BEAT Festival

Since we were not accepted by the NY Fringe Festival, we decided to take matters into our own hands and start a new festival here in Brooklyn – BEAT.

BEAT = Brooklyn Experimental Artists in Theater

The dates are August 17-27 and TdlF will be performing 4 times during those 10 days.  This festival will be curated, meaning there are no applications for interested artists.  We simply need to meet you and see your work.  If you want us to see your show, or arrange a viewing, please let me know asap by filling out the contact form at the top of this page.

Otherwise, to learn more about BEAT go here:

BEAT Festival

Medea Phase II Performance Update

Got some very exciting news yesterday…

I can confirm that we will be performing Seneca’s Medea at the BWAC Cultural Space in Red Hook on July 23/24th!  If you’ve never been to BWAC to see their quarterly arts show, it’s a very charged community and it takes place in an awesome warehouse.

(If you know me, then you know how obsessed I am with awesome warehouses…)

So, put that on your calendar.  You’ll be seeing both Phase I and Phase II…the mystery will be unveiled.

More to come.

SS

The Play’s (Not?) The Thing

How often do we truly consider what it is that we’re about to experience when we attend the theater?  Normally, we’re off to see a play which is a story written to reveal a glimpse into some specific example of the forces which face us as humans.  This “play” is written by a writer who understands that he/she must reveal these forces through a story, character and scene.  Audiences can rather easily enter into this imaginary world by virtue of its ability to identify with the struggle embodied by the characters and lived through onstage.

This contact, this living shared relationship, is what normally constitutes theater.  It is precious and elusive.  It challenges many to give their lives to its search.  An invisible and yet palpable connection between performer and viewer is sought demanding the highest concentration, openness, sensitivity and verbal/physical acumen.  It is an extraordinary art.

Our current project, Seneca’s Medea, explores the themes of betrayal, revenge, magic, spirituality, motherhood and isolation (amongst others).  On a certain level, we’re viewing the intricate process that a mother goes through after a devastating abandonment by her husband.  The story beautifully reveals the process that she undergoes to appease her feelings of betrayal leading her to a profoundly horrific act of retribution.  In the end, we are left with devastation and release, a stunning combination.

Being a myth however, we aren’t merely allowed to appreciate this story from the point of view of plot, character and story.  There is more here than psychology, pain and action.  In fact, what is on display is a very simple demonstration of deeper forces in collision.  The story, the “play”, is a vehicle to reveal these forces in action. Continue reading »

Seneca’s “Medea” – Phase I Video

For our final performance on Sunday, April 3, we filmed the piece from the back of The Old Stone House.  A pretty interesting result, and I think it captures the force and simplicity of the work.  Comments welcome.

(Note this film is rather crude, and was basically taken for our archive.  For the August performances, a more complete filming will take place)

We’re now onto Phase II, with work slated to begin in May and performances in later June (dates TBA).

Thanks and enjoy!

Sat/Sun Shows Completely BOOKED, + Some Rehearsal Pics

If you’d like to see Seneca’s Medea (Phase I) this week, you’ll need to let me know asap (please let me know by clicking here).

Saturday & Sunday shows are completely booked now.

The Thursday performance is at 930pm and Friday’s is at 830pm. Both will be held at:

Jaya Yoga Center
1626 8th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
(Corner of 8th Ave & Windsor Place)

I urge you to book asap as seats are truly going quickly.

Also, here’s a link to some pics from our Saturday rehearsal (with thanks to Theresa Sgobba, the photographer):

Phase I Performances: Reserve Your Seat Now!

Seneca’s Medea

“This day shall see a deed that ne’er shall be forgot”

I am very proud to announce the four upcoming work-in-progress viewings of Seneca’s Medea.  The venues we will be in are quite cozy so I strongly advise you to reserve a seat in advance (see below).  We will allow for walk-ups, but only if there are unreserved seats.

CAST:

Medea: Judith Barnes
Nurse: Jennifer Fisher
Creon: Thomas Cox
Jason: Stephen Shelley

Phase I of the project is the very simple presentation of Seneca’s work.  We have very minimal implements and staging, exposing the work in its barest, most powerful form.   Our goal is to convey this tragic and profoundly riveting story in the most intimate, simple way possible.  The performances listed in this announcement are the Phase I viewings.

Phase II will culminate with performances in early June where we construct a second piece to coexist around the simple Medea play.  Those performances will, again, be a work-in-progress viewing for a long weekend.  Finally, our wish is to be accepted into this year’s Fringe Festival in August to present the entire work in its final form.  More on Phase II and our August performances to come.

Below is the information for the Phase I performances from Thursday, March 31-Sunday, April 3.  If you would like to come, I urge you to reserve a seat asap.  Seating is very limited.  There is no charge for these viewings (donations, however, are greatly appreciated)

DATES:

Thursday, March 31st, 9:30pm, Jaya Yoga Center, Park Slope
Friday, April 1st, 8:30pm, Jaya Yoga Center, Park Slope
Saturday, April 2nd, 7:00pm, Old Stone House, Park Slope
Sunday, April 3rd, 4:00pm, Old Stone House, Park Slope

ADDRESSES:

Jaya Yoga Center
1626 8th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
(Corner of 8th Ave & Windsor Place)

Old Stone House
336 3rd Street
Brooklyn, NY
(Western edge of park flanked by 4th Ave & 3rd St)

To reserve seats, please email tdlfete@gmail.com.  Due to very high demand, we urge you to reserve your seat(s) asap.  You will receive an email response as confirmation of your reservation.

Artist In Residence at Jaya Yoga Center

Our first performances of Seneca’s Medea will be on March 31st & April 1st at Jaya Yoga in Park Slope (for more on that, click here).  Jaya’s founder and leader Carla Stangenberg has always been interested in having more and more art in her studio thus our recent decision to have Théatre de la Fête become an artist in residence at Jaya.  This is very exciting for us and, I hope, for them too.  Small theater groups such as ours depend on relationships from others to help foster an environment where we can create our work – in a fiscally smart way.  Funds are always an issue, particularly in the theater where production costs can become cumbersome.

Thank you to Jaya and Carla for this relationship!

The “Ashokh” Video

Has finally been edited and completed in preparation for this year’s Fringe Festival application.  These shots were taken in the summer of 2000 by some film student friends to whom I am forever grateful: Erich Wood and Marcos Underwood.  The cast:

Medea: Tatyana Yassukovich

Dancer: Brett Howard

Dancer: Shari Cavin

You may view the film here:

Ashokh

TDLF Manifesto

TDLF Manifesto

1) All performances can be played for anyone, anywhere at anytime

2) All productions are portable, and begin with an empty space

3) We embrace a spirit of economy; the implements of performance are chosen carefully seeking items that can serve a plurality of purpose to the work

4) In an effort to open the art-form, we strive to reduce the power of language in the theater emphasizing more visual, kinetic and plastique aspects of performance

5) Our work is a search for a ‘something’ which is purely theatrical; a shape, a relationship, a feeling that can only be discovered in theater

Elaborations

1) Our work is a search for a performance aesthetic which can touch any willing spectator.  Inspired by modern dance’s de-emphasis on story, character and emotion, we seek to, similarly, open the theater art which is currently largely synonymous with language and story (the “play”).  In this way, our work can be open to non-english speaking individuals and touch something which is purely theatrical.  This we define as that incomparable moment when a relationship is made between audience and performer.  When, if only for a brief moment, a connection is made.  A story told in words establishes contact, but is there a deeper connection to be made which is separate from character, action, plot and emotion, ie – the basic outer shape and image of living.

2) It is our intention to travel the world doing theater.  Therefore, we must be portable.  As part of each performance, the creation and maintenance of the space is included as an element in the evolution of the piece.  There is no backstage or offstage.  There are no crew or stagehands.  Each piece is wholly facilitated by the players themselves.  Nothing is excluded, in other words.  Everything is an element of production.

3) All objects used in the work shall serve a variety of purpose.  Our intention is to work with as few devices or properties as is possible.  Everything is carefully chosen to have a multitude of function within the work, thus reducing the demands placed upon anything other than ourselves and the ideas being researched.  We wish to make naked the intangible aspects hidden within the work.  This requires emphasizing minimalism and economy.

4) What is more synonymous with theater than language and story?  We believe that there is more to the artform than mere words, plot and character.  Our work does not intend to destroy an author’s work, character and style.  Rather, we intend to expand our work in the direction of something more open and purely theatrical.  We hope that this destroys the tyranny of words functioning mostly to engage the mind and rather to touch the imagination via the senses seeking contact with the spirit.

5) Ultimately, there is a moment in the theater we seek.  This is a moment when, for some unknown reason, from some unknown place, a connection is made.  It often sounds like “yes”, it feels warm and familiar, it excites the mind and compels us each to privately (or not) celebrate life.  It is these moments, and these moments alone, which separate the theater from the other non-performance arts.  These moments open our imaginations and cause us to simultaneously question life and delight in it.  The point of our work is to discover these moments and share them with you.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

~Albert Einstein

2 Forms

What interests me is the convergence of 2 forms at once, forming a unique 3rd form – something that could not have been possible otherwise.  In the Medea instance, I want to examine the combination of 1 rather rigid form of theater (the story of Medea) along with a form entirely loose and free.

Words are interesting, and necessary, but not the most important aspect to a theatrical event.  The most purely theatrical form that I’ve ever witnessed is dance – and in particular, modern dance.  Many plays are better suited to film, for example – thus making the theatrical element dispensable.  So then, the question which interests me is – how to make theater important, and not simply a forum for story and words.

Empty Theater.  Without another form, more traditional and conventional, E.T. would not work.  But, with something else there to support it, it can exist.  The aim then is to have 2 differing works occuring simultaneously, that do not distract from the other but that support the other.