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

Gabe Herman looks at CITY OF NO ILLUSIONS for The Villager

Immigrants, refugees and life-and-death issues 

Gabe Herman looks at Talking Band's newest work, City of No Illusions, premiering at The Downstairs at La MaMa on February 8, 2019.  Gabe spoke to Talking Band's Paul Zimet about the piece:

“I became very interested in this idea of borders, between countries and also between the living and the dead,” he said. “The piece became not only about borders but the passageway through those borders.”

Read the full article: HERE

And get tickets to City of No Illusions: HERE

La MaMa presents
CITY OF NO ILLUSIONS
Written and Directed by Paul Zimet 
Music by Ellen Maddow

February 8 - 24, 2019

The Downstairs @ La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors

For Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

2018 La MaMa Umbria: International Symposium for Directors

The 2018 La MaMa Umbria: International Symposium for Directors announces this summer's workshop leaders: 

Semion Aleksandrovskiy (Russia)

Stefanie Batten Bland (USA)

Krzysztof Garbaczewski (Poland)

The Talking Band: Ellen Maddow / Paul Zimet  (USA)

Spend two weeks in Italy working with directors from around the world!  Applications are now being accepted.

For more information: CLICK HERE

Teaser Video: The Room Sings

  Video by Theo Cote
Music by Ellen Maddow

_____

La MaMa presents

THE 

ROOM 

SINGS

By The Talking Band

Written and Directed by Paul Zimet

Set Design by Nic Ularu

Video Design by Baxter Engle

Lighting Design by Lenore Doxsee

Costume Design by Kiki Smith

Puppet Design by Ralph Lee

Now - April 16, 2017

The Ellen Stewart Theatre @ La MaMa

66 East 4th Street

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $30 Adults; $20 Student/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

The Brooklyn Rail talks to Ellen Maddow Paul Zimet of Talking Band

Lizzie Olesker spoke with Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow about Talking Band's newest work, THE ROOM SINGS, now playing at The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa through April 16, 2017.

"In The Room Sings there’s a sense of a landscape that goes on and on, whether people are there or not, and the seasons go on, too. I’ve always been struck with a sense that the natural elements, the animals—the deer, the beavers, and the bears—are going on as they always have. There’s this other time that sort of goes on without you."

Read the full story: HERE

____

La MaMa presents

THE 
ROOM 
SINGS

By The Talking Band
Written and Directed by Paul Zimet
Set Design by Nic Ularu
Video Design by Baxter Engle
Lighting Design by Lenore Doxsee
Costume Design by Kiki Smith
Puppet Design by Ralph Lee

Now - April 16, 2017

The Ellen Stewart Theatre @ La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $30 Adults; $20 Student/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Winter 2017 @ La MaMa

Winter is HOT at La MaMa!  Shows include:

La MaMa Squirts 2017: Generations of Queer Performance

COIL 2017: Real Magic, Meeting & Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster

Pavel Zuštiak and Palissimo Company's Bastard (The Painted Bird: Part 1) and Custodians of Beauty

AdA: Author Directing Author written & directed by Neil LaBute, Marco Calvani and Marta Buchaca

Culturehub's Hi-Fi | Wi-Fi | Sci-Fi by Robert Patrick

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot directed by Estelle Parsons

Benghazi – Bergen-Belsen

Talking Band's The Room Sings

Browse our digital brochure here.

Tickets now on sale, including La MaMa 10 @ $10 Tickets for all shows!

January is Hot 3 and 6-show packages available for selected shows in January!

Meet the Cast of BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY

Will Badgett is another one of the downtown STARS appearing in Talking Band's BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY. Will plays play Tony Hudson, a Brooklyn homeowner that raises canaries, has an unusual collection and finds something incredible. How's that for a tease?

Will says: "My debut at La Mama and with Talking Band was 1984. Over the years I have probably been in twenty productions. Being here is like being with family."

Don't miss the World Premiere of BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY - January 22 - February 7, 2016 only.

La MaMa presents

BURNISHED BY GRIEF: 

A ROMANTIC COMEDY

Written and Composed by Ellen Maddow 
Directed by Paul Zimet 

A love letter to the chaos of cramped New York City living. This music-fused, sinister romantic comedy is inspired by Obie award-winning playwright Ellen Maddow’s work as a mediator in Brooklyn Civil Court, where she has witnessed how the city’s extraordinary diversity, combined with close living, has produced complex misunderstandings and remarkable relationships. 

January 22 - February 7, 2016

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors - 2 and 4-Show packages available for January shows at La MaMa

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

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

88 Years of Theater: Mabou Mines + The Talking Band

This January, La MaMa will present two world premieres.  This really isn't news, many of the shows at La MaMa are world premieres.  But the two world premieres in opening in January are from companies that have worked at La MaMa for years and together, Mabou Mines (founded in 1970) and The Talking Band (founded in 1974) have 88 years for theater making between them.

First up, La MaMa presents Mobou Mines' Imagining the Imaginary Invalid.  This was a piece that was originally conceived by the late Ruth Maleczech (Mabou Mines Artistic Director) in collaboration with Julie Archer, Clove Galilee, and Valeria Vasilevski.  Imagining The Imaginary Invalid is now directed and choreographed by Clove Galilee, Ruth's daughter, and stars OBIE award winning actor Marylouise Burke.

Opening on January 22, 2016, is The Talking Band's production of Burnished By Grief – A Romantic Comedy. Written and Composed by Ellen Maddow, Burnished By Grief: A Romantic Comedy is a love letter to the chaos of cramped New York City living.

We thought we'd look back at some of the Mabou Mines and Talking Band productions over the years:

THE RED HORSE ANIMATION (1971), Mabou Mines 

Joanne Akalaitis, Ruth Maleczech and David Warrilow

photo by Amnon Ben Nomis 

 photo by Amnon Ben Nomis 

 photo by Maria Austria

photo by Maria Austria

BIG MOUTH (1985), Talking Band

 Unknown Photographer

 Photo by Jerry Vezzuso

HOT LUNCH APOSTLES (1983), Talking Band

photo by: Jerry Vezzuso

PLAY (1971), Mabou Mines

Joanne Akalaitis, David Warrilow and Ruth Maleczech

photo by Tony Kent

BETTY AND THE BLENDERS (1986), Talking Band

photo by: Jerry Vezzuso

LIFE SIMULATOR (1987), Talking Band

photo by: Jerry Vezzuso

COME AND GO (1971), Mabou Mines

photo by Amnon Ben Nomis 

Come see the newest works from these two legendary companies!

See both shows for only $20 with a 'January is Hot' 2-Show Package!

La MaMa presents

IMAGINING THE 

IMGANARY INVALID

by Mabou Mines and Trick Saddle

January 21 - February 7, 2016

The Ellen Stewart Theatre

66 East 4th Street

(Between Bowery and Second Avenue)

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $30 Adults/$25 Students/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

La MaMa presents

BURNISHED BY GRIEF: 

A ROMANTIC COMEDY

by Talking Band

January 22 - February 7, 2016

The First Floor Theatre

74A East 4th Street

(Between Bowery and Second Avenue)

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $25 Adults/$20 Students/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Meet the Cast of BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY

Meet Debargo Sanyal who plays a character named Jimmy Boner in Talking Band's BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY written and composed by Ellen Maddow. 

Jimmy is an awkward young man who is fresh out of law school, and works with the non-profit Legal Aid Society. He is still (literally) trying to find his voice of inner-self-confidence as an attorney in NYC.

He still lives with roommates because he cannot afford not to.  His best friend is the cat that he rescued, whose name is The Bronx...and his roommates hate his cat.

"Jimmy is gawky and lonely, while also quite kind and very well-meaning.  He is the sort of fellow who is always doing the best that he can despite being somewhat down-on-his-luck and when he is called upon to become involved in a legal housing dispute between daffy tenant Suniye Finger and her beleaguered landlord Tony Hudson, things start to change for Jimmy in unexpected ways..." says Debargo.

You've probably seen Debargo on stage in NYC Productions such as: When January Feels Like Summer (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Page 73 Productions/Women's Project Theater), Invasion! (The Play Company at Walkerspace), Charles Mee's Queens Boulevard (the musical) (Signature Theatre Co), Bunty Berman Presents... (The New Group), John Cariani's Love/Sick (Royal Family Productions), After (Partial Comfort Productions), Bird in the Hand (Fulcrum Theatre), Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary(The Management), Looking for the Pony (Vital Theatre Co), Telethon (Clubbed Thumb), It's Only Kickball, Stupid (kef productions), I_NY (Ma-Yi Theater Co), Port Authority Throw Down (The Working Theater), Women of Trachis (Target Margin Theater), Commedia Dell Smartass(New Georges), Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink (Alter Ego Productions at Walkerspace), Bumbug-The Musical (LAUGHistan), Created Equal (Red Fern Theatre Co), Harvest (East Coast Artists at La MaMa), Love, Sex and Death in the Amazon (Collider Theater), The Lighthouse Invites the Storm (Sanguine Theatre Co), Millicent Scowlworthy (SPF), audiovideo (Drama League DirectorFest), Seven.11 Convenience Theatre and Barriers (Desipina & Co), The Woodpecker and Slag Heap (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Smoking Bloomberg and Love Sucks (NYMF), Browntown and In Transit and Crossings (FringeNYC), Pulling the Lever (Rising Circle Theater Collective) Pilgrim (Puerto Rican Traveling Theater: In Sight), Empire Gas (Lost Tribe Theatre), Comedians (La MaMa), Romeo and Juliet (Blunt Theatre Co), I'm with Mauricio and Pilgrim's Passion (Intar Theatre: New Works Lab). The Juilliard School Drama Division-Guest Artist Actor '05. The 52nd Street Project-Playmaking. Regional Productions: Mike Bartlett's An Intervention (Williamstown Theatre Festival 2015: Nikos Stage-Williamstown, MA), Disconnect(Victory Gardens Theater-Chicago, IL) When January Feels Like Summer (City Theatre-Pittsburgh, PA), Rajiv Joseph's Animals Out of Paper (Boise Contemporary Theater-Boise, ID), Brahman/i (Mixed Blood Theatre-Minneapolis, MN). Cape Cod Theatre Project (2005, 2011, 2015). 

His feature films include The Normals, The Magic of Belle Isle, Everybody's Fine, Today's Special, Fort Tilden, Made for Each Other, Sita Sings the Blues, Bert and Arnie's Guide to Friendship, Detours, 3rd Street Blackout, Drawing with Chalk, Red Hook, West 32nd, Quarter Life Crisis, Maybe There's A Tree, Karma Calling, Ashes, Sad Sack Sally, My Sassy Girl. *SHORT FILM: Modern Day Arranged Marriage, Dry Clean Only, The Call Center, Windows Vista Predator Edition, The Cubicle, The Rebuild, Waiting Room, Couch, The Waiting Room, L'emon, Theen, Roulette Night, Babette, Aimee Undercover/Burkini, I Don't Sleep I Dream. 

On television, Debargo has made guest appearances on The Americans, Blue Bloods, Billions, Law & Order-Special Victims Unit, Person of Interest, Nurse Jackie, Damages, Law & Order, NYC 22, The Sopranos, The Unusuals, Law & Order-Criminal Intent, All My Children, On The Lot, national commercials. 

And he can also be seen on the webseries Gemma & The Bear, So Then Tell Me, Kitchens & Calhoun.

Come see Debargo Sanyal in BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY, which plays The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa from January 22 through February 7, 2016.

La MaMa presents

BURNISHED BY GRIEF: 

A ROMANTIC COMEDY

Written and Composed by Ellen Maddow 
Directed by Paul Zimet 

A love letter to the chaos of cramped New York City living. This music-fused, sinister romantic comedy is inspired by Obie award-winning playwright Ellen Maddow’s work as a mediator in Brooklyn Civil Court, where she has witnessed how the city’s extraordinary diversity, combined with close living, has produced complex misunderstandings and remarkable relationships. 

January 22 - February 7, 2016

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors - 2 and 4-Show packages available for January shows at La MaMa

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

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Meet the Cast of BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY

TINA SHEPARD is a founding member of The Talking Band.  In their newest show, BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY, Tina plays Ms. Dishbrush.  When asked to describe her character, Tina said "I wash my dishes  -  you see me thru my kitchen window.I can't tell you any more, 'cause it would give it all away."  

Tina graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1963, bounced around NYC for a few years working as light-board op, lighting designer, actor, mime; by some miraculous good fortune she landed in The Open Theater in the Fall of 1967, working on The Serpent, the company’s first collaboratively developed show. She was a member of The Open Theater until the company disbanded in 1973.

In 1974 she teamed up with fellow Open Theater actors Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow to form The Talking Band, initially dedicated to continuing exploration of the theatrical interplay of image, language and music in which they had been engaged in The Open Theater. She has worked as an actor/collaborator in most of the plays the company has created. In 1988 she was awarded an OBIE for her performance in The Talking Band production The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol.

Shepard was one of a group of actors, designers and musicians who, starting in 1976, joined together with director Joseph Chaikin and dramaturg Mira Rafalowicz for a few months each year for theater explorations. As The Winter Project they created and performed 4 shows at La Mama Annex.

In 1987 The Talking Band collaborated with The Otrabanda Company and director Anne Bogart to create No Plays, No Poetry. . . , a show based on the theoretical texts of Bertolt Brecht which won an OBIE in 1988. Tina continued working with Anne Bogart in several projects, among them American Vaudeville - in which she played both Mae West and Harpo Marx - at the Alley Theater, Houston; and Charles Mee's Orestes, performed at Tadashi Suzuki's theater in Togamura, Japan.

Shepard has also worked extensively with Brian Jucha/Via Theater; Brooke Oharra/Theater of a Two Headed Calf; David Herskovits/Target Margin Theater; John Kurzinowski/Theater Reconstruction Ensemble; and Adam Burnett/Burran Theater She has taught acting, directing, voice & movement for actors at Princeton University, Smith College, and Williams College. She directed eleven productions at Williams, most of them original pieces created in collaboration with her students.

For the past 12 years Tina has been teaching acting and movement (aikido) at Experimental Theater Wing/ NYU. She has directed a production of Poe In April, a script she made from some of Poe’s stories; Plays, a script she made from Gertrude Stein’s essay ‘Plays’ ; Wilde Thing, a script she developed from Oscar Wilde’s essay “The Decay of Lying”; and most recently, a production of The Serpent, originally created and toured in 1968 by the Open Theater ensemble.

She holds the rank of Rokudan (6th degree Black Belt) in aikido.

Come see Tina Shepard in BURNISHED BY GRIEF: A ROMANTIC COMEDY at The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa, beginning performances on January 22, 2016. 

La MaMa presents

BURNISHED BY GRIEF: 


A ROMANTIC COMEDY


Written and Composed by Ellen Maddow 
Directed by Paul Zimet 

A love letter to the chaos of cramped New York City living. This music-fused, sinister romantic comedy is inspired by Obie award-winning playwright Ellen Maddow’s work as a mediator in Brooklyn Civil Court, where she has witnessed how the city’s extraordinary diversity, combined with close living, has produced complex misunderstandings and remarkable relationships. 

January 22 - February 7, 2016

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors - 2 and 4-Show packages available for January shows at La MaMa

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

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE