Hamlet as Eager Korean Prince: NY Times Review
Posted June 28, 2011 at 10:39 pm
by Ken Jaworosski, NY Times
Melancholy? More like bloodthirsty.
There’s not much indecision from Shakespeare’s prince in “Hamyul/Hamlet,” a Korean-language adaptation of the play at La MaMa. But boy, is there intensity. In a show that runs just 90 minutes, this is a Hamlet quick to rage and eager for revenge, one who jettisons his infamous uncertainty long before the final scenes. READ MORE >>
1950′s Marion section comes to life in Jersey City teacher’s play ‘Girl/Group’
Posted at 4:28 pm
by Summer Dawn Hortillosa, The Jersey Journal
Fifty years ago in the Marion section of Jersey City, three teenage girls and an ambitious songwriter chased their dreams of stardom to the sweet sounds of doo-wop, smooth harmonies and very Jersey outbursts like, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph – that was f—ing gorgeous!”
Snyder High School teacher Susan Murphy’s play “Girl/Group: A Daughter’s Tale,” remembers the real-life story of The Carmelettes – Virginia Verga, Vicky Cevetello and Murphy’s mother, Angela LaPrete – as well as Verga’s older sister, songstress Beatrice “Bea” Verdi who was known for her simultaneously vulgar and religious language. READ MORE >>
Mixed Messages in artforum.com
Posted at 4:20 pm
artforum.com critics’ pick!
On the eve of Gay Pride––and the marketing emporium it has become––the quips and anthems assembled by curator John Chaich in this exhibition co-organized with Visual AIDS conjure up a different moment in the history of queer sloganeering. Veering from the angry to the elegiac, the messages here are as mixed as their vehicles. All of the works, however, attest to an effort to give voice to the AIDS crisis, from its emergence in the early 1980s to the present day. That more than half of the objects date from the end of the last decade, in fact, confirms the enduring, if increasingly undetectable, devastation of the pandemic. READ MORE >>
A highly stylized adaptation of Hamlet: nytheatre.com
Posted at 11:11 am
Hamyul/Hamlet Review
by Mitchell Conway, nytheatre.com
A highly stylized adaptation of Hamlet performed in Korean, Hamyul feels like a traditional drama that could have been performed in the ancient Korean court. Coming out of that aesthetic, Ophelia’s long sleeve dance, and the play-within-a-play performed by three “shamen” and an operatic singer, stand out for their power and finesse. Sen Hea Ha’s choreography is marvelous, and director Byungkoo Ahn delivers grace amidst formality. If this style of Asian theatre appeals to you, then you should consider swinging by La MaMa. READ MORE >>
Jersey City Teacher takes her musical about mom’s Girl/Group to NY
Posted June 23, 2011 at 1:28 pm
by Sharyn Jackson for the Star-Ledger, NJ.com
Like many people who, at a certain age, look at themselves in the mirror and see their mother staring back at them, Susan Murphy was stunned one day to realize how much she resembled her mother.
Only, the resemblance wasn’t physical. READ MORE >>
Jersey City actress explores mother’s doo-wop girl group past in play
Posted June 16, 2011 at 12:49 pm
by Summer Dawn Hortillosa, The Jersey Journal
Jersey City native Susan Murphy would often come home exhausted from work and put her dream of writing a full-length play on the back burner. READ MORE >>
Moving from the Gut at La MaMa Israeli Dance Week
Posted June 14, 2011 at 11:33 am
by Eileen Reynolds, The Jewish Daily Forward
In his welcoming remarks on the opening night of the the La MaMa Moves! Festival’s Contemporary Israeli Dance Week (June 8-12), Edo Ceder, of the New York-based YelleB Dance Ensemble, talked about “dancing from the gut.” That evocative phrase could have been an alternate title for the cumbersomely named festival-within-a-festival, which featured performances from nine different contemporary Israeli dance groups — five based in New York and four brought in from Israel just for the occasion. READ MORE >>
The Villager: La MaMa Moves!
Posted June 3, 2011 at 2:34 pm
La MaMa Moves! Festival
by Lily Bouvier, The Villager
Week three of the “La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival” commences with two brand new — and excitingly unique — programs of never before seen choreography.
The Israel/New York Series is a program of premieres that will bring together nine different Israeli choreographers and dance troupes based in both Israel and New York. Many of the choreographers from Israel (Arkadi Zaides, Idan Cohen, Maya Brinner, Tomer Sharabi & Maya Stern and Yossi Berg & Oded Graf) will be making their American debuts. These Israeli groups will be joined by New York-based LeeSaar The Company and Deganit Shemy, along with the YelleB Dance Ensemble (which considers both Israel and New York as its home).
Each night of the series will include performances by a different selection of the troupes. On June 8 and 9, the selection will include Arkadi Zaides’ “Quiet.” The piece is a reaction to the unrelenting violence between communities in Israel, and it will be performed by both Jewish and Arab dancers, all who live within the borders of Israel. Each night’s live performances will be interspersed within a series of short animated dance films created by Dimension Three, a contemporary art lab in Tel Aviv. June 8-12, 7:30pm, at La MaMa Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 E. 4th St. (btw. 2nd Ave. and Bowery).
Also a program of premiere works, Intricate Intimacies is an exploration of the solo, duet and trio forms and will feature over a dozen separate performances.
The series boasts choreography by Judith Sánchez Ruíz, Mariah Maloney, Brandin Steffensen, Arturo Vidich, James Buster Grant and Caridad Martinez. “The challenge and excitement of this project is to further discover and express the spirit of this music in a solo dance,” says Mariah Maloney, who will perform her own choreography (“Irish Solo: Turas,” inspired by traditional Irish music). In her work “Solo,” Martinez uses the solo form to portray how loneliness affects the self and moves through the body.
In Which No Cheese Stores are Robbed
Posted June 1, 2011 at 1:31 pm
How and Why I Robbed My First Cheese Store Review
by Eugene Reznik, L Magazine
Boring. Pompous. Pretentious. These are all words Mike Gorman’s smart new meta-dramatic vamp, How and Why I Robbed My First Cheese Store, uses to describe itself. The play about its own conception treads familiar absurdist tracks at La MaMa (through June 5), and can be a little harsh. Dave Bennett’s decidedly camp staging, with breaks for garish interludes of interpretive dance and synchronized pliés, takes very unrewarding but very thoughtful risks. The many layers of theatricality and subtext obfuscate the sheer brilliance with which the actors portray colossal douche-bag actor types. Who ever said properly performed douchebaggery couldn’t be enjoyable? READ MORE >>
PUT : IT : ON : BLAST
By Hemispheric Institute
June 27, 2011 at 7pm
PUT : IT : ON : BLAST
::loomingandlooneyingorhowtotakedownthemachine::
Free Admission
Join us for the final installations, performances, and presentations of our fourth year of EMERGENYC, the Hemispheric New York Emerging Performers Program. As a part of the Institute’s Hemispheric New York initiative, the Emerging Performers Program aims to support the development of emerging New York-based artists whose work functions as a vehicle for political expression and social change, and who examine the broad range of identities, practices and histories of the Americas (the western hemisphere, thus “hemispheric”) through genres such as spoken word, street performance, political cabaret, performance art, video performance, movement, and others. www.emergenyc.org
EMERGENYC 2011 artists:
Khi Armand (formerly Terell Richardson),
M. Liz Andrews
Melay Araya
Katrina De Wees
Patricia Faolli
Noelle Ghoussaini
Carolina Victoria Tapias Guzman
Koby Rogers Hall
Shelah Marie
Zavé G. Martohardjono
Raquel Mavecq
Lily Mengesha
Stephen McGraph
Jadele McPherson
Mary Notari
Sahar Sajadieh
Maria Schirmer
INSTRUCTOR: George Emilio Sánchez
2011 Workshop Leaders and guest speakers:
Peggy Shaw (Split Britches), Susana Cook, Tim Miller, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Debra Levine and Ron Goldman (ACT UP), Diana Taylor, Patrícia Hoffbauer, Reverend Billy, Savitri D, Pamela Sneed, Universes, Fulana, Aisha Jordan-Jerome and Frantz Jerome (2050 Legacy), and Ricardo Gamboa.
John Jesurun (#102)
June 25, 2011 at 3pm
John Jesurun (Playwright,director,media artist) began began his theatrical career in 1982 at the Pyramid Club on the Lower East Side with his groundbreaking serial play Chang in a Void Moon, now in its 60th episode.Since then has been a pioneering force in the use of film and video in live performance. His early interest in issues of identity, presence, and communication have been extended over the years to the digital age. As a writer, director, and designer, he has created unique forms of narrative that capture the dislocation and anxiety of contemporary life in real, virtual, and performance spaces. His many works have been performed all over the world, and range from storytelling to classics to computer-based theatre, including Deep Sleep, Shatterhand Massacree,Firefall and Philoktetes.
Hamyul/Hamlet
June 23 – July 10, 2011
“A highly stylized adaptation of Hamlet performed in Korean, Hamyul feels like a traditional drama that could have been performed in the ancient Korean court.” – nytheatre.com
Thursday – Saturday at 7:30pm
Sunday at 2:30pm
Hamyul/Hamlet is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The play is set in one of the ancient dynasties in Korea. The original Prince Hamyul, a Korean adaptation of Hamlet by William Shakespeare was presented to Western audiences in the United States and Europe in 1977. Adapted and directed by Minsoo Ahn, Prince Hamyul was the first Korean theatrical production ever performed outside Korea, making an indelible mark on the history of Korean theater thanks to the late Ellen Stewart at La MaMa.
Maintaining the basic framework and integrity of the 1977 original play, Hamyul: Hamlet has been reinterpreted and reconstructed in order to engage contemporary intellect and emotionally communicate to a 21st Century global audience by Byungkoo Ahn, who is a son of Minsoo Ahn.
This production re-examines and re-interprets the inner journey of Prince Hamyul, and manifests it into a unique theatrical ritual adapting Korean shamanic ceremonies, court dances and music with the ensemble of multi-cultural artists from Korea, Japan, and the United States.
Hamyul/Hamlet creates a kaleidoscope of characters seen through parallel and simultaneous rituals: the performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the ritual healing of Hamlet’s character and the subsequent healing of other characters. Watching this ritual will awaken the viewer’s inner Hamlet, and undergo a magical experience that confronts the question of the viewer’s own life experiences, with the hope to take a step closer to personal healing and redemption.
This hauntingly beautiful new production will give you a chance to observe the psyche of one of the most complex characters (fictional or non-fictional), and the mindscape of Korean Hamlet recreated on stage is in its purest and most austere aesthetics just as one can find in the Asian arts.
Hula Moves
June 21, 2011
Kumu Hula, Vicky Holt Takamine and Jeffrey Takamine with Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima o Nuioka
An evening of mele hula (chants, songs and dances) celebrating the people and places of Hawai’i nei.
Girl/Group: A Daughter’s Tale
June 17 – June 26, 2011
Friday & Saturday at 10pm
Sunday at 5:30pm
Tickets $18
A performance memoir about doo-wop and dreams deferred
by Susan Murphy
Directed by Mario Giacalone
A performance memoir about doo-wop and dreams deferred, about mothers and daughters, about uncelebrated lives and the extraordinary talents that lie hidden within them. A singer falls 50 years back in time into her mother’s life as a member of a successful girlgroup. What will our heroine learn in this Alice-through-the-looking-glass adventure to help her reclaim her mother’s legacy and, in doing so, create one of her own?
East Village Dance Project
June 19, 2011 at 2pm & 4pm
Giselle-ish-ous, Act 1
The traditional story of Giselle is abstractly portrayed through modern and jazz phrases which escalate in intensity as the scene of Tompkins Square Park fills up with dancers of all ages. Choreography by Tornay, Dawson, Leiber
Giselle, Scenes from Act 2
2011 Re-staging by Martha Tornay of the original choreography by Marius Petipa from 1884
A Book Launch
June 16, 2011 at 6 - 8pm
A Celebration of the Publication of
“The War Zone Is My Bed” and Other Plays
by Yasmine Beverly Rana
Published by Seagull Books
Wine and Appetizers provided!
Guest readings at 7:00pm!
Yasmine is signing her first book!
La MaMa La Galleria
6 East 1st Street
Yasmine Beverly Rana consistently dramatizes international themes and personal relationships. Her work in Bosnia-Herzegovina as a Dramatherapist influenced TheWarZone Is My Bed. Mark the date and meet this very special artist.
*A Project of the La MaMa Experiments Playreading Series
The GIMP Project: IF
By Heidi Latsky
June 16 – June 18, 2011
La MaMa presents The GIMP Project: IF, an evening of work that honors and underscores the beauty and complex phenomenon of difference with a cast of 20 and special guest artist Joan Finkelstein who is being honored at La MaMa this year for her remarkable contributions to the modern dance world.
ImagiNation
By Hemispheric Institute
June 13, 2011 at 8pm
An Evening with “deviant brujo” Guillermo Gomez-Peña
Special appearance by Susana Cook
“Post-Mexican” performance artist, writer and director of the infamous La Pocha Nostra performance troupe, Gómez-Peña returns to New York to perform new works and a few reinterpretations from his ever-evolving “living archive” .
Ticketing $15
The Golden Racket
By Circus Amok
June 10 – June 12, 2011
Friday & Saturday at 10pm
Sunday at 5:30pm
La MaMa in association with Circus Amok presents a new comic play by Jennifer Miller, “The Golden Racket” Inspired by the mayhem of the 2009 New York State Senate the political flip-floppery of Hiram Monsertte and Pedro Espada, “The Golden Racket” follows the adventures of the women behind the men as they set out to enact a certain necessary revenge. Double crossings, intrigue, high camp, and heartbreak come together in this tragic farce of power, greed, democracy, lust and…tennis?
“The Golden Racket” features a cast of downtown stage stars including Jennifer Miller, Becca Blackwell, Erin Markey, Jenny Romaine and Carlton Ward.
Solos, Duets, Trios and… Intricate Intimacies
June 9 – June 19, 2011 at 7:30pm
Thursday – Sunday at 7:30pm
Buster Grant/Opus Dance Theater
Leslie Guyton/Movement Workshop Group
Daniel Gwirtzman
Abdur-Rahim Jackson
Jon Kinzel with Matthew Rogers & Stewart Sugg
Mariah Maloney
Caridad Martinez
Okwui Okpokwasili
Cori Olinghouse
Jeremy Pheiffer
Will Rawls
Judith Sanchez Ruiz
Brandin Steffensen
Arturo Vidich
Rebecca Warner and Laura Vitale
June 9
Mariah Maloney
Okwui Okpokwasili
Opus Dance Theatre Company
Judith Sanchez Ruiz
June 10
Caridad Martinez
Regina Nejman
Brandin Steffensen
Arturo Vidich
June 11
Mariah Maloney
Opus Dance Theatre Company
Judith Sanchez Ruiz
Brandin Steffensen
June 12
Caridad Martinez
Regina Nejman
Okwui Okpokwasili
Arturo Vidich
June 16
Daniel Gwirtzman
Jon Kinzel
Stanford Makishi and Brandi Norton
Rebecca Warner
June 17
Leslie Guyton/Movement Workshop Group
Abdur-Rahim Jackson
Jeremy Pheiffer & Hadar Ahuvia
Will Rawls
June 18
Daniel Gwirtzman
Jon Kinzel –
Will Rawls
Rebecca Warner
June 19
Leslie Guyton/Movement Workshop Group
Abdur-Rahim Jackson
Stanford Makishi and Brandi Norton
Jeremy Pheiffer & Hadar Ahuvia (duet)
Daniel Gwirtzman “Race”
Daniel Gwirtzman
Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company premieres Race, choreographed by Gwirtzman for himself and long-time dancer and muse Stacy Martorana. In Race the contests between Gwirtzman and Martorana manifest as go-for-broke trials on speed, stamina and skill as well as less obvious qualities such as liquidity, tenderness and individuality. Pools of intricate partnering erupt into simultaneous unison competitions, as quickly dissolved as the explosive manner in which they formed. Fake-outs. Falling out. Break-ups. Breakouts. Through his signature choreographic blend of the pedestrian with the virtuosic, Gwirtzman challenges the primary interpreters of his work to extend their physical and emotional range in a race against themselves and each other.
Leslie Guyton “Movement Workshop Group”
Leslie Guyton
A Live Rock Band, Five Extraordinary Actor/Dancers, & a landscape of light bulbs bring you a story about the fight for cosmic love.
Abdur Rahim Jackson “awOrKiNgtItLe”
Dancer Olivia Bowman-Jackson
Our human inate hunger and exploration for inner fuel inspires us to grow beyond the physical realm.
Okwui Okpokwasili “untitled”
Okwui Okpokwasili
A work in progress, a movement piece, discovery and loss, notes from the twilight of girlhood and a song
Mariah Maloney “Irish Solo”
Mariah Maloney
Irish Solo: Turas (thruss) began on a Sunday afternoon in Dublin’s Temple Bar where I witnessed three musicians playing vigorously on a tiny corner stage. This vibrant solo dance is infused with the mood, rhythms and textures of Traditional Irish Music played by Lad Lane. The traditional music of Ireland – the instrumentation and the vocals all resonate deeply for me… the challenge and excitement of this project is to further discover and express the spirit of this music in a solo dance.
Judith Sanchez Ruiz “Schoenschter Abigstärn” (most beautiful star of the evening sky).
Dancer Simon Wehrli, photo by Anna Lee Campbell
“Schoenschter Abigstärn” (most beautiful star of the evening sky). I t is a Swiss traditional song and has no recognized author. This piece is an excerpt of the work “It’s all about my right knee” a sextet that will premiere in 2012.
Will Rawls “Collected Fictions” (With German Shepherd)
Will Rawls
Collected Fictions (with German Shepherd) is a continuation of my explorations with an inanimate dog. The German Shepherd holds a particular place in American political and my own personal history. I am looking at ways these histories might intersect in my choreography and spin a new fiction of behavior and identity.
Caridad Martinez “Solo” and “Dragging Island”
Caridad Martinez
SOLO
Via Classical and Contemporary dance techniques, SOLO, a melodramatic dance piece consisting of one dancer, depicts the impact of loneliness on the self and the fantasy associated with its movement through the body.
DRAGGING ISLAND
Developed with six dancers, DRAGGING ISLAND explores the impact of emotion and change as movement reveals the beautiful sensation of transformation.
Jon Kinzel “Scarecrow Scared of Herself”
Jon Kinzel
The piece, a new trio with an international cast, revolves around performative states, music, and silence designed to disclose varying representations of identity and highly articulate male dancers. By focusing on solo, duet, and trio choreographic forms I aim to work closely with each dancer so that the piece might allow an almost intrusive and beautiful look at each performer that is at once revealing but rarely idyllic. Individual sensibilities and expertise such as contemporary partnering skills as well as personal histories will inform the creative process. The dancers are Jon Kinzel (New York), Matthew Rogers (New York), and Stuart Shugg (Australia).
Stanford Makishi & Brandi Norton “Unheard of Annual Giving”
Choreographed by Jon Kinzel
Jeremy Pheiffer
This dance examines several relationships: man/woman, choreographer/dancer, Jeremy/Hadar.
Arturo Vidich
Arturo Vidich
Rebecca Warner and Laura Vitale “Plaster of Paris”
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Rebecca Warner
An exploration of sound and matter through dance.