COIL Festival Announces 2014 Line-up

Although they are currently displaced while their home gets an extreme makeover, that hasn't stopped Performance Space 122 from putting together a kick-ass COIL Festival for January 2014!  Highlights include new works by Reid Farrington, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Mac Wellman as well as a return engagement of Tina Satter's very well reviewed HOUSE OF DANCE and piece that rearranges ever word uttered by William Shatner as Captain Kirk on Star Trek.  Can't Wait!


REID FARRINGTON (USA)
TYSON VS. ALI
World Premiere | Theater
3-Legged Dog Production, commissioned by PS122, co-presented with 3-Legged Dog
January 3 – 19


HEATHER KRAVAS (USA/FRANCE)
A QUARTET
New York Premiere | Dance
Commissioned by PS122, Co-presented with The Kitchen
January 8 – 13


OKWUI OKPOKWASILI (USA)
BRONX GOTHIC
World Premiere | Dance, Theater
Co-commissioned & co-presented with Danspace Project
January 14 – 19


JEREMY XIDO (USA)
THE ANGOLA PROJECT
New York Premiere | Dance, Theater, Film
Co-presented with The Invisible Dog Art Center
January 14 – 17


TINA SATTER (USA)
HOUSE OF DANCE
Theater
Commissioned by PS122, Co-presented with New York City Players
January 9 – 13


BROKENTALKERS (IRELAND)
HAVE I NO MOUTH
US Premiere | Theater
Presented by Irish Arts Center in association with Baryshnikov Arts Center
January 14 – 26


MAC WELLMAN (USA)
MUAZZEZ
New York Premiere | Theater
Co-presented with The Chocolate Factory
January 7 – 17


PHIL SOLTANOFF with JOE DIEBES and ROB RAMIREZ (USA)
AN EVENING WITH WILLIAM SHATNER ASTERISK
New York Premiere | Theater, New Media
Co-presented with New Ohio Theatre
January 9 – 12<

CATCH !
CATCH 60: CATCH TAKES THE DECADE | 10th Anniversary
Multi-disciplinary | Theater, Dance, Performance
Co-presented with The Invisible Dog Art Center
January 11

For details: www.ps122.org/coil-2014

AVANT-GARDE-A-RAMA 2013 Line-up Announced

Avant-Garde-A-Rama celebrates its 27th year!  

Curated by Salley May in collaboration with The Full Moon Crew, Avant-Garde-Arama: New Moon is a tribute to the late downtown mentor and luminary performance artist Tom Murrin.

The full two-day line-up has just been announced:

Friday, April 12
Hosts: Dynasty Handbag and Jonathan Ames
Elevator Repair Service (excerpt from play by Sibyl Kempson)
David Leslie
Syd Straw (video appearance)
James Godwin
Alice Klugherz
Cornelius Loy
Julie Atlas Muz

Saturday April 13
Hosts: The Factress (Lucy Sexton) and Nurse Baby Asparagus (Mike Iveson)
Dr. Schüler & the Operating Theater Company
Chris Tanner
Unitard
The Naked Lady (Annie Iobst, video appearance)
Andrew Schneider
Tigger!
Laurie Berg
Mimi Goese 

PS122 presents
AVANT-GARDE-A-RAMA: FULL MOON

Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street)
New York, NY 10002

Friday April 12th and Saturday April 13th, 2013

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

20 Best Shows of 2011

1. I don't believe in outer space (William Forsythe Company @ BAM)

2. KIN (by Bathsheba Doran; directed by Sam Gold @ Playwrights Horizons)

3. The Method Gun (Rude Mechanicals @ Dance Theater Workshop)

4. A Small Fire (by Adam Bock; directed by Trip Cullman @ Playwrights Horizons)

5. Radio Play (Reggie Watts & Tommy Smith @ Performance Space 122)

6. Invasion! (by Jonas Hassen Khemiri; directed by Erica Schmidt for Play Company @ Walkerspace)

7. Go Back To Where You Are (by David Greenspan; directed by Leigh Silverman @ Playrights Horizons)

8. The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (by Qui Nguyen; directed by Robert Ross Parker for Vampire Cowboys @ Incubator Arts Project)

9. Our Lot (by Kristin Newbom and W. David Hancock; directed by May Adrales for Clubbed Thumb @ Here)

10. The Cherry Orchard (adapted from Chekhov by John Christopher Jones; directed by Andrei Belgrader @ Classic Stage Company)

11. Now the Cats With Jewelled Claws (by Tennessee Williams; directed by Jonathan Warman @ LaMama)

12. Veux Carre (by Tennessee Williams; directed by Elizabeth LeCompte for The Wooster Group @ Baryshnikov Arts Center) 

13. The Tempest (by William Shakespeare; directed by David Herskovits for Target Margin @ Here)

14. 2 Kilos of Sea (Deganit Shemy & Company @ Baryshnikov Arts Center)

15. Your Brother, Remember? (Conceived, directed, edited, performed by Zachary Oberzan for Under The Radar @ Dixon Place)

16. Here At Home (by Eric Bland; directed by Shannon Sindelar for 31 Down @ Bushwick Starr)

17. Born Bad (by Debbie Tucker Green; directed by Leah C. Gardiner @ Soho Rep)

18. The Bardy Bunch (by Stephen Garvey; directed by Jay Stern for FringeNYC @ LaMama)

19. Sweet and Sad (written and directed by Richard Nelson @ The Public Theater)

20. Walk Across America for Mother Earth (by Taylor Mac; directed by Paul Zimet for Talking Band @ LaMama)

Best of 2011: #5 - Reggie Watts' RADIO PLAY

Dark and musical, Reggie Watts' RADIO PLAY at Performance Space 122 was a surreal experience; like a 1940's radio play on acid.  There was no real "plot" to speak of, but Watt's and a cast of four performed vignettes with vocal precision and confidence. Even now I can't really tell you what it was all about, but it was quite a trip and it stuck with me enough to land at #5.

The Octoroon: 7/3/2010

I finally got to see Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' The Octoroon: An Adaptation of The Octoroon Based on The Octoroon at PS122. As anyone who follows off-off Broadway may already know, the production has been plagued with problems. First, the show lost its original director, Gavin Quinn (co-founder of the Irish company Pan Pan). I assume this happened because the playwright didn't like what the director was doing with his script. At that point the playwright took over the directing duties and the production proceeded.

Next, on the eve of opening, an actor in the cast sent an e-mail (I assume to his private “list”) venting his frustration with the production, calling it a “trainwreck” and trashing the play and the playwright/director. Said email was then published on the Village Voice “blog” which seems to have been revived only to post this e-mail. Over one hundred comments followed that posting and a public scandal began.

What I didn't know until seeing the show last night was that the actor who sent the email actually departed the show along with another actor (the man in “red face” in many of the promotional photos for the show).

So what was left to present to an audience you may ask? Actually the show asked that same question, several times, throughout the seventy-five minutes on view at PS122. What I saw was a very smart, exploration, not only of this 19th Century play but of the creative process. I have no doubt what was presented was not the show Branden Jacobs-Jenkins envisioned when this journey began, but what he made of the hand that was dealt him was the theatrical version of turning lemons into lemonade. Many of the scenes that obviously we written for two actors were played with one, the playwright himself opened the show, playing the part of the native-american putting on “red face” while explaining the opening of the show, sealed envelopes with questions from the the playwright/director were delivered to the actors on stage, who would break character and answer the questions as themselves.

Bravo the the actors who remained with the show. They were all excellent and knew there was some very good and valuable work being done.

I hope this version of the show remains somewhere. It is as interesting a theatrical archive as The Octoroon itself. Perhaps under the title: The Octoroon: An Adaptation of The Octoroon Based on The Octoroon an Unintentional Deconstruction of The Octoroon.

Theatre Askew curates Avant-Garde-Arama 2009 at PS122

Theater Askew, NYC's leading queer theatre company, joins forces with Avant-Garde-Arama! Join us as we give PS 122's oldest and much-loved endeavor a decidedly lavender makeover with works from lesbian, gay, transgender, and even a few straight playwrights, choreographers, musicians, and solo performers. Two nights of exciting & askew Avant Garde performance. Check out the lineups and choose your night, or better yet, join us for both performances!

Performance Schedule:

BOTH NIGHTS:
Hosted by Everett Quinton and Bianca Leigh

Installation by Peter Cramer & Co from Le Petit Versailles Community Garden

Selections of queer experimental film

FRIDAY MAY 15 (Starting at 7:30 p.m.):
Estimated run time of 1 hour.

Solo Performance: Selection from Bianca Leigh's one woman show A Night at the Tombs based on her experiences as a high-end transsexual dominatrix

Group Performance: A sneak peek at Theatre Askew's new piece The Tale of the Good Whistleblower of Chaillot's Caucasian Wife and Her Other Children of a Lesser Marriage Chalk Circle by Stan Richardson, with performances by Debbie Troché, Tim Cusack and Joanna Parson

Music: Avant Berlin Cabaret by Isengart

Dance: Excerpt from Irene Riveros and BLISS Dance-Theatre's new piece inspired by Margaret Cho, i am i

SATURDAY MAY 16 (Starting at 7:30 p.m.):
Estimated run time of 1 hour.

Solo Performance: Polly Frost and Ray Sawhill's The Last Artist in New York City performed by Karen Grenke and directed by Jason Jacobs. The last artist left in NYC bids adieu to P.S. 122

Group Performance: Theatre Askew presents a new piece by OBIE-winner William M. Hoffman, 5 Heads. In the near future, the severed heads of Theatre Askew company members must band together to defeat their oppressor

Music: The Din (Matthew Pritchard and Isam Rum) presents a multimedia performance of new songs about the dynamics and dysfunction of their collaborative and personal relationship. Matthew's a little bit opera; Isam's a little bit rock 'n' roll. Tonight they meet in the middle

Dance: GERALDCASELDANCE in Save the Robots about the legendary and notorious Alphabet City after-hours club

Fri. May 15 - Sat. May 16
7:30 p.m.
Performance Space 122
150 First Avenue
New York, NY 10009

Tickets are $20
$15 students/seniors
$10 PS 122 members

For Tickets: Click Here

NTUSA's Chautauqua at PS122

The fabulous National Theater of the United States of America brings it's newest opus, Chautauqua, to PS122 this week - promising to explore the hotly debated relationship between High Culture and the Mass Mind.

The National Theater of the United States of America presents
Chautauqua
at Performance Space 122

Sat, Feb 21 - Sun, Mar 15
Wednesday - Saturday 7:30pm
Sunday 5:30pmpm

Tickets from $25
$15 (students/seniors)
$10 (P.S. 122 members)

For Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

Welcome to Nowhere (bullet hole road) Returns

The awesome company Temporary Distortion will be presenting a
somewhat slightly revised version of their
show Welcome to Nowhere (bullet hole road)
as part of COIL 2009 at PS122.

If you missed it at Chocolate Factory, you have four more chances:

January 7 @ 10:30
January 8 @ 2:30
January 10 @ 7:00
January 13 @ 7:30

For Tickets + Info: Click Here