La MaMa Stands With Belarus

On the evening of September 9, 2020, exactly one month after the elections in Belarus, cultural organizations around the world joined Belarus Free Theatre’s Global Artistic Campaign in Solidarity with Belarus by lighting up our facade (with help from CultureHub's Sangmin Chae and Billy Clark).

Since the election, Belarus has witnessed its biggest protests in modern history, as the Belarusian people have defied threats of a government crackdown to continue protesting the falsified election results. This weekend more than 100,000 people filled Independence Avenue in Minsk calling for Alexander Lukashenko to step down, with marches also taking place in 33 cities across the country, including Brest, Vitebsk and Grodno. The EU has stated that it does not recognize Lukashenko as Belarus’s president and is moving forward with targeted sanctions on members of his regime.

#StandWithBelarus 

#ImWithTheBanned

Interview With Downtown Icon Yoshiko Chuma

LA MAMA: How would you describe your work as an artist? 

YOSHIKO CHUMA: For me, inspiration and creation are a kind of laboratory, almost like a science. I am always observing; always had a vision, in a very mathematical sense. Very often, we want to be categorized. Am I a dancer? Yes. Am I a choreographer? Yes. I direct for the theatre, yes. I can be an actor, a performer, a designer – yes. I am really more of a scientist, or a mathematician. 

My work with The School of Hard Knocks comes from the idea that you learn the hard way, and you are often uncomfortable when you don’t know where you’re landing. Those ideas are almost always present in my productions. 

LA MAMA: Tell us about your Saturday Morning Live: Zooma - Dead End - series and your upcoming 24-hour performance, Love Story: The School of Hard Knocks. 

YOSHIKO CHUMA: When I came to NY, I went to a taping of Saturday Night Live. I’ve known Lenny Pickett [musical director of SNL] and his wife Kathy [dancer] since 1978-79. Kathy called me one day and said, “what are you doing on Saturday?” So, we went, and I observed, and it’s very interesting how SNL participates with the audience. 

When you are watching SNL in your living room, you see advertisements. But when you’re there live, and they call “CUT,” you see every single change…the set, the costumes, every kind of person coming through; stage managers, special guests…and it’s moment-to-moment until they go, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Hello!” The most interesting part is the bridge between segments, from one kind of a world to another. That style is implemented with my production. Love Story: The School of Hard Knocks is exciting because it may be the first of my productions that is looking at the future, not the past. We’re working onsite with two cameras, online with Zoom, and with pre-recorded “advertisements,” so there are three layers of media. 

LA MAMA: Have the current conditions of the world influenced your creative practice? If so, how? 

YOSHIKO CHUMA: I say yes and no. I’ve been holding Zoom rehearsals…I became a Zoom expert. I am a visual artist too, and since 1979, I’ve made 16-millimeter films. Online, you don’t hand-cut the film. That’s not how video editing works anymore. The pandemic introduces an interesting bridge in approach. Communication is very different. It also opens the door to work overseas. With this project, I can include artists from Tehran, Venezuela, Palestine, and Turkey. They are working with my Manhattan group of artists. And that’s really very beautiful.

Watch Yoshiko Chuma's 24-hour performance, Love Story, School of Hard Knocks live on Saturday, October 17th at 11am to Sunday, October 18 at 11am.

La MaMa Umbria International - Re-imagined

In the midst of travel restrictions and social isolation, a collective of innovative artists from around the world gathered online for La MaMa’s first Virtual Umbria Symposium with Emily Mann, Michael Mayer, Nambi E. Kelley, Martha Clarke and more.

For 20 years, La MaMa has provided international theatre artists with space of experimentation and education at our Umbria campus in Spoleto, Italy. This summer, the program evolved to a digital environment. Directors and playwrights joined seven renowned theatre artists for master classes in communal theatre-making, anti-racism theory, and creative resilience.

“The most surprising thing we learned was that you really can create a community over Zoom,” commented David Diamond, Umbria International Coordinator. “A benefit of this format is that you can have such different types of personal interactions within a group.”

Though some workshop participants were thousands of miles away from one another, Diamond notes that collaborative projects and plans for the future have emerged. “Ellen taught us to bring people together,” said Diamond, “and realize the potential of having an amazing confluence of artists in a room.”

The Symposium’s participants celebrate the rich experience of creating a space of togetherness with other artists. “I have never participated in a learning opportunity for directors that was as loving and supportive as the Umbria Directors Symposium,” remarked a participating artist. “I feel focused and filled with hope.”

Murielle Borst-Tarrant receives Mellon Foundation Awards Residency at La MaMa

Murielle Borst-Tarrant from the Kuna & Rappahanock Nations selected for a three-year residency from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program (NPRP). La MaMa is chosen as the host theatre.

Playwright, director, and major advocate for the NYC Native American theatre community, Murielle has been involved with La MaMa for most of her life. She embodies La MaMa’s mission to inspire empowerment and social transformation through the arts.

“It is bittersweet to be awarded this residency during the recent loss of my husband Kevin Tarrant who died of complications due to covid-19. Kevin was a great believer in my work and was my biggest supporter.

Although we cannot continue to enjoy our lives together, this residency will help me fulfill my goals as a theatre maker.

I thank the staff at La MaMa, The staff and ensemble of Safe Harbors NYC, Spiderwoman Theater, Pangea World Theater, Linda Chapman, Morgan Jennesse, Jim Nicolla, Faithe Merrick, my family, and always my loving husband Kevin. I am humbled to be included in this group of theatre makers.”   

Murielle Borst-Tarrant
Kuna/Rappahannock
Director of Safe Harbors Indigenous Collective

_____

More about Murielle Borst-Tarrant:  CLICK HERE

In 2012, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HowlRound launched the National Playwright Residency Program (NPRP) in response to the increasing difficulty for playwrights to earn a living. More about the residency program: CLICK HERE

Work Resumes on 74 East 4th Street!

After nearly three months, work on our renovations of 74 East 4th Street, the first permanent home of Ellen Stewart's La MaMa, resume with NYC entering phase one of reopening after shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Below are photos of a new concrete floor being poured:

To learn more about the plans for our capital project and to find out how you can help: 

CLICK HERE