Highlights: Festival Overload (NYC)

Over the next two weeks 5 festivals and multiple showings of contemporary performance will be presented along side the annual APAP convention. Its a great opportunity to catch some local, national and international work.

American Realness Festival (Abrons Arts Center & others)
Under the Radar (The Public & others)
COIL Festival (PS122)
Other Forces (Ontological)
Culturemart (Here)
and APAP showings at DTW

Here are our highlights of the festivals.

AMERICAN REALNESS
A Festival of Contemporary Performance January 8-11, 2010

MIGUEL GUTIERREZ AND THE POWERFUL PEOPLE
Last Meadow

Last Meadow is a new evening length work using original choreography and writing mixed with stuff from James Dean’s three movies to look at the myth of America the father, and confusion as a potentially transformative, sensory-enlivened state.

ABRONS ARTS CENTER
466 GRAND STREET
TICKETS $15

FRIDAY JANUARY 8 at 7pm
SATURDAY JANUARY 9 at 9:30pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 10 at 1pm

ANN LIV YOUNG
Ann Liv Young Does Sherry

Sherry, Ann Liv Young’s newest performance alter ego uses techniques from church, Alcoholics Anonymous and traditional psychology in her own
brand of performative therapy. She is about fixing your issues, whether it’s marital trouble or a lack of creativity in the kitchen.

While you can’t get much whiter than Sherry she is sexually and racially progressive, working alongside two colored people. And her methods, though traditional in some sense, are more likely to involve pork chops, mayonnaise and chocolate sauce than a weekly visit to your therapist. Whatever Sherry does, Ann Liv Young says it works and she has proof.

ABRONS ARTS CENTER
466 GRAND STREET
TICKETS $15

FRIDAY JANUARY 8 at 10pm
SATURDAY JANUARY 9 at 5pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 10 at 9pm

LUCIANA ACHUGAR, Franny and Zooey
ZOE|JUNIPER, A Crack in Everything
LAYARD THOMPSON, cUp—pUck…

LUCIANA ACHUGAR
Franny and Zooey
Franny and Zooey makes the audience hyper aware of their physical presence in the theatre and their role as voyeur by bringing to the foreground the space and time gap between the process and the moment of performance.

ZOE|JUNIPER
A Crack in Everything
For A Crack in Everything, Co-Artistic Director and Choreographer Zoe Scofield creates a feral ballet of aggression and catharsis inside a highly controlled, modular and crafted environment designed and built by Co-Artistic Director Juniper Shuey.

LAYARD THOMPSON
cUp—pUck…
Thompson’s clownish work seriously employs psychological movement and recycled materials to question the nature of gender, sexuality, materiality, consumption and the paradox of the self as a verb.

ABRONS ARTS CENTER
466 GRAND STREET
TICKETS $15

SATURDAY JANUARY 9 at 1pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 10 at 5pm

JEREMY WADE
I Offer My Self to Thee

A hallucinogenic play about the body’s relationship to the untenable, the great void, the grain of sand in the vastness of empty space, with a revelation that life is about moving towards love and not away from it.

ABRONS ARTS CENTER
466 GRAND STREET
TICKETS $15

SUNDAY JANUARY 10 at 5pm

JACK FERVER
A Movie Star Needs a Movie

Jack Ferver’s A Movie Star Needs a Movie isa darkly satirical new work about the relationship between shallow ambition and fame.

ABRONS ARTS CENTER
466 GRAND STREET
TICKETS $15

SATURDAY JANUARY 9 at 5pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 10 at 9pm

TRAJAL HARRELL
Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Jusdon Church (S)

Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (S) takes a new critical position on postmodern dance aesthetics emanating from the Judson Church period. By developing his own work as an imaginary meeting between the aesthetics of Judson and those of a parallel historical tradition, that of Voguing, Trajal Harrell re-writes the minimalism and neutrality of postmodern dance with a new set of signs.

PRESENTED BY:
THE NEW MUSEUM
235 BOWERY AT PRINCE STREET
TICKETS $18

THURSDAY JANUARY 7 & FRIDAY JANUARY 8 at 7pm

JEREMY WADE
there is no end to more

In a bold and violent juxtaposition of movement, text, animation and video of manga (Japanese comics) drawing, Wade takes a playful and cynical look at Japanese kawaii (cute) culture— from the infantile fluff of Hello Kitty to teenage doe-eyed love portrayed in anime— exploring its ubiquitous influence on the world today.

PRESENTED BY:
THE JAPAN SOCIETY
333 EAST 47TH ST (btwn 1st and 2nd Aves)
TICKETS $20

MONDAY JANUARY 11 at 730

See American Realness Website for dates and times.

Under The Radar

L’EFFET DE SERGE
Philippe Quesne/Vivarium Studio (France)

Sunday Afternoons, in his living room and for a limited audience, a character named Serge performs 1-3 minutes
numbers based on special effects. Low-key humor and homespun magic always merge in Quesne’s work.

January 7–16

Thurs. Jan 7th 7:30pm
Fri. Jan 8th 7:30pm
Sat. Jan 9th 7:30pm
Sun. Jan 10th 7:30pm
Mon. Jan 11th 7:30pm
Thurs. Jan 14th 7:30pm
Fri. Jan 15th 7:30pm
Sat. Jan 16th 7:30pm

CHAUTAUQUA!
Created by The National Theater of the USA

Inspired by the popular lecture circuits of the 19th century, Chautauqua! Weaves lectures on history, culture,
capitalism with live music, slapstick, magic, dance and melodrama. Chautauqua! Features guest lecturers, performers, and surprises in a celebration of the culture we all share and the moment in which we share it.

January 7–17

Thurs. Jan 7th 9:30pm
Sat. Jan 9th 7pm
Tues. Jan 12th 9:30pm
Thurs. Jan 14th 9:30pm
Fri. Jan 15th 9:30pm
Sat. Jan 16th 9:30pm
Sun. Jan 17th 3pm

JERK
Directed by Gisèle Vienne, text and dramaturgy by Dennis Cooper (France)

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Performed by and created in collaboration with Jonathan Capdevielle
Jerk is an imaginary reconstruction, with puppets, of the crimes perpetrated by American serial killer Dean Corll who, with the help of teenagers David Brooks and Wayne Henley, killed more than twenty boys in Texas during the mid-70s.

January 7–17

Thurs. Jan 7th 6:30pm
Sat. Jan 9th 7pm
Sun. Jan 10th 9:30pm
Mon. Jan 11th 9:30pm
Thurs. Jan 14th 10pm
Fri Jan 15th 7:30pm
Sat. Jan 16th 10pm
Sun Jan 17th 6pm

COIL Festival (PS 122)

Richard Maxwell/NYC Players – Ads
Upstairs at Performance Space 122
WORLD PREMIERE | THEATRE, VIDEO
Co-presented with Under The Radar Festival

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Ads marks a new departure in the work of celebrated downtown auteur Richard Maxwell. In collaboration with photographer/cinematographer Michael Schmelling and Wooster Group technical director Bozkurt Karasu, Maxwell asks whether theatre is possible without a human presence.

Wed, Jan 6 at 10pm | Fri, Jan 8 at 7pm | Sun, Jan 10 at 10pm | Tues, Jan 12 at 10pm Thu, Jan 14 at 10:30pm | Fri, Jan 15 at 8pm | Sat, 16 at 10:30pm | Sun, Jan at 17 5:30pm

EXTENDED at PS122 Wed, Jan 20 – Sun, Jan 31 (Wed – Sat 8pm, Sun 6pm)
ADDED LATE SHOWS: Sat, Jan 23 + Sat, Jan 30 at 10pm / NO SHOW: Thu, Jan 21

Edgar Oliver – East 10th Street; Portrait with Empty House
50 Minutes
Downstairs at Performance Space 122
SOLO PERFORMANCE

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Presented by Brian Barnhart, Axis Theatre and Richard Jordan Productions Ltd

Edgar Oliver weaves a fantastical and hilarious voyage through the dark and strange rooms of his East Village tenement building.

Wed, Jan 6 at 9:30pm | Thu, Jan 7 at 9:30pm | SPECIAL MIDNIGHT SHOW: Sat, Jan 9 | Sun, Jan 10 at 4:30pm |Mon, Jan 11 at 7pm | Tue, Jan 12 at 7pm | Thu, Jan 14 at 7:30pm | Fri, Jan 15 at 10pm | Sat, Jan 16 at 7:30pm | Sun, Jan 17 at 8:30pm

Reid Farrington – Gin & “It”
Offsite* at 3LD Art & Technology Center
THEATRE, CINEMA
Co-presented with Under The Radar Festival in association with 3LD Art & Technology Center

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For his next work Gin & “It”, Reid Farrington’s principle source is a film from the Master of Suspense. Again Farrington collaborates with film historians and archivists to bring a classic film to the stage with his own boundary-pushing melding of projected imagery and live drama.

Thu, Jan 7- Sat, Jan 16 9pm
OFFICIAL NY PREMIERE: Performance Space 122 April 2010
*Tickets available through 3LD Art & Technology Center

Other Forces (Ontological)

A Thought About Raya / The Debate Society

A Thought About Raya brings to the stage the violent and darkly comedic spirit of Leningrad artist Daniil Kharms, whose idiosyncratic visions and nonlinear theatrical performances led to his arrest, imprisonment, and eventual death during Stalin’s purges. In a series of colliding scenes, vibrant images and absurd turns frame this performance that is part fable, part dance, and part experience. Complex themes of love, sex, violence, and death pepper this simple story of the search for a voice in the midst of chaos. A Thought About Raya premiered in New York City in March of 2004 at the Red Room before transferring to Clemente Soto Velez.

The Debate Society is a Brooklyn based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen (writer/performer/designers) and Oliver Butler (director/developer). Typically shaping a new play via a rigorous 12-18 month development process, the company specializes in creating unexpected stories set in supremely intricate, vividly theatrical worlds. The trio’s plays include A Thought About Raya, The Snow Hen, You’re Welcome (Dixon Place), The Eaten Heart (Ontological-Hysteric Incubator) and Cape Disappointment (PS122). The company’s past tour destinations include Portland, OR, Austin, TX, Hartford, CT, Martha’s Vineyard, MA and Syracuse, NY.

Thurs, Jan 7, 6p.m.
Sat, Jan 9, 1p.m.
Sun, Jan 10, 7:30p.m.
Mon, Jan 11, 1p.m.
Tues, Jan 12, 6p.m.
Fri, Jan 15, 7:30p.m.

Culturemart (Here)

Sonnambula / Michael Bodel
Part of the Dream Music Puppetry Program
January 12-13, 2010

Bellini’s pastoral opera, La Sonnambula is peeled back to reveal the experience of young Amina on the day before her wedding, surrounded by her village but lost in her own mind. A sleepwalker, Amina exists in the space between sleeping and wakimg, vibrant and lifeless. Visceral choreography of two dancers converges with puppetry on multiple scales. Amina’s world decomposes. Soprano Mme. Giuditta Pasta, is brought to life, moments before she steps onto the stage of La Scala, 1831.

LUCID POSSESSION / TONI DOVE
January 19-20, 2010

Lucid Possession is a schizoid duet between a woman with a head like a radio receiver and her own avatar. The uncanny manifestation of a virtual multiple personality plagued by ghosts from the past, this automated video pop-up book forges an entirely new form: let’s call it cinematic bunraku. Live performers animate video bringing characters to life through motion, voice, and robotics. On-stage, Toni Dove and composer and violinist Mari Kimura control the physical and virtual movements of video and robotic entities. Performer, Hai-Ting Chinn sings and speaks through the Avatar, alongside songs and musical interludes by Elliott Sharp and Mari Kimura. Software designer R.Luke DuBois and roboticist Leif Krinkle control additional layers of light, sound and movement.

and APAP showings at DTW

Tere O’Connor
Wrought Iron Fog
January 7-8 at 6pm

Tere O’Connor’s new evening-length work Wrought Iron Fog premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in November 2009. The Financial Times writes, “A spirit of experimentation regularly drives Tere O’Connor’s dances, but the abundance of invention in Wrought Iron Fog beggars the imagination – and feeds it.” Wrought Iron Fog features an original score by longtime collaborator James Baker, lighting design by Michael O’Connor, set design by Walter Dundervill, and is performed by Hilary Clark, Daniel Clifton, Erin Gerken, Heather Olson and Matthew Rogers.

Faye Driscoll
There is so much mad in me
Jan 8 at 3pm

In a time of distraction, voyeurism and over stimulation, how do we experience authentic connection? Faye Driscoll investigates the physical and theatrical narratives that drive our misplaced need to be seen. From creating facades to seeking the divine to committing violent acts and falling in love, There is so much mad in me looks into the ways we fail, succeed, and get lost in the chase for true connection.