First Look: SELMA '65

Beautiful photos of Catherine Filloux's SELMA '65 just in:

(Photos: Steven Schreiber)  

La MaMa presents 

SELMA '65 

A New Play by Catherine Filloux 

Starring Marietta Hedges 

Directed by Eleanor Holdridge 

September 26, 2014 - October 12, 2014 

Thursday & Friday at 7:30pm 

Saturday at 2 & 7:30pm 

Sunday at 2pm 

First Floor Theatre @ La MaMa 

74A East 4th Street 

(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 

New York, NY 10003

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 QUESTIONS: Sorab Wadia

Actor Sorab Wadia plays Sebastian in the Karin Coonrod/Elizabeth Swadow production of TEMPEST opening this week at The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa.  Sorab took a break from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions.

1. What about TEMPEST speaks to an audience today?
What speaks to me about The Tempest in general, and our production in particular, is Prospero's humanness, his struggle with acceptance and forgiveness. This man has been deeply wronged and spends twelve years of his life honing his craft, plotting and orchestrating his revenge, and yet when all is said and done [spoiler alert!] he accepts the flawed world in which he lives and chooses to forgive even those who have wronged him most terribly.

2. What other roles in Shakespeare’s canon would you like to play? 
 I would love to sink my teeth into Iago (Othello), Lady M (Macbeth) and Malvolio (Twelfth Night) to name only three of many. I'm also in love with the sonnets and have committed over 30 to memory...so, only about 120 to go!

3. How is doing a play by Shakespeare different than a contemporary role? 
The deliciousness of the language, both how it feels in the mouth and how it resonates in the heart and mind.

4. Tell us about the last great book you read? 
Going to pass on telling you what the last great book I read was and deflect to plugging one of my favorite novels of all time: Vikram Seth's A Golden Gate. It is a novel set in California in the 1980s written entirely in sonnets, 590 of them...more if you factor in that the index, vote of thanks and the like are all in sonnet form as well . Seth uses iambic tetrameter rather than pentameter and sticks to this rhyme scheme throughout: ABAB CCDD EFFE GG. "While the idea of a novel in verse may be initially off-putting, readers of this tour de force are in for a treat," said a review in Publishers Weekly and I couldn't agree more heartily. The man is a genius.

5. Who or what has influenced your work as an actor? 
Certainly my work as a musician (pianist and singer) play a big role in how I approach text, form, structure and sonority, especially with a writer like Shakespeare. The teacher to whom I am indebted most is Maggie Flanigan. I am also very grateful to have friends and coaches like Charles Tuthill and Alberto Bonilla in my life who keep me truthful. And a shout-out to Andrew Wade whose workshop in Bombay way back in 1996 ignited my passion for Shakespeare and his language.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you? 
It means having a safe haven to experiment and create alongside some amazingly talented and wonderful artists. Thank you!

La MaMa presents

TEMPEST

directed by Karin Coonrod
music composed by Elizabeth Swados 

October 2nd - November 2nd, 2014

The Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $40 Adults; $30 Students/Seniors; 10@$10 Tickets are sold out!

See all three Tempest productions this fall for only $75  

Click Here for TEMPEST 3 Packages.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 QUESTIONS: Kel Haney

1. How did THE ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER come about? 
In 2013, Gardiner [Comfort] hired me to direct a remounting of his first solo show, YOU'RE NOT TOUGH at Dixon Place. I immediately loved working with him--he's a phenomenal performer, generous collaborator, and he's got a brain full of beautiful, abstract, chaotic creativity that works very differently than mine.YOU'RE NOT TOUGH is a series of non-biographical monologues, in which Gardiner plays characters he's observed in NYC, but (in the version we presented last December) there was also a highly personal "Tourette's Dance," which Gardiner created with his mother, Jane Comfort. For me, the "Tourette's Dance" was a personal exploration that felt like a departure from the rest of the piece and deserved to be developed more fully. When Gardiner received a Mabou Mines residency in January '15 and asked me to come onboard as his collaborator, I suggested we use the time/resources to generate autobiographical material for him to perform and he was totally game. When Gardiner went to the National Tourette's Syndrome Association conference in DC in April '14, we were actually working on the structural skeleton of a different piece--but when he came back and started sharing with me his experiences of that week, we very quickly recognized that his 'week away at the conference' would be the framework for our piece. Our experience with Mabou Mines was exceptionally positive and fruitful--and we received extremely useful feedback from our showing in May. Within a week, Nicky Paraiso contacted Gardiner about performing at La MaMa and gave him the option to perform either YOU'RE NOT TOUGH or THE ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER--we chose to keep developing the later. 

2. What have you learned during the making of this show? 
I've learned that that the reverence I've always had for playwrights was totally spot on--I've never created a piece from scratch before and it's just as crazy-making and isolating as I thought it would be. The way we've created this piece is by me interviewing Gardiner-- first jotting down stories/ideas on index cards, then storyboarding. We also record our conversations, and our stellar associate, Nora Ives transcribes it all. Then, I go through the transcriptions, cutting and pasting (and altering Gardiner's words as little as possible), then handing him a a text to read aloud and we edit together. Through my collaboration with Gardiner, I've learned to function on a higher, more intimate level of collaboration than I've ever worked on before--it requires a specific brand of trust, patience, compassion and humor from both of us.

3. What would you like audience to take away from the show? 
First and foremost, I want the audience to take a way a bit of awareness--this will totally sound trite, but I've found that even just a tiny bit of understanding of someone's differentness can go a long way. Yes, this pertains specifically to Tourette's Syndrome, and even more specifically to Gardiner's individual experience living with Tourette's, but I believe it's larger than that. In the piece, Gardiner very aptly articulates how he analyzes and judges the appearance and actions of the other people at the Tourette's conference--we all do this, all the time. Maybe, after spending time with Gardiner, as he describes what it's like to live with an neurological disorder, we'll all be a bit kinder/more aware, less likely to stare/judge when we encounter someone who appears to be differently-abled. Also, I hope that we dispel some of the stereotypes about Tourette's and that people walk away understanding that Gardiner's relationship to TS is extremely complicated and that his brilliant, energetically electric, artistic sensibilities are intricately connected to how his mind works. 

4. What was the last good book you read? 
I took ten days away in Maine and decided it was apropos for me to read Elizabeth Stout's OLIVE KITTERIDGE (which takes place in a Maine coastal town). I'd randomly picked it up in Charlottesville, VA thrift shop the month before. I'm a total sucker for fiction where the narrative point of view shifts from character to character--and the more quotidian, the better. These connected short stories really swept me up--I was simultaneously moved and disturbed...the people in that small town (above all, the title character), do some pretty amazing and pretty f-ed up things. I enjoyed it a whole lot. 

5. Who or what inspires you? 
Agh, everything and everyone with whom I come into contact?! That little girl I observed in the park this afternoon who I overheard lecturing her dad about how she hates losing control on her scooter and he shouldn't let go, the young woman who was so excited when I agreed to try her own concoction at the bagel shop this morning, the music I'm listening to right now, from our ELEPHANT sound designer, Elisheba Ittoop (I wish I knew what this track is called, because I want to marry it). I feel most inspired when I am exposed to the largest variety of experience: taking in high and low (and everything in between) culture, creating my own work, and having free time to be a real person. 

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you? 
Working at La Mama means having the freedom and space to create what Gardiner & I feel compelled to create, right now. We've been greeted by nothing but support from Nicky, Mia, Bev, Amy, John and everyone at La MaMa--it's like they've been saying, "We trust you--go make what you need to make." And that feels awesome and rare and necessary. It's also quite an honor for me--I remember first reading about La MaMa in college--it's a wonderful feeling to be embraced by such a storied and beloved institution.



La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
Created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
Performed by Gardiner Comfort
Directed by Kel Haney

October 3, 2014 - October 19, 2014 
Friday & Saturday at 10pm / Sunday at 6pm 

The Club @ La MaMa
74 A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults/$13 Students/Seniors; Ten tickets priced at $10 are available in advance only on a first come first served basis.  Not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Special One-Night-Only Event: ONE VOICE

The legendary Spiderwoman Theater presents a staged reading of ONE VOICE written and performed by Gloria Miguel and directed by Muriel Miguel.  The reading will be followed by a talkback and in the La MaMa tradition, admission is by donation.

La MaMa in association with 
Spiderwoman Theater presents
A Staged Reading of
ONE VOICE
written and performed by Gloria Miguel
directed by Muriel Miguel

Monday, September 29th @ 7pm

47 Great Jones Street
(between Bowery and Lafayette Street)
New York, NY 10003

Admission by donation

La MaMa Cantata Rocks Macedonia

La MaMa Cantata has just returned from a sold-out European tour, visiting Macedonia and Turkey.
(All photos by Ana Lazarevska)

Nova Makedonija newspaper [23.09.2014]:

"Each of the 10 young actors brought a different aspect of the Ellen Stewart’s character: her joy, her passion, her cheerful humor, her fight against the racial discrimination, everything for the purpose of creating a world of theater, which continues to be a lighthouse of the artists throughout the world. That’s how, in the overcrowded hall of the cinema “Frosina”, the present audience met the eternal spirit of Ellen Stewart."


Full Review: HERE

Mkd.mk [20.09.2014] written by Toni Dimkov:

"The young actors from New York, easily won the sympathies of the audience. Their wonderful voices, the simplicity in their approach, the unpretentious compositions, the recorded videos of Ellen Stewart, the countless photos and historical facts of the theater La MaMa create a musical performance that is based on the spirit of the theater, and yet it reveals the fantastic qualities of the young performers. It would be pretentious to say that this performance is a spectacle – because it is one of the most subtle and spiritual performances ever played on this stage."

Full Review: HERE

Globus Magazine [23.09.2014] written by Ljiljana Mazova:

"La MaMa and Ellen Stewart I’ve seen many times. In different destinations. Always as a form of attraction which presents the power of the theater to change the world… This time, in “Cantata” it is wrapped, armed, sang and danced as a story that vividly, through words, photos and music, and an excellent group of actors/singers takes us on a trip inside our souls, in the past times as well as the times that come. They bring out views that we recognize, with well-known characters that on this or that way – triggered the need in Ellen to bring changes."

Full Review: HERE

2014 NY IT Awards: THE GOD PROJEKT Wins!

Last night the New York Innovative Theatre Awards were handed out at Baruch Performing Arts Center and La MaMa in association with Lone Wolf Tribe won in the category Outstanding Performance Art Production for The God Projekt.   

We congratulate Kevin Augustine, Edward Einhorn and all the artists involved with The God Projekt which performed as part of the 2013 La MaMa Puppet Series, curated by Denise Greber.

2014 - 2015 Season Officially Begins This Week

The 2014 - 2015 Season at La MaMa officially begins this week with new shows in The First Floor Theater and The Club!

First up is SELMA '65, Catherine Filloux’s one-woman, two character play. Actress Marietta Hedges plays both Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist shot dead after the Selma Voting March, and Tommy Rowe, an informant for the FBI who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.

SELMA '65 begins performances on Thursday, September 26th and runs through Sunday October 12th.  There are numerous post show panel discussions and Q&As scheduled - CLICK HERE for a full list of events.

La MaMa presents
SELMA '65
A New Play by Catherine Filloux
Starring Marietta Hedges 
Director by Eleanor Holdridge 

September 26, 2014 - October 12, 2014 

Thursday & Friday at 7:30pm
Saturday at 2 & 7:30pm
Sunday at 2pm 

Tickets: $18 for Adults; $13 for students and seniors.  A limited number of 10@$10 tickets are still available for some performances - in advance only.

First Floor Theatre @ La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

~~~~~~~

Also this week at The Club @ La MaMa is DUOS! part of the Queer New York International Art Festival. This series features nightly pairings of Queer performers: DARKMATTER (Janani Balasubramanian & Alok Vaid‐Menon), Merrie Cherrie & Untitled Queen and SHOW SHOW SHOW (with Peter Cramer & Jack Waters).

La MaMa presents

DUOS @ La MaMa

Friday Sept. 26 @ 10pm

DARKMATTER: Janani Balasubramanian & Alok Vaid‐Menon

Saturday Sept 27 @ 10pm

SISTERS OF THE AGES:  Merrie Cherrie & Untitled Queen

Sunday Sept. 28 @ 6pm

SHOW SHOW SHOW: Perter Cramer & Jack Waters 

Part of DUOS at La MaMa presented as part of 

Queer New York International Arts Festival 

in partnership with Helix Queer Performance Network

The Club @ La MaMa

(between Bowery and Second Avenue)

74A East 4th Street

New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $18 Adults/$13 Students/Seniors; Ten tickets priced at $10 are available in advance only on a first come first served basis.  Not available day of show. All 10@$10 Tickets are SOLD OUT.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

#mamaearth video project

In conjunction with TEMPEST 3: The Tide Is Rising and the La MaMa Earth Season, we have launched the #mamaearth video project to spotlight how environmental and social justice issues are both local and global and how these issues are all interconnected. 

Beginning with the three companies involved with TEMPEST 3 from the US, Korea and Italy, we are inviting everyone to create 30 - 60 second videos that put a spotlight on local issues in their community and upload them to social media with the hashtag: #mamaearth. 

The first of the #mamaearth videos can be seen: HERE

6 Questions: Marietta Hedges

Actress Marietta Hedges plays both Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist shot dead after the Selma Voting March, and Tommy Rowe, an informant for the FBI who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in Catherine Filloux’s one-woman play SELMA ‘65.  Marietta answered our 6 Questions recently and here is what show had to say:

1. What is the most challenging aspect of your roles in SELMA 65?
Right now it’s memorizing the lines more than anything.

2. Why is this topic relevant to audiences today?
There has been a big backlash against women’s rights, civil rights and voting rights in particular. The voting rights act, which is what Viola Liuzzo died for, had sections of it voted down last year by the Supreme Court. These very important rights that many people died for are being systematically rolled back. Politicians are consciously putting policies in place which make it extremely difficult for African-Americans, students and poor people to vote. These politicians claim that there is enough voter fraud to justify these new laws however numerous studies reveal that virtually no fraud exists. This deliberate disenfranchisement of select group of people-people who have a tendency to vote for so called democrats and liberals, is reminiscent of what was done in the Jim Crow south.

3.  When did you know you wanted a career in the arts?
When I was 16 after I played the part of Sabina in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of our Teeth.

4.  What is the last good book your read?
New York Trilogy by Paul Auster.

5.  Who or what inspires you?
All the people who went down to Selma to march and volunteer. People who protested the war in Iraq and torture. Theater and theater artists.

6.  What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
I first worked at La MaMa when I was in grad school at Columbia. I did a few shows there and love the time I spent at the theater. It feels like an artistic home I’m returning to.

La MaMa presents

SELMA '65

A New Play by Catherine Filloux
Starring Marietta Hedges 
Director by Eleanor Holdridge 

September 26, 2014 - October 12, 2014 

Thursday & Friday at 7:30pm
Saturday at 2 & 7:30pm
Sunday at 2pm 

First Floor Theatre @ La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Video Preview: Peter Cramer & Jack Waters

Peter Cramer & Jack Waters from La MaMa on Vimeo.

Long-time La MaMa artists Perter Cramer and Jack Waters return as part of the Queer New York International Arts Festival with their new piece: SHOW SHOW SHOW which they describe as:

An immersive cacophonic multi media blitz morphing TALKSHOW/GAMESHOW/TELEVANGELIST/NEWS TV Variety show formats into a live interactive environment with live music and DJ mixes!

Peter and Jack are joined by DJ Sokolowski, John Michael Swartz.

La MaMa presents

SHOW SHOW SHOW

Perter Cramer & Jack Waters 

Part of DUOS at La MaMa presented as part of 

Queer New York International Arts Festival 

in partnership with Helix Queer Performance Network

One Performance Only!

Sunday, September 28th at 6pm

The Club @ La MaMa

(between Bowery and Second Avenue)

74A East 4th Street

New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $18 Adults/$13 Students/Seniors; Ten tickets priced at $10 are available in advance only on a first come first served basis.  Not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Tony Torn

Tony Torn takes on the role of Stephano in the Karin Coonrod/Elizabeth Swados adaptation of TEMPEST opening at The Ellen Stewart Theatre on October 2nd.  Tony took a break from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions:

1. What about TEMPEST speaks to an audience today?
I think the message of reconciliation in the play is a challenging and potent message for us all in a world where we are constantly at each other's throats. And the magic dislocations of Prospero's island tell us to open our eyes to possibilities beyond what we think is real.

2. What other roles in Shakespeare’s canon would you like to play?
I have been patiently waiting my turn to play Falstaff ever since I saw The Merry Wives Of Windsor at age 10.

3. How is doing a play by Shakespeare different than a contemporary role?
It's not only that the language is poetic and rich…it's that it's so human! Each character is so deeply reveled in how they speak.

4. Tell us about the last great book you read?
Morrissey's Autobiography: a big, maddening, tempest of a book that swings from the eloquence to pettiness several times a page.

5. Who or what has influenced your work as an actor?
Being around my parents Rip Torn and Geraldine Page gave me incredible exposure to great acting, both from them and from the fascinating people they worked with. And working with brilliant experimental artists like Reza Abdoh and Richard Foreman during my formative years broadened my idea of what being an actor could be.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
The big room of the Ellen Stewart Theater at La Mama is a holy space for me. So many indelible experience seeing shows there, over decades: multiple works by Ping Chong and Meredith Monk, Andrei Serban and Liz Swados' Fragments Of A Greek Trilogy, Sam Shepard's Tooth Of Crime, and more recently Brecht's The Good Person Of Szechuan. Now, after appearing in both of the other La Mama theaters, it's my turn to play the Ellen Stewart. So thrilled to finally step out on that stage!

La MaMa presents

TEMPEST

directed by Karin Coonrod
music composed by Elizabeth Swados 

October 2nd - November 2nd, 2014

The Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $40 Adults; $30 Students/Seniors; 10@$10 Tickets are sold out!

See all three Tempest productions this fall for only $75  

Click Here for TEMPEST 3 Packages.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

First Look at TEMPEST Rehearsals

Rehearsals are underway for TEMPEST, 

directed by Karin Coonrod with original music by Elizabeth Swados.  

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the process:

Reg E. Cathey

 Christopher McLinden, Miriam A. Hyman and Earl Baker, Jr.

Joseph Harrington

Dramaturgy Collage Wall 

Slate Holmgren

Miriam A. Hyman and Slate Holmgren

La MaMa presents
TEMPEST
directed by Karin Coonrod
music composed by Elizabeth Swados 

October 2nd - November 2nd, 2014

The Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $40 Adults; $30 Students/Seniors; 10@$10 Tickets are sold out!

Last Chance to buy an early-bird TEMPEST 3 Package for $60! 

See all three Tempest productions this fall for only $60 (if purchased before 9/15).  

Click Here for TEMPEST 3 Packages.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Catherine Filloux on NBC 4 New York

We were so excited to see SELMA '65 playwright Catherine Filloux speak with Pei-Sze Cheng on NBC 4 New York last evening. 

You can watch the interview: HERE

And don't forget to get your tickets!

La MaMa presents

SELMA '65


A New Play by Catherine Filloux
Starring Marietta Hedges 
Director by Eleanor Holdridge 

September 26, 2014 - October 12, 2014 

Thursday & Friday at 7:30pm
Saturday at 2 & 7:30pm
Sunday at 2pm 

First Floor Theatre @ La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE