ABSTRACT IMPRESSIONS Some theatergoers, when ruminating on the plays of director Robert Wilson, sigh deeply, rub their eyes, and murmur comments like, “So the giant fish was really a time machine?” The Waco native’s work—such as the twelve-hour Life and Times of Joseph Stalin—usually elicits a strong reaction, and for good reason. Wilson is avant-garde. He is bold. He is beloved by celebrities and Germans. He is not for everyone. But for those who love new, abstract theater, Wilson’s work can be the medium for an ecstatic trance. So what will the reaction be March 12, when the McNay Art Museum brings his drawings, notebook pages, and sculptures to San Antonio for the opening of the exhibit “Theater of Drawing: Early Artworks of Robert Wilson”? We predict a mixed response. French surrealist Louis Aragon wrote that Wilson is “what we, from whom Surrealism was born, dreamed would come after us and go beyond us.” If Wilson is beyond you too, you may be excused. (See San Antonio: Museums/Galleries.)
