PROTOTYPE
Times Square, HERE Arts Center, and online
January 8-16, free (except for Modulation, $25-$75)
prototypefestival.org
During the pandemic lockdown, theater, dance, and music creators have had to reimagine what they do, transitioning to online works instead of in-person productions, at least temporarily but for longer than initially anticipated. That has given audiences access to plays, concerts, operas, movement pieces, and other live and prerecorded shows from around the world, allowing them to explore disciplines they might not have known much about before the coronavirus crisis. I’ve watched dozens of works by international and American companies that I’d never been able to see previously, and it has been a boon during this challenging time while venues are shuttered.
One January festival that might not have been on your radar is Prototype, an annual collection of experimental opera that usually takes place at such locations as Baruch Performing Arts Center, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, the Joyce, BRIC House, FIAF, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and festival presenter HERE Arts Center. The ninth season, running January 8-16, has gone mostly virtual, and five of the six events are free, with two that require you to leave the confines of your apartment, one in Times Square, the other at HERE on Dominick St. Below is the full schedule, including live Q&As and discussions with the artists; be adventurous and check out one or more of these works to see what kind of innovation has been happening during quarantine.
January 8-16 (live event after January 8 show at 8:00, $75), $25
Modulation, featuring works by thirteen composers investigating isolation, identity, fear, and breath during the pandemic.
January 9-16 (live event January 12 at 5:00), free
Out of Bounds: Times3 (Times x Times x Times), by composer Pamela Z and theater artist Geoff Sobelle, site-specific sonic experience in and about Times Square.
January 9-16 (live event January 14 at 5:00), free
Ocean Body, multimedia presentation set in the waters of the Gulf Coast, composed and performed by Helga Davis and Shara Nova, directed and filmed by Mark DeChiazza, with embodied sculpture by Annica Cuppetelli, HERE Arts Center, advance RSVP required.
January 10-16 (live events January 10 at 8:00 & 9:00), free
The Planet — A Lament, staged song cycle and live dance about the creation of the world and impending environmental disaster, composed and performed by Septina Rosalina Layan, directed by Garin Nugroho, and choreographed by Joy Alpuerto Ritter, with Mazmur Chorale, Serraimere Boogie, Rianto, Heinbertho J. B. D. Koirewoa (Douglas), Pricillia EM Rumbiak (Elis), and Paul Amandus Dwaa (Becham).
January 10-16 (live events January 16 at 11:00 & noon), free
Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists, based on a rawlings’s book about sleep, dreams, moths, and butterflies, composed by Valgeir Sigurðsson, directed by Sara Martí, and choreographed by Valgerður Rúnarsdóttir, with text by a rawlings and animation and video art by Pierre-Alain Giraud.
January 10-16 (live events January 16 at 1:00 & 3:00), free
The Murder of Halit Yozgat, film about the assassination of Halit Yozgat in Germany in 2006, composed by Ben Frost and Petter Ekmann, directed by Frost, choreographed by Sasha Milavic Davies, with a libretto by Daniela Danz, and featuring Sabrina Ceesay, Mathias Max Herrmann, Nicolas Matthews, Tahnee Niboro, Gudrun Pelker, Yannick Spanier, and Hubert Zapiór.