The Assembly presents
home/sick
November 1-18, 2012
at The Living Theatre
Following two sold-out runs, the innovative young company The Assembly Theater Project presents a return engagement of the critically acclaimed production home/sick from November 1-18, 2012 at The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street, NYC. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by phone at 1-800-838-3006. Performance schedule is Wednesdays through Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; Sunday, November 11 at 7pm; Sunday, November 4 and Sunday, November 18 at 5pm.
home/sick is an ensemble-devised work of political theater that examines the actions of the 1960s radical group The Weather Underground without agreement or censure. The leaders of The Weather Underground seized control of Students for a Democratic Society and reshaped it with the aim of overthrowing the U.S. government. Based on real events, home/sick explores the group’s idealism, infighting and ultimate disintegration, in a forthright examination of collective action.
home/sick is devised and written collectively by The Assembly and is directed by Jess Chayes. The play features Edward Bauer, Ben Beckley, Kate Benson, Anna Abhau Elliott, Luke Harlan and Emily Louise Perkins. Dramaturgy by Stephen Aubrey. Installation design and dramaturgy is by Nick Benacerraf, with costumes by Deanna Frieman, lighting by Miriam Nilofa Crowe, sound by Asa Wember, and stage managed by Marianne Broome. Choreography is by Sara Pauley. Produced by Ariela Rotenberg.
Catherine Rampell of The New York Times called home/sick “a sort of sociological Big Bang”, with “intense and thoughtful direction.” home/sick was honored as a Critics’ Pick in both The New York Times and Backstage Magazine.
“An absorbing, critical-minded narrative.” – The Village Voice
“Impressively researched and clear-eyed.” – Time Out New York
THE ASSEMBLY THEATER PROJECT (assemblytheater.org) is a collective of multi-disciplinary performance artists committed to realizing a visceral and intelligent theater for a new generation. Assembly members unite our varied interests in service of wide-reaching, unabashedly theatrical and rigorously researched ensemble performances that address the complexities of our ever-changing world. The company embraces collaboration as the core of the creative process, allowing all the elements of text, action and design to develop side-by-side within the rehearsal environment. The Assembly is dedicated to rooting its artists, audiences, and peers in a profound sense of community. Their productions include their immersive Three Sisters, which transferred to The Cherry Pit following a sold-out run at The Red Room, Stephen Aubrey's The Dark Heart of Meteorology (Under St. Marks), Krista Knight's Clementine and the Cyber Ducks (The Incubator Arts Center), What I Took In My Hand (The Brick), Daguerreotype (The Abingdon) and We Can't Reach You, Hartford (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Upcoming: a reinterpretation of Dickens’ Great Expectations that examines poverty and inequality in the contemporary US.
It is the night of a secret recruiting session for a new, fresh-to-death revolutionary movement, led by three young women who are overwhelmed by their early 20s, swept up in the zeal of the Arab Spring, and taken by the boho chic ways of Occupy Wall Street. For them, globalization is too confusing, localism too provincial, and jeggings are too tight. Their goal: to overthrow the current world order. Their dilemma: who are their enemies, how will they overthrow them, and when exactly did they set their terror meeting, 1:30pm on Tuesday or Thursday?
As they explain the movement and attempt to recruit followers, revolution never looked this good, or went this badly.
The production stars Jessie Renee Hopkins, Alexandra Panzer, Tara Schuster, Alice Winslow, and Chris Lowell* (The Help, Up in the Air, “Private Practice”, “Veronica Mars”).
Produced by Jessica Kerry, I <3 Revolution features scenic design by Danielle Baskin and sound design by Jon Bernstein & Deepthi Welaratna.
I <3 REVOLUTION plays the following schedule:
Friday, August 10 at 9:00
Sunday, August 12 at 4:15
Monday, August 13 at 3:00
Wednesday, August 22 at 7:00
Sunday, August 26 at Noon
Tickets are $15 ($18 at the door) and are available at www.FringeNYC.org. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater ½ hour prior to performance.
Running Time: 75 minutes
The Living Theatre (Fringe Venue #1)
21 Clinton St. New York, NY
Website: www.LadiesOfTheRevolution.com
Web Series: http://www.youtube.com/user/UhHuhYuup/featured
A cooperative of NYC-based cutting-edge experimental theater companies and artists will present their work throughout July at the 2012 undergroundzero festival (Paul Bargetto, Artistic Director, Connie Hall, Executive Director). The festival will take place June 29-July 29 on 4 stages in the East Village and Brooklyn and outdoor sites throughout lower Manhattan. Weekly parties, panels, and new play readings will happen at festival headquarters: the legendary Living Theatre.
The festival presenters are veteran “hardcore downtown” independent artists who have formed the undergroundzero cooperative to improve the conditions for making work in NYC, and to host an artist-controlled international exchange and presenting platform. Together, these artists span multiple disciplines including theater, dance, multi-media and installation. Guest programming will include individual artists from Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland; fellow New Yorkers, The Assembly and Patrick Flynn; and the US premiere of the critically acclaimed B-Floor Theatre Company (Thailand).
FESTIVAL VENUE ADDRESSES
Living Theatre: 21 Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton, Manhattan
Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center: Flamboyan Theater and Los Kabayitos:107 Suffolk Street at Rivington, Manhattan
JACK:505 1/2 Waverly Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
For advance ticket sales visit www.undergroundzeronyc.org.
ALL-FESTIVAL EVENTS
UNDERGROUNDZERO Kickoff Event
Fri 6/29 @ The Living Theatre FREE
6:30pm:A Brief History of Avant Garde Theater in NYC
By Arnold Aronson with special guest Judith Malina
Columbia University professor Arnold Aronson provides historical context for the current experimental theater-making environment in NYC, with Judith Malina of the Living Theatre.
7:30pm:The NEA 4 Revisited – Politics, Art & Culture War
Moderated by Paul Bargetto
A discussion with members of the original NEA 4. After twenty-two years where do we stand in the Culture Wars and what is the future of the National Endowment of the Arts?
9pm:Festival Opening Night Party
Celebrate with festival artists at the opening party with DJ and video art. An extra-special toast is planned for the supporters of the Kickstarter campaign! Free Admission.
Romanyeah – Live Video Performance
By Cinty Ionescu and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York.
Music by Brennan Green - Sat 6/30 @ 9pm & Sun 7/1 @ 7pm at the Living Theatre $20
Take a walk on the wild East side with Romanian video artist Cinty Ionescu (winner of the 2011 Excellence in Video Design award at the NY International Fringe Festival) as she weaves an immersive video and musical journey through contemporary Romania. http://cintyionescu.weebly.com
Talk show: common ground
Tuesdays, July 3, 10, 17, & 24 @ 7:30 pm at Clemente Soto Velez in the Kabyitos Theater FREE
Meet the undergroundzero artists and their guests in a live-streamed talk show hosted by Artistic Director Paul Bargetto and Saviana Stanescu.
Dance party: latenightzero
Saturdays, July 7, 14, 21, & 28 @ 11pm at the Living Theatre FREE
A late night dance party with guest DJs and VJs. Boogie down with the avant garde at the legendary Living Theatre.
New play readings: playgroundzero
Curated by Saviana Stanescu
Sundays, July 8, 15, 22, & 29 @ 1pm at Clemente Soto Velez in the Kabyitos Theater $5
playgroundzero is a series of works-in-progress play readings curated by playwright Saviana Stanescu. This year Saviana has selected four cutting-edge women playwrights including Dawn Saito, Cecilia Copeland, Penny Jackson, and Pamela Jackson. Each presentation will be followed by a talkback with the artists. www.saviana.com
FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS
The Gospel of St Matthew
Presented by the Living Theatre & East River Commedia
Thu 7/5, Fri 7/6, & Sat 7/7 & 7:30pm; Sun 7/8 @ 5pm at the Living Theatre $20
Director Paul Bargetto collaborates with the Living Theatre to stage the life of Jesus Christ as told in the Gospel of Saint Matthew inspired by Pier Paolo Passolini’s 1964 film Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo. www.eastriver.org www.livingtheatre.org
Trace of Purple Sadness
Presented by LEIMAY Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya
Thu 7/5, Fri 7/6, & Sat 7/7 @ 8pm; Sat 7/7 & Sun 7/8 @ 5pm at Clemente Soto Velez in the Flamboyan Theater $20
Meditative dance and poetic video design unify in a mesmerizing experience constructed by LEIMAY, the duo behind CAVE, The NY Butoh Festival and the Soak Festival. www.leimay.org
DEBT! A Series of Performative Lectures on Debt
Curated and produced by Paul Bargetto, Amiel Melnick & April Sweeney
Fri 7/6, Sat 7/7, Thu 7/12, Fri 7/13, Sat 7/14, Fr 7/20, & Sat 7/21 @ 7:30pm
Sun 7/15, & 7/22 @ 5:30pm - C.S.V. in the Kabayitos Theater FREE
An experimental lecture series on debt. Five artists from Eastern Europe paired with five American scholars will present their collaborative research in a series of performative lectures on the nature, history and meaning of debt. www.undergroundzeronyc.org
Little West 12th Night
Conceived by Rachel Murdy & written by Peter Lettre
Original workshop created in collaboration with Stephanie Dodd, Cynthia Croot, & members of Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant $25
Sun 7/8, Mon 7/9, Sun 7/15, Mon 7/16, Sun 7/22, Mon 7/23, & Sun 7/29 @ 8pm
Mon 7/30 @ 7am
A tour of the Chelsea Meat Packing District based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Note: Wear comfortable walking shoes. Meeting point will be sent at time of purchase. Cake will be served. www.avantgarderestaurant.com
Servers
Presented by Patrick Flynn
Sun July 8, 15, & 22 @ 9pm at C.S.V. in the Flamboyan Theater $20
Serversis a live play for television in three installments that explores the stranglehold technology has over public privacy, and a plan that leaves an entire television network in the dark. Inspired by early television artists of the 1950s Rod Serling and John Frankenheimer, the play will be live broadcast on public access television and the Internet.
Disquiet
Directed by Anna Brenner
Wed 7/11, Thu 7/12, Fri 7/13 & Sat 7/14 @ 7:30pm, Sat 7/14 @ 5pm & Sun 7/15 @ 5pm at The Living Theatre $20
A new play by undergroundzero resident artist Anna Brenner inspired by The Master and Margarita, Fernando Pessoa, and her upstairs neighbor. www.annabrenner.com
Cho H Cho
Presented by One-Eighth, Directed by Daniel Irizarry
Wed 7/11, Thu 7/12, Fri 7/13 & Sat 7/14 @ 8pm, Sat 7/14 @ 5pm & Sun 7/15 @ 5pm at C.S.V. in the Flamboyan Theater $20
Cho H Cho'is an original theater collage created by the new theater collective One-Eighth directed by downtown all-star Daniel Irizarry. The play explores and observes the culture and values of globalized consumption through the lens of quantum physics, DaDa, Artaud, and the loving and violent extremes of the body. www.facebook.com/OneEighth
Baal
By Bertolt Brecht. A Hoi Polloi production, directed by Alec Duffy
July 12 - August 5, Thu - Sun @ 8pm
JACK, 505 1/2 Waverly Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
OBIE Award-winning theater company Hoi Polloi inaugurates its new Brooklyn performance space, JACK, with Bertolt Brecht's first play, Baal, about a self-destructive poet who incites chaos wherever he goes. Helmed by Artistic Director Alec Duffy (Three Pianos, Shadows), the immersive production features an ensemble of seven actors taking on thirty roles, with set design by Mimi Lien and music by Steven Leffue. www.hoipolloiworld.com www.jackny.org
Untitled Radio Play
Directed by Shannon Sindelar. Sound design by Erik T. Lawson
Location and times TBD
Director Shannon Sindelar (31 Down, Incubator Arts Project) stages an outdoor public installation/performance using live broadcast radio and audience interaction in a celebration of John Cage’s one hundredth birthday.
HOME / SICK
Presented by The Assembly
Wed 7/25, Thu 7/26, Fri 7/27, & Sat 7/28 @ 8pm, Sat 7/28 at 4pm & Sun 7/29 @ 5pm at the Living Theatre $18
A reprise of the Assembly’s critically acclaimed play on the Weather Underground. Disgusted by the Vietnam War and rampant inequality at home, a handful of leaders from the 1960s U.S. student movement seized control of Students for a Democratic Society and reshaped it in the name of overthrowing the United States' government. Based on real events, HOME / SICK explores the Weather Underground's inspiration and idealism, infighting and ultimate disintegration, in a passionate examination of collective action. www.assemblytheater.org
Oxygen
Presented by B-Floor Theatre Company (Bangkok, Thailand)
Wed 7/25, Thu 7/26, Fri 7/27, & Sat 7/28 @ 8pm, Sat 7/28 @ 5pm & Sun 7/29 @ 5pm at C.S.V. in the Flamboyan Theater $20
The US Premiere of the latest production by B-Floor, hailed in the Bangkok press as “Thailand’s most active and vibrant physical theatre company.” Oxygen is a visual, movement and multimedia exploration of Thailand’s tumultuous political situation from 2010 to the present. The performance explores a nation deprived of the oxygen of free expression. www.bfloortheatre.com
DEGENERATION X follows the journey of Xavier (Micah B. Chartrand), a young man with a rare and visually stimulating syndrome, The production blends live theatre, film, motion graphics, illustration, and music to chronicle the different aspects of one man's psyche. As Xavier drives through his condition, the audience takes front seat on a surreal and rousing ride through the human mind, witnessing the battle between what is real and what is not, and questioning the origins of perception altogether.The ensemble for DEGENERATION X includes Micah B. Chartrand, Leah Bachar, Meredith Edwards, Gordon Gray, Lauren Hennessy, Lin Laurin, and Helene Macaulay.
The production features film shot and edited by Jonathan Wing; video effects by Kevin Boudreau; sound design by Jeff Jowdy; projection design by Mark Costello, lighting design by Mike De Pasquale; set design by Zach Serafin; set and prop styling by Rhice Brewer; illustrations by Sara Shmee; original music by Tim Allen; costume design by Helen Anstis and Randyll Wendl; hair and makeup design by Jillian Halouska.
About the Company: Perf Productions
Perf Productions is an up and coming theatre and production company, co-founded by Maria Aparo, Leah Bachar, Meredith Edwards and Lin Laurin, dedicated to creating original and innovative work.
Each co-founder has been avidly working in the worlds of film and theatre for over ten years. They are trained actresses who have stepped into other roles: writing, producing, directing, and managing.
In each other, they found something they saw in themselves: the drive to create and the confidence to do it. Perf Productions is dedicated to bringing you new and interesting work that promises the playful, the provocative, and the unprecedented.
A Piece of My Heartby Shirley Lauro
produced by Infinite Variety Productions
*February 25th performance will include a talkback with 4 women who served in Vietnam.
Over 10,000 women volunteered to go to Vietnam during the war; to help the soldiers, to make a difference. Leaving their homes as kids, they returned as adults and found themselves changed in an unchanged world.
Shirley Lauro's "A Piece of My Heart" follows the lives of six of these women. Through the bombs, blood, and warfare they are able to find friends, lovers, and a daily routine. Come time to leave, they find themselves stuck between two worlds. "Everyday life" back home becomes the true battle for these ladies, as their normal lives are no longer normal. Based on true stories of women who served, unfortunately no official record of these women serving in Vietnam was kept. Making these stories being told even more important.
About Infinite Variety Productions
IVP believes that these stories are essential; without learning from the past, we cannot hope to improve the future. Infinite Variety Productions started with two actors wishing to change downtown theatre by tackling plays that might incite discussion and emotion in the audience. Ashley Adelman and Maria Makenna started this journey last spring with a production of Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit", which opened at Theatre For The New City to sold out audiences. They combined forces with Bridget Leak, a fellow MFA classmate, and have been honored to work with her since. After a year of work, they had pulled together the perfect team for "A Piece of My Heart". After a successful, soldout run in at The Tank Theatre in midtown, The Living Theatre asked IVP to bring the show to their theatre in February.
IVP is pleased to introduce their amazing cast:
Ashley Adelman, Matt Bridges, Larissa Dzegar, Amber Quick, Maria Makenna, Elizabeth McNelis and Petol Weekes
About the Company: Infinite Variety Productions
Infinite Variety Production's mission is: To create opportunities for female artists. To voice the words of unnoted storytellers. To broaden the public purview one audience at a time.
Infinite Variety Productions was started by Ashley Adelman and Maria Makenna, who have been working in the New York theatre scene for several years.
After finishing prestigious acting programs at The Actors Studio Drama School, NYU TISCH and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, they eagerly entered the scene, hoping to become a part of something that would have a real impact on the world around them. They soon discovered that the best way to be a part of something important is to create it.
Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit", their first production, opened to great acclaim in June of 2011 at Theatre For The New City. It was theatre that incited real conversation! The ladies were inspired to tackle their next project, Shirley Lauro's "A Piece of My Heart". The play, based on true stories of women who served in Vietnam, opened on Veteran's Day 2011 at The Tank Theatre to sold out performances. The Living Theatre, after seeing the show asked the women of IVP to bring the play to their theatre in February!
IVP was even honored by several women who had served in the war, who graciously agreed to a talkback following the show. The stories these women told reinforced what Ashley and Maria had begun to understand: too many of these stories have gone unheard. IVP is looking forward to telling many more.
Women Center Stage 2011 will feature performances by two-time Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Angela McCluskey, and Hold Music, a devised play by playwright/director Calla Videt. The festival also includes new projects by playwright/performers Leila Buck (Aftermath), Monica Hunken, Jane Bussmann, and Chelsea M. Gregory, a weekend spotlighting 16 women directors, and a new piece by viBe Theater Experience, a performing arts non-profit that empowers urban teenage girls to create their own theater and music. Also featured at Women Center Stage 2011 is a tribute to Judith Malina performed by The Living Theatre ensemble, as well as late night performances of the company’s 1973 play, Seven Meditations on Political Sado-Masochism, written following Malina and company’s imprisonment in Brazil.
Presenting over 30 performances created by more than 40 female artists in 29 days, the festival is a dynamic and diverse laboratory for new works in progress by both established and emerging women artists—a demographic that continues to be underrepresented on stages in New York and throughout the country.
Culture Project Founding Artistic Director Allan Buchman says, “For me personally, the thrill of committing Culture Project resources to provide opportunities for women artists, and to see those artists pursuing their creative dreams with utter abandon, compensates for the lack of those same opportunities that my own daughters experienced. I feel this year’s festival embodies the goals of our vision: not only is it thoroughly satisfying artistically, but the spirit and sense of community with which the participants and those behind the scenes are approaching this work is infectious, inspired, and transformative.”
Women Center Stage 2011 also marks the beginning of a new partnership between Culture Project and The Living Theatre, Judith Malina and Julian Beck’s revolutionary anarchist theater company. Culture Project will be in residence at the company’s Clinton Street theater for several months each year for the next two years.
Launched in 1996 by Buchman in memory of his daughter, Women Center Stage is the Culture Project’s longest-running initiative, dedicated to supporting and vigorously promoting the work of women playwrights, directors, and performing artists. An important launching pad for new work, WCS has presented early iterations of Heather Raffo's Nine Parts of Desire (2003), Sarah Jones’ bridge and tunnel(2004), which went on to a sold-out Broadway run and special Tony Award; the world premiere of Staceyann Chin’s Border/Clash (2005); Lynn Redgrave's Nightingale (2005); and most recently the world premiere of Lenelle Moïse’s critically-acclaimed Expatriate (2008).
Culture Project is New York's premier destination for artistic work that investigates urgent social and political issues. By fostering innovative collaboration between human rights organizations and theatre, music and film artists, Culture Project aims to inspire and impact public dialogue and policy, encouraging democratic participation in the most urgent matters of our time.
Culture Project has premiered celebrated shows including The Exonerated, Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel,Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, Lawrence Wright's My Trip To Al-Qaeda, Tings Dey Happen, the Lucille Lortel Award-winning world premiere of George Packer's Betrayed and Lemon Andersen’s County of Kings at the Public Theater. Most recently, Culture Project presented The Citizens Band’s The Past is a Foreign Country, a cabaret tackling the issue of displaced people, in partnership with USA for UNHCR. For more information, visit cultureproject.org.
Festival Schedule:
*All events and times are subject to change, up-to-the-minute information can be found atwww.womenscenterstage.org.
March 5 – 6, 3pm and 7pm
DIRECTORS WEEKEND Over one weekend, in a series of 15 minute pieces, 16 female directors will answer the question “What is political theater?” With Kathleen Amshoff, Suzana Berger, Mallory Catlett, Mikhael Garver, Noelle Ghoussaini, Jessi Hill, Rebecca Holderness, Alex Mallory, Anna Jones, Sarah Rasmussen, Alice Reagan, Colette Robert, Mia Rovegno, Tina Satter, Gaye Taylor Upchurch, and Nicole A. Watson. March 7, 7:30pm
viBeGirlsInCharge! Created by an ensemble of teenage girls, this uniquely dazzling performance weaves together stories of urban girls' experiences and uses poetry, dance, video, and original songs to ask, “Why does the world need us to lead?” March 8, 7:30pm
TRIBUTE TO JUDITH MALINA The Living Theatre Ensemble, Hosted by Culture Project
Judith Malina’s revolutionary career with The Living Theatre has spanned six decades, traversed the globe and inspired generations of political theater artists. Members of the ensemble—aged 7 to 70—host an evening of performances and stories from Malina’s history. March 9 - 31, 10:30pm
SEVEN MEDITATIONS ON POLITICAL SADOMASOCHISM The Living Theatre Ensemble, Directed by Judith Malina A visceral examination of the social contract between the governed and the government, Seven Meditations was written after Malina and members of the company were imprisoned--and some tortured--by the Médici dictatorship in Brazil in 1973, and hasn’t been performed since its debut. Considered one of the company’s most significant pieces, the play explores Sacher-Masoch’s Six Houses of Bondage: Love, Money, Property, State, War and Death, with a seventh meditation on Revolutionary Change. (Tickets available at LivingTheatre.org) March 10 – 11, 7:30pm
THE WILD FINISH Written and Performed by Monica Hunken, Directed by Melissa Chambers Follow your bewildered hostess, Monica, through her bicycle journey across Poland in search of the man who haunts her--a man of power, genius, fame and violence--her grandfather. March 11, 16, 18, Wed at 7:30pm, Fri at 10pm
BUSSMANN’S HOLIDAY: THE WORST DATE EVER Written and Performed by Jane Bussmann A darkly hysterical true story of quitting Hollywood celebrities for Ugandan war criminals. The Guardiancalled it "one of the most passionate, smart, hilarious hours on the Fringe, packed with so many brilliant one-liners it's impossible to stop laughing, even as your brain buzzes with fury at the tale she relates." Reuters called it "so funny you almost feel guilty laughing," and South Park's Matt Stone said, "very funny - Jane’s got a death wish.” March 12 – 28, Mon and Sat at 8pm, Sun at 7pm
HOLD MUSIC Written by Calla Videt and Benjamin Sampson, Directed by Calla Videt
With Merrie Jane Brackin, Arlo Hill, Josh Odsess-Rubin, Avery Pearson, Aya Tucker
A symphonic story about the way people listen to each other and to the world around them, Hold Musictakes us on a journey into the musical world of speech and memory, language and thought. Why and how does music make us feel? How do things get stuck in our head?
March 17 – 20, Thur and Fri at 7:30pm, Sat and Sun at 3pm
IN THE CROSSING Written and Performed by Leila Buck, Directed and Developed by Shana Gold With Adam Green, Kathryn Kates, and Maya Serhan Leila, a Lebanese-American writer/performer, and her husband Adam, an artist from a Jewish family, have been invited to a conference by Adam’s aunt Joan to present their experiences in Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war. But as the evening unfolds in unexpectedly humorous and dangerous ways, the biggest conflict this family must face is the one between them. An interactive dialogue about the personal in the political, and how this intersection shapes who we are. March 22 & 24, 8pm
FUQs: FREQUENTLY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS Written by Daphne Rubin-Vega with Winter Miller, Directed by John Gould Rubin Daphne Rubin-Vega's solo show, FUQ's: Frequently Unanswered Questions, is a rock and roll infused odyssey about the bonds of a family separated not just by the gulf of the Caribbean but an even wider gulf--unspoken love and longing--and the loneliness of being the last one standing. Intimate, tender and hilarious, Ms. Rubin-Vega's semi-autobiography is written with playwright Winter Miller and directed by John Gould Rubin.
March 23, 7:30pm
OVERCOMING SPEECHLESSNESS
Adapted from the essay by Alice Walker by Dana Balicki, Directed by Tamilla Woodard
In partnership with CODEPINK Women for Peace, Culture Project is developing an adaptation of Alice Walker's essay “Overcoming Speechlessness,” a reflection on her travels through Gaza. A meditation on the indomitability of the human spirit and the struggle to overcome the speechlessness that engulfs us in the wake of violence and brutality, WCS will present a staged reading of this work in progress, adapted by Dana Balicki and directed by Tamilla Woodard.
March 25 – 27, Fri at 7:30pm, Sat and Sun at 3pm
THE 6 PROJECT Written, Choreographed and Performed by Chelsea M. Gregory Directed by Ira-Sharay Kip After a series of racial conflicts between high school students in Jena, Louisiana, some sought reconciliation while others gathered for a white supremacist rally on Martin Luther King Day. Portraying a surprising and evocative range of perspectives, including her own experience growing up in the Deep South, Chelsea M. Gregory explores race and identity through dance, poetry and documentary theatre.
March 30 - April 2, 8pm
CATCH A FALLING STAR Written and Performed by Angela McCluskey With Ian Buchanan and Paul Cantelon Hailed by Vanity Fair as a “chortling, cussing, room-dominating force of nature,“ Scottish singer/songwriter Angela McCluskey performs her new autobiographical musical, featuring Ian Buchanan (Nip/Tuck), and Angela's husband, film composer Paul Cantelon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Oliver Stone's W). April 2, 2pm
THE 20-SOMETHING PROJECT Presented by The Lost Theatre With the mission of cultivating new, exciting work by early-career artists, The 20-Something Project gives emerging playwrights the opportunity to build their plays and their professional relationships through productions by their peers. The Lost Theatre presents developmental readings of Chloe Carter Brown's Beautiful Somewhere and Molly Hagan's The Swing of the Sea.
* * * *
The Culture Project’s
Women Center Stage 2011 presents
HOLD MUSIC
A symphonic story to premier at THE LIVING THEATRE
Written by Calla Videt and B. Walker Sampson
Directed by Calla Videt
Produced by PegLeg Productions
March 12th thru March 28th
Mondays and Saturdays @ 8pm, Sundays @ 7pm
Tickets $18
To purchase, www.OvationTix.com or 866-811-4111
The Living Theatre
21 Clinton Street at East Houston
New York, NY 10009
Subway: F to 2nd Avenue
A symphonic story about the way people listen to each other and to the world around them, HOLD MUSIC takes us on a journey into the musical world of speech and memory, language and thought. Drawing upon live music, video, movement, and text to tell intertwined and parallel stories, the performance begins with the question: Why and how does music make us feel? How do things get stuck in our head?
“Videt and her company reimagine the elements of the avant garde in their own, exciting terms–and with flashes of humor.” -TheaterOnline
The company for HOLD MUSIC includes Merrie Jane Brackin, Arlo Hill*, Josh Odsess-Rubin*, Avery Pearson, Mickey Sumner, and Aya Tucker.
*indicates actors appearing courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association. HOLD MUSIC is an Equity Approved Showcase.
The creative team includes Choreography by Rick and Jeffrey K
uperman, Scenic Design by Ji-youn Chang, Lighting Design by Mary E. Stebbins, Video Design by Trevor Martin, Costume Design by Ginia Sweeney, Technical Direction by Kevin Davies, Stage Management by Kara Kaufman, and Dramaturgy by Noelle Ghoussaini with Creative Collaborators Sarah C. Kenney and Allison Kline
"The Kupermans move with charm and magnetism... Mesmerizing choreography ... fluid ... rich and varied ...
[their work] is unified, vibrant, and exceptional..."-TheaterIsEasy
CALLA VIDET (Co-Writer/Director) Calla Videt recently wrote and directed two original works entitled One Arm and a Leg and The Untitled Project, which premiered at HERE Arts Center, Theater for the New City, and the Gene Frankel Theater in the spring and summer of 2010. Most recently, she directed The Citizens Band’s The Past is A Foreign Country. In 2009, she worked on Complicite's West End production of Endgame. She holds a BA in physics and theater from Harvard University, where she directed, performed in, and worked on over 15 productions. Her final directorial project and senior thesis—The Space Between—premiered on the mainstage of the American Repertory Theater in April of 2009 and told the story of the making of the atomic bomb through the lens of the Orpheus myth. Calla has also directed productions of Moira Buffini’s Dinner, Complicite’s The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol, Sarah Kane’s Blasted (Assistant Director), Martin McDonaugh's The Pillowman (Assistant Director), and Complicite’s Mnemonic. She is the recipient of Harvard’s Louis Sudler Prize for the Arts and an Artistic Development Fellowship, and is a member of Nylon Fusion Writer's Collective, New Perspective Theatre’s Women’s Work Lab, and the Lincoln Center Director's Lab.
Running Time = 1 hour 20 minutes with intermission
About the Company: PEGLEG PRODUCTIONS
PEGLEG PRODUCTIONS is a nascent theater company based in New York City and helmed by recent alumni of Harvard University. We are a company of collaborators, and the thread that connects all of our projects is our emphasis on developing work that features the skills and talents of our ever-changing line-up of technicians/actors/designers and that emphasizes the social issues we find most compelling in the modern world. Our work is interdisciplinary, relying on movement/dance as much as text to create dramatic effect and mood. It is explicitly self-conscious, commenting upon the conceits of live performance even as we endeavor to create an experience that could only occur at a live event. It is critical, taking as its basis the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of social life in the 21st century and portraying them in ways that excite, problematize, and provoke.
NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS are pleased to present their final prime-time show of the season, (un)afraid, written and performed by Jill Beckman, Cara Francis, Ricardo Gamboa & Daniel McCoy, directed by Rob Neill. (un)afraid will be presented at the historic Living Theater (21 Clinton St, NY 10002). Performances begin Thursday, October 14th and continue through Saturday, November 6th. Opening Night is Thursday, October 14th (at 7 P.M.).Press are cordially invited Thursday, October 14th at 7:30 pm; Friday, October 15th at 7:30 pm; Saturday, October 16th at 7:30 pm.
(Unofficial press dates will be accommodated, upon request.)
Tell us your secret ghost story. Tell us your fever dreams. Tell us why you fear your fellow human being. The New York Neo-Futurists' Fall 2010 horror show and fear experiment, (un)afraid, celebrates and examines the concept, causes and consequences of fear, both in our society and in ourselves. Attempting to summon a different guest spirit each performance, from such deceased masters of horror as Edgar Allen Poe, HP Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, M.R, and James. The New York Neo-Futurists call upon the forces of chance and change to present a different show every night, putting expectations on shaky ground and melding our mythical fear of what goes bump in the night with the terror of simply living. Combining elements of personal ghost story, video assault, monster-mash-mayhem, and audience-interactive freak-out, Neo-Futurists Jill Beckman, Cara Francis, Daniel McCoy & Ricardo Gamboa will usher you beyond the very edge of their and your, most startling, gruesome, and diabolical fears. Welcome to our nightmare.
Jennie Miller is the producer; Liz Jenetopulos is the set & prop designer; Hunter Kaczorowski is the costume designer; Lauren Parrish is the technical director and lighting designer; Christopher Loar is the sound designer; Adam Smith is the video designer. Laura Shlachtmeyer is the stage manager, and Shane Reader is the assistant stage manager.
(un)afraid has the following schedule through Saturday, November 6th:
Thursdays at 7:30 pm
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm & 10:30 pm
Additional Performances:
Monday, October 25th at 7:30 pm
Wednesday October 27th at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, November 3rd at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $18.00 ($12 Student rush with valid I.D.) Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.nynf.org, or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased at the theatre’s box office half hour before curtain.
Running Time: 60 minutes. No Intermission.
In preparation for (un)afraid, Jill, Cara, Ricardo and Daniel have broken into a mental institution, summoned the spirits of gamblers and animals on a mountain, and will soon conduct four fear experiments right here in New York City. Keep an eye out to catch them, or spectate from a safe distance by watching their video blogs.
For more information about (un)afraid, visit www.nyneofuturists.org
For updates and video blogs, visit www.beunafraid.blogspot.com
About the Company: New York Neo-Futurists
We are a collective of wildly productive writer/director/performers who create:
-Theater that is fusion of sport, poetry, and living-newspaper.
-Non-illusory, interactive performance that conveys our experiences and ideas as directly and honestly as possible.
-Immediate, unreproducable events at headslappingly affordable prices.
-We embrace those unreached or unmoved by conventional theater-inspiring them to thought, feeling, and action.
The true story of an American Woman’s bicycle journey through the heart of the Middle East. Alone.
Returns to the Living Theatre 21 Clinton St, NYC after a sell-out preview season
September Wed 22nd / Thurs 23rd / Fri 24th / Thurs 30 @ 8pm
October Fri 1st @ 8pm / Sat Oct 2nd @ 8pm / Thurs 7th, Fri 8th, Sat 9th @ 2pm & 8pm
“A performance of passion and politics, humour and hope. Following the true story of Monica Hunken’s courageous voyage, unarmed and unafraid, across hostile territory presents us with a triumph of the soul…”
- Judith Malina, founder of The Living Theatre
"The life-confession form of monologue has had its day. People thought the heedless self-congratulation of 70's performance art strangled it forever. But then a Ruth Draper or Richard Pryor or Spalding Gray comes along and makes the pretensions of talking about your own life for an hour beside the point because the audience doesn't notice time is passing. I had such a sensation with Monica Hunken's Blondie of Arabia…”
- Rev Billy Talen, The Church of Life After Shopping
Two weeks before Christmas, Monica Hunken flew into the heart of the Persian Gulf to cater at a royal wedding party and ended up biking across the Middle East. This play chronicles the true story of her desert odyssey. Watch the broke, blonde American swerve her bicycle through close encounters with military capture, sex tourism, Gulf royalty and near death. As Hunken perseveres in her adventure as a parade of one, defeating trouble at every turn, indulging her super-hero fetishism, she plays over 20 characters in this 80 minute comedy that brought audiences to their feet every show.
www.monicahunken.com
The Groundworks acting ensemble is back by popular demand at the famous Living Theatre, "dirtysomething" combines satirical comic improvisation with sound, music, sketches, and more, in a wild, non-stop ninety minute show. As always, Cheap drinks and plenty of surprise guests!
In the Summer of 2006, a group of actors staged a worker’s strike against the American Girl Co., one of America’s most popular doll retailers. If you didn’t walk past them standing proudly on 5th Avenue, you probably saw them on the evening news protesting in four-part harmony. Perhaps, you caught the picture of young adults proudly brandishing colorful signs, decorated with ribbons and sequins in the Theatre section of the New York Times, and flipped the page because you thought they were a group of Clay Aiken fans.
Mat Sanders was at the forefront of this dispute. As he boldly stood in protest of the theater management’s unethical policies governing the mini-musical in which he starred, his creative partner, Guerrin Gardner, also rallied behind the cause and joined him on the picket line…
Inspired by a hilarious controversy comes an even more hilarious new comedy adventure. Set against the backdrop of a whimsical New York City, this new-fangled vaudeville chronicles the adventures of Sandy—a self-proclaimed star-to-be with dreams as big as his debts, and Charlie—his hopelessly optimistic and slightly peculiar companion. Witness their rise to the top as they softshoe through a world of corporate corrupt children’s theatre, big-apple ambitions and menacing leather daddies. By weaving together fanciful satire and real life events this stylish and irreverent comedy begs the question,
“How much of my soul must I sell to make it to the top?”
The Connection is a play about the human condition. The audience encounters a group of junkies and a group of jazz musicians waiting in a loft for "Cowboy" to bring them a fix, while they are being filmed for a movie about their lives. It is the entrance to a complex world, which mirrors many aspects of the human condition from the burning despair of the addict to the glorious redemption of the jazz music. (Somewhat) Happy Ending | Open: 11/22/08 Close: 12/20/08
Mia Barron, last seen on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's Tony Award-winning Best Play The Coast of Utopia, and stage and television's Darren Pettie will head up the eight-member cast as Hillary and Bill Clinton. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love, have been at war since time immemorial. When a young girl named Hillary Rodham devotes herself to Athena alone spurning romance, makeup, and attractive hairstyles Aphrodite takes revenge by having her fall in love with a man of mythical charm and appetites: Bill Clinton. New Georges first presented "HILLARY" at The Public Theater last December in a two-performance workshop presentation. 
Published in 1847, the "Prose Poem," as Poe called it, lays out with astonishing forethought what has since come to be called the Big Bang Theory. The Living Theatre has adapted Poe's text to a theatrical form, which will provide the audience with an awareness of participating actively in the creation of the universe and realize the parallel between the development of the elements of the cosmos and our own human development.Eureka! was conceived and written by Hanon Reznikov when he read Poe's text - but he did not live to finish the task. Judith Malina, his collaborator and the director of the play completed the script.
The purpose of the play is to provide the audience with a sense of empowerment. By participating in the creation of the known universe we communicate the possibility of creating a more harmonious social structure. 'Eureka!' joins nearly one hundred Living Theatre productions created since 1951, all of which seek to expand our knowledge of the universe.
The cast of Eureka! features Anthony Sisco as Edgar Allan Poe, Silas Inches as Alexander von Humboldt, Gene Ardor, Yasemin Ozumerzifon, Eric Olson, Maia Larraz, Erin Downhour, Kennedy Yanko, Enoch Wu, Katherine Nook, Isaac Scranton, Eitan Brigantonelli, and you the audience.
The Assistant Director is Brad Burgess. Set & Lighting Designer is Gary Brackett, Technical Direction is by Evan True. Choreography is by Gene Ardor.
Judith Malina is the willful, self-possessed crone Maudie, declaring her independence at every turn and Pat Russell is Jane, in crisis despite herself and her success, and finding in Maudie the possibility of other levels of communication that transform her life.