6 Questions with Martha Clarke of GOD'S FOOL

Interview with Martha Clarke, the creator and director of God's Fool about the ancient story of St. Francis of Assisi by Allison Hsu and Cadence Rose

Camera by Pearse Redmond
Edit by Theo Cote

Martha Clarke is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theater, dance, and opera. A graduate of Juilliard, she danced with the Anna Sokolow Company before becoming a founding member of Pilobolus Dance Theatre. She has choreographed for Nederlans Dans Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Rambert Dance Company, and The Martha Graham Company, among others. As a director, Ms. Clarke’s original productions include Garden of Earthly Delights, Vienna: Lusthaus, Miracolo d’Amore, Endangered Species, An Uncertain Hour, The Hunger Artist, Belle Epoque, Vers La Flame, Kaos, and Chéri. She directed Alice’s Adventures Underground, a collaboration with Christopher Hampton for the Royal National Theater UK, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream for A.R.T. Opera productions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Cosi Fan Tutti for Glimmerglass, and Tan Dun’s Marco Polo and Gluck’s Orfeo and Eurydice for New York City Opera, among many others. She created L’Altra Meta del Cielo for La Scala Ballet (2012). She directed and choreographed Chéri (2013) for the Signature Theatre and The Threepenny Opera (2014) at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City. Her most recent production, Angel Reapers, a collaboration with Alfred Uhry played at the Signature Theatre as her second production in her five-year residency (2016). Awards: Ms. Clarke is the recipient of a MacArthur fellowship, a Drama Desk Award, two Obie Awards, two Joe A. Callaway awards, the Dance Magazine Award, the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, and two Lucille Lortel awards. In 2019, she received the Flora Roberts Award from the Dramatists Guild.

6 Questions for Boxcutter Collective

Photo by Trudi Cohen

The Brooklyn-based Boxcutter Collective was formed by veterans of the world-famous Bread and Puppet Theater. They both make puppet shows to underthrow the rotten empire. Joe Therrien and Sam Wilson are two members of the collective, who will be performing four performances of The Divinity Supply Company this weekend in The Downstairs from June 30–July 2. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. What inspired you to create and perform this specific show, here and now?
 
Joe: Boxcutter had been planning to make a specifically Bread and Puppet/Boxcutter Collective collaborative puppet show since before the pandemic. Peter was very adamant that we not pre-plan our project, but that we get together and see what we make. A lot of the initial work was compositional, just taking Boxcutter puppets and Peter’s puppets and creating short tableau vivants with sound—no text initially. Then, as our brains started organizing and reorganizing short pieces of puppetry, meaning and content began to trickle in and make connections with other pieces, which then inspired new puppet sequences in a continuing cycle of inspiration and evolution. Boxcutter loves to write together, so we did many writing sessions over the course of the project, pieces of which were used, thrown-out, reused and reworked as the process unfolded.
 
Sam: We have been working on this show for a while and the show has evolved with the issues. Making puppet shows is a way that we process the political events of the moment. It is a way that I feel I can engage in the dialogue around specific issues. This show is a table or a sort of envelope to hold the items that we are thinking hard about, are deeply upset and confused by, and are keeping us up at night. It is a show, in part, about how we face this moment.
 
2. How does your work as part of the Boxcutter Collective impact and inform your other creative endeavors?
 
Joe: At this point, 90% of my creative endeavors fall under the umbrella of The Boxcutter Collective. When I am lucky enough to work with other groups, I try to bring Boxcutter’s spirit of joy and freedom in the creative process. It is an exhilarating feeling when we are all connected and our group brain approaches flow state, and there is playfulness and confidence as we barrel forward making a new show. It comes from trust and inspiration in each other, and I try to foster those feelings in all the projects I’m a part of. Boxcutter has also developed some timed writing exercises to create scripts for shows, and I’ve brought these exercises and variations to other groups to help structure some of their creative work, and it has been really interesting to see what from that process is useful or not to other groups.
 
Sam: Being a member of a collective feels like a huge gift to myself as an artist. I have support in different ways for anything I might want to try to do and as a result I say yes to more things.
 
3. What goes into building a show like The Divinity Supply Company?
 
Joe: The biggest factor, in my opinion, was the scheduling of everyone to get together in Vermont for multiple development periods and the added logistics we had to figure out to contend with Covid. Once we all got into the same room—it was paradise! At the Bread and Puppet farm, the resident company let us take over a beautiful indoor rehearsal space for multiple month long residences. Most of the development was during winter times, so one of us would get there extra early and start a fire in the wood stove and make coffee. Then we’d get together and decide what to start with, whether it be puppet experimentation, building, writing, or rehearsing. Peter would usually start the day with us, and then come back in the afternoon—sometimes with new paintings or writing inspired by what we had shown and talked about in the morning. It was a very fun back-and-forth and we threw a lot of spaghetti at the wall and many things were created that did not end up in this version of the show—but having a lot of uninterrupted time together to try things out was very important!
 
Sam: This show was developed over two residencies which were a year apart. There was work on it in between and a shorter version was performed. We don’t start from one place. We start with texts and ideas we are interested in one hand, visuals and puppets that speak to us in another hand, performance and movement themes in one foot, sound in the other foot and then there is also the ongoing discourse of the moment. All those different inputs come in and out of the process until they start to select each other and adhere together into something we can shape.
 
4. What should audiences expect from the performance?
 
Joe: Hmm… puppets? And cut-up cardboard boxes? And bread. Primary colors. Foolish and serious dances. Lots of live music. Endearingly-misguided salesmen. Hucksterism of the finest quality. Surprises! Celebrations of the totally obvious. Bad jokes. And the feeling that you aren’t alone in the madness!
 
Sam: Expect to leave with more questions than answers and some understanding that we are not alone.
 
5. What are your upcoming plans and performances?
 
Joe & Sam: After this show closes, some of us are headed to Glover, VT to be a part of Bread and Puppet’s summer company of puppeteers. Jason Hicks has some new puppet shows he will be performing with his Detroit co-conspirator, Lindsay McCaw through their project, Flying Cardboard Theater. Ali Dineen will be performing live music throughout the rest of the summer in the NYC area. She’s also continuing to work on Saint Joan, an evolving musical project about Joan of Arc, gender non-conforming patron saint of revolution. We will perform Divinity Supply Company again on October 7 at the Puppeteers of America’s festival happening in Coney Island and hope to tour it next year (if you have a theater that wants it, let us know!) Then, after the festival, we shift our focus to another new show we are making that received a Henson Artist Grant called Happyland! Now!! It’s a subversive episodic puppet spectacle rock-operetta we are creating in collaboration with The Jalopy Theater and School of Music in Red Hook, Brooklyn. We’ll perform some of it at the Brooklyn Folk Festival, and then premiere it in November at Jalopy. We are also working on a movie that Tom is directing and has been writing (details are under wraps at the moment). We plan on continuing our work with various grassroots and activist organizations, especially the “No North Brooklyn Pipeline” fight and Sane Energy. We’re also curating puppets on the Jalopy stage including an evening of shows called Cafe des Cheape Artistes in December. And, beyond that, there’s only a few dozen projects in various states of fermentation and fruition that we will be sharing throughout the year. Follow us on Instagram @boxcutter_collective or check out www.boxcuttercollective.org to stay up to date on what we are doing next.
 
6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
 
Joe: I am thrilled that this show gets to premiere at La MaMa! I’ve lived in NYC for 20 years and I have seen so many shows here. The history of this theater in fostering new work for so many years—including the early days of both Bread and Puppet (when it was just around the corner) and La MaMa—is so inspiring. I also appreciate La MaMa’s commitment to accessibility of theater to people who can not necessarily afford the crazy Broadway prices (the 10 tickets for $10 to every performance is amazing!) and the work that is being created and showcased here is coming from such a diverse group of people, many from populations that have historically been marginalized and kept out of the conversation. It’s an incredible and important institution and I’m honored to be a part of it.
 
Sam: I am thrilled to be a La MaMa! When I was growing up in Buffalo New York my parents worked in theater there. We would take trips to NYC to see shows (this was the late '80s and early '90’s). I remember seeing shows at La MaMa and learning that it was an important and exciting place for rule-breaking theater.

Photo by Amelia Castillo

La MaMa presents

The Divinity Supply Company

June 30 – July 2, 2022

The Downstairs
66 East 4th Street, basement
New York, NY 10003

Thursday at 8PM

Friday at 8PM

Saturday at 3PM

Saturday at 8PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for Valeria Solomonoff

Photo by John Abbott

Valeria Solomonoff is a wide-ranging innovator who uses her tango roots to reimagine new possibilities of partnering. She is an awarded choreographer born in Argentina and based in New York who conceived and created Confianza collaboratively with performers Rodney Hamilton and Orlando Reyes Ibarra.

There are three performances of Confianza this weekend in the Ellen Stewart Theatre from April 30 to May 2. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. How would you describe your work as a choreographer?

For this work I started with a question and gathered a group of artists that were interested in it. I see myself kind of like a host who both incites and holds together. I host the space for collaboration as collaboration is for me the most rewarding way of working. Everyone is invested and things stay surprising all the time. 

2. Who or what has inspired you?

I’m inspired by our director Orlando Pabotoy, who is a person with the most integrity, humor, and care that one can come across. He has created an atmosphere of love for the process and acceptance of who we are and what we bring to each moment while maintaining a standard of continual growth. I’m also inspired by the differences among us, the dancers, and how we appreciate and respect each other. I’m inspired by the endless possibilities of tango and challenged by the aspiration to one day feel like my body and my mind can find complete expression.  

3. What have you learned from creating and performing new work during a pandemic?

The pandemic made it very clear to me that my motivation to create, be with people I love working with and sharing a common goal, is a need as important as the food on my table. There have been times when everything seemed against us and on those moments, it was clear that it wasn’t mere stubbornness what kept me going; it was an internal joy, like a beautiful secret that runs through the core of my being and makes me get up and sing (much to the annoyance of anyone hearing me, as I’m no singer).

4. What should audiences expect from the performance?

I think the audience will be aware of the theme and will go with us in a little trip. At least that is what I hope because the best part of rehearsal is getting lost in the journey and then come back home to my life. 

5. What are your upcoming plans for the rest of the year?

I look forward creating a piece and working with Mark Morris Dance Group Dance for Parkinson Disease Program. I was awarded the inaugural Lucy Bowen Award for Inclusive Choreography which will give me an opportunity to develop a work based on partnering. I know I have a lot to learn from this wonderful organization and I can’t wait to get started. 

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

Working at La MaMa means I can reach a broad audience and let them experience how tango is much more than what is shown on TV. It means that I can make a statement about how improvisation based on tango dynamic of lead and follow is a technique as solid as ballet and as malleable as theater. I want tango to be understood in a modern context. I want modern dance to include not just tango “moves”, but most importantly, the root of co-creation that is at the core of lead-follow interdependency of tango and that has been the source of our work.

Photo of Valeria Solomonoff and Rodney Hamilton by David Watts Jr.

La MaMa presents

Valetango Company: Confianza (Trust)

April 30 – May 1, 2022

Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10003

Saturday at 7PM

Sunday at 2PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for Pele Bauch

Photo by Stephen Yang

Pele Bauch is an interdisciplinary choreographer who combines dance with theater and weaves mixed media and set design into unique performances. Her recent work focuses on her journey as a "Hapa Haole" Kanaka Maoli (multiracial Native Hawaiian) navigating her lack of knowledge from her birthright culture. In a shared evening with Marina Celander, Pele Bauch presents A.K.A. Ka Inoa (also known as the name), which weaves supple movement, vivid characters, and personal story together with rope and name tags. A.K.A. Ka Inoa unpacks our expectations about racial identity and pushes them against the realities of personal identity, asking: What does it mean to "represent" one's race?

There are three performances of Shared Evening: Pele Bauch + Marina Celander in The Downstairs from April 22–24. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. How would you describe your work as a choreographer?

Dance with stuff. I always choreograph with everyday objects.

This time, a few thousand name tags litter the floor, encircled by about 60 paper bags that fill the
rest of the space. It’s visceral - with a moving expressive body. Then the objects bring a whole
story with them, and create context. So choreographing the interaction between body and
objects allows me to mold a visual experience. What does it mean to be named something? To
be labeled something? By working with name tags and paper bags, etc. I can move through
these questions and explore different experiences.

2. Who and what has inspired you?

Art is communion. Dance is my connection to fellow human beings and to my innermost self.
That’s what drives me.

3. What have you learned from creating and performing new work during a pandemic?

Creativity in all its forms is so vital. For one person it may be cooking a new meal, for me it’s
choreography. We need creativity, fun, love, imagination, connection to survive. When I wasn’t
choreographing (when shows were canceled), my experience of the pandemic slowly got darker
and darker until it was suffocating. And when I got back into the studio, everything started to
become more tolerable again. The first time I returned to the theater to see a live performance
after the lockdown, I cried with joy.

4. What should audiences expect from the performance?

Dance, story, paper bags, name tags... Did I mention the 300 feet of rope?

OK, but also. A.K.A. Ka Inoa addresses three audiences. To fellow Indigenous and diasporic
multiracial people who do not have the privilege of an education in their own culture: Many of us
feel lost, ignorant and isolated; we are not alone. To the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) who
are educated in Hawaiian cultural practices: I seek to be seen. To everyone else: I want to

expose this experience so that it is no longer invisible.

5. What are your upcoming plans for the rest of the year?

I am making a new work, commissioned by Women in Motion, called The Distance Process /
Dear Kanaloa. It explores distance and diaspora using what everyone is using to bridge gaps:
Zoom and Google Translate. I am working with Kealoha Ferreira, a Minnesota-based fellow
Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) dancer. The performance will be for in-person audiences in our
two cities simultaneously connected via live stream projection. Clearly, this is a piece conceived
during the pandemic, but we’re not just zooming because it’s there. It’s a continuation of this
work on diaspora and distance from one’s heritage.

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

It’s a real honor. It means being a part of a contemporary tradition of exploration and
experimentation.

I remember going to a show at La MaMa when I was a teenager (meaning a long time ago) that
centered on Hawai’i. I remember seeing the word “hula'' in the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
program description. La MaMa is the perfect venue for A.K.A. Ka Inoa.

Photo of Pele Bauch by Danny Boyd
Photo of Marina Celander courtesy of the artist

La MaMa presents

Shared Evening: Pele Bauch + Marina Celander

April 22 – 24, 2022

The Downstairs
66 East 4th Street, basement level
New York, NY 10003

Friday – Saturday at 8:30PM

Sunday at 4PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for Tiffany Mills

Photo by Julie Lemberger

Tiffany Mills is choreographer and artistic director of the New York City-based Tiffany Mills Company, which she founded in 2000. Homing, a dance-theater work inspired by the wealth of experiences that shape and bind us in our homes, is presented as part of Tiffany Mills Company’s 20th anniversary season celebration. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. How would you describe your work as a choreographer?

My work is collaborative. I enjoy working with the dancers as collaborators; as well as invited artists from various mediums (theater, music, video, etc.) as collaborators.

2. Who or what has inspired you?

Judson Church artists always inspire me. Now, my kids also inspire me!

3. What have you learned from creating and performing new work during a pandemic?

There is a silver lining of the pandemic. Rehearsing for over a year from our apartments created deep personal work. When we returned to the studio there was a renewed energy and excitement to all be together.

4. What should audiences expect from the performance?

This is a dance/theater/video work that asks: What happens when personal stories and media fantasies collide? It has moments of lightness and also darker truths.

5. What are your upcoming plans for the rest of the year?

We have a new commission to create two works for 7 violas from Ensemble Ipse (June 5th 7p). We will be on the road in the fall touring HOMING.

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

La MaMa is HOME!! We are so grateful for your support.

Photo by Robert Altman

La MaMa presents

Homing

Conceived and choreographed by Tiffany Mills with artistic contributions from the Company

Performed by Tiffany Mills, Jordan Morley, Nikolas Owens, Emily Pope, and Mei Yamanaka

April 14 –16, 2022

Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10003

Thursday – Saturday at 7PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for Matt Nasser of BALKAN BORDELLO

Matt Nasser has been a member of the Great Jones Repertory Company at La MaMa for the past 15 years. Primarily an actor and singer in New York's downtown theatre scene, his other credits include productions by The Deconstructive Theatre Project, Yara Arts, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, The Inconvenience Store, and the Big Art Group. He plays Bartender/Lawyer in Balkan Bordello, which has 4 more performances in the Ellen Stewart Theatre until April 10. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. Who or what has inspired you?

Looking back on my theatre life, many passionate directors, teachers and colleagues have inspired me. From my high school musical director, Patricia Murray, to the legendary Ellen Stewart. These individuals have been strong, quick witted, loving leaders who expertly balance mentorship, their own personal relationships and great achievement in their artistic careers. Some off the top of my head: Justin Vivian Bond, Tina Landau, Kristin Linklater, Claudia Baez, Adriana Farmiga, John Kelly, Caden Manson, Andre De Shields, Alan Cumming, Mia Yoo, The Great Jones Rep, the La MaMa office, and of course, our fearless leader of Balkan Bordello, Blerta Neziraj. Also, even though fictional, Captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager, Huge Trekkie here.

2. What can American audiences expect from these performances?

They can expect to see performances from a company that truly cares for one another. Performers who give generously to each other and put it all out there for the audience. They can also expect to get a taste of The Balkans. Although abstracted, much of the movement, music and customs in the play are grounded in the region.

3. Can you elaborate on the international collaboration that took place in developing Balkan Bordello?

It has really been quite extraordinary and I am immensely grateful to be a part of this collaboration. It was a true cultural exchange. Being able to travel to the Balkans and dive into their history and culture has deeply enriched my life. And then, to have that knowledge and be in a rehearsal room with both Serbian actors and actors from Kosovo, seeing them share with one another, eat and laugh, have each other's backs on stage and do all that for us as well, it has filled me with pride for what we have achieved and hope for our future.

4. How have the current conditions of the world influenced your creative process?

I am just continually reminded how blessed I am that I can be a part of a creative process. How sacred it is to create and how urgent it is to create understanding and tell stories that can bring people together.

5. What have you learned from working with Great Jones Repertory?

So many things! But a story comes to mind of one of my first rehearsals with Ellen and the GJR. I think I had just turned 21 and was thrown into this company of extremely talented and well seasoned performers from around the world. You can imagine how nervous and self conscious I was in that room. Ellen had literally created a song right before our eyes, which I would come to learn was commonplace for her and she asked me to get up and sing it. Not just sing it, but perform it! Nothing in my life had prepared me for this. As far as I knew, you learned a song by getting sheet music and practicing it for a while, maybe going over it with a voice coach a few times, before you would dare perform it in front of people, let alone a theatre legend. So in my mind, what she was asking was impossible. Well guess what? it's not! Especially, with what might be considered the most intense peer pressure imaginable, that leap of faith, which seems impossible, is as easy as the thought, "Yes." You can, in fact, perform a song you just heard on the spot and that muscle gets stronger and the leap gets easier the more you do it. That leap is where great performance lives. I have learned  from Ellen and the rest of the company what a miracle our minds and bodies are and the infinite potential of the human spirit. 

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

It means having a family, not just here in New York, but all around the world. I can travel almost anywhere on this planet and meet someone that has been touched by La MaMa. It means being nurtured by that family, not just artistically, but in many aspects of life and then taking that gift and sharing it with others.

Photo by Ferdi Limani

La MaMa presents

Balkan Bordello

Written by Jeton Neziraj

Directed by Blerta Neziraj

March 31 – April 10, 2022

Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10003

Thursday – Saturday at 7PM
Sunday, April 10 at 2PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for David Cerda of THE DRAG SEED

 

Photo by Joe Mazza - Brave Lux

David Cerda is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions in Chicago. He’s also the resident playwright. Cerda has written SuperPussy Vixens, Go Faster! Kill!, SCARRIE-The Musical (1998, 2003, 2015), Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (1997–2018), Joan Crawford Goes to Hell, Touched by Jayne Mansfield, The Birds (2001, 2014, 2015), Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical (2001, 2010, 2019), How ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ Happened, Caged Dames, The Rip Nelson Halloween Spooktacular, Lady X, and TROGG! A Musical, Sexy Baby, Scream, Queen, SCREAM!, Christmas Dearest, Lady X-The Musical, The Rip Nelson Holiday Spectacular, The Golden Girls-The Lost Episodes, Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, The Golden Girls Holiday Special 1 and 2, The Golden Girls Valentine Edition, The Golden Girls-BEA AFRAID, The Facts of Life-Satan’s School for Girls, and The Drag Seed.

There are 8 performances of The Drag Seed, directed by Cheryl Snodgrass, in the Downstairs Theatre from March 31–April 10. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. How would you describe your work?

Ridiculous and truthful. Smart and stupid, and camp—lots of it.

2. What inspired you to write The Drag Seed?

Being told I couldn't use cross gender casting by the staff who knew about the drag casting out there but could care less at Dramatist Guild when I looked into doing The Bad Seed.

3. What can audiences expect from these performances?

EXPECT TO SEE THE WAY THE SHOW SHOULD BE PERFORMED IN THIS MODERN AGE.

They should expect unflattering drool and snot out of the nose laughs.

To laugh so hard they might fart next to their date. They should expect to forget about a lot of the nonsense going on in the world.

4. How has the production developed since its premiere in 2019?

While the production is pretty much the same, the acceptance of Drag has skyrocketed because people have ways to monetize it, Drag has turned into a product for middle America which is why they look like OVER-SEXUALIZED Disney characters now. The world has caught up with the play, but fear not, we shall find new ways to assault their senses with a bucket of EXTRA CRISPY CAMP THAT NOT EVEN THE MOST Avant Garde Variety Types can resist!

5. It's Hell in a Handbag's 20th anniversary season! What are your upcoming plans for the rest of the season?

After New York, we're queering up Agatha Christie with A Fine Feathered Murdered-A Miss Marbled Mystery. The Fowler estate seems idyllic what with enormous cocks strutting about the place servicing all of the high society Mother Cluckers until biggest is found dead.

After, we plan going far away into outer space with I PROMISED MYSELF TO LIVE FASTER, a wild sci action space opera and love story by Gregory Moss and The Pig Iron Theatre Company.

You can also see Dorothy, Rose, Sophia, and Blanche performing as Miami's favorite seniors in the only critically acclaimed Golden Girls parody with original scripts. The world's first worldwide Golden Girls Convention—Thank you for Being a Fan at Navy Pier in Chicago.

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

It still feels like a dream. Like I'm going to wake up from a coma, tell the nurse that I have to go—I'm doing a show at La MaMa—and they all laugh at me and say, "You got a light bulb stuck in your butt!" Then they keep laughing and laughing until I make them stop—don't ask.

It also feels like the culmination of 20 years of hard work, and it makes me proud fo be sharing the stage with the people who believed in me when I had trouble believing in myself.

ALL the feels, My character, Miss Charles is dedicated to the holy trinity of Charles Ludlum, Pierce, and Busch, who all performed in this sacred space. I'm grateful as hell.

Photo by Rick Aguilar Studios

La MaMa presents

The Drag Seed

Written by David Cerda

Directed by Cheryl Snodgrass

Hell in a Handbag Productions, Chicago

March 31 – April 10, 2022

The Downstairs 
66 East 4th Street, basement level
New York, NY 10003

Thursdays – Saturdays at 8PM
Sundays at 4PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for Sean Donovan of LEMON GIRLS OR ART FOR THE ARTLESS

Photo by Nicolas Calcott

Sean Donovan is an actor, dancer, writer, choreographer and director. His recent plays include Cabin (Bushwick Starr), and The Reception (HERE Arts). Sean has been nominated twice for BESSIE Awards for Outstanding Performer. He’s worked with Heather Christian, Faye Driscoll, Miguel Gutierrez, Jane Comfort, The Builders Association, Witness Relocation, John Jesurun, and many others.

Sean Donovan is the choreographer for Talking Band's Lemon Girls or Art for the Artless, written by OBIE and Drama Desk Award winning playwright and composer Ellen Maddow and directed by Paul Zimet. There are four more performances in the Downstairs Theatre this weekend from March 24–27. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. Who and what has inspired you?

I take inspiration from so many different places. I’m inspired by boundary pushing artists whose work defies easy categorization. I love choreographers like Miguel Gutierrez and Jack Ferver to name a few. I love music artists like Anohni and Justin Vivian Bond.  People who make me laugh but can also open a wound in your heart.

2. How would you describe your work as a choreographer?

I make choreography out of everyday social behavior, elevating the gestural language to a heightened state to call attention to its rhythm, timing, and emotion. And I use dance as a means of storytelling but break from traditions of musical theater or narrative dance, drawing on forms of postmodernism and contemporary performance.

3. How did you come to collaborate with Talking Band?

I had seen the Talking Band’s work for a number of years and has always been a huge fan. We came to work together when old friends and longtime collaborators Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone (Co-Artistic Directors of 600 Highwaymen) recommended me to Paul and Ellen of the Talking Band.  We were both familiar with each other’s work and after just one meeting I think we could tell it would be a great fit. 

4. What can audiences expect from these performances?

They can expect smart, profound, hilarious writing and direction from longtime experimental theater creators. They can expect to see older bodies invigorated with life and vitality and a story that tries to ask questions of personal value and how we process grief. And they can expect choreography that charts a journey of self-discovery and embodiment through both humor and earnestness. 

5. What are your upcoming plans for 2022?/What are you looking forward to?

I’m currently performing in Heather Christian’s incredible new music work entitled Oratorio For Living Things premiering at Ars Nova which I’m thrilled about. I’m also collaborating with Taylor Mac on Taylor’s newest work, Bark of Millions. And I’m writing a new play!

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

It means so much to me. I’ve worked at La MaMa more than almost any other theater in New York going back 20 years from my days with the downtown dance theater company Witness Relocation. It’s very much an artistic home for me.

Photo by Craig Lowy

La MaMa presents

Lemon Girls or Art for the Artless

By Talking Band
Written by Ellen Maddow
Directed by Paul Zimet

March 11 – 27, 2022

The Downstairs 
66 East 4th Street, basement level
New York, NY 10003

Thursdays – Saturday at 8PM
Sunday at 4PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show