La MaMa Blogs: December 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 @ La MaMa (in Pictures)

Here is a pictorial look 
at just a handful of shows 
that happened in 2014 @ La MaMa!

Peggy Shaw in RUFF


Black Out by Philippe Saire (Under The Radar Festival)


El Año en Que Nací by Lola Arias (Under The Radar Festival)

The Wong Kids In  The Secret Of The 
Space  Chupacabra Go! by Ma-Yi Theater


Rumore di acque 
(Noise in the Waters) 
by Marco Martinelli 


Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine by Yara Arts Group


What I learned from 
a decade of fear by Aluna Theatre


Bum Philips: All-American Opera by Monk Parrots


Zachary Karabashliev's Lissabon


THE MAIDEN by Nerve Tank


 DJ Spooky's Seoul Counterpoint by Culturehub


Theodora Skipitares' The Chairs


Myth or Meth by Radiohole 


Catherine Filloux's Selma 65



Tempest directed by Karin Coonrod (part of the Tempest 3 series)


The Elephant in Every Room I Enter 
written and performed by Gardner Comfort


AdA: Author directing Author 
by Neil LaBute and Marco Calvani 


Dead End Dummy by Dick Zigun 


Mokwha Repertory Company's The Tempest 
(part of the Tempest 3 series)


Motus Theatre Company's Nella Tempesta
(part of the Tempest 3 series)

We'll see you in 2015
@ LaMaMa

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

La MaMa Umbria Celebrates: Play Readings & Party



Free readings of new plays by playwrights who honed their craft at the 2014 La MaMa Umbria International Playwright Retreats. Meet extraordinary writers from: The US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Korea and Italy. Each evening, you will hear portions of their plays that are in development, accompanied by aperitivo and a taste of Umbrian delicacies.

FEATURED PLAYWRIGHTS: Patricia Davis, Rachel Greenhoe, Everett Irving, Tom Mikotowicz, Mariem Omari, Susan Jennifer Polese, Roderic Wachovskye & Jade Wu.

Saturday, January 3, 2015:

12pm – A Screenplay by Everett Irving, with talkback
2:30pm – After the Blood, A Play by Patricia Davis, with talkback. Cast: Emily Morrison, Hend Ayoub, John Morogiello. Director: Catherine Aselford
4pm – Suicide by Wife, A Play by Susan Jennifer Polese, with talkback. Cast: Michelle Concha Herko, Femi Alao, Dan Kausch. Director and Stage Directions: Michael Toscano
5:30pm – 2752, A full length solo performance by Jade Wu. Director: Benjamin Kamine

CLICK HERE for free reservations

Sunday, January 4, 2015:

12pm – The Duke of Saddle River, a play by Tom Mikotowicz
2pm – Staring out of Windows, A One-Woman Play written and performed by Mariem Omari, with talkback. Director: Maria Oller.
4pm – Tangled, A Play in Two Acts by Roderic Wachovsky, with talkback. Cast: David Diamond, Kate Warren, Angello Pizarro, Nathaniel Peart. Director: Roderic Wachovsky. Stage Directions: Susan Jennifer Polese
6:15pm – A Play by Rachel Greenhoe, with talkback

CLICK HERE for free reservations

Festa Della Befana
Saturday, January 3 at 7pm

Enjoy authentic Umbrian food and wine, live music and gifts from the Italian traditional Befana celebration. Meet La MaMa Umbria family, artists, colleagues and new friends. Discover the new program for the summer 2015 in Spoleto.
Entrance with wine and Umbrian specialties: $20

Tickets: CLICK HERE

La MaMa Umbria Celebrates: Play Readings Free Play Readings 
and Festa Della Befana
47 Great Jones Street
(Between Lafayette Street and Bowery)
New York, NY 10003

For More Info: CLICK HERE

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Yara Arts Group brings WINTER LIGHTS to La MaMa


Three Performances Only!

world music theatre piece based on
winter songs from the Carpathian Mountains
an 18th century nativity show
and the crisis in Ukraine today

La MaMa presents

Winter Light: 

Songs, Music and 

Rituals from the Carpathians


created by Yara Arts Group directed by Virlana Tkacz
music directed by Julian Kytasty
set & lights:Watoku Ueno
projections: Volodymyr Klyuzko
with the Koliadnyky of Kryvorivnia
featuring: Paul Brantley, Marina Celander, Sean Eden,
Alina and Teryn Kuzma


The evening, created and directed by Yara's Artistic Director Virlana Tkacz, celebrates Koliada, a winter ritual that now coincides with Christmas but is much older in origin and symbolism. Its oldest songs are preserved in villages high in the Carpathian Mountains, where the Koliada is considered to be the most important event of the year. Some people believe that spring and the harvest will not come to the village unless the songs are sung in every household. The songs are incantations that assume the magical power of words: "what is said, will be so." These songs are featured in the first part of Yara's show. For the second part of the event, Tkacz has adapted and translated a Baroque folk Christmas opera from Ukraine. A highlight is the original 18th century music, as arranged by Julian Kytasty. Woven into the piece are scenes from the crisis in Ukraine today written by Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine’s most important young writer.

December 27, 2014 - December 28, 2014

Saturday at 3pm & 8pm; Sunday at 2pm


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

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors; 10 @ $10 Tickets available for each performance 10 @ $10 tickets are sold out

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

American Theatre looks at THE GOLDEN TOAD




American Theatre's Jim O'Quinn gives us a preview of The Talking Band's new work, The Golden Toad, coming to The Ellen Stweart Theatre in January:

“'This show is about six characters in search of themselves, and they change radically over the course of the four episodes,' says Talking Band stalwart Paul Zimet, cofounder and leader (in tandem with Ellen Maddow and Tina Shepard) of the experimental troupe since its founding in 1974. Maddow and Shepard will be part of the Golden Toad cast (as will some life-sized puppets), playing characters that include a gay couple with a teenage daughter and their less-than-predictable neighbors."

Read the full article HERE.

Tickets now on sale, and starting at $10.  Limited Seating.

La MaMa presents
THE 
GOLDEN 
TOAD
by The Talking Band


January 23 - February 07, 2015


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

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors; ten tickets priced at $10 are available for every performance, in advance only, via web, phone or at the box office - not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Friday, December 19, 2014

King's Road on IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN...



Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi covers Mike Gorman's play, If Colorado Had An Ocean... (at La MaMa's First Floor Theatre) and art installation Fishing for Paradise (at the La MaMa Galleria) for King's Road:
The daring drama, set in 1988’s Colorado, tackles fishing, heroin addiction and recovery, with a touch of Melville allure, as Gorman explains: “I blend the whaling era and the modern commercial fishing eras together. The metaphor I make is between opiate addiction and the great white whale. So I’ve drawn a parallel between Ahab being an addict and the great white whale being heroin.”

Read the full article HERE.

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La MaMa presents
If Colorado 
Had an Ocean
by Mike Gorman
directed by David Bennett

FINAL PERFORMANCES!

Now through December 21st, 2014


The First Floor Theater
74A East 4th Street
(Between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten tickets are available (in advance only) as part of La MaMa's 10@$10 Ticketing Initiative.  These tickets are available to anyone, first come - first served, via web, phone or at the box office - but they are not available day of show!

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE 



TAMBURLAINE Parts I AND II @ Theatre for a New Audience


Our friends at Theatre for a New Audience have a very special Holiday Party offer for their current show TAMBURLAINE Parts I AND II 

Monday, Dec 22nd and Dec 29th there is a post-show holiday party that includes a free drink and a backstage tour.  Use code BLOODY to get $39 tickets to see the show AND join the party after. 

To get the Show and Party Tickets: CLICK HERE and remember to use code BLOODY!

And TFANA also has $20 New Deal tickets available for Students and Young Professionals (under 30).  Use promo code NEWDEAL when buying a ticket, phone or online,  to receive the $20 price. Tickets must be redeemed with a valid photo ID at the box office in person. Without a valid photo ID, the tickets are subject to a surcharge of the full price.  

More info about the New Deal s HERE.

Coming up next at Theatre for a New Audience: Soho Rep's AN OCTOROON

AMERICAN THEATRE on Catherine Filloux’s Selma ’65


14 Theatrical Plans to Change the World


TCG's invaluable American Theatre magazine just published a feature entitled, 14 Theatrical Plans to Change the World, by Mark Blankenship and Stephanie Coen, which looks at artists and companies who put social and political issues at the forefront of their work.   The list included Catherine Filloux whose Selma ’65 recently premiered at The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa.

It makes sense, then, that Filloux’s latest activist-minded drama will tour the United States this year, asking Americans to confront a problem that threatens to poison our democracy all over again. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2013 invalidation of part of the Voting Rights Act, she’s written Selma ’65, which resurrects the legacy of Viola Luzzio, a largely forgotten civil rights activist who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan shortly after the Selma voting march.

You may read the full article HERE.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Give a La MaMa GIFT CARD!



The perfect gift for the experimental theatre lover in your life!

Give a La MaMa Gift Card: you can buy it online - and it may be redeemed online as well.


Use it for ANY shows at La MaMa, including:

La MaMa's SQUIRTS

La MaMa Moves!

Talking Band's THE GOLDEN TOAD

Under The Radar @ La MaMa!

Richard E. Waits's MAMA ROSE

Theatre Askew's HORSEPLAY; or, The Fickle Mistress

....and everything else @ La MaMa

TO BUY: Click HERE





Wednesday, December 17, 2014

6 QUESTIONS: Nicky Paraiso



Nicky Paraiso's annual holiday show, CHRISTMAS IN NICKYLAND will take over The Club at La MaMa December 20th & 21st, 2014. Now in its 10th year, the show brings together a host of Downtown performers to celebrate the holidays in true Off-Off-Broadway style. We spoke with him about the evolution of the East Village, playing a robot in The COIL Festival and his first piano teacher:

1. Christmas in Nickyland has been a fixture at La MaMa for a decade now. How has the show changed, or stayed the same, over the years?
Christmas in NickyLand is an extension of the Salon format that I began in 1998 at PS 122 ‘s 1998 Spring Benefit, and also presented a version of, at The Club at La MaMa in October 2000, by inviting performers, friends and colleagues to perform, from the Downtown theater, dance, music, and performance scene. The idea behind this was my fanboy sensibility, eager to show a clear manifestation of the idea of a performance community, which actually did begin in the East Village in the mid-1980s, at now legendary clubs and performances spaces like: WOW Café, the Pyramid Club, 8BC, Nuyorican Poets Café, Limbo Lounge, Chandelier, Save The Robots, Darinka, King Tut’s Wah-Wah Hut, The Gas Station, some which of course no longer exist. And of course there’s Dixon Place, PS 122 and The Club at La MaMa, still going strong.  In 2004, Ellen Stewart said I should be doing a holiday show, which I called Christmas in NickyLand. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of this holiday gathering of artists.

2. What can you tell us about this year's featured performers?
If you look at the line-up, there are a lot of duos this year, individual artists who somehow have had a tradition of performing in tandem, or new duo collaborations of singular artists who admire and like each other’s work: David Cale & Dane Terry, Peggy Shaw & Lois Weaver, Yoshiko Chuma & Vicky Shick (on Saturday night’s show), and Yoshiko and Jeremy Pheiffer (on Sunday’s show). I’ll also be teaming up with Mike Iveson Jr to perform a song from his upcoming show “Sorry, Robot” which will be performed at The New Ohio Theater in January as part of PS 122’s COIL Festival. Storytellers & monologuists David Cale, Edgar Oliver, and George Emilio Sanchez, Heather Litteer, Chris Tanner, will also be on board this year. And there are sometimes special surprise guests who are always welcome to the stage.

3. What is your favorite part of the holiday season in the East Village? Any inside scoops on things to do / places to go in the neighborhood?
I actually like that the East Village, like much of New York City itself, gets very quiet during the Christmas holidays. People either go away to visit the families out-of-town, of course, and other EV residents gather in their own homes and apartments to celebrate with their families and friends.  Of course there’s always a tradition of Christmas and holidays shows at La MaMa, this year including Yara Arts Group with the Ukrainian musicians’ group, the Koliadnyky ensemble, “Koliada and Music from the Carpathians,” and the East Village Dance Project’s annual take on The Nutcracker, “The Shell-Shocked Nut.”

4. Many know you as an actor, vocalist and curator, but you're also a great piano player. When did you first start playing? Who do you listen to for inspiration?
I started piano lessons when I was five years old, with the kind neighborhood spinster piano teacher lady, Miss Evelyn Olt. And then more music training at the Dalcroze School of Music on Saturday afternoons, attending classes with friends like musical theater composer David Friedman, and choreographer/administrator Joan Finkelstein, now Director of the Harkness Dance Foundation.  I remember going to see the great Vladimir Horowitz at the Metropolitan Opera House, and also loved Artur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein (who was a great pianist) in the classical realm, and then Art Tatum, Thelonius Monk, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, Dr. John, Laura Nyro, in the jazz and pop realms. I also admired the late Bobby Short, and Barbara Carroll, Diana Krall, for their cabaret elegance and class. And the current crop of downtown musical directors, especially Lance Horne and Thomas Bartlett, who sometimes play with Mx. Justin Vivian Bond.

5. What should audience members expect from this show? 
A lot of love & passion, some virtuosic talent, and a strong sense of community and fun. I know I know, it does go on a bit long for a cabaret show, although it always amazes me how the audience responds so generously, they really do stick with the shows for the duration, and there’s a hardy few who love to stay around and mingle with and talk to the performers after the show is over. It’s also a time for these wonderful performers-in-their-own-rights to catch up with each other and enjoy each other’s company!

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you, both as a curator and as an artist? 
La MaMa, first through Ellen Stewart of course, and now with Mia Yoo, our Artistic Director, and the La MaMa staff of artists and technical people, have always handed me the full reins of creative freedom, and from the beginning of my working life as an actor and musician, La MaMa has always been an artistic home for me.

________________________________________________________________




La MaMa presents

CHRISTMAS IN NICKYLAND

MC - Nicky Paraiso
Featuring - The All-La MaMa Ding-Ding Christmas Chorus, David Cale & Dane Terry, Yoshiko Chuma & Vicky Shick (Saturday only), Jeremy Pheiffer (Sunday only), Adam Feldman, Ellen Fisher, Mike Iveson Jr., Joseph Keckler, Heather Litteer, Edgar Oliver, George Emilio Sanchez, Peggy Shaw & Lois Weaver, Pearse Redmond (Guest MC) & More TBA!

December 20th-21st, 2014


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

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten tickets are available (in advance only) as part of La MaMa's 10@$10 Ticketing Initiative.  These tickets are available to anyone, first come - first served, via web, phone or at the box office - but they are not available day of show!

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE 

The reviews are IN for NELLA TEMPESTA!


“'Nella Tempesta,' which runs through Dec. 21 at the Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa, 
is a full-throated cry to the young and disaffected to get off their collective duffs, 
shake off their shackles and do something. Conceived and directed 
by Daniela Nicolò and Enrico Casagrande, this production turns 
a cast of six and an assortment of blankets into an 80-minute youthquake 
that seems likely to leave even cynical audience members shaken and stirred."

- Ben Brantley, The New York Times

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"a ruminative and resonant production by Italy's Motus Theatre Company...This isn't so much a drama as an evocative theatrical search through the symbolic sphere. Nella Tempesta can be discursive, but ultimately it makes an elegiac and stirring forecast of bad political weather headed our way." 

-Tom Sellar, Village Voice

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"BEST BET...A mind expanding new production from Italy’s Motus Theatre Company that masterfully illuminates contemporary political and climate change issues alongside text borrowed from Shakespeare."
- Keith Paul Medelis, Theatre Is Easy

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"Political Drama At Its Finest...It’s refreshing to see this kind of play at La MaMa. Plays like Nella Tempesta provide exactly the kind of theater experience that keeps La MaMa so relevant."
Marcina Zaccaria, Theater Pizzazz 

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 the third production of “The Tempest” at LaMaMa this season, 
and it is richly inventive and visually arresting.
..it’s the blankets that make this show so breathtaking. 
The blankets comfort, and buffet and transport us. 

- Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater.me






La MaMa presents
NELLA 
TEMPESTA
by Motus Theatre

Now through 21st, 2014
Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm; Sunday @ 4pm

Audiences are encouraged to bring a clean, unwanted blanket to the performances.  The blanket will be used in the performance and donated to someone who needs it after the NYC run.

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

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; 10@$10 Tickets are sold out!

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Monday, December 15, 2014

Theater Pizzazz on NELLA TEMPESTA


Marcina Zaccaria, of Theater Pizzazz,  has high praise for Motus Theatre Company's Nella Tempesta, now playing at The Ellen Stewart Theatre until December 21.

"Political Drama At Its Finest" 

"rigorous theater that is unafraid of the larger inquiry into dynamics of power and people." 

"It’s refreshing to see this kind of play at La MaMa. Plays like Nella Tempesta provide exactly the kind of theater experience that keeps La MaMa so relevant."

Read the full review HERE.




La MaMa presents
NELLA 
TEMPESTA

by Motus Theatre

December 11th - 21st, 2014
Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm; Sunday @ 4pm

Audiences are encouraged to bring a clean, unwanted blanket to the performances.  The blanket will be used in the performance and donated to someone who needs it after the NYC run.

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

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; 10@$10 Tickets are sold out!

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE