of the sea, and your sofa well it is a vintage Victorian love chair that survived the American civil War. This piece over here is made by Bruce Nauman, most extreme! His work ironically is all about the interior of his house so it seemed appropriate to use him for this project, Off course you recognize these Lamp Plants from the 70’s , John Lockner used them as models for his projects. Ohh and over here, this volcano was created by a small team of specialists from Burke Williams, it is meant to constantly steam you and keep you pores open and fresh, well and of course we have all this flour poured over the books and coffee table it is perfect for baking up new ideas.

Ferrucio: Mimi, I just don’t know what to say it is so great.
Mimi: Nothing is best, and Paul has you invoice.
Paul; We offer a discount for Latin American ex-pats.
Ferrucio: Thank you so much.

Ferrucio opens it and he begins to quiver and his body shakes down to the floor.

The lights go out and a projection of Medusas head fills Ferrucio’s home
An echoed voice with the following text starts. ( Spoken with a thick Scottish accent)

First pre recorded voice:The first question we must ask ourselves is: what is the value of an article? How is it determined? The value of a hundredweight of wheat is always the same but if one exchanges it for a certain amount of steel both commodities wheat and steel will be related to a third entity which is their common measure the calculation of the exchange rate is based on the labor required to produce a commodity If someone says “50 marks are a lower rate and 100 marks are a higher rate for a week’s work,” that’s not much help. Wages can only be defined as high or low if they can be compared with a standard of which their size can be measured. But why is a certain sum paid for a certain amount of work?
2nd pre-recorded voice: that is determined by the law of supply and demand,
3rd pre-recorded voice:and what law determines supply and demand? It is a law of eternal validity incontrovertible for trade of all kinds? The prices of goods are not determined by wages, prices also contain the producers profit and the property owners annuity.

Los Super Elegantes latest Latin American Pop Hit begins to play and the cast begins to dance on stage.

The play ends.