Coming off of a Japan trip in May, June necessitated reduced theater spending, but nonetheless, I’m back with new Program Notes, this time recapping our second Live Cultures field trip to see Invasive Species at Vineyard Theater on Saturday, June 8th.
In the least passive aggressive way possible, I feel sorry for you if you didn’t catch Invasive Species. You ought to pray to the theater gods —and Jeremy O. Harris—for another run.
I had no idea what to expect from this play with its cryptically vague program summary, but it certainly wasn’t …THAT. And by “THAT” I mean a fever dream-mental breakdown-autobiographical-meta-audition enacted according to the memories (and delusions?) of our most unreliable narrator, Maia. Maia Novi, who is both the playwright and protagonist, pours her heart’s most intimate traumas and ambitions out on stage. Put in popular culture terms, it was giving Fame meets Fleabagmeets Atlanta Season 4.
Program Artwork + a projectile script page (and a cute polaroid form our field trip)
The lean five-person cast packed a punch, patchworking together the friends, family, fakes and foes that shaped Maia’s rocky—and seemingly incomplete—odyssey to movie stardom. Unabashed, the cast was not afraid to get physical from Lady Gaga-esque dance breaks to the physical manifestation of the ‘acting bug’ christening young Maia with a hearty helping of his holy saliva. I was even hit in the face with a discarded script page hurled from the scene on stage…it was awesome and I will be framing the page as a momento (Exhibit B).
Not to add salt to the wound but not only did you miss stellar storytelling and performances from a young and hungry cast but, I fear the intimacy created within the walls of the Vineyard Theater’s black box may be hard to replicate should the production ascend to larger stages. Sitting more or less front row, we caught knowing glances as characters broke the fourth wall and felt the discomforting chill of Maia’s ‘crazy eyes’. The moral of the story: remember her name, MAIA NOVI and when her next production pops up buy tickets IMMEDIATELY. On a side note, I also highly recommend following the work of Jeremy O. Harris. He has a particular eye for oddballs and has made a concerted effort to usurp conventional pathways and get such plays/playwrights funded and staged. (Check out this NTS interview to hear you more about how he’s rethinking “the industry”).
Guilt trip over. Let’s give you a shot at redemption with my July picks.
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LIVE CULTURES: JULY PICKS
The category is: let’s not do any more damage to our wallets…with the exception of one reasonably priced play that I NEED someone to see and intricately recap for me because I’m out of town 😢*
The blurb had me at ‘Primal, physical, and potent…a buffet for the senses’. Director Karin Coonrod, who earned an NY Times Critic’s Pick in 2014 for her critically acclaimed production of The Tempest, returns to bless us with another experimental Shakespearean adaptation of King Lear. With a double decade-long tenure in experimental theater, Compagnia de' Colombari’ has built a reputation for generating spectacle, disrupting and reconstructing texts, so this will certainly not be your mother’s Shakespeare. This is a paid ticket ($25-45) but I AM BEGGING, SOMEONE, PLEASE BUY A TICKET AND TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!
Closing out Amant Arts’ choregraphic and sonic programming series, CELL CYCLES, Joshua Serafin performs VOID. ‘VOID’ is Serafin’s speculative deity and an oneiric alter-ego, brought into life through movement amidst a soundscape of recorded and live music performed by Alex Zhang Hungtai and Calvin Carrier. The performance will take place outdoors at dusk within a fluid scenography of smoke, light, and ectoplasmic soil at Amant’s outdoor space at 316 Ten Eyck. The artist also has a related three-channel video installation Creation Paradigm on showing until August 18th at Amant’s second gallery space at 932 Grand. I plan to go see this, and would love to see you there. Shoot me a message on IG or text if you want to join.
(L-R) Joshua Serafin’s VOID at TONO Festival. Photography by Paulo García and Brenda Jauregui. Courtesy of TONO Festival. | Still from Creation Paradigm
I highly recommend experiencing WIP and Artist Residency sharings as often as you can (I will try to share more here too!). These unique spaces serve as incubators for true experimentation, shielding artists from the often restrictive expectations and pressures of “commercial viability”. As a result, fearlessness is far more evident in the work and boundaries are actually pushed rather then coyly tickled. If you’re looking to experience the newest voices in movement arts, look no further than GALLIM Moving Artist residency. For context, GALLIM is a Brooklyn-based inter-disciplinary arts organization and non-profit that nurtures creative careers and stimulates the imagination of worldwide audiences through performance, education, and innovation in dance. The showcase will conclude with a post-show conversation with artists. Learn more about the artists-in-residence here.
Last but not least, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn invites Brooklyn’s very own contemporary dance company, Ronald K Brown/EVIDENCE to the stage. The company celebrates 39 years of integrating traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word with a triple-bill performance in Prospect Park’s Lena Horne Bandshell.
(L-R) Photo by Sally Cohn | “Upside Down” – Photo by Reed Hutchinson/CAP UCLA
Theater—especially FREE theater —is best shared with friends, so make a date of it and let me know what you think. I’ll be back in a few weeks with my picks for August. Until then, stay cool and stay cultured.
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