| PlayCo: Idea Lab Series and Casting Change for NY Premiere of Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas' "Recent Alien Abductions" | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 10:35 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| THE PLAY COMPANY ANNOUNCES WEEKLY IDEA LAB SERIES AND A CASTING CHANGE FOR THE NEW YORK PREMIERE OF JORGE IGNACIO CORTIÑAS’ RECENT ALIEN ABDUCTIONS Idea Lab series of Teach-Ins March 2-23 Is Inspired by the Puerto Rico Syllabus Developed Through the Unpayable Debt Working Group at Columbia University, and Will Be Hosted at New York Law School, Through a Partnership With NYLS’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion Programs, in Five Pre-Show Installments, Feature Marisol LeBrón (March 2), Ed Morales (March 9), Huáscar Robles (March 10), Frances Negrón-Muntaner (March 16), and Monxo Lopez (March 23) OBIE Award-Winning Actress Mia Katigbak Replaces Maria Cellario in the Role of Olga The Play Company (PlayCo; Founding Producer Kate Loewald, Managing Director Robert Bradshaw) announces a weekly Idea Lab series complementing their New York premiere production of Recent Alien Abductions, written and directed by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas. Responding to the play’s setting in Puerto Rico and themes of colonialism and asymmetrical power dynamics, PlayCo has partnered with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at New York Law School to present this iteration of the Idea Lab as a series of free, open-to-the-public teach-ins (tickets to performances not required for attendance). The sessions are designed to be accessible to anyone with a curiosity about current issues facing Puerto Rico, and to encourage group dialogue around each topic facilitated by leading thinkers and community activists. Today PlayCo also announces that Maria Cellario has stepped down from the production, and that OBIE-winning actress Mia Katigbak will assume the role of Olga, which she played to acclaim at the 2017 Humana Festival for New American Plays. Deep knowledge of the topics is not required for participation in the Idea Lab teach-ins. Recommended resources for each installment will be made available one week in advance through PlayCo’s website and social media allowing participants to prepare as much or as little as they choose. The programming is inspired by the Puerto Rico Syllabus, an in-depth guide and robust resource—compiled by members of the Unpayable Debt working group at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Social Difference and the syllabus project leaders—for teaching and learning about the debt crisis facing Puerto Rico and the impact of its colonial history. New York Law School (185 West Broadway in Tribeca) will host the teach-ins. Though the sessions are free, participants are encouraged to register in advance via PlayCo’s website to ensure a reservation. See below for full schedule. Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, the author of plays such as Bird in the Hand and Blind Mouth Singing, has steadily built a celebrated body of work that uses the interpersonal realm to illuminate big political questions. Recent Alien Abductions, an acclaimed highlight of the 2017 Humana Festival, deploys magnetic characterization and playful yet shattering storytelling to depict how families—and societies—are haunted by their pasts. Small gestures and off-handed comments slowly reveal the colonial, racist, misogynist, and homophobic dynamics that constrain possibility in the lives of the characters. These power imbalances have been left to fester for so long that they create the alienating nightmare at the story’s core. As the austerity crisis and the aftershocks of Hurricane Maria continue to roil Puerto Rico, Cortiñas’ exploration of Puerto Rican nationhood and its contested relationship to the United States becomes eerily prescient. The Idea Lab presents a unique opportunity to further engage ideas central to Cortiñas’ play, with insight from experts into pressing issues in Puerto Rico, and the U.S.’ disenfranchising, marginalizing relationship to this “unincorporated territory.” The cast of Recent Alien Abductions includes Mia Katigbak (The Trial of the Catonsville Nine; Recent Alien Abductions, Louisville), Daniel Duque-Estrada (Native Gardens, Othello at Trinity Rep), Vivia Font (PlayCo’s Villa, Fernando at The New Ohio), Yetta Gottesman (The Last Days of Judas Iscariotat The Public, Women’s Project Theater’s Touch), Ronete Levenson (Recent Alien Abductions at Actors Theater of Louisville, Our Town at Barrow Street), and Rafael Sardina (Jorge Cortiñas’ Sleepwalkers with Alliance Theatre Company, Sea of Tranquility at Atlantic Theater). The creative team includes Adam Rigg (Set Design), Fabian Fidel Aguilar (Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), and Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound Design and Original Composition). Idea Lab Schedule & Descriptions Moderators are subject to change. (Deep) Roots of the Debt Crisis: the Colonial Context Saturday, March 2 at 4:30pm Led by: Marisol LeBrón, Assistant Professor in Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas, Austin The Debt Crisis Era: How Did Puerto Rico Become One of the Most Indebted Places in the World? Saturday, March 9 at 4:30pm Led by: Ed Morales, Journalist, author and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race The Impact of Hurricane Maria: How the Devastation Was Not a “Natural” Disaster Sunday, March 10 at 12pm Led by: Huáscar Robles,Journalist, photographer and documentarian The "Emptying Island" - How Mass Migrations Are Reconfiguring Puerto Rico and the U.S. Saturday March 16, 4:30pm Led by: Frances Negrón-Muntaner, leading scholar of Latino studies, author, filmmaker and Columbia University professor Debtless Futures - How the Crisis Is Producing New Ways of Thinking and Acting in the World Saturday, March 23 at 4:30pm Led by: Monxo Lopez, researcher, professor, cartographer, and South Bronx-based environmental and urban justice activist These events are free and open to the public, but reservations are strongly encouraged. For registration information, please visit https://playco.org/events/recentalienabductions/. Recent Alien Abductions Schedule and Ticketing Performances of Recent Alien Abductions will take place February 24 – March 24, 2019—Tuesdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm, and Sundays at 3pm—at Walkerspace (46 Walker Street, New York, NY). Critics are welcome Friday & Saturday, March 1 & 2, at 7:30pm for an official opening on Sunday, March 3, at 7pm. Tickets are currently on sale,and can be purchased by visiting playco.org or calling 866 811 4111. Regular prices are $35 General Admission/$45 Premium Reserved. $15 student tickets can be purchased in advance with a valid school ID presented at will call. Group rates and discounts for teachers, librarians, first responders, and active duty personnel will also be available—call 212.389.2977 for details. About the Idea Lab Moderators Marisol LeBrón is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in race, policing, and political activism in Puerto Rico and U.S. communities of color. She is the author of Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence, and Resistance in Puerto Rico. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Boston Review, and NACLA Report on the Americas, in addition to other scholarly and popular venues. She is one of the co-creators of the Puerto Rico Syllabus, a digital resource for understanding the Puerto Rican debt crisis. LeBrón is an Assistant Professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Ed Morales is an author and journalist who has written for The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and the Guardian. He was a staff writer at The Village Voice and columnist at Newsday.He is the author of Latinx: The New Force in Politics and Culture (Verso Press, September 2018), Living in Spanglish (St. Martins 2002) and The Latin Beat (Da Capo Press 2003). In 2009, while a Columbia University Revson Fellow, he produced and co-directed Whose Barrio? (2009) a documentary about the gentrification of East Harlem. The film was inspired by "Spanish Harlem on His Mind," an essay published in 2003 in The New York Times and in the anthology New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times (NYU Press 2005). He is writing a book called Fantasy Island about the Puerto Rico debt crisis for Bold Type Press, formerly Nation Books to be published in the Fall of 2019, and is a lecturer at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Huáscar Robles is an author and photographer from Caguas, Puerto Rico. He has written about the revitalization of Santurce, Puerto Rico through tax incentives and the impact of the economic crisis on the Island’s middle class. His current research details the impact of the municipal bond debt on Puerto Rico’s culture. Huáscar is the author of Puertos príncipes: temblemos todos, a journal and photo book on Haiti after the earthquake. He has published in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune’s Hoy, and The San Juan Star among others. Huáscar's photo and multimedia exhibits in the US and Puerto Rico include The Country Under My Skin, Los silencios de Santurce, and Portraits of Marassa. He also directed The Invisible Coast, a documentary about Haitian merchants’ struggle in Loíza, Puerto Rico. His collection Country Under My Skin was acquired by the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Permanent Gallery in 2010. Along Puerto Rican artist Shey Rivera, Huáscar has presented the interactive installation Fantasy Island rooted on Puerto Rico’s fiscal and housing crisis in various cities in the US. He participated with The Dart Center's Ochberg Fellowship (2009), Center for Justice and Journalism's Urban Fellowship (2009), AS220's Artist in Residence, and Brunetto's School cultural exchange in Brazil (2006). Huáscar has been a guest commentator in CNN Español, NY1 as well various universities in United States and Latin America. He holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from New York University. Frances Negrón-Muntaner is one of the world’s leading scholars of Latino studies, groundbreaking filmmaker and professor at Columbia University. Her scholarship and artistry span a wide range of forms, such as film, essay, and poetry, with a focus on the Caribbean, the African diaspora, and Latinos in the United States. Her publications include, Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism (1997), Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture (2004), The Latino Media Gap: The State of Latinos in US Media (2014), and many articles in academic journals. Among her films are: AIDS in the Barrio (1989), Brincando el charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican (1997), Small City, Big Change (2013), and Life Outside (2016). Negrón-Muntaner has also founded transformative programs and institutions, including the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and the Latino Arts and Activism Collection at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, which aims to preserve and make accessible materials about the Latino experience. She has also published op eds in The New York Times, Pacific Standard, The Conversation, Huffington Post, Nueva Sociedad, O Globo, El Diario/La Prensa, and 80grados, and appeared in multiple venues, including NPR, BBC, CBS, HBO, O Globo, and Univision. Most recently, she launched Valor y Cambio, an art, storytelling and just economy project. Monxo López is a cartographer, and South Bronx-based environmental activist. He teaches Latino and ethnic politics at Hunter College, Monxo is also a founding member of South Bronx Unite and a board member of the Mott Haven/Port Morris Community Land Stewards, the local Community Land Trust. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from CUNY's Graduate Center, and an MA from Université Laval in Québec, Canada. His academic research revolves around spatiality, mapping, social justice, political theory, and Latino communities. His political writings on spatial and social justice have been published in Salon.com, LatinoRebels, and NACLA, among other media outlets; his activist work has been profiled by The New York Times, UrbanOmnibus, and Corriere della Sera. About New York Law School Founded in 1891, New York Law School (NYLS) is an independent law school located in Tribeca, the heart of New York City’s legal, government, financial, and emerging tech centers. Known as “New York’s law school,” NYLS embraces the city as its classroom by complementing a rigorous legal education with an innovative and diverse set of “uniquely New York” experiential learning opportunities. Since opening its doors, NYLS has produced graduates who have gone on to hold high elected and appointed office in the city, lead large and small firms, and gain broad recognition as captains of business and industry. Its renowned faculty of prolific scholars has built the School’s strength in key areas of the law, including business and financial services, intellectual property and privacy, and government and public interest law. NYLS has more than 18,000 graduates and currently enrolls 1,000 students in its full-time and part-time J.D. programs. The School also offers an advanced-degree program in Tax Law. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion at NYLS supports students, administration and staff, faculty, and alumni in addressing all aspects of diversity, with a focus on underrepresented communities and military veterans. The Office partners with diverse alumni, affinity bar associations, and other advocacy organizations to expand opportunities for diverse students and NYLS staff. With the adoption of the Institutional Diversity Plan in winter 2015, NYLS is dedicated to making the School a place where every student and employee can succeed and exceed their expectations. About Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas (Playwright, Director) Jorge Ignacio Cortiñasis a theater-maker based in New York. His most recent plays include Bird in the Hand (Fulcrum, New York Times Critics Pick) and Blind Mouth Singing (NAATCO, New York Times Critics Pick). His many awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts (three years), and the Helen Merrill Award, among others. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and a NYTW Usual Suspect. About Idea Lab Idea Lab is PlayCo’s eclectic series of conversations, readings, writing workshops and events featuring artists, scholars, writers and community leaders. Past guests include American playwrights David Henry Hwang and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, with Vincent Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights; and such notable authors as Pulitzer Prize winners Robert Caro and John Updike, Prix Goncourt winner Marie Ndiaye, Avigail Zviv, Exec. Director of International Rescue Committee New York/New Jersey; journalists Zach Fannin, Elena Kostyuchenko, Misha Friedman, Terrell Jermaine Starr and Scott Anderson; artist Yuken Teruya; attorney Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute, and Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian. About The Play Company (PlayCo) The Play Company is an OBIE Award-winning Off-Broadway theater production company. Since launching in 1999, PlayCo has produced 35 new plays from the United States, Palestine, Germany, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Japan, India, Russia, Chile, Mexico, France, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England. PlayCo develops and produces adventurous new plays from the U.S. and around the world, advancing a dynamic global experience of contemporary theater and expanding the American theater repertoire. As the only New York company regularly producing outstanding contemporary plays from around the world alongside new American work, PlayCo’s distinctive international programming links American theatre with world theater, American artists with the global creative community, and American audiences with a whole world of plays. Previous productions by PlayCo include Lee Sunday Evans’ New York Times Critics’ Pick production of Stefano Massini’s Intractable Woman: A Theatrical Memo on Anna Politkovskaya, the sold-out run of Amir Nizar Zuabi’s critically-acclaimed Oh My Sweet Land, Guillermo Calderón’s Villa, Christopher Chen’s Caught (Obie award for Playwriting, 2017), Maria Milisavljevic’s Abyss, Kyle Jarrow & Lauren Worsham’s The Wildness, debbie tucker green’s generations, Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Proxy, Antonio Vega’s The Duchamp Syndrome, and more. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | TB REGIONAL REVIEW: "SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS" in LAS VEGAS - T.B._Admin. 10:36 am EST 02/21/19 |
| Next: | Shoshana Bean will return to Broadway in WAITRESS - Official_Press_Release 10:34 am EST 02/21/19 |
| Thread: | |
Time to render: 0.006284 seconds.