Sabrina Artel

In his twilight, a lonely gay man reflects on his life and the three loves of his long-lost youth one woman and two men. Forced into early retirement by a heart attack, he wanders aimlessly through the graffiti-marred streets of his New York neighborhood. Familiar haunts trigger flashbacks of happy and not-so happy times.

Quotations From a Ruined City was first performed as a workshop production for the Los Angeles Festival in a former shoe store on Hollywood Boulevard. The production subsequently moved to a vacant pajama factory in New York's meatpacking district and went on to be presented by multiple European presenters. It was Abdoh's final work. "Quotations from a Ruined City is a sort of apocalyptic follies: an evening of song, dance, poetry, nudity and torture set in a world whose center has clearly long ceased to hold. Created and directed by the gifted young theatrical cult artist Reza Abdoh, the work is a kaleidoscopic catalogue of images of decay and destruction that range through the centuries and around the globe."--New York Times, 1994.