(p) 1991 Jerri Allyn. All rights reserved.

Angels Have Been Sent To Me: Poignant and humorous stories about Allyn's ninety-year old immigrant grandmother, Maria Alvarez, and her cronies in a critical care home, with a soundscore by Helen Thorington. The stories are interwoven with music and hospital sounds: wheelchairs, medical equipment, alarms, and the voices of patients and staff. Allyn's insightful writing and skillful delivery, and Thorington's imaginative sound score are reminders that there are human beings behind the health care budget. And that they are as alive and passionate about their existence as any one of us. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. RealAudio 2.0 Preview RealAudio 1.0 Preview Listen to full-length work [ra] [mp3] View the Script More Jerri Allyn Biography Other Radio Works Biography JERRI ALLYN (New York, New York) the co-founder of the Los Angeles Women's Video Center, and the Waitresses and Sisters of Survival public performances art group has worked extensively with video/audio artists' books and computers. Her projects and performances are often designed for public spaces, thus making a break with the museum or art gallery and forging relationships between art and communities. Allyn's installation, American Dining: A Working Woman's Moment, was a site-specific, interactive artwork that was installed in restaurants throughout the United States. Allyn is now director of education at the Bronx Museum in New York City. She has created two commissioned works for NEW AMERICAN RADIO : American Dining: A Working Woman's Moment (1989), and Angels Have Been Sent to Me (1991). Other Radio Works Religious Obscenity(1991) Taken from a series of performance commentaries on censorship in which Allyn reflects on the contradictory relations between Christian worship, art censorship, and bilingual education. With sound by Helen Thorington. American Dining, A Working Woman's Moment, Pt.2 (1991) Allyn returns with more stories about waitressing. Perceptive and skillful, with a delightful sense of humor. American Dining, A Working Woman's Moment (1989) Drawing from her own experience as a waitress, Allyn creates song-narratives that offer fascinating insights into a world usually unnoticed by customers--the bizarre and very human world of the over-worked waitress. It's a world of men showing off their improvisational genius for sexual word play; of ambiguous relationships to the union; a world where an old and forgotten lady, who once introduced American radio audiences to broccoli is rediscovered. Combining perceptive writing with a skillful delivery, a folksy sound score by Bob Davis of Earwax Productions, and a delightful sense of down-home humor, this work will change your image of American diners and their waitresses forever. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO

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