| La MaMa Announces 2020/21 Season: BREAKING IT OPEN with Artist Residents, Virtual Programming, and More - Launching September 18 | |
| Last Edit: Official_Press_Release 07:09 pm EDT 08/12/20 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 07:05 pm EDT 08/12/20 | |
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| LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE CLUB ANNOUNCES 2020/21 SEASON: BREAKING IT OPEN THROUGH RESIDENCY GRANTS, THE 59TH SEASON WILL EXPLORE HOW NEW WORK IS CREATED, PERFORMED, AND VIEWED IN A PANDEMIC ARTIST RESIDENTS INCLUDE: YOSHIKO CHUMA, PHILIP GLASS, JEROME ELLIS, JOHN MARIA GUTIERREZ, PAUL LAZAR, BOBBI JENE SMITH, MURIELLE BORST-TARRANT, DAN SAFER, SPLIT BRITCHES, SHAUNA DAVIS, TIMOTHY WHITE EAGLE, JUSTIN HICKS ANDSTACEY KAREN ROBINSON ADDITIONAL VIRTUAL 2020/21 PROGRAMMING INCLUDES: DOWNTOWN VARIETY, LA MAMA KIDS ONLINE, CAFÉ LA MAMA LIVE, LA MAMA LIVETALKS, COFFEEHOUSE CHRONICLES, POETRY ELECTRIC, AND EXPERIMENTS PLAY READINGS AS WELL AS LA MAMA DESIGNFEST A JURIED COMPETITION TO CELEBRATE AND SUPPORT EMERGING THEATRE DESIGNERS IN TIME OF THE PANDEMIC THE NEW SEASON BEGINS SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 AT 8PM ET WITH A SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF DOWNTOWN VARIETY AND VIRTUAL SEASON LAUNCH PARTY DOWNLOAD HEADSHOTS HERE (New York, New York) La MaMa is proud to announce its 59th season, "Breaking It Open," which explores how new work is created, performed and viewed in a global pandemic. Through La MaMa Residency Grants, Artist Residents will be given the time, space, and resources to make work using new creative tools and formats at the intersection of online and live theatre performance. "For 58 years, La MaMa has presented 50-60 productions a season in multiple theatres to nurture as many artists as possible, but Model is not synonymous with Mission," said La MaMa Artistic Director Mia Yoo. "La MaMa's mission was and still is to engage artists and further expand the boundaries and forms of the performing arts. We are not trying to replace in-person theatre. There will always be that, and we will always present live performance in a physical theatre space. However, we need to empower artists to experiment with new tools, reimagine existing forms and invent new mediums that tell stories and examine our humanity through artistic expression." La MaMa's creative community is uniquely positioned for this moment. With the theatres as broadcast studios and the artists' work livestreamed, the potential to experiment with audience configurations, and the innovative resources of La MaMa's immense family of experimental artists, La MaMa's "Breaking It Open" season looks to the future with hope and anticipation for the daring work to come. The Artist Residents for the 2020/21 season will include Mellon Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Murielle Borst-Tarrant; Great Jones Repertory with Dan Safer;composer and pianist Philip Glass; Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company; conceptual artist, choreographer, and activist Yoshiko Chuma; actor and writer Paul Lazar; composer, performer, and writer Jerome Ellis; choreographer and dance artist John Maria Gutierrez; choreographer and director Bobbi Jene Smith; feminist performance duo Split Britches; writer, director, performer, dancer and choreographer Shauna Davis; Seattle-based performer Timothy White Eagle; composer and performer Justin Hicks; puppeteer and director Leah Ogawa; and multidisciplinary theater artist Stacey Karen Robinson. In addition to providing the above Artist Residents with the resources they need to create and develop new work, Artist Residents will also strengthen and expand the creative ecosystem that La MaMa nurtures with residents, participating in curation, cultural exchanges across distance, panel discussions, and workshops that redefine the audience/performer dynamic. The season will officially launch September 18, 2020 at 8PM ET with a special presentation of Downtown Variety, followed by a virtual season launch party. In addition to their Artist Residents, La MaMa's 59th season will see a continuation of their weekly Digital Programming that grew out of the shutdown, including Downtown Variety, La MaMa Kids Online (including both workshops and performances from Federico Restrepo, Lake Simons, Leah Ogawa, Nephrii Armenii and more), Café La MaMa Live, and La MaMa LiveTalks. The season will also feature La MaMa's ongoing virtual programs: Coffeehouse Chronicles, Poetry Electric, La MaMa Puppet Slam, La MaMa Moves, La MaMa Squirts and Experiments Play Readings. When La MaMa's theatres closed in March 2020, La MaMa was able to pivot seamlessly to live online performance using LiveLab, a software developed by La MaMa partner organization, CultureHub. LiveLab is a free, open-source, video-call software that empowers artists and arts presenters to meet, create, collaborate, rehearse, and ultimately produce multi-location performances from virtually anywhere in the world. This innovative video collaboration software expands the current field of offerings by allowing users to customize media in ways that best suit their needs. Artists have already experienced the impact of performing their work online. Since their theatres have been closed, La MaMa has presented 348 artists and panelists, 50+ hours of programming, and received a total of over 30,000 views from around the world. Live viewers per show averaged 1,500 per livestream over the past 5 months. "The internet is radically shifting the ways artists connect and create," explains Mia Yoo. "As an experimental theatre, it is important that La MaMa's artists be part of shaping this virtual space. Adrienne Kennedy created her own nonlinear form of storytelling in the 60's, breaking the conventions of traditional playwriting. When John Jesurun started dragging TVs onstage in the early 80's, many people questioned it, but artists need to investigate the mediums of their time." La MaMa will also launch a brand-new initiative, La MaMa DesignFest, a juried competition to celebrate and support emerging theatre designers in time of the pandemic. The Judging Committee is comprised of Mimi Lien (Scenic), Jiyoun Chang (Lighting), Justin Hicks (Sound), Gabriel Berry (Costume), and Hao Bai (Projection). La MaMa DesignFest grand prize announcement will be livestreamed on Tuesday, September 29th at 7PM. For more info and submission guidelines visit: http://lamama.org/designfest/ Fall Calendar Resident Artists will begin their residency and work within La MaMa's virtual and physical spaces. VITAL SIGN Monday, September 7 - Sunday, September 13, 2020 CultureHub, Seoul Institute of the Arts and La MaMa join forces on Vital Sign, a world-premiere, interdisciplinary telematic live performance between New York and Seoul. Performers and musicians in New York will collaborate live with performers and musicians in Seoul. Korean contemporary music group described by New York Music Daily as "Towering, Hypnotic, Psychedelic Korean Post-rock Majesty", Black String, will perform with musicians Bill Ruyle and Peter Zummo in NYC. DOWNTOWN VARIETY and 59th Season Victual Launch Party Friday, September 18, 2020 at 8PM ET La MaMa and CultureHub have teamed up to create Downtown Variety, which uses emerging technologies to create a new venue for artistic expression and creative connections. Powered by LiveLab, a browser-based media-router, CultureHub is developing for networked collaboration between artists, technologists, and audiences. This September 18th edition of Downtown Variety will have a virtual afterparty to launch La MaMa's Season. Featuring:Belarus Free Theatre, Annie-B Parson, Stacy Stearns, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, D'Mani Thomas and more. LA MAMA DESIGNFEST: Grand Prize Announcement Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 7PM ET DesignFest is an online theatre design festival to celebrate and support emerging theatre designers in time of pandemic and beyond. The goal is to foster and realize new ideas and generate opportunities in the disciplines of lighting, scenic, sound, projection and costume design. The Judging Committee is Jiyoun Chang, Mimi Lien, Justin Hicks, Hao Bai and Gabriel Berry. The grand prize announcement will be livestreamed on September 29, 2002 at 7PM ET. LOVE STORY: School of Hard Knocks By Artist Resident Yoshiko Chuma Thursday, October 1 - Sunday, October 18, 2020 The world premiere of LOVE STORY: School of Hard Knocks marks the 40th Anniversary of Yoshiko Chuma's School of Hard Knocks. With Love Story, Chuma returns to La MaMa with a new project that assembles a mosaic of films, dance, music, visual art, and narratives. With appearances by an international cast of over fifty artists consisting of veterans of The School of Hard Knocks and a new generation of artists from New York, Ankara, Madaba, Tokyo, Caracas, Tehran, Hong Kong, Berlin, Los Angeles, Brussels, Kabul, Palestine, and Dakar. Choreographer/director/instigator/movement-explorer/performer, Yoshiko Chuma continues a lifetime investigation of ideas regarding national security, perceived dangers within borders, immigration, and war. DAYS AND NIGHTS FESTIVAL By Philip Glass Monday, November 9 - Sunday, November 15, 2020 National Medal of Arts winner Philip Glass returns to La MaMa with his Days and Nights Festival celebrating music, theater, and film. The Days and Nights Festival is the premier program of the Philip Glass Center. Developed by Philip Glass, the festival is designed to encompass and nurture the arts in a way that welcomes the future while exploring the seminal developments in the arts throughout history. It is committed to the cultivation, promotion and development of the arts. REVISITING LOST MOUNTAIN By Artist Resident Bobbi Jene Smith Monday, November 16 - Sunday, December 6, 2020 Former Batsheva Dance Company member Bobbi Jene Smith's new work, Revisiting Lost Mountain, combines the high stakes of live performance, the choice and freedom of immersive theater, the heightened aesthetic and emotional content of cinema and a two-fold manifestation as both a live event in the moment and video on demand experience after the performance cycle. ABOUT LA MAMA La MaMa is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa's 59th Season explores how new work is created, performed and viewed using new technology and forms. La MaMa's vision of nurturing new artists and new work remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961 and has presented more than 5,000 productions by 150,000 artists of all nations, cultures, races and identities. Cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity are inherent in the work created on our stages. Here, artists find a supportive environment for artistic exploration, and audiences are part of the development of an artist's work over time. A recipient of the 2018 Regional Theater Tony Award, and more than 30 Obie Awards and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards, La MaMa has been a creative home for thousands of artists, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Ping Chong, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Warren Leight, Michael Mayer, Tadeusz Kantor, Bette Midler, Meredith Monk, Peter Brook, David and Amy Sedaris, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT HTTP://LAMAMA.ORG |
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