"The Mourning Show"

2006


A longer montage taken from the first ever lecture-performance (and the basis for chapter 7 of Being and Showtime), this performance from winter 2010 of "The Mourning Show" was performed at the Chicago Cultural Center and made possible by the support of the City of Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, Science Chicago, and the DePaul Humanities Center.


"The Energy Show"

2009


This short clip features the James Brown cape routine from the "The Energy Show" (the basis of chapter 2 of Being and Showtime).  "The Energy Show" was presented three times at three different venues.  This clip is from the Chicago Cultural Center version from  June 2009.  At the very end of the show, we pay homage to the late-great James Brown with an end-of-lecture cape routine while the Chicago funk band, Kong Fuzi, plays on and the evening celebrating Nikola Tesla comes to a close.  Pete Parsons is the cape handler, and the cape itself was created by Tina Valgenti.

"The Energy Show"

2008


This short clip from the "The Energy Show" (the basis of chapter 2 of Being and Showtime) is from the Lebanon Valley College version from April 2008.  The clip begins with Steeves plucking "virtual photons" from the air, gathering them, and then powering up a Tesla coil to the strains of Apocalyptica's cover of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters."