“Collage Revisited” was originally titled “The History of Collage,” referring to a lecture delivered in the recorded sound score. The narrator also speaks about Freudian theory. Nine dancers appear as characters you might encounter in a dream—an animation of the Freudian id—dressed in heightened versions of streetwear with splashes of bright color. A pair of women in pleated plaid skirts and two men in shorts, shirt, tie, and sweater could be boarding school kids. Barrington Hinds, is Freud himself, tuxedo clad and partnering a woman in racy red underwear. Mak Thornquest strikes a sleek non-binary presence in a variety of fashion selections. I especially enjoy the dress made from a narrow column of black lace. Two men flap their shirttails, exposing Jockey shorts. The frequent costume changes tend to upstage the choreography—I find myself tracking the characters according to what they wear, not how they move.

Midway, the sound score shifts to a recording from a 1979 San Francisco crowd reacting to the murder of Harvey Milk. Traffic onstage ramps up with more frequent entrances and exits, the dancers in varying stages of undress, including men in dresses with nothing underneath. I lose a little of my focus in the commotion. Freud now pairs off with Rosa Allegra Wolf in a kind of tango. There’s an argument, she rejects him. It’s the territory of dreams that drift into chaos and confusion. 

During intermission, the production team lays white tape on the Marley floor to form a grid, and arranges five green apples along the rear boundary. A string quartet of musicians sets up in a far upstage square to play Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden.” With a rousing shout of “Hey,” the ensemble of nine spills like dice across the stage. They freeze, then move again after another “Hey!” A solo occurs, completely contained within the grid square next to the musicians. The poses are precise balances and stilted turns on one leg. Another dancer enters the square, then two more. They take up the same sequence with different facings. In an adjacent square, a much different dance takes place with elegant lifts, also contained within boundaries of the grid.