Live tableau to merge fashion, architecture, performance art

Grab lunch to go and head downtown Wednesday, June 18 to see Chartreuse on Lafayette: A Tableau Vivant, a modern twist on a bygone performance art, at 202 Lafayette St., across from Hilton Capitol Center.

Original French tableaus had people reenacting still art on stage. Remember the “In God We Trust” episode of Arrested Development, when the Bluths got George Sr. out of prison for an afternoon to play God in the tableau, Michaelangelo’s The Creation of Adam? Well, that’s what the organizers of downtown’s first-ever tableau are going for, only with more altruistic characters and earth-friendly themes.

With different scenes every 15 minutes, Chartreuse on Lafayette will feature motionless dancers from Of Moving Colors and green themes such as recycling, mass transit, bicycles and organic gardening. The tableau will marry fashion, architectural design and performance art.

The idea stemmed from a piece of furniture designed by Trahan Architects, a local progressive firm with cutting-edge design gigs all over the planet. The furniture art will be a retail counter, desk and check-out area for NK Boutique, the trendy clothing store which is dressing the OMC models for the tableau.

“It’s a very cool design to share with the community before it goes to the store,” Trahan spokeswoman Rannah Gray says.