OK Radio

Kelley Copper and Pavol Liska are Nature Theater of Oklahoma. Nature Theater of Oklahoma has made some of the best works of theater in the past 10 years: No Dice, Poetics, Rambo Solo and Romeo and Juliet. They will be back in NYC for the first time in 3 years with Life and Times as part of the Under the Radar Festival, their epic 10+ hour new show.

But Kelley and Pavol have also launched OK Radio, an ongoing series of podcast interviews with other theater artists. There have been a dozen episodes to date and have included discussions with such artists as Big Art Group director Caden Manson, choreographer William Forsythe, director and SITI Company founder Anne Bogart, Young Jean Lee (twice!), the Wooster Group's Kate Valk, and Richard Foreman. They are some of the most interesting and informative conversations on record.

We promise you will learn something with each episode!

You can access OK Radio via iTunes: HERE

Best of 2011: #12 - Wooster Group's VIEUX CARRÉ

Tennessee Williams late play, VIEUX CARRÉ was tackled by The Wooster Group in 2011 with the Group's usual mix of physicality and technology.  Whereas their Hamlet was Scott Shepherd's "show" this was very much Ari Fliakos' moment in the spotlight as Williams' alter-ego.

The Wooster Group does Tennessee Williams

Liz LeCompte and The Wooster Group's ongoing trek through the theatrical canon has now landed at Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre. William's mostly-expressionistic slice of life is set in a New Orleans boarding house, where the Williams-like writer (think Tom after he leave The Glass Menagerie) crosses paths with a cross-section of characters, including and elderly homosexual, the landlady and a woman and her drunk boyfriend among others.

As much as The Emperor Jones is Kate Valk's show, and Hamlet is Scott Shepherd's show; Vieux Carre is Ari Fliakos' show and he does a fine job. Shepherd, in the duel roles of the drunk boyfriend (Tye McCool, seriously) and the old homosexual (Nightingale, I kid you not) dives in to both parts head first with terrific results. Only the usually amazing Kate Valk seems adrift, going for broad humor and even broader accents as both the Landlady and Jane Sparks, the lost lady with the crappy boyfriend.
Clocking in a just about two-hours without an intermission, the show grabs the audience and doesn't let go until the final thirty minutes, especially during what felt like a very long scene between the embattled couple. That scene could use a touch of the usual Wooster Group magic, inspired tricks.
But these are all minor quibbles, for Vieux Carre is still better than just about anything happening in New York theater right now. Given that the Group is based in New York, we don't seem to see enough of them. Don't miss this or any chance.

The Wooster Group's Vieux Carre has just been extended through March 13 at Baryshnikov Arts Center.

For Tickets: CLICK HERE

The Wooster Group Does Tennessee Williams

The Wooster Group brings its production of Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre to Edinburgh. Ludlow Lad isn't sure when we will see this show in NYC, but here are some production photos:

Wooster Group's LA DIDONE begins next week!

The always-amazing Wooster Group brings La Didone to St. Ann's Warehouse for a six-week run. Baroque opera meets 1960's Sci-Fi as only the Wooster Group can do it!

The Wooster Group stirs these two Italian cultural artifacts together, dropping Aeneas' ships onto a forbidding planetary landscape, setting the lute alongside live electric guitar, blending acoustic and electronic space, and finding an unexpected synergy between early baroque opera and pre-moon landing sci-fi: A 21st-century retelling of an ancient tale about the destructive (and redemptive) power of erotic passion and the sheer tenacity of human nature in the face of annihilation.

THE WOOSTER GROUP
LA DIDONE
A Baroque Opera by Francesco Cavalli
Libretto by Francesco Busenello
Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte
Music Direction by Bruce Odland
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NEW YORK PREMIERE
ST. ANN'S WAREHOUSE
MAR 17 - APR 26
TICKETS START AT $27.50
For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE