Here’s what I’m working on these days…
LYDIAN JUNCTION
Since January, 2011, I have been working with an incredible team of inter-disciplinary artists: (Dages Juvelier Keates (dancer/choreography/food expert), Oliver Burns (actor/performer), Christopher Berg (composer/musician). Karla Carballar (video artist) joined our team later that year. We are dedicated to examining our own perceptions of artistic practice, craft, content and form by going outside our comfort zones. Our work fluctuates between moments of choreographed precision and improvised impulse, and we look at freedom vs. paralysis, chronemics / different ways of perceiving time, and how first impulse gets sculpted into something consistently fresh. We have made several short-form performances for BAX, New Georges’ Trunk Show, Hybrid Theaterworks, and FIGMENT on Governor’s Island. We are now working on a full-length piece, UNTITLED #4, which has been created with the support of residencies at New Georges, 3LD Art & Technology Center, and [the end], Greenpoint’s newest underground music venue.
Check out our website where there are links to videos and photos:
TEXTS BY JON FOSSE
I’ve been returning to my work with beloved playwright Jon Fosse – translating and directing two productions within a year. A SUMMER DAY had an eight week run on the mainstage of the Cherry Lane Theater in NYC, produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Karen Allen starred in this production and Ben Brantley from The New York Times gave us a great review. Check it out here. Photos will be posted as soon as possible.
Now I’m gearing up to direct a site-specific production of DREAM OF AUTUMN with Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh. I’m excited to work in a huge space with an awesome company and in a great city! The show runs April 4-28. A great reason to visit Pittsburgh. More info here.
LION ON THE CHEESEGRATER
I spent the entire month of February, 2012 in Chicago. Lucky for me it was a mild winter! I was working with super-smart playwright Kristin Idaszak and a terrific young company called Vintage Theater Collective on a new gender-bending “post-noir” version of Lysistrata. It was wild! Rehearsals were held each day at the Chicago Cultural Center, and what a treat that was. Thanks to Katy Collins and Michael Mercier for a great month!
Read all about it in some blog posts we did for the Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago:
They interview me for the blog
They interview Josh Dumas, our amazing composer
Kristin’s blog post with photos from the two days of gender exploration with the cast(One minute they’re men, the next they’re femme fatales!)
THE SUBWAY SERIES
Part 1: (mapping) A time-based performance/mapping project that takes place on the NYC subway over the course of a year.
Part 2: (hero moment) A series of impressions taken at the precise moment when a New Yorker rushes for the train and catches it, or doesn’t.
BOB
A coalition of five visionary directors/dramaturgs in NYC who operate under the premise that directors are generative artists. As advocates for collaborative processes, we are actively looking for new producing models to sustain our work for the long-run. We are currently creating a business plan.
PILLARS
I am working with Ron Russell and Epic Theatre Ensemble on a new piece inspired by Henrik Ibsen’s Pillars of the Society, which we’ll be taking into NYC inner-city high schools. What happens when a “successful” life is built on one little white lie? This project is funded by the Norwegian Government with an Ibsen Scholarship Award and we recently traveled to Norway to present a work-in-progress showing at the Ibsen International Conference 2011.
KLAUS
Inspired by the fact that the American Santa Claus was shaped by New York artists in the 1800s, writer Matthew-Lee Erlbach and I plan to create a new dark myth for the holidays, based on ancient Norse mythology, trolls/elves, and contemporary magic, using puppets, music and spectacle. We are in the early research phase.