La MaMa Alumni: John Jarboe @ Joe's Pub

If you missed John Jarboe's You Can Never Go Down The Drain: a Musical Children's Program for Adults in 2018, when it was at La MaMa in February - you're in luck.  John brings The Bearded Ladies Cabaret show to Joe's Pub at The Public Theater for one night only:  Thursday, April 19th at 7pm.

You Can Never Go Down The Drain: a Musical Children's Program for Adults in 2018 is created by The Bearded Ladies Cabaret  and written and performed by John Jarboe. Mr. Rogers was known for saying no matter how bad things are "You can never go down the drain." Using and abusing iconic songs from the program, Philadelphia's Bearded Ladies Cabaret, puts this to the test. For this workshop performance, expect a gold fish funeral, gay romps into the land of make-believe, and some earnest questions about irony.

For more info and tickets: CLICK HERE

Series of One Promo Video

Series of One | A Solo Festival from La MaMa on Vimeo.

Series of One returns to La MaMa this week with four  provocative, challenging solo performances  centered around storytelling and personal narratives.  These courageous artists exemplify La MaMa's mission by continuing to create adventurous and engaging art which allows audiences to experience the dynamism of a single performer--no distractions.

BLAKE SUGARMAN: Prelude to the Apocalypse (For What It's Worth) 

Feb 1 - 2 at 8pm | Feb 10 at 8pm | Feb 11 at 3pm      

                                        

Prelude to the Apocalypse (For What It's Worth) engages with the climate crises in a number of unexpected ways: through the lens of evolutionary time, the biblical apocalypse, and the process of growing up as a person and a society. It also examines the human tendency to make wishes, and what that means in moments when we feel powerless. It all takes place in the shadow of a giant hourglass. Nevertheless, the universe breathes on. Prelude to the Apocalypse (For What It's Worth) is written and performed by Blake Sugarman and directed by Jacob Sexton.

JOHN JARBOE: You Can Never Go Down The Drain:  a Musical Children's Program for Adults in 2018 

Feb 3 at 8pm | Feb 4 at 3pm | Feb 8 - 9 at 8pm

Mr. Rogers was known for saying no matter how bad things are "You can never go down the drain."  Using and abusing iconic songs from the program, Philadelphia's Bearded Ladies Cabaret, puts this to the test.  For this workshop performance, expect a gold fish funeral, gay romps into the land of make-believe, and some earnest questions about irony. You Can Never Go Down The Drain is created by The Bearded Ladies Cabaret and written and performed by John Jarboe.

MARINA CELANDER: Mermaid's Howl

Feb 15 - 16 at 8pm | Feb 24th at 8pm | Feb 25th at 3pm

Mermaid's Howl written, directed and performed by Marina Celander is a fantastical One-Woman piece, full of magic and dreams. The characters are WOMAN and DAUGHTER. They speak to each other through time and space, through ocean divers and earth creatures, through madness and memories, remembering their way back to their matriline in Korea. Music and soundscape by Infinite Dåkot-Ta.

MEGAN METRIKIN: Finding Fellini

Feb 17th at 8pm | Feb 18th at 3pm | Feb 22 - 23 at 8pm

Written and performed by Megan Metrikin Finding Fellini centers around a Jewish woman's escape from the brutal realities of apartheid South Africa into a Fellini infused cinematic landscape. Projection images from the maestro's films, as well as Fellini quotes, weave together representing the creativity, freedom and vibrancy Fellini symbolizes to a woman running from the horrors of her home country where repression is the suffocating norm.  Directed and Designed by Guy De Lancey

For Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

6 QUESTIONS: Brigham Mosley

Writer and performer Brigham Mosley's solo show, SCARLETT O’HARA AND THE WAR ON TARA will be presented as part of La MaMa's new platform for unconventional solo performances, A Series of One, on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 5:30pm at The Club at La MaMa. Brigham talks to us about the show and his work.

1. What was the initial inspiration for this project?

Actually the title came first, about a year ago - I knew the show would have something to do with my relationship/discomfort with NYC and the guilt associated with leaving my family to move here (and knowing that, as a gay person, moving back to my rural Oklahoma community probably will never happen). Tara is destroyed. Atlanta is sieged. WHERE DO YOU GO?!?!? Also hoop skirts.

2. What was the most challenging element in making this show?

It's actually sort of all come together in a really organic way - playing Scarlett (probably my favorite literary character ever written) just sort of opens you up to being terrible and outspoken and to never apologize for yourself. Scarlett is like this lovable monster and she just hates EVERYONE but somehow you root for her and completely identify with her. It's been so freeing to tap into that.

3. Do you think of your work at political?

You know, I don't. I think other people might - I think if you're a gay artist people think that your work is automatically political. I just write about my experiences and the things I see. I try to critique my community or culture I see as dangerous but rarely do I offer answers - questions are always more important.

4. How would you describe your aesthetic?

I believe in sentimentality and sincerity - I think irony and cynicism and this sort of let's-just-all-get-together-and-feel-smart-and-catch-the-inside-jokes-and-be-totally-removed theatre I keep seeing is so deadly. I worry about our emotional lives because it seems like the goal of everything is to just have this jaded, knowing distance. I want to make spectacle and be ugly and bold and funny and DRAMATIC! I want theatrical theatre - to be performative and tacky and celebratory - all that good stuff! The goal is to be the boy Dolly Parton.

5. Who has inspired you?

Tim Miller, Taylor Mac, Charles Ludlam, Sarah Ruhl, Young Jean Lee, Erin Markey - give me metaphors and collage and PERFORMANCE! Theatrical theatre-makers, the lot of 'em! 

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

It's a dream - truly. I learned about La MaMa when I was 18 years old in undergrad and I knew this is the sort of work I wanted to make. It feels big and wonderful.

La MaMa ETC presents

Brigham Mosley's
SCARLETT O’HARA 
AND THE WAR ON TARA

Part of A SERIES OF ONE


Sunday, October 13th @ 5:30pm


Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for students and seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available (to anyone) as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 initiative.

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

PREVIEW: Vickie Tanner's RUNNING INTO ME

Vickie Tanner's RUNNING INTO ME plays The Club @ La MaMa this Saturday, October 5th at 10pm as part of A SERIES OF ONE - Solo Performance Festival.

In Running Into Me, Vickie Tanner tells the compelling story of her remarkable struggle to defy the odds and succeed. She plays a variety of characters, including a group of rebellious, sensitive and highly opinionated teens, taking the audience on a roller coaster ride into the minds of young people while simultaneously painting a vivid and insightful portrait of her own odyssey-like journey ‘straight outta Compton’.

La MaMa presents Vickie Tanner's
RUNNING INTO ME
Directed by Bruce McCarty

Part of A SERIES OF ONE

Saturday, October 5th at 10pm 

The Club at La MaMa 
74A East 4th Street 
New York, NY 10003 

 Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for students and seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available in advance, to anyone, as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 initiative. 

 For tickets and info: Click Here

NEXT Magazine Talks To Max Steele

John Russell talks to Max Steele about his solo show, Encourager, that will play The Club @ La MaMa on Saturday, September 28th at 10pm, as part of A SERIES OF ONE.

“I wanted to do something with no sets, no costumes, no props, no escape, no distractions, just feelings.” The resulting performance piece, Encourager, took the form of an ersatz self-help workshop hosted by Steele’s longtime alter ego, Billy Cheer. As he readied Encourager’s one-night-only engagement as part of La Mama E.T.C.’s A Series of One festival of solo works on September 28, we chatted with Steele about the piece, the need for encouragement and whether we should actually trust Billy Cheer’s advice.

You can read the full interview HERE. 

La MaMa presents
Max Steele's
ENCOURAGER

Part of A SERIES OF ONE

Saturday, September 28th at 10pm

The Club at La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for students and seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available (to anyone) as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 initiative.

For tickets and info: Click Here

6 QUESTIONS: Max Steele

Performer and writer Max Steele's solo show, ENCOURAGER will be presented as part of La MaMa's A SERIES OF ONE on Saturday, September 28th at 10pm at The Club.  

We asked Max 6 questions about himself and his work:

1. What was the initial inspiration for this project?

I made ENCOURAGER in my first year as an Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange/BAX. I wanted to make a solo performance that wasn't tied to other forms I had worked in before, theater, music, dance, etc. I knew I wanted to make a solo performance, and eventually the material I was working with led me to the form of the self-help seminar. I'd been thinking a lot about Consciousness-Raising groups of the 1960s and 70s, as well as current places where expertise and entertainment overlap (TED Talks, memoir as cinema). The initial inspiration for the project, though, was that I wanted to make a performance in which the audience could feel like they were being hit on. All at the same time. So I started looking for ways to do that, and I think I succeeded. I feel good about where that line of thinking has led me. I definitely figured out a lot of other things, on the way, and the surprise has been that in order for that to happen (for the audience to feel like they're each, individually, being seduced) you have to to teach them to seduce themselves.

2. What was the most challenging element in making this show?

The biggest challege I had in making ENCOURAGER was working by myself the whole time. I wanted to work by myself to generate as much material as I could, and to edit and organize the text and performance entirely by myself. This show is my baby and I'm very proud of it, but it did hurt quite a bit to make everything by myself. I'm sure I could havge saved myself a lot of anguish if I had brough in other people to give feedback at different points, or help direct or coach the performance at different times. That being said, I think the anguish and the isolation was necessary, and I don't regret working this way.

3. Do you think of your work at political?

I do think of ENCOURAGER as inherently political, in the sense that it's about asking people to have a more earnest engagement with themselves and each other. There's not an overt political statement, but my place in the world informs my work and everything else I do.

4. How would you describe your aesthetic?

Cautious optimism, earnest abjection, a serious joke, sexy ambivalence. I think of ENCOURAGER as being content-free in a way, more like a Philosophy lecture, because it's me sort of articulating some of my philosophical values, but I feel pretty confident that the aesthetic experience of it is sort of more black humor.

5. Who has inspired you?

So, so many people, but lately the more and more work I see and make, the more I realize how much Penny Arcade and Lydia Lunch are influences for me, with regard to both writing and performing. Hugely underrated. I feel like they've each inspired more than one generation of artists, and while I can't exactly do what either of them can do in live performance, they've both definitely inspired me with their force of will and rigor of thought.

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

I love La MaMa! I'm really honored and excited to get to be performing my own work there. La MaMa's legacy of supporting artistic innovation is really exciting to get to be part of.

You can check out Max's blog here: www.fagcity.blogspot.com

And don't forget to come see Max's show at La MaMa!

La MaMa presents
Max Steele's
ENCOURAGER

Part of A SERIES OF ONE

Saturday, September 28th at 10pm

The Club at La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for students and seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available (to anyone) as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 initiative. 

For tickets and info: Click Here 

New York Times Fall Theater Preview

Steven McElroy's Fall Theater Preview in the New York Times took a look at I CAME TO LOOK FOR YOU ON TUESDAY as well as mentions for A SERIES OF ONE, QUEER NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL and Irina Brook's SHAKESPEARE'S SISTER (Or La Vie Matérielle) among "slew of offerings at the downtown mainstay La MaMa this fall."

You can read McElroy's entire Fall Theater Preview HERE.