Notes on Zarathustra

Zara Notes Review

Zara Notes conceived and created by Patrick Scheid is an engaging exploration of Nietzsche’s "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." My experience with Nietzsche is very limited, college east and west philosophy class, so I went in with an open mind and understanding that I'm not going to understand everything. The installation is all the way out on Ave C so make sure you don’t have to rush off because it is not an easily accessible area, but there’s a great bar across the street called ABC Beer Co. I digress… 

(Colin Hooker-Haring, Patrick Scheid and Phil Lakin)

To be honest I fear in this reviewing this piece will give aw too much of what you’ll experience. Instead, I want to encourage you to support my friend, who has put in his blood, sweat, brain, time and emotion into a very immersing piece of theatre. He creates a small living museum dedicated to Nietzsche. Explore it with child like curiosity. 

(Patrick Scheid and Andrew Clark)

To be fair I must do the list. 

Things I didn’t like:

• Inaccessible writing: I believe that he uses direct passages from Zarathustra, which are very hard for me to wrap my head around. They are almost like poetry.
• The Location: I think Patrick is going to have a hard time getting people to come out of their dungeon apartments. 

Things I liked:

• Presentation of space: Artful and tasteful placements of found objects and useful props... you'll have to go to know what I'm talking about 
• Patrick’s subtle acknowledgement that we we are still in the 21st century in NYC: hearing the sirens, welcoming new guests and laughing with the audience 

Check out this fun, adventurous, immersive performance:

ZARA NOTES runs Wed-Friday 4-8pm and Saturday 12-6pm NOW until May 3rd

@ The Michael Mut Project 

• 97 Ave C Between 6E and 7E street.
• New York, New York 10009

Key term definition:

Zarathustra  -  Zarathustra was a Persian prophet (called "Zoroaster" by the Greeks, and most of the Western world) who lived and preached in the fifth century B.C.E. He was the first philosopher to conceive of a universe that is fundamentally defined by a struggle between good and evil. Nietzsche uses him as his protagonist, since, Nietzsche supposes, the first prophet to preach about good and evil should also be the first to move beyond good and evil. In the book, Zarathustra preaches about the overman who has moved beyond the concepts of good and evil, and has embraced the eternal recurrence. It is unclear whether or not Nietzsche means Zarathustra himself to be an overman, though if this is the case, he only becomes so in the fourth part of the book, when he finally embraces the eternal recurrence. (taken from Sparknotes)