Home  Entertainment Reviews “Nigerian Spam Scam Scam” by Dean Cameron
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“Nigerian Spam Scam Scam” by Dean Cameron |
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Written by Barry Gaines
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last updated Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at 13:45:01
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A popular form of art is referred to as “found art” and is made up of objects natural and manmade that are presented in groupings or in contexts that transcend the objects themselves. The Sixth Tricklock Company Revolutions International Theatre Festival includes a performance that could be called “found comedy. Everyone with an electronic-mail account has received an unsolicited message from an individual in an African country who is looking for an honest foreigner willing to help rescue a phenomenal amount of money that is otherwise unavailable--in exchange for a healthy cut.
Utmost secrecy is required. Most of us do not get very far in the dense, uncomfortable English of such messages before we push the delete key and send it into cyber-oblivion. Actor/writer/director Dean Cameron received such a spam message from Mariam Abacha whose beloved husband died leaving 30 million US$ in a vault that only a foreigner can access. Cameron would get 25% or $7.5 million for his troubles. I don’t know about you, but that is more than I make in a year. Cameron replied, “Great! Do you have any toast?” and thus began a yearlong correspondence with Dr. Mrs. Abacha and her son Ibrahim. Excerpts from the letters, pictures, and phone messages make up “Nigerian Spam Scam Scam.” The bare stage of UNM’s Theatre X had a large screen flanked by two stands holding laptop computers. Victor Isaac portrayed the Nigerian side of the exchange, with a bit of help from Tricklock’s Byron Laurie, while Cameron read his own messages. He pretended to be a rich eccentric who was more attached to his two cats, Mr. Snickers and Joe Joe the Dancing Clown, than to his vast fortune. No matter how outrageous Cameron’s messages were, the Nigerians kept pushing for a payment from him, even after they discovered their e-mails on his website. Apparently these spammers find enough people with the proper combination of greed and stupidity to make this scam one of the top five sources of income for people in, for example, Nigeria. The scam even has a name, Nigerian 419 Advanced Fee Fraud, named for the section of the Nigerian penal code that outlaws such swindles. The Cameron’s exchanges with his penpals are hilarious, more so since they are real. Don’t try this at home.
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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