Experiments: The Second Body (A Play With Taxidermy)
Written & Created by Lyndsey Bourne
Directed by Kate Bergstrom
Movement Directed by nicHi douglas
With Taxidermists Divya Anantharaman and Kate Clark
An interdisciplinary ritual exploring psychic-surreal femininity and queer/feminist erotics, The Second Body is the story of Pearl, an isolated, artist/taxidermist haunted by her past and the female souls/voices of the animals that surround her. But Pearl is soon forced to embrace communion in her work when her new model, Alice, refuses to simply play the muse. With an all women/GNC company, the piece questions implicit embodiment in a disembodied time, asks about collective versus individual gain, feminine ecology and “What does it mean to have a fallible body, to be a species?”
Featuring:
Socorro Santiago, Emily Davis, nicHi douglas, Denmo Ibrahim, Jennifer Kidwell,
Nikki Calogne, Octavia Chavez-Richmond, Beth Griffith, Brooklyn Snyder
Cover Photo by Kate Clark, A Sense Of Purpose (2019)
Lyndsey Bourne is a queer Canadian playwright, teacher and a birth/abortion doula working with The Doula Project. Her plays have been developed with The Tank, Dixon Place, The Joust Theatre Company, New Georges, The Barn Arts Collective, Judson Church, Brooklyn College, Playwrights Horizons Downtown and Ars Nova. She was a 2019 Resident artist at The Barn Arts Collective and Judson Church. Lyndsey teaches playwriting at Playwrights Horizons Theater School (NYU). She is a New Georges affiliated artist and a 2020 NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater Grant recipient. Lyndsey is represented by Abrams Artists Agency. BFA NYU, MFA Brooklyn College
Experiments Play Reading Series
For the 23rd season of La MaMa Experiments we will focus on theatrical works in progress addressing mental health issues. No one is more familiar with the need to create greater access to mental healthcare than our New York audience, who come face to face with this crisis on a daily basis. After 3 years of a global pandemic, all of us are feeling the upsurge of anxiety and depression, but these trends have been on the rise long before Covid-19. The works this season shed light on important, personal stories and deal with this subject matter in many different and unique ways. From tongue in cheek comedies to absurdist tragedies, Experiments hopes to create a season that will destigmaify, enlighten and, yes, even entertain.
Online Happenings
Presented by La MaMa and CultureHub, La MaMa is exploring ways to respond creatively to a situation that is potentially changing how we gather as a community in our theatres. La MaMa is working with CultureHub to provide online streaming of select productions and events on Howlround Theatre Commons.