2008-2009 WRITER/DIRECTOR LAB READING SERIES

2008-2009 WRITER/DIRECTOR LAB READING SERIES

Downtown's premiere program for new plays. Six writer/director pairs create plays from scratch. Readings of the very newest work at Soho Rep.

FREE. First come, first served. All readings 7pm at Soho Rep.

THE CHILDREN'S EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION
A new play by Jonathan Bernstein
Directed by Katherine Kovner
Monday, April 13 at 7pm

SUN RA
A new play by Sally Oswald
Directed by Rafael Gallegos
Monday, April 20 at 7pm

HIM
A new play by Katherine Ryan
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Monday, April 27 at 7pm

MIRAGE
A new play by Susan Tenneriello
Directed by Jerry Ruiz
Tuesday, May 5 at 7pm

THE CHANGE
A new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Shoshona Currier
Tuesday, May 12 at 7pm

ORANGE, HAT & GRACE
A new play by Gregory S. Moss
Directed by Arin Arbus
Tuesday, May 19 at 7pm

Writer/Director Lab Co-Chairs: Maria Goyanes, Daniel Manley & Katherine Ryan

For More Info: CLICK HERE

This Week: Red Fly/Blue Bottle @ HERE

A theatrical event that bridges concert, cabinet of curiosities, and video installation, Red Fly/Blue Bottle challenges how we listen, look, and remember. Staged as a concert that unfolds within a densely layered video installation, this innovative new work delivers a rich aural and visual experience.

RED FLY/BLUE BOTTLE
by CHRISTINA CAMPANELLA (music)
& STEPHANIE FLEISCHMANN (words)

Directed by Mallory Catlett (Oh What War), interwoven with video imagery by Peter Norrman and Mirit Tal, Red Fly/Blue Bottle is designed by Jim Findlay (set), Miranda Hardy (lights) and Olivera Gajic (costumes) and Jeremy Wilson (live sound) to conjure an associative visual landscape in which objects open up in unexpected ways, revealing worlds within worlds.

With: Black-Eyed Susan (Ridiculous Theater), Jesse Hawley (NTUSA), singer song-writer Chris Lee, and Sam Baker (drums) and Erich Shoen-Rene (cello).

For Tickets & Info: www.here.org

9 Questions for Susan Bernfield (New Georges)

Angela's Mixtape by Eisa Davis begins performances at the Ohio Theater on Monday April 6th. The show is a co-production between New Georges and The Hip-Hop Theater Festival, so we took the opportunity to send 9 Questions to New Georges Artistic Director, Susan Bernfield and she was kind enough to take the time to send us these terrific, thoughtful answers:

1. What was the inspiration for forming New Georges?

Like lots of people, I formed a theater company right out of drama school (I was an actor). And we incorporated and did a few shows and then, again like lots of people, it kind of fizzled out. A few months later I took a commercial class (as in, for actors who want to be in commercials) which happened to have only women in it. An ongoing conversation started happening there about going in to audition for nothing but stupid bimbo parts, stupid other-stereotype parts... And it was right at that Anita Hill time, fall of 1991, the chick thing was just in the air. So I hooked up with a few people from that class, offering that first company's incorporation and bank account, and we decided we wanted to do something about women. We weren't sure what, though -- maybe produce plays by women, then maybe there'd be better roles for us? But it was SO HARD to find any plays by women! I'd go to the Drama Book Shop and comb the shelves, couldn't find a thing. So I thought, well, there must be women like me, who care about the kinds of things I do, who wanna write plays, so how do you find those people? I had no experience with new plays whatsoever, it was a completely different idea of theater than what I'd grown up with or thought I'd ever do. I'd never met a playwright in my life, could barely conceive of it (now I am one). And a lot of the resources for new plays or even the focus on new plays that there is now, I'm not sure it all existed then -- or it did, but not in the same way and certainly not in a way I had access to. I mean, I had no idea. But very soon I realized that producing new work and getting to know the people who made new work was the most creative, most interesting, most obvious path. Of course the company and its mission have evolved a lot since then, and so have I.


2. What is the hardest part of keeping a theater company going for 17 years?

The first 16 years! No, what's hardest keeps changing, actually, which is good. In the early years it was like constantly pushing a boulder up a hill, sometimes literally. These days, I have a bit more help and a bit more experience and I don't have to go out anymore and paint and strike and do all kinds of things I have no skills for, all by myself, and then not be able to and cry. That... was hard. Probably the reason I was doing everything is that I'm pretty shy, it was nearly impossible for me to ask for stuff, especially to ask people to help. And doing what we do can involve a lot of asking. I think that slowed us down quite a bit -- spending whole days staring at the phone but never quite picking it up is not productive! It took a long time to find good partners and to better assert what we needed. So maybe I'd say that's the hardest, always asking, especially during the times when I felt like I was pushing that boulder all alone... fortunately, that's a lot rarer now. But even today, asking is very very hard for me.


3. What is the best part of your job?

People, no question. Getting to know and to hang with cool and interesting and fun people, people who are doing something they care relentlessly about. Said another way, I probably mean community. It's incredibly meaningful to me, not just the community of artists at New Georges (where I woke up one morning and realized I'd created the community I so clearly needed myself), but also the community of my fellow producers, the downtown theater community... all kinds of loose and amazing networks of people that I get to be a part of. That I'm really privileged and fortunate to be a part of. There's no way I'd still be doing this if I didn't feel this tremendous structure of support from incredible theater friends, and I didn't have the opportunity to give that support right back.


4. What have you seen (other than New Georges work, or course) that you’ve really loved?

Recently, or ever, or do I get to pick? Recently I really loved TELEPHONE at the Foundry and THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY at the Vineyard and END DAYS at EST and THE GOOD NEGRO at the Public. Been kind of a good year, actually, that's not even all I liked! Oh, and HAIR, I'm gonna see HAIR for the third time, even though it may hamper my ability to send my kids to college! (To tell you the truth, I'm gonna take my kids to HAIR. So I guess that'll be instead of sending them to college. Which makes sense, I think they're gonna learn a lot.)


5. Your newest production, Angela’s Mixtape is a co-production with Hip Hop Theater Festival – how did that come about?

Eisa Davis, the playwright, originally developed the piece with Hip-Hop Theater Festival a while back. As soon as we decided to do it, Eisa said, "you have to get in touch with them and get them involved!" Which I was beyond happy to do. I love that we share the attitude that we're not in it just to put on a play, but to create an event. And we serve different purposes on the project -- New Georges is essentially producing the New York production, 'cause that's what we do, and they're interested in finding a touring life for the project once it's up, 'cause that's what they do. So we're all learning. I've loved getting to know Clyde Valentin and everybody there, and they bring so much to this project.


6. Have there been shows that New Georges has done that you loved and felt they didn’t get the response they deserved?

I'm usually happy with the response we get from people who get to our shows; historically, the problem's more about bringing attention to shows so that more people come see them and are then able to respond. Especially so that the artists (and potentially also the piece) can go further, so the production can actually make a difference in the artist's life. There's no worse feeling than when you've got a piece you think everyone should see (and the audience you've got agrees with you), but you can't for the life of you figure out how to access more audience. That's less of a problem these days, we have more time to work harder at it and we have a little bit more visibility, and this crazy Internet thing helps. But from back in the day, I wish we'd been able to bring more attention and people to TOMORROWLAND by Neena Beber, SELF DEFENSE by Carson Kreitzer, ANNA BELLA EEMA by Lisa D'Amour, to name just a few.


7. How do you choose projects?

We start by choosing artists, really. When I meet artists who interest me, I often talk about -- let's start a relationship, do some work, I'll see your other work, then we'll see if something pops to the surface. And that does happen. In the best circumstances, projects are just... obvious, make sense, fall into place. Actually I like that you're asking about projects, because that's how I think about it, too. A lot of companies choose plays, but most of the time we really do choose the project. We want to do what interests us as producers -- the question often becomes, can we make an event out of this? And I know when we can from the combustion I feel happening between potential collaborators. There are times I've just up and said "let's do it!" because I'm in the room with a playwright and a director and I can sense the energy they're going to bring to the work, how that collaboration will bring what's on the page forward in a way that's specific and exciting and something that I want to be a part of.


8. Now that The Ohio’s future is in question, would you ever consider having your own venue?

It would have to be a pretty special venue, just because the logistics and finances of having your own space seem, well, overwhelming to me. Right now, we just have a rehearsal space of our own, and that's almost too much to deal with. But you're right, as spaces disappear I do start to wonder whether we're going to have a choice on that. Sigh. It's definitely getting harder.


9. What’s next?

This fall, we're co-producing CREATURE by Heidi Schreck, directed by Leigh Silverman, with P73 Productions. And we're always doing things in The Room, our workspace. We'll keep you posted!



















New Georges
and
Hip-Hop Theater Festival
present
ANGELA'S MIXTAPE
by Eisa Davis
Directed by Liesl Tommy

APRIL 6 TO MAY 2
Mondays through Saturdays 8pm
opens April 9 at 7pm

OHIO THEATRE
66 Wooster Street, Soho

$35 premium seating (reserved)
$20 general admission

For tickets: Click Here
or call 212-868-4444

2009 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations

Outstanding Play:
Animals Out of Paper; Second Stage Theatre, Producer; Rajiv Joseph, Playwright

Becky Shaw; Second Stage Theatre, Producer; Gina Gionfriddo, Playwright

Ruined; Manhattan Theatre Club and Goodman Theatre, Producer; Lynn Nottage, Playwright

The Good Negro; The Public Theater in association with Dallas Theater Center, Producers; Tracey Scott Wilson, Playwright

The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 1928); New York Theatre Workshop and Elevator Repair Service, Producers; Text by William Faulkner, Created by Elevator Repair Service

Outstanding Musical:
Fela! A New Musical; Ruth and Stephen Hendel and Roy Gabay, Producers; Book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones, Music and Lyrics by Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Add'l Music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean, Add'l Lyrics by Jim Lewis.

My Vaudeville Man!; The York Theatre Company and Melanie Herman, Producers; Book by Jeff Hochhauser, Music by Bob Johnston, Lyrics by Bob Johnston and Jeff Hochhauser

Road Show; The Public Theater, Producer; Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by John Weidman

Saved; Playwrights Horizons in association with Elephant Eye Theatrical, Producers; Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman, Book and Lyrics by John Dempsey and Rinne Groff

This Beautiful City; Vineyard Theatre, Producer; Composer and Lyricist Michael Friedman, Librettist Steve Cosson and Jim Lewis, Created by The Civilians

Outstanding Solo Show:
Humor Abuse; Manhattan Theatre Club, Producer; Created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, Performed by Lorenzo Pisoni

Sleepwalk With Me; Eli Gonda, Ryan Scott Warren, Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf, and Nathan Lane, Producers; Written and Performed by Mike Birbiglia


Outstanding Revival:
Enter Laughing, The Musical; The York Theatre Company, Producer; Book by Joseph Stein, Music and Lyrics by Stan Daniels, Based on the play Enter Laughing by Joseph Stein, from the novel by Carl Reiner.

Othello; Theatre for a New Audience, Producer; William Shakespeare, Playwright

Our Town; Scott Morfee, Jean Doumanian, Tom Wirtshafter, Ted Snowdon, Eagle Productions, Dena Hammerstein/Pam Pariseau, The Weinstein Company, Burnt Umber Productions, Producers; Thornton Wilder, Playwright

The Cripple of Inishmaan; Atlantic Theater Company and Druid Theatre Company, Producers; Martin McDonagh, Playwright

The Glass Cage; Mint Theater Company, Producer; J.B. Priestley, Playwright

Outstanding Director:
Arin Arbus, OthelloDavid Cromer, Our TownGarry Hynes, The Cripple of InishmaanKate Whoriskey, RuinedRobert Woodruff, Chair
Outstanding Choreographer:
Martha Clarke, Garden of Earthly DelightsBill T. Jones, Fela! A New MusicalJanet Miller, The Marvelous WonderettesLynne Taylor-Corbett and Shonn Wiley, My Vaudeville Man!Sergio Trujillo, Saved
Outstanding Lead Actor:
Ned Eisenberg, OthelloBrian d'Arcy James, Port AuthorityJosh Grisetti, Enter Laughing, The MusicalSahr Ngaujah, Fela! A New MusicalJohn Douglas Thompson, Othello
Outstanding Lead Actress:
Ellen Burstyn, The Little Flower of East OrangeSaidah Arrika Ekulona, RuinedCarmen M. Herlihy, crookedKellie Overbey, The Savannah DisputationAnnie Parisse, Becky Shaw
Outstanding Featured Actor:
Utkarsh Ambudkar, Animals Out of PaperFrancois Battiste, The Good NegroJohn McMartin, Saturn ReturnsAaron Monaghan, The Cripple of InishmaanThomas Sadoski, Becky Shaw
Outstanding Featured Actress:
Annika Boras, ChairKerry Condon, The Cripple of InishmaanLisa Emery, DistractedMamie Gummer, Uncle VanyaJuliet Rylance, Othello
Outstanding Scenic Design:
Beowulf Boritt, Animals Out of PaperMarina Draghici, Fela! A New MusicalRoger Hanna, The Glass CageJames Schuette, Wig Out!David Zinn, Chair
Outstanding Costume Design:
Marina Draghici, Fela! A New MusicalAnn Hould-Ward, Road ShowToni-Leslie James, Wig Out!Karen Perry, The First Breeze of SummerTheresa Squire, Rafta, Rafta…
Outstanding Lighting Design:
Christopher Akerlind, Garden of Earthly DelightsMark Barton, ChairLap Chi Chu, The Good NegroMarcus Doshi, OthelloJason Lyons, Mourning Becomes Electra
Outstanding Sound Design:
Quentin Chiappetta, Irena's VowJohn Gromada, Shipwrecked! An EntertainmentRobert Kaplowitz, Wig Out!Jane Shaw, The Widowing of Mrs. HolroydMatt Tierney, The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 1928)
Special Awards:
Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellence:
Ira Weitzman

Outstanding Body of Work:
The Lark Play Development Center

For more information about the awards, you can visit www.LortelAward.com

9 Questions for Kelly Copper (Nature Theater of Oklahoma)

Nature Theater of Oklahoma's RAMBO SOLO opens this week at Soho Rep. RAMBO SOLO is created by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper in conversation with (and staring) Zachary Oberzan. Off Off Blogway sent over 9 Questions to Kelly Copper and she was kind enough to send us these answers:

1. It's rare to see shared “created by” and “directed by” credits. How do you work together – are there divided responsibilities or is it totally collaborative?

We've [Kelly and partner Pavol Liska] worked together a very long time. I would say this is a murky area. It's not always "collaborative" -- that's a sort of hippie word and it sounds prettier than what it is -- it's often combative. Sometimes we have the same brain, sometimes we don't. We talk all the time. We work all the time. The one overall binding principle I would say to our working together is that I know and trust that we will never put anything on stage that we don't both wholly stand behind. And that weeds out a lot of crap.

2. How did Rambo Solo evolve?

Rambo Solo started from a leftover question from our show No Dice. In No Dice Pavol was asking everyone we knew to tell him a story. And everyone said they couldn't tell a story. And the show became what it wanted to become, finally -- and it was about something else. But we were still left with this question about story and what does a story mean to people and why do we need one.

Pavol and I knew that the novel First Blood meant a great deal to Zack, and that he had read it many times, and so that was the starting point for this particular show. Pavol called Zack and asked: "can you tell me THIS story?" What is it about THIS story? And again, as usual -- the project becomes again what it wants to become. But it did come out of this leftover preoccupation with narrative storytelling from No Dice.

3. Nature Theater of Oklahoma has been touring a lot lately. Is your work received differently in Europe and in the US?

I don't really think it's that different. No more so than every audience is different.

The only thing I really notice is when we serve sandwiches in the theater -- there's much more suspicion about that in Europe. For some reason every once in a while you have an audience that's really afraid of taking the sandwiches. People in the US are more inclined to take free food, I would say. That's not very profound, but it's true.

4. Who are some artists that inspire you?

John Cage, Alan Kaprow, Jaques Rivette.

5. Do you want some day to have a venue of your own or do you like the challenges of creating work for various locations?

I think I still have the same stupid fantasy I had when I moved to New York 15 years ago -- that somehow I will find a cool garage and live in it and work in it. I would love to have a regular place to make work and not have to cobble it together all the time. But we've also learned to embrace spacial restrictions. We made Rambo Solo in Zack's apartment. We made Romeo and Juliet in our apartment. Ultimately, we can make it productive. Something always comes out of whatever space you have -- but I also wonder what it would be like to have a home. What sort of work would I make if the space was always the same? I have no idea. Maybe it would bring out something else in the work if my main problem wasn't always always the space.

6. Can you describe a show or performance you seen in the past year that has stayed with you and why?

The most exciting thing I just recently saw was on video -- William Forsythe's One Flat Thing Reproduced. Just dancers and tables. It was beautiful and mathematical and visceral. It made me excited to work again.

7. Looking at your body of work to date, which is wildly varied, is there a general “theme” or “philosophy” that can be derived?

I'm sure there is, but it's not something you really try to track. It doesn't help me to think about how the work is generally related to a theme or philosophy. If I was too busy nailing that down, I'd be trying to make work to fit the bill.

It bothers me now that this last body of work (including Rambo Solo) has all been created orally. So now people think of us as "those people who work with ipods and record their phone conversations". That's just a certain body of work. The next thing will be different. You have to throw yourself off track or your work does become fixed. I think about that a lot -- how do you not become content with a certain kind of work.

I'm 38 -- I'm not yet ready to be a mid-career artist. I want to keep experimenting. I think Alan Kaprow said that if an experimental artist is successful -- they usually only experiment once, and then just repeat themselves. That phrase really haunts me. I'm not content to just repeat myself.

8. What is your favorite part of creating a new piece?

I like the fear of not knowing exactly what it will be.

9. What's Next?

The first episode of a serial opera Life and Times that will open in Vienna in September.

*****
Soho Rep and Nature Theater of Oklahoma
present
RAMBO SOLO
Featuring: Zachary Oberzan
Conceived & Directed: Pavol Liska & Kelly Copper
Design & Video: Peter Nigrini

Performances begin March 19th.

For Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

Kaspar Hauser @ The Flea

Elizabeth Swados' Kaspar Hauser: a foundling's opera is epic in approach, absurd in style, and musically haunting at the center of which is a profound, committed performance by Preston Martin in the title role. This world premiere is being given a first rate production that rivals theaters at four-times the ticket price at The Flea. Try to catch it in its limited run through March 28th.

The Flea Theater presents Kaspar Hauser: a foundling's opera
by Elizabeth Swados and Erin Courtney
Composed and Directed by Elizabeth Swados
Starring The Bats
Now through March 28th

For Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

9 Questions for Caden Manson (Big Art Group)

Big Art Group's newest show, SOS, opens next week (March 19th) at The Kitchen. We sent over some questions for Artistic Director, Caden Manson and he was kind enough to send us his answers!

1. Who are some of your professional influences?
I have a big list of artists that I admire! Its a shout out - click away. Romeo Castellucci, Theo Kogan and Sean Pierce, Meg Stuart, David Altmejd, Paper Rad, Justin Bond, M. Lamar,, Rachid Ouramdane, Trajal Harrell, DD Dorvillier, Koosil-ja, Muta Imago, Nick Cave (artist not singer), Alain Platel,Frank Castorf,René Pollesch,Selene Luna,Jack Smith, Nibroll, A.L. Steiner, Paul McCarthy,and Dynasty Handbag to name a few.

2 .How has you work changed over the years?
The work has become physically bigger, conceptually more layered and thematically denser. It is definitely more aggressive in its relationship to an audience and to the performance form in general.

3. What is the most challenging part of creating multi-media work?
Finding a space in New York that we can afford to set down in for the duration of a creation process. With multi-media, it's important that the technology be with you from the start so that its organic and grows with the performers and conceptual and formal equations.

4. Can you name a work you've seen in the past 12 months that is particularly memorable?
There is a piece that has stuck with me for three years now. In 2006 I saw Ann Liv Young's piece called Solo (there are three people in it). I still can't get it out of my head. I haven't been surprised like that in a long time. In the last 12 months I had the chance to see a rehearsal of Romeo Castalucci's new piece based on Dante's Inferno. It was the Purgatorio section and I saw it in a theatre in Italy that we have performed in a few times. There were moments in the piece where I couldn't tell how something was being made. It became a kind of monstrous illusion. I kept having to check my self to make sure I was still seeing what I thought I was seeing. After it was over the entire audience sat there in silence for the longest time trying to get there bearings again. The piece is a formal and stylistic departure from his past work. I think it will be in LA next year. I hope it comes to Montclair.

5. Is there an idea for a piece that has intimidated you and that you have not attempted?I'm methodical about my work. If I have an idea for a piece nothing really gets in my way. I find intimidation attractive as an obstacle.

6. Do you consider your work political?
Creating performance in America is a political act in and of itself. It is a creation without physical product that is an anathema to our capitalist culture. Beyond that, our work has a political point in its content and formal equations. The spoken text in the pieces is anti-theatrical and precisely political in it use and content. The formal aspects of the performances highlight the fissures in image construction and communication as well as the liquidness of identity.

7. What discourages you?
What discourages me is also what drives me to find ways around it to create work. SPACE!, TIME!, MONEY!

8. Your work is seen around the world, how do critics differ in other countries?
In the US we are working from within the Image Spectacle; subverting the messages and scrambling the codes. An American audience has a harder time breaking the shell of the pieces, because they are living them also. Outside of the US the work is viewed from a critical and cultural distance. Foreign audiences, because of their cultural distance, can mostly see though the shinny exterior of the work to the critique that lies under its skin.

9. What's next?
2009 is Big Art Group's 10th year. I'm very proud of the work the group has done and am really fortunate to have had the chance to work with such an amazing ensemble of artists. For the 2009/2010 season of Big Art Group we are planning a season at home in NYC. We'll be bouncing around to different venues and performing and presenting as much as possible. We are planning performance installations based on our early works The Balladeer, Shelf Life, and Ficker; Two new works in the Cinema Fury Project - The Sleep and The Dogs, Actions (installation/performance/parties) all season long, a new group work called NO SHOW and a big party to celebrate our 10 years of NYC survival.



SOS
Caden Manson / Big Art Group
The Kitchen - NYC March 19-21 & 26-28, 2009

For Tickets and Info : CLICK HERE