“Moments of beauty and elegance” – Swedenborg review by TheaterMania
Posted October 31, 2011 at 2:05 pm
by Dan Bacalzo, TheaterMania.com
Moments of elegance and beauty characterize Ping Chong’s Angels of Swedenborg, first presented in 1985 and now being updated and revived at La MaMa E.T.C.
Most of these moments involve those titular angels, who wear costume designer Stefani Mar’s grey robes, wings fastened on via an obi-like sash, silvery-white wigs, and white masks that often seem as expressive as a human face. READ MORE >>
FCI News Featured the Block Party and La MaMa
Posted October 25, 2011 at 11:12 am
http://www.fujisankei.com/video_library/event/lamama.html
(Japanese Only)
Sam Shepard Selects Matthew Paul Olmos to Debut Work at La MaMa
Posted October 20, 2011 at 10:56 am
by Adam Hetrick, playbill.com
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard has selected Matthew Paul Olmos to create a new work that will debut at La MaMa etc as part of the company’s 51st season. READ MORE >>
La MaMa 50 World Block Party: Photo Slide Show
Posted October 19, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Time Out New York’s Own This City posted by Amanda Angel, photo by Phyllis B. Dooney
Photos from La MaMa 50 Gala
Posted October 18, 2011 at 5:04 pm
From TheaterMania, click HERE
From Playbill, click HERE
La MaMa Celebrates 50 Years of Experimental Theater in East Village
Posted at 1:38 pm
by Dan Callahan, L Magazine
On Sunday, October 16th, 4th Street between Second and Third Avenue in Manhattan was named Ellen Stewart Way, and this street naming was the culmination of a block party in honor of the founder of La MaMa, a theater that has presented innovative work for fifty years. Stewart, its founder, La MaMa herself, died on January 13th, 2011, at age 91. She made a point of saving everything, so the La MaMa space on 4th Street now has a large wing devoted to its own history, the costumes, the masks, the programs that made it such a truly living theater. I took the tour of the La MaMa archive with about a dozen people, one of whom was Diane Lane, who had acted at La MaMa. READ MORE >>
La MaMa 50 Gala
Posted July 28, 2011 at 10:27 am
October 17, 2011 at 6-10PM
October 17, 6:30-10PM
An evening celebrating 50 years of La MaMa. Hosted by Split Britches’ Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver.
FEATURING
The first Ellen Stewart Award presented to SAM SHEPARD
DANCE
Excerpts from Pavel Zustiak/Palissimo
PLAY READING
Selected Scenes from legendary La MaMa productions
“VAIN VICTORY”
by Jackie Curtis
Directed by Scott Wittman
Featuring Justin Vivian Bond
“THE HOTEL PLAY”
by Wallace Shawn
Directed by Brooke O’Harra
Featuring Wallace Shawn and more
“TORCH SONG TRILOGY”
by Harvey Fierstein
Directed by Estelle Parsons
Featuring John Kelly and Estelle Parsons
“THE BE(A)ST OF TAYLOR MAC”
by Taylor Mac
MUSIC
Special preview of
“LA MAMA CANTATA”
Composed and Directed by Elizabeth Swados
Cocktails and Silent Auction with performance by Bill Irwin
Plus Live Video Tributes from around the world!
Videos from the Gala
50th Anniversary from La MaMa on Vimeo.
Harvey Keitel from La MaMa on Vimeo.
Sam Shepard from La MaMa on Vimeo.
ZEUS $50,000 Click HERE to purchase
-VIP Seating for 10 at a table
-Full page ad in the Gala Program
-Season sponsor listing on web & all programs during 50th season
-4 Complimentary tickets to a La MaMa 50 Monday
ATHENA $25,000 Click HERE to purchase
-VIP Seating for 10 at a table
-Half page ad in the Gala Program
-Season sponsor listing on web & all programs during 50th season
-2 complimentary tickets to a La MaMa 50 Monday
DIONYSUS $10,000 Click HERE to purchase
-Reserved seating for 10 at a table
-Quarter page ad in the Gala Program
-Season sponsor listing on web & all programs during 50th season
-4 complimentary tickets to any La MaMa regular show
HERCULES $5,000 Click HERE to purchase
-Reserved seating for 10 at a table
-One Eighth page ad in the Gala Program
-Season sponsor listing on web & all programs during 50th season
-2 complimentary tickets to any La MaMa regular season
OLYMPIAN COMMITTEE $1,000 Click HERE to purchase
-Gala tickets for 4
SINGLE TICKET $250 Click HERE to purchase
Featuring dinner, dancing, and performances from distinguished alumni artists including PATTI SMITH, BILL IRWIN, and HARVEY FIERSTEIN, who will write a special playlet for the occasion performed by some of New York city’s greatest actors.
La MaMa 50 World Block Party
Posted at 10:23 am
October 16, 2011 at 2-6PM
October 16, 1-6PM
Join us on East 4th Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue for tours of La MaMa’s Archive and theatres, as well as family-friendly performances by Blue Man Group, The Silver Cloud Native American Drummers and Singers, Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima o Nuioka Hula Dancers, and the Balkan gypsy punk rock band, Bad Buka.
During the afternoon visitors will also be able to take tours of the La MaMa Archive, Ellen Stewart’s private collection documenting the history of the Off-Off Broadway movement. Registration for the tours will take place prior to the event. To sign up for a tour, click here.
At the conclusion of the block party, city officials will co-name the block “Ellen Stewart Way,” at which time all the church, mosque, and temple bells, and bells all over the neighborhood and the world will ring in a salute to Ms. Stewart — or “MaMa,” as she was affectionately known by artists and audiences alike — who regularly marked the start of performances at La MaMa by ringing a hand bell before welcoming theatre goers.
Bell Ringing from La MaMa on Vimeo.
Happy 50th La MaMa! from culturehub on Vimeo.
La MaMa ARCHIVE TOURS
Get an in-depth look at the vibrant and often controversial history of the off-off Broadway theater movement with a tour of the La MaMa Archives, Ellen Stewart’s private collection. Learn about how many of today’s renowned theater and film artists got their start in the world of downtown theatre. Hosted by the archives curator Ozzie Rodriguez.
Times:
1:00pm, 1:20pm, 1:40pm
For reservations please go to: www.ohny.org
CLASSES – from 1pm to 4pm
East Village Dance Project/GOH Productions – Ballet Basics
This class will place emphasis on physically understanding ballet technique. Through clear barre exercises students will be encouraged to practice ballet in a secure and effective way.
1:30PM-2:00PM – Suitable for ages 7-9
3:00PM-3:30PM – Suitable for ages 10-12
Rod Rodgers Dance Company – Youth Technique
Rod Rodgers Dance Company will perform a short demonstration in celebration of La MaMa’s block party and teach contemporary techniques from its Youth Program.
1:00PM-1:30PM – Suitable for ages 4 and up
2:30PM-3:00PM – Suitable for ages 4 and up
Hula – Hawaiian Dance for Kids
Marina Celander & members Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima will teach Hula hand motions and footwork which form the basics of this traditional Hawaiian art form.
2:00PM-2:30PM – Suitable for ages 4 and up
3:30PM-4:00PM – Suitable for ages 4 and up
Marina Celander is a dancer and a theatre artist who is currently studying Hula, traditional Hawaiian dance, with Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima under the leadership of kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine. Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima o Nuioka is a hula halau, or hula school, in New York City which is dedicated to the study and perpetuation of the traditional art form of Hula, under our kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine.
Marina will be joined with company members Carol Lau, Anne Matematico & Kiku Sakai.
ACTIVITIES – from 2pm to 4:30pm
Coyote’s Moon
Will Little Rabbit be able to keep Coyote in the river to avoid being his supper? This short yarn, inspired by Native American and Mexican folklore, will be performed in whimsical, story-theatre style. Children will have the chance to interact with the puppets and actors. Originally produced by Looking Glass Theatre as part of the production Three by the Sea by Donna Latham.
Director Julia Martin is a member of La MaMa E.T.C.’s Great Jones Repertory. Rob Esris and Jacob Mondry portray the wily coyote and sly storyteller, Honey Goodenough is the puppeteer, Clifton Chadick worked on the set, and Krissy Sneshkoff provided costumes.
Make a Pinch Paper Puppet
Make a talking pinch paper puppet and decorate it yourself. This drop-in workshop will invite kids to assemble a puppet and decorate it. Ages 5 and up.
Teaching artist Jane Catherine Shaw has been a resident artist of La MaMa since 1995. She is a director, writer, puppet and costume designer.
Flower Lei Making
Marina Celander & members Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima will teach paper flower lei making, so you can dance your hula wearing a flower lei and learn the significance of the lei.
Puppet “Try-On”
Puppeteer’s Cooperative, with Theresa Linnihan and Arnie Lippin, will provide giant puppets for children and parents to try on and receive lessons in the basics of puppet manipulation.
Zen Shakuhachi Flute Making
A family friendly story telling event that will feature making a Zen Shakuhachi bamboo flute. Participants will play Asian percussion instruments in this Zen moment. Suitable for age 3 and up, but but children of any age can enjoy the moment.
Teaching artist Perry Yung, a member of La MaMa E.T.C.’s Great Jones Repertory group, has studied shakuhachi making in Japan under an Artist Fellowship grant from the Japan United States Friendship Commission.
Decorate a mask with Ping Chong & Company!
Ping Chong’s Angels of Swedenborg kicks off La MaMa’s 50th Anniversary Season and features projections, eight masked angels, two spirits, and 500 pounds of feathers. Express your creativity by decorating a mask with us! We’ll have lots of feathers and baubles for you to create your own festive mask-erpiece that you can don for the block party. Ping Chong & Company was founded by Ping Chong to create works of theater and art that explore intersections of race, culture, history, art, media, and technology in the modern world. Follow us @pingchongco on Twitter for a chance to win two free tickets to the show!
ON THE STREET – Performances from 2pm to 4pm
Douglass Dunn Dancers
Douglas Dunn Dancers perform The Snake, a piece which sleeps in the substrate, emerges, activates the sidewalk, softens sharp edges, show us ourselves in others, deepens daily mind, throws us back into the mix of humanity with renewed vigor and sensitivity. The dancers will also perform excerpts from Vain Combat & Can-Goat, a solo that goes on forever….
Dancers: The Snake – Cherie Burnett, Dana Thomas, Esmé Boyce, Giulia Carotenuto, John Zurek, Kevin Fay, Maira Duarte, Marie Zvosec, Raquel Cavalcanti, Rayvawn Johnson, Rei Akazawa
PigPen Theatre Co.
Popping up on the street with a selection from their recent shows, PigPen creates atmospheric theatrical fables with a unique blend of group movement and live music.
Playdate Puppets
Ronny Wasserstrom, founder of Playdate Puppets performs everywhere and anywhere and wants his shows to be the most interEGGtive EGGsperience your kids can have with marionettes.
Puppet Parade
Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company led by Federico Restrepo will parade through 4th Street with a flock of bird puppets from his production repertory. www.loco7.org
En El Mar
Flamenco dance piece choreographed and performed by Maria Elena Anaya.
PERFORMANCES – from 4:30pm to 6:15pm
Performances will be on the Main Stage from 4:30PM-6:00PM, representing the diverse cultures and art forms that have been presented at La MaMa these past 50 years. All performances are FREE.
Emcees: Rabbi Darkside & Carmelita Tropicana.
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is a wildly popular entertainment phenomenon that provides its audience with a unique and thrilling multi-sensory experience that fuses innovative theatrical spectacle and powerful original music with hilarious comedy, art, vaudeville and science to create a performance experience unlike any other.
‘O Kaua Pele I Haka I Tahiti (hula kalā‘au)
Pele, goddess of fire and volcano, battles with her sea goddess sister, Nāmakaokaha‘i and leaves her home in far off Kahiki to find a new home for herself and her firemaking sisters. Guided by her shark god brother, Kamohoali‘i, they travel to Hawai‘i and settle at Kīlauea crater. This battle between the two goddesses continues even until today where the lava enters the ocean in a fiery display.
The Group
Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima (The Royal ‘Ilima Blossom) is the hālau hula (school of traditional Hawaiian dance) founded by Vicky Holt Takamine in 1977. The hālau participates in cultural festivals and events throughout Hawai‘i and the world. Our hula ‘ohana, or family, is a diverse community of people that embraces Native Hawaiians and non-natives alike.” The NYC branch of halau, Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima o Niuoka was formed in early 2010.
Kid Lucky & Beatboxers
Showcases young innovative beatboxers from New York City
Heather Christian
www.heatherchristian.com
Heather Christian is a singer/songwriter and downtown performer who performs regularly around NYC with her group Heather Christian & the Arbornauts, and performs/ composes music for several downtown theater companies including The TEAM, Witness Relocation, and Ripe Time.
Douglas Dunn Dancers
Performing an excerpt from Vain Combat, a piece that emulates & comments on aggression.
Dancers: Christopher Williams, Dani Vialpando, Emily Bock, Emily Pope-Blackman, Jake Szczypek, JinJu Song-Begin, Jules Bakshi, Kira Blazek, Paul Singh, Timothy Emmett Lee Ward, Tony Bordonaro
Nicky Paraiso
Actor, cabaret performer extraordinaire and programming director at La MaMa’s Club theater, NICKY PARAISO will be singing and accompanying himself at the electric keyboards. Nicky will sing two songs, the first is an original song – (Two Times) Less Than a Kiss (music and lyrics by Nicky Paraiso), and will also sing Rodgers & Hart’s Where or When with the audience joining in.
The Hip Hop Re: Education Project
This group of young aspiring ARTivists get back to Hip Hop’s roots, delivering a dynamic performance featuring rap, spoken word & beatbox.
Silver Cloud
Traditional Native American singers, drummers and dancers.
Bad Buka
Bad Buka, a New York based band playing Balkan Gypsy Punk Rock music, brings high energy, foot-stomping rhythms transforming it’s audience with celebratory unification.
The Middle Collegiate Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir
The Middle Collegiate Jerriese Johnson Gospel choir brings soul to the street performing “Hold On/Three Little Birds” arranged by Dionne McClain-Freeny, a traditional spiritual shaken up with a little Bob Marley and “Let Your Little Light Shine” a traditional spiritual.
SPECIAL EVENT – at 5:45pm
Co-Naming of the Street
Join La MaMa E.T.C., community members and city officials as they celebrate the memory of Ellen Stewart at the La MaMa 50 World Block Party and co-name East 4th Street Ellen Stewart Way. Ellen Stewart had a ritual of ringing a bell to announce shows that were played at La MaMa – Ring your bell for Ellen as an international video montage gives way to a cacophony of bells!
Say Word! Book Launch Event
October 29, 2011 at 4:30-6pm
New York City Book Launches for Say Word! Voices from Hip Hop Theater, edited and with an introduction by Daniel Banks
The Hip Hop Theater Festival hosts a joint launch: readings of selections from Say Word! and The Prophet Returns: The Hip Hop Generation Remix of a Classic by Bryonn Bain, followed by a book signing with the authors.
With Authors Daniel Banks and Bryonn Bain; playwrights Abiola Abrams and Antoy Grant and the Goddess City 10th Anniversary Reunion, Chadwick Boseman, Ben Snyder, and 2010 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama Kristoffer Diaz; Performers Ines Garcia, Eboni Hogan, Antonio David Lyons, and DJ Reborn.
About the books:
The Prophet Returns, by celebrated performer, author, educator and activist Bryonn Bain, is a Hip Hop era remix of Khalil Gibran’s celebrated classic The Prophet. According to NY Times reviewer Idil Abshir, “In Mr. Bain’s remix the prophet is returning home from Riker’s Island, weaving his way through the streets of his childhood, witnessing how Brooklyn has changed in his absence, sharing insights with his fellow Brooklynites, and waxing poetic about injustice in America” (August 23, 2011). Working in prisons since the 1980s, Bryonn Bain has served for more than a decade as poet and activist, professor and artist-in-residence at Rikers Island Prison, NYU, Columbia University, the New School, and the Brooklyn Campus of LIU. He is a Nuyorican Grand Slam Poetry Champion and founder of Black Arts Collective.
In Say Word!, Editor Daniel Banks collects nine works (eight in print, one online) by contemporary artists who confront today’s compelling issues, ranging from racial profiling and police brutality to women’s empowerment; and from the commercial exploitation of Hip Hop to identity politics. These works tackle the issues of identity—culture, heritage, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and difference—and are augmented with an extensive introduction and other informative commentaries.
For more information and to purchase a discounted copy, please visit www.saywordvoices.com.
RE:DEFINITION and SINGLE REFLEX
October 28 – October 29, 2011
Presented by La MaMa and The Hip Hop Theater Festival
“Re:Definition”
Glenn has received the result of his African Ancestry DNA test. Now he must go on a journey to discover what it means to be a “for real African.”
Written and performed by Glenn Gordon
Directed by Chadwick Boseman
“Single Reflex”
A haunting serenade of dance theatre where another dream date shatters and twists into a re-occurring pattern of tragedy. From internationally renowned Kompany Malakhi, and artistic director Kwesi Johnson, who’ve been creating unique and dynamic inter-disciplinary performances that fuse hip-hop culture, contemporary dance, physical theatre, parkour and extreme sports.
Suggested donation
Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm
Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws
By Tennessee Williams
October 27 – November 13, 2011
Thursday – Saturday at 10pm
Sunday at 5:30pm
$18
A cocktail-laden lunch with Madge and Bea inexplicably turns into a song-and-dance number. These not-so-genteel society ladies banter about urban conditions and the ridiculous art of seduction, while hustlers in pink leather jackets contemplate ‘The Mystic Rose’. Featuring John Waters phenomenon Mink Stole, together with Everett Quinton, a core member of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company.
Ping Chong’s Angels of Swedenborg performed by The Great Jones Repertory Company
October 27 – November 13, 2011
Wednesday – Saturday at 7:30pm
Sunday at 2:30pm
*Opens on Thursday, October 27th
Angels of Swedenborg
A dance theatre work by
Ping Chong
Performed by LaMaMa’s Great Jones Repertory Company
La MaMa’s Great Jones Repertory and Ping Chong & Company partner to create the first revival of Ping Chong’s luminous 1985 dance theatre work ANGELS OF SWEDENBORG. Performed in a heavenly arena of feathers, ANGELS is a hauntingly beautiful and wry meditation on contemporary man caught between longings for material comfort and spiritual enlightenment.
Angels of Swedenborg at Williams College
Angels of Swedenborg from culturehub on Vimeo.
Angels of Swedenborg Rehearsal
Angels Of Swedenborg from culturehub on Vimeo.
Dedicated to the Playwright (#103)
October 19, 2011 at 7pm
Since Chris Kapp started the Coffeehouse Chronicles in 2004 we have presented some of the earliest writers for La MaMa and what came to be called Off Off Broadway. Since Ellen Stewart herself inaugrated the series, we have had more than 100 performances and guest speakers.
On October 19 we will present many of our renowned alumni with their tributes and memories of Ellen.
The evening begins at 7 pm with a reception and an exhibition of portraits of theater luminaries past and present done by Ms Suki Weston.
Ellen Stewart 2011 by Suki Weston
Then as if Ellen herself was ringing the bell, we will present “Dedicated to the Playwright” featuring our guests:
Robert Patrick-author Broadway’s Kennedy’s Children (on video)
Rochelle Owens – author Futz (on video)
Paul Foster - first La Mama playwright,author Tom Paine
Michael Locasio – first original play for La Mama “Corner of the Morning”
Jean Claude Van Italie - author “America Hurrah”
Megan Terry- author ‘Viet Rock”
Leslie Lee – author “First Breeze of Summer” early Negro Ensemble author
Robert Heidi - early Cafe Cino author “The Bed”
Mario Fratti - author Broadway’s “Nine”
William Hoffman - author “As Is” first AIDS themed Broadway play
Tom Murrin - the Alien Comic,author “Cock-Strong”
Edward Albee- (depending on availability) “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe”
Ellen would be pleased that the Coffeehouse Chronicles has presented so many of the people she started La MaMa for and fostered.