6 Questions: Brad Greenwood

1. Your paintings reference such diverse source material. What’s the process of creating one of these works like?

They are packed with images from many sources. The idea for the show took shape really quickly. I have been spending a lot of time in upstate New York and was experiencing Night again – the stars. The city obscures so much of the details. I heard a story about a blackout in L.A. that followed an earthquake there. People starting jamming the 9-1-1 line thinking something was wrong in the night sky because they had never seen it so uninterrupted. It made me think about what a Sky Map might look like in the future, or if we decided it was time to 'update' it.

The source material for my work comes from everywhere. I take tons of pictures, print them, and tape them around my studio to make different storyboards.  I collect vintage postcards and old stamps. I have been obsessed with the Sky Watch page that used to chart the sky in the New York Times each week. It seemed so old school. I also love the things people hand you on the street. Religious material, psychic ads. Then I take all of these images into the painting.

Working with wood panels is part of the creative process. I try to build up the surface with matte medium and watercolor pencil – allowing the things I am thinking about to take shape. Rings of the wood panel can become planets or wonder woman's bra- i try not to over think it at first. So it is both natural and conjured in a way. I try to get an idea of what the painting is right away, and then it slows down as I go along.

2. What do you listen to while you paint?

I have been really restless with music this year. Nothing has been quite perfect while working on these panels. In the mornings I steer away from distracting lyrics. French Pop Radio has worked, or Tycho, Benny Goodman. I tend to switch to female singers in the afternoon: Nina Simone (especially after seeing the documentary "What Happened, Miss Simone?") and Bobbie Gentry Radio. Cat Power and The National can hit the right balance between energetic and distracting. And I am always on the search for good covers. Ella Fitzgerald’s version of "Sunshine of Your Love" and Boy George's "Video Games" are the latest best discoveries.

3. What’s your favorite work in the show?

For a work on paper, "Big Bang" is my current favorite. It happened really fast. It took inspiration from Manet's incredible "Barmaid" painting, and the bowl of oranges became a little universe. I bought a few blackberries at their most intense summer moment and they worked their way into the piece.

"The Ivy" is my most recent favorite of the paintings on panel. It's a little more minimal and was a much slower process than the others. I so identify with the little dandyishly dressed boy, referenced from a 17th century French painter. I ripped the original image from a Christie's catalog, and I don't know who the painter is… help!)

4. You’ve worked both in New York and LA. Have you developed a preference?

It’s hard to answer this without falling into the New York/L.A. cliché — but parts of it are true. I loved the weather and the proximity to nature in California. Taking a hike after a day of painting is hard to beat. But I also missed the edge, or even the frustration of city living, that I can get just walking from my apartment to the studio. So, having both experiences really helped me with this show. There is, hopefully, both lightness and some grit and heft in them.

5. Who are your Hollywood icons?

Lately, I’m wedged in a sort of 40’s or 50’s Hollywood aesthetic. I have one drawing, "The Hawaiian Room," that really builds off that. My most recent favorites are Greer Garson and Ingrid Bergman. Leading ladies with some personal scandal. Any Douglas Sirk movie can keep my imagination going for years. Catherine Deneuve. And then there is always Lily Tomlin.

6. What does working at La MaMa Galleria mean to you?

I love working with La MaMA.  I feel supported, and total freedom to experiment – to work on anything I want and I know it will be welcomed. Hearing dance performances while installing, and having artists working in and around the space after the gallery is closed at night is awesome. It makes my work and me feel like a part of this long tradition of experimental theater and art. It's a real team.

La MaMa Galleria presents:

Star Maps
an exhibition by Brad Greenwood

October 28 - November 25, 2015

Gallery Hours: 
Wednesday to Sunday 1 to 7PM, or by appointment
FREE

La MaMa Galleria
47 Great Jones Street
(between Bowery and Laffeytte Street)
New York, NY 10003

For more info: CLICK HERE

Puppet Portrait #1: Maiko (a/k/a Grandpa)

1. Does this puppet have a name?
Yes. This is Maiko, but I call it “Grandpa” when I take it off from my head.

2. What is it's role in the show?
Maiko is one of the drifters who is floating between reality and daydream. Maiko is also the chair of the National Sheepshair Sheep Association.

3. What is it made of?
Foamcore with a printed face.

4. Anything else you'd like to tell us about it?
So far, I have been putting this grandpa face on and wearing my elementally school’s coat every time I’m on the stage. I don’t know if Maiko is a “he” or “she”, an “old person” or “kid”. The only thing I know is that this is a foreigner who lives in USA.

Come see Maiko in No Need For A Night Light On A Light Night Like Tonight - part of the 2015 La MaMa Puppet Series!

La MaMa presents
NO NEED FOR 
A NIGHT LIGHT 
ON A LIGHT NIGHT 
LIKE TONIGHT
created by Maiko Kikuchi 

November 19 - 22, 2015 - Four Performances Only!
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:30pm; Sunday at 6pm

Tickets: $20 Adults; $15 Students/Seniors - only a handful of $10 tickets left!

2, 3 and 5-Show Ticket Packages Available

For tickets and info: CLICK HERE

BroadwayWorld Looks at 2015 La MaMa Puppet Series

BrowadwayWorld looks at the upcoming 2015 La MaMa Puppet Series, coming to all the La MaMa venues in November!

"This biennial festival highlights new contemporary puppet theatre from many of the world's leading puppet artists during the month of November, including Heather Henson, Ty Defoe, Tom Lee, Koryu Nishikawa V, Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company and Maiko Kikuchi."

Read the full article: HERE 

In addition to the main stage puppet theater shows, the 2015 La MaMa Puppet Series also includes family programing, Coffeehouse Chronicles #129 on Contemporary Puppet Theater and the annual Puppet Slam.

Tickets are now on sale, including Puppet Packages which are discounted through November 1st.

La MaMa presents

THE 2015 LA MAMA 

PUPPET SERIES

curated by Denise Greber
featuring Heather Henson/Ibex Puppetry, Tom Lee & Koryu Nishikawa V, Théâtre d’un Jour, Liz Hara & Spencer Lott, Maiko Kikuchi and Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company

November 5 - 29, 2015

All Venues @ La MaMa

Tickets: $20 - $25 Adults; $15 - $20 Students/Seniors; a handful of $10 tickets still available for some performances.

Puppet Packages: 2, 3 and 5-Show Packages available

For Info, Tickets and Packages: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Maiko Kikuchi

Maiko Kikuchi's No Need For A Night Light On A Light Night Like Tonight comes to The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa as part of the 2015 La MaMa Puppet Series in November. Maiko took time out from rehearsals to answer 6 Questions for La MaMa Blogs.  There is limited seating for this show and tickets are selling fast!

1. What was the original inspiration for creating No Need For A Night Light?


Tongue twisters. I am intrigued by the fact that tongue twisters’ sentences are structured only for making peoples tongue’s twisted. Then, I became curious how these would look if I repurposed their meaningless idioms, and actually brought them to life.

2. What should the audience expect from the show?


Please relax, and just watch the strangeness, awkwardness, and silliness that is happening in front of you. Don’t try to catch any purpose from it, because making up something without purpose is the whole purpose of this show.

3. In addition to puppetry, also work in sculpture, painting, drawing and animation). What does puppetry satisfy for you that the other mediums do not?


To be honest, it’s hard for me to distinguish between each medium because they all become the same tool for making my strange daydreams visible. If you would like to know specifically what kind of tool the puppetry is, I would say, that it is a tool that allows me to be one of the components of my daydreams and to share every single moment with whoever is there.

4. Who has inspired you?


The first person who inspired me is my father. He is not an artist, but a psycho analyst, who is part of the lineage of Freud. I do not have any knowledge of his professional field, but my interests, “The boundary between real and dream” was formed originally in my child hood through talking and playing with him. He is still a good listener and carefully listens to my ideas which I come up with through and in my daily life.

5. What was the last good book you read?


The children’s book “Fortunately” written by Remy Charlip, who is a book author, illustrator, dancer, and performer. My honourable friend David Vaughan, who is a 91 year old dance archivist, lent me this book, simply saying “I think you would like it”. A few days later, I unfortunately got a cold, although, fortunately then I had the time to read this book repeatedly while I was sick in my bed. I loved the book. He knew it.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?


La MaMa is the very first theatre I got to know after I came to the U.S. At that time, I didn’t even think that I would create and perform a theatre piece in my life. Five years have past since then, and I have been given the opportunity to be on the stage at La MaMa. Now, I’m getting ready to share my daydream there, and this makes me feel as if my life were a part of a funny dream of a giant who is sleeping somewhere.

La MaMa presents
No Need For 
A Night Light 
On A Light Night 
Like Tonight 
created by Maiko Kikuchi 

November 19 - 22, 2015 - Four Performances Only!
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:30pm; Sunday at 6pm

Tickets: $20 Adults; $15 Students/Seniors - only a handful of $10 tickets left!

2, 3 and 5-Show Ticket Packages Available

For tickets and info: CLICK HERE

The reviews are coming in for ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER

Critics are raving about Gardiner Comfort after the first week of performances for The Elephant in Every Room I Enter! Find out what people are saying about this high energy show about his week attending the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington, DC! Gardiner Comfort shares his life as an actor with this neurological disorder and discovers, for the first time in his life, how he can be himself.

"Great For: Energetic people with or without Tourette syndrome

Gardiner Comfort takes on the realities of living with Tourette syndrome in this hyper-personal one-man show. Using a mix of experimental elements, including Tourette-inspired choreography, he recreates the experience of his condition, mapping out the textures of his world over a week-long conference. The most interesting aspect of the show is its implicit discomfort. As Comfort presents different tics with a comedic bent, he challenges his audience to laugh, while also forcing them to wonder whether they should."

"Like any savvy storyteller, Gardiner Comfort reaches his audience not by asking them to dispel their stereotypes toward Tourette Syndrome but instead by sharing with them his earnest and often comical anecdotes associated with his condition. All the more impressive is that Comfort presents this via his one-man show The Elephant in Every Room I Enter that he also co-created (alongside director Kel Haney). Most meaningful still is the fact that La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is opening up dialogue surrounding this often misunderstood syndrome and how Comfort takes this opportunity and runs with it."

"There are moments of great beauty and humanity. Clumsy times when perhaps a better interstitial could be imagined and of course as in any life, the quiet waiting for something else to happen....All the elements knit together to create a piece that illuminates one of the most visible things that a person carries with him into his life, but it further made this reviewer ponder all the unseen tics and experiences that follow each and every one of us into every cranny we enter."

"This style allows the play to capture both the earnest, realistic experience of a person that one expects from an autobiographical one-man-show while simultaneously offering an expressionistic glimpse into the workings of an actor’s mind. Theatergoers get lost in his psyche just as he must become lost in the wheels of his chaotic mind on a regular basis. It’s a high-octane, radical experience of a solo drama, a refreshing piece of experimentation in a form so often filled with monotonous self-aggrandizement." 

"Co-creator and performer Gardiner Comfort leads a bold and captivating performance in this original piece and deftly toes the line between confidence and humility as he explores the exclusion and misunderstanding that accompanies a life burdened by Tourette Syndrome. Comfort and fellow creator and director Kel Haney escort audiences into his psyche, neither asking for pity nor promising false hope, in a sensitive comedy sure to educate and entertain."

La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
featuring Gardiner Comfort
directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - 31, 2015

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

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors
For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Coming to The Club This Week: Make People Parts 1 & 2 by GRANDMA

  SMELLS LIKE MATH from apollosherbert on Vimeo.


REPRODUCE from apollosherbert on Vimeo.


CRAFT BEER from apollosherbert on Vimeo.

GRANDMA’s work is composed of highly structured stories that exist at the border of reality and fiction, and of horror and humor.  Their current piece, MAKE PEOPLE Parts 1 & 2, is a monologue for shared voice. It lies formally between stand up comedy and the confessional monologue. It's a show about the horror of intimacy, and our collective need to consume, acquire, and destroy. There will also be some fun surprises, and fresh beats.

La MaMa presents

MAKE PEOPLE, 

PARTS 1 & 2

By Grandma - Mike McGee, Tim Platt, Ben Gansky, and Peter Mills Weiss

October 23 - November 1, 2015

Friday & Saturday at 10pm; Sunday 6pm

The Club @ La MaMa

74A East 4th Street

(between Bowery and Second Avenue)

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten $10 tickets available for every performance, in advance only

For Ticket and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Denise Greber

Denise Greber is the curator of the biennial La MaMa Puppet Series.  The 2015 edition is taking over all the La MaMa spaces in November and we got to ask Denise 6 Questions about herself, the festival and working at La MaMa:

1. How do you go about choosing shows for the La MaMa Puppet Series?
Working at La MaMa has introduced me to a treasure trove of artists, so a big part of choosing is done by keeping mental notes: remembering the different people I have meet over the years and the new artists I meet on a daily basis. I also ask knowledgeable puppet colleagues if they saw any interesting shows or any new artists that they have on their radar. In addition to this I travel when I can to other festivals and try to see as much as I can here in the city.

2. What makes a good puppet performance?
What makes for any good performance? It is subjective and depends on the tastes of the people who watch it, we like what moves us I suppose and what moves us is individual.

3. What is your favorite part of curating the La MaMa Puppet Series? 
Meeting and interacting closely with the artists that are invited to perform, working hard to make it all go as smoothly as possible and seeing the shows work in space and time, as I imagined they would be.

4. La MaMa has a long history of puppet performance. Has puppetry changed over the years?
I’m not sure; it is such an old art form.Some things stay the same and some things evolve with the times and modernize. I guess robotics and technology has enhanced some artist’s performances and changed it in some way. I also think that more puppet artists are merging with other disciplines, a mixing of media.


5. What performances (puppet or otherwise) have personally inspired you?
I always say Pina Bausch.I was introduced to her work when I was 19 and was inspired. Whimsical beauty, all encompassing grandeur, irony and humanity all wrapped together. Currently I am enthralled by James Thierrée, Charlie Chaplin’s grandson, for pretty much the same reasons. 

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
It means a lot to me, I have been here for 16 years and can not imagine not being here, so much of who I am and how I see the world is because of my time at La MaMa. Ellen Stewart was and still is an inspiration to me as a human being and an artist. I remember many times thinking why is she doing it that way, it doesn’t make sense and now as the years pass and we learn more about life, you start to see things in a broader sense and some of the things she did now make sense. She always said you should never stop wanting to learn and that is something to live by.

La MaMa presents
THE 2015 LA MAMA PUPPET SERIES
curated by Denise Greber
featuring Heather Henson/Ibex Puppetry, Tom Lee & Koryu Nishikawa V, Théâtre d’un Jour, Liz Hara & Spencer Lott, Maiko Kikuchi and Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company

November 5 - 29, 2015

All Venues @ La MaMa

Tickets: $20 - $25 Adults; $15 - $20 Students/Seniors; a handful of $10 tickets still available for some performances.

Puppet Packages: 2, 3 and 5-Show Packages available

For Info, Tickets and Packages: CLICK HERE

First Look: The Elephant in Every Room I Enter

Named one of the Off-Broadway shows to see 

this month by Huffington Post:

"Great For: Energetic people with or without Tourette syndrome"

"Gardiner Comfort takes on the realities of living with Tourette syndrome in this hyper-personal one-man show. Using a mix of experimental elements, including Tourette-inspired choreography, he recreates the experience of his condition, mapping out the textures of his world over a week-long conference. The most interesting aspect of the show is its implicit discomfort. As Comfort presents different tics with a comedic bent, he challenges his audience to laugh, while also forcing them to wonder whether they should."

Lauren Duca, Huffington Post

All photos by Jenny Anderson

Gardiner Comfort's solo play, The Elephant in Every Room I Enter is now running at The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa.  Created in collaboration with Kel Haney, in Elephant Gardiner uses his erratic and energetic performance style, and evocative details of his week attending the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington, DC, to share his life as an actor with this neurological disorder and discovers, for the first time in his life, how he can be himself. 

"Comfort is a charming, versatile performer: He can dance, shift personas, inhabit multiple characters with dialects and physicality, and somehow exude a vulnerability wrapped in confidence.... a talented performer with TS sharing honest, touching stories."

- New York Theatre Review

La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
featuring Gardiner Comfort
directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - 31, 2015

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

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors
For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Elise Gardella

The next exhibit at La MaMa Galleria is 39X17 curated by Elise Gardella.  The opening is Thursday, October 15, 2015 from 6pm to 8pm.  Elise took tome out this week to answer 6 Questions for the La MaMa Blog:

1. Can you talk a bit about the salon that you organize, Presenting at 17? What does a typical evening look like?

There's a rhythm to it and a simple, set format. It's held in my apartment on the third Sunday of the month from 8:00–9:30 PM. Wanting to keep the focus on the the artist, I don't serve anything, and after it's over everyone is invited to come along to a restaurant or bar in neighborhood. There are no formal RSVPs or guest list. We never know who is coming until the bell rings, and guests start walking up to the 5th floor.

2. What led you to start Presenting at 17?

I was feeling a restlessness like something was missing. Then that summer in 2012 I went to Berlin as a visiting artist for a very unique residency called Picture Berlin started by my old friend, the artist April Gertler. In our personal conversations while I was there, April and I talked about the need for community and contact with other people working creatively and/or deeply involved in ideas, the problems of tough economic pressures, and artist environments seemingly more aligned with business practices than the open, undetermined pathways of creativity.

In fall, April and her partner, the artist Adrian Schiesser, began Sonntag—and I :::::Presenting at 17::::: Each are on the third Sunday of the month when we in cities six hours apart invite people into our homes for a creative happening.
So in this way, I'm an instigator rather than a curator. It's an experience (rather than a salon in a classic sense) – making community.

3. Where do you find the participating artists?

At the start, I emailed 31 people I knew, whom I had always come away from wanting more conversation, to see more of their work, looking some reference up, and generally being happier than before I ran into them. I briefly explained my idea, they would have an hour and a half in the entry room of my two room apartment to do whatever they wanted to do and I "present" them--they are not confined to a presentation

To my surprise, almost everyone said yes, and we started fixing dates. Cecilia Dougherty kicked things off on Sunday, October 21, 2012. As time went on friends recommended people, or someone would ask me about it.

4. Are there any surprising or unexpected moments from the salon that stand out to you?

There is a kind of beautiful openness that many bring to their evening, and this is often met with earnest, candid appreciation by guests. People seem hungry to be together in an intimate space where to some degree the masks are removed.

5. An exhibition and a salon are obviously quite different commitments – what were the responses like when you started pitching the show to the artists?

I didn't really have to pitch it. When everything was set with La MaMa, I sent an email invitation to all those who had had their evening at :::::Presenting at 17::::: or were booked for an upcoming date—people said yes.

6. What does working at La MaMa Galleria mean to you?

It's very dear to me, and I'm grateful to La MaMa. To be a part of this historic creative kinship, in my neighborhood, with such good people makes me know how lucky I am. It's exciting.

La MaMa Galleria presents

39X17
curated by Elise Gardella

October 15 - 25, 2015

Gallery Hours: 
Wednesday to Sunday 1 to 7PM, or by appointment
FREE

La MaMa Galleria
47 Great Jones Street
(between Bowery and Laffeytte Street)
New York, NY 10003

For more info: CLICK HERE

Stage Buddy on cheap&easy October

Marcina Zaccaria writes about Object Collection's cheap&easy October for Stage Buddy:

"a rousing call to revolution...With cheap&easy OCTOBER, Object Collection is not only making art rock, inspired by October. They are summoning fresh spirit. They create the chance for togetherness without glamour. Glory can come from sitting quietly onstage with four people intoning the words that deeply mean something to you. The questions they pose are challenging: What if the spirit of revolution is abundant? Where is the noise later?"

Read the full review: HERE

La MaMa in association with

Object Collection presents

cheap&easy 

October

Written/Directed by Kara Feely
Composed by Travis Just
Installation by Hannah Dougherty 
Lighting Design by Jeanette Yew 
Stage Managed by Liz Nielsen 

Performed by Avi Glickstein, Taylor Levine, Aaron Meicht, Tavish Miller, Daniel Allen Nelson, Fulya Peker, Andie Springer, Deborah Wallace, and Owen Weaver

now - October 18, 2015

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

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors

For Info and Tickets: CLICK HERE

First Look at Teatro Patologico's MEDEA

All photos by Theo Cote

- - - - -

La MaMa presents

MEDEA

by Teatro Patologico 
directed by Dario D’Ambrosi

NOW - October 18, 2015
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm; Sunday at 4pm

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

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors; ten $10 tickets available for every performance, in advance only All 10@$10 tix sold out

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE