twi-ny recommended events

PUBLIC ART FUND TALKS — SAM MOYER: DOORS FOR DORIS

Sam Moyer’s Doors for Doris is a tribute to public art champion Doris C. Freedman (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Sam Moyer, Daniel S. Palmer
What: Public Art Fund livestreamed discussion about Sam Moyer: Doors for Doris
Where: Cooper Union Zoom
When: Wednesday, October 14, free with RSVP, 5:00 (sculpture on view in Doris C. Freedman Plaza through August 28, 2021)
Why: “Contemporary public sculpture presents a new visual and emotional experience, a challenge to our senses and sensibilities,” philanthropist Doris Chanin Freedman said back in the late 1970s. “Sculpture that confronts us on our way to work, or on our daily errands, is no longer the remote object belonging to the world of galleries and museums but a special component of our daily lives.” Freedman, who passed away in November 1981 at the age of fifty-three, was a champion of outdoor art in New York City, having served as the first director of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, president of the Municipal Art Society, and president of City Walls as well as being host of WNYC’s Artists in the City and founder of the Public Art Fund; since 1977, PAF has installed site-specific commissions on what was christened, after her death, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, which stands at the entrance to Central Park on Fifth Ave. at Sixtieth St. known as Scholar’s Gate. The dedication plaque reads in part, “As a pioneer in the field of public art, Doris Freedman labored tirelessly to enliven and humanize the urban environment. The people of the City of New York are the beneficiaries of her vision.”

Sam Moyer will participate in a virtual Public Art Fund Talk about her new sculptural installation on Doris C. Freedman Plaza (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brooklyn-based artist Sam Moyer, who was born in Chicago shortly after Freedman died, has paid tribute to her with the three-part sculpture Doors for Doris, a trio of partially open entryways to the park on the plaza named for her. (You can see our online slideshow of the work here.) Constructed of indigenous New York granite and Bluestone, concrete slabs, and discarded marble from such countries as Brazil, China, India, and Italy that Moyer found around the city, Doors for Doris offers passersby a new way to walk into or out of the park, honoring the woman who fought for artists to be able to live in their SoHo studios and for civic construction projects to include public art in their budgets. The international nature of the material and the not-fully-open doors reference not only New York City as a melting pot but the need for immigration reform; it also outlines such issues as income inequality, combining standard concrete with marble scraps tossed away from kitchen redesigns and fancy building lobbies. Freedman’s father was architect and real estate developer Irwin S. Chanin, the namesake of the Chanin Building across from Grand Central, an Art Deco skyscraper that features a bronze relief of evolution scenes on its facade in addition to a bas-relief by Edward Trumbull and a terracotta frieze. So it’s more than apt that on October 14 at 5:00, PAF is hosting an artist talk in conjunction with the Cooper Union, home to the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. Moyer, who also makes abstract hand-painted canvases composed of stone, marble, terrazzo concrete, and travertine on MDF panels in addition to oil on Bristol and works made of fused glass, will be speaking with PAF curator Daniel S. Palmer.

TWI-NY TALK: IGOR GOLYAK AND DARYA DENISOVA OF STATE vs. NATASHA BANINA

Darya Denisova gives a bold performance made for Zoom in State vs. Natasha Banina

STATE VS. NATASHA BANINA
Baryshnikov Arts Center online
Cherry Orchard Festival
Monday, October 12, and Wednesday, October 14, free with RSVP, 8:00
bacnyc.org
www.arlekinplayers.com

In my June 21 review of State vs. Natasha Banina, I wrote that “the future of online productions might be best represented so far by Arlekin Players Theatre’s State vs. Natasha Banina.” Part of the Cherry Orchard Festival, the forty-five-minute solo play is an online adaptation of the Boston troupe’s version of Yaroslava Pulinovich’s Natasha’s Dream, which deals with mental illness and, perhaps, murder. The extraordinary interactive work — the audience serves as a jury — is directed by company founding artistic director Igor Golyak and stars his partner, Darya Denisova, who is brave and mesmerizing as Natasha. What began as a handful of live performances has blossomed into a virtual national tour, with Arlekin teaming with arts organizations around the country to put on the play, complete with an integral talk afterward in which Golyak and Denisova are likely to reveal some of their theatrical secrets.

Among the play’s countless fans is Mikhail Baryshnikov, who is bringing the production to the Baryshnikov Arts Center (online, not in person) on October 12 and 14 at 8:00; tickets are free with advance RSVP. The October 12 show will be followed by a talkback with music critic and Beginner’s Ear founder Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, while the October 14 postshow discussion will feature actress Jessica Hecht, who is planning on working with the troupe soon. As they prepare for the BAC shows, Golyak, who runs the Igor Golyak Acting Studio, and Denisova, who teaches there, answered some questions about their sudden success and the future of theater.

twi-ny: For those previously unfamiliar with your company, you have staged innovative adaptations of The Seagull, Dead Man’s Diary, and The Stone, among others, that create unique relationships between audience and performer. When you were looking for a play to take online, what was it about Natasha that made you think it was ripe for virtual reimagining?

igor golyak: First of all, the subject matter of systems failing young people felt really relevant today, so the theme was definitely an inspiration. This is generally how we approach text at Arlekin; I want to have a discussion with the audience about subject matter, not a lesson plan, but pose a question around a point of pain in me and the collaborators.

twi-ny: Natasha has become a viral sensation, one of the most-talked-about and widely praised online productions during the pandemic. What has that experience been like?

ig: The experience has been overwhelming. Being an immigrant theater with our accent not just in language but in the approach to the theater, we feel understood.

twi-ny: Darya, during the show, you call out some of the names of the people watching, but you can’t see them over Zoom. What’s it like giving such an intimate, courageous performance without a visible audience?

darya denisova: Actually, there is a seventy-inch monitor right in front of me, so I do see the audience at certain points. It is very inspiring when audience members choose to keep their videos on; I get to see their facial expressions, their emotions, and how people change during the course of the performance. This makes the connection between me and the audience very real.

twi-ny: One of your fans is Mikhail Baryshnikov, and on October 12 and 14, you will be performing the show for the Baryshnikov Arts Center. You have been able to essentially tour the show online, creating a new model, collaborating with organizations across the world. How did that come about?

ig: We work with two amazing touring producers, Sara Stackhouse of BroadBand and Maria Shclover and Irina Shabshis of the Cherry Orchard Festival Foundation, who have strategized around how the show lives and where it is presented next. It is an incredible feeling being able to present the show in different languages with subtitles live to an audience across the globe. We are not only touring with theaters but also with film festivals, which opened a new door to virtual theater. We don’t know where this is going and what’s next, as this has not really existed before, but we are eager to find out.

twi-ny: Do you find audience reaction different depending on which organization you are partnering with? Do the reactions change with the geographic location of the organization?

ig: Great question; yes it does! We have had only one not guilty verdict with an all-immigrant audience. However, I will say that all our audience members are sophisticated theatergoers, and the discussions that take place postshow are extremely thoughtful and lively.

dd: The audience reactions are different at every show, and so is the connection. I don’t think geographic locations matter — Natasha’s story is universal; it could happen anywhere.

twi-ny: You mentioned different languages. The play is sometimes performed in Russian. Does it feel different compared to when you do it in English?

ig: Yes, the play in Russian feels a little more authentic; being artists from that part of the world, we really know the character. The character, not the language, is sometimes difficult to translate. I can’t generalize, but in Russia, people view for example drunks or alcoholics as having a difficult life and feel more pity for them maybe because they can relate. In America, I feel it is more black and white. So I guess what I am saying, Dostoyevsky couldn’t have written Crime and Punishment here in the US. I don’t know if it is good or bad, probably good, but these are just my subjective observations. By the way, these are the questions that an immigrant from Russia grapples with their whole life.

Director Igor Golyak, seen here at Arlekin’s tenth anniversary celebration last year, is reinventing online theater with State vs. Natasha Banina

twi-ny: What has the success of Natasha meant for Arlekin? At a talkback that I attended, you noted that on the other side of this, you were going to continue exploring technical innovation over the internet in addition to in-person productions. What do you see as the future of the company, especially now that you have a global fan base that goes far beyond your fifty-seat theater in Boston?

ig: Glad you asked. In addition to our in-person live theater, we will be announcing the creation of a virtual theater stage with its own season in the coming days. Stay tuned for a press release.

twi-ny: That’s exciting. When you’re not at home, what do you like to do? Have you gone out much during the pandemic?

dd: I teach acting privately, and I really love what I do. Having a toddler and a dog keeps me outdoors most of the time, which I love.

twi-ny: Igor, do you go out much?

ig: Not enough. It is getting to me. I just came from a meeting at a coffee house and realized that people are not two-dimensional. Revelatory!

TOLERANCE PARTY #2: ROLE CALL

Six strangers reunite for another online adventure in the cell’s Tolerance Party #2: Role Call

Who: Corey Allen, Bob Jaffe, Heather Mo’Witz, Richard Urquiza, India Meñete, Brian Reager, Peyton Rowe
What: Live online interactive performance
Where: The cell theatre online
When: Tuesday, October 13, $5-$25, 8:00
Why: On September 1, the cell theatre premiered the first episode of the interactive online participatory series Tolerance Party, titled “Icebreakers,” in which six strangers get trapped in an existential new world order. The same characters (with one addition) are back for more on October 13 at 8:00 in Tolerance Party #2: Role Call, a collaboration between Nancy Manocherian’s Chelsea theater and DimlyWit Productions. This time around, Corey Allen, Bob Jaffe, Heather Mo’Witz, Richard Urquiza, India Meñete, Brian Reager, and Peyton Rowe come together to perform a play, but they’re not really sure what it’s all about as they face new obstacles and cursed cats; a live chat function encourages the audience to join in the mystery.

Tickets for the show, which was written and directed by cell regular Joseph Hendel (Katzelmacher, U.S.A.; Beware the Ides of Monday), co-conceived by cell artistic director Kira Simring, and features original music by Ricardo Romaneiro, are available on a sliding scale from $5 to $25, depending on what you can afford. This production is online, but the cell is currently hosting the masked, meditative labyrinthine journey Garden of Eden, a collaboration with Dark Matter, in its home on West Twenty-Third St.; extended through December 19 ($10-$40 per person), the interactive installation promises, “Around each corner lies enlightenment. Each dead end is a new beginning.”

HONOR HER WISH

Who: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Stacey Abrams, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Ayanna Pressley, Jennifer Carroll Foy, Chelsea Clinton, Shana Knizhnik, Sam Bagenstos, Margo Schlanger, Jon Batiste, Phoebe Bridgers, Sophia Bush, Kathleen Hanna, Kesha, Margo Price, Resistance Revival Chorus, Aminatou Sow, Michael Stipe, Hayley Williams, Rosario Dawson, Gloria Steinem, Regina King, Chelsea Handler
What: Virtual rally celebrating the legacy of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Where: Demand Justice
When: Monday, October 12, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: On her deathbed, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told her granddaughter, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” While there’s nothing legal about such a declaration, it is still deeply meaningful, particularly as the fight to replace her with Amy Coney Barrett begins in earnest on Monday with the start of her confirmation hearings. On Monday night, Demand Justice, “a progressive movement fighting to restore the ideological balance and legitimacy of the federal courts by advocating for reform and vigorously opposing extreme nominees,” is hosting “Honor Her Wish,” an all-star virtual event that asks, “How can you protect RBG’s legacy?” The lineup of those advocating for “No confirmation until inauguration” ranges from politicians and activists to writers and musicians to former RBG law clerks and includes appearances and/or performances by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Stacey Abrams, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jon Batiste, Phoebe Bridgers, Sophia Bush, Kathleen Hanna, Kesha, Margo Price, Resistance Revival Chorus, Michael Stipe, Rosario Dawson, Gloria Steinem, Regina King, and Chelsea Handler, among others. It’s free to RSVP, but donations will be accepted to support the Supreme Court Preservation Fund; Demand Justice also supplies links for you to email your senator and sign a petition. As the organization states, “With the queen of dissent gone, it is our duty to carry the torch Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed to us.”

DAZED AND CONFUSED VIRTUAL REUNION TABLE READ / THIS IS SPINAL TAP: A VIRTUAL REUNION

The cast of Dazed and Confused is reuniting for benefit live script reading

DAZED AND CONFUSED LIVE SCRIPT READING
Sunday, October 11, minimum donation, 7:30
marchforscience.org
votolatino.org

Alright, alright, alright! Virtual reunions have been all the rage during the pandemic lockdown, from Josh Gad’s “Reunited Apart” YouTube series, which has brought back the casts of such films as Back to the Future, Splash, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, to Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley’s daily Stars in the House get-togethers with the casts of Mean Girls, Fun Home, One Day at a Time, Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, and many others in addition to live reunion readings of plays, all free but with donations encouraged.

Sean Penn recently raised money for CORE, which promotes Covid-19 testing and other community programs, with a celebrity script reading of Fast Times at Ridgmont High with superstars who were not in the movie (Jennifer Aniston, Dane Cook, Morgan Freeman, Jimmy Kimmel, Shia LaBeouf, John Legend, Ray Liotta, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts, as well as Penn not as Spicoli). With the election approaching, script readings and reunions have reached a new level as they seek to help flip red states to blue, including a terrific live virtual reading of The Princess Bride (with Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Carol Kane, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, director Rob Reiner, and others) for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, followed by a Veep reunion, headed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

On October 11 at 7:30, the original cast of Richard Linklater’s classic 1993 film, Dazed and Confused, will reunite to support the Voto Latino Foundation and the March for Science. The live reading will feature all your favorites: Matthew McConaughey as Wooderson, Ben Affleck as O’Bannion, Parker Posey as Darla, Jason London as Pink, Joey Lauren Adams as Simone, Adam Goldberg as Mike, Anthony Rapp as Tony, Rory Cochrane as Slater, Marissa Ribisi as Cynthia, Cole Hauser as Benny, Deena Martin as Shavonne, Esteban Powell as Carl, Christine Harnos as Kaye, Wiley Wiggins as Mitch, Michelle Burke as Jodi, Mark Vandermeulen as Tommy, Sasha Jenson as Don, Jeremy Fox as Hirschfelder, Christin Hinojosa as Sabrina, Catherine Morris as Julie, and Nicky Katt as Clint. The film has always been a quote lover’s dream, but several of them will take on a new meaning given the state of the country today. Cynthia: “Maybe the ’80s will be, like, radical or something. I figure we’ll be in our twenties and it can’t get worse.” Simone: “You act like you’re so oppressed. You guys are kings of the school. What are you bitching about?” Mike: “I feel like I’m being stalked by a Nazi.” Tony: “Neo-McCarthyism, I like that.” And Ms. Stroud: “Okay, guys, one more thing. This summer when you’re being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don’t forget what you’re celebrating, and that’s the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic white males didn’t want to pay their taxes.” Patton Oswalt, who hosted the Princess Bride reunion and moderated the postshow Q&A, will perform the same duties here.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP: A VIRTUAL REUNION
Wednesday, October 14, minimum donation, 9:00
www.padems.com

On October 14 at 9:00, another too-cool reunion will be taking place, raising money for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party as it tries to switch the state, which voted for Trump in 2016, to Biden this time around. And once again it will be a quote-laden classic directed by Reiner, the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, with Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel), Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls), Reiner (who also played Marty DiBergi), and host and moderator Oswalt. “Democratic enthusiasm in Pennsylvania is already turned up to eleven,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party executive director Jason Henry said in a statement.

Although this one is not a table read, Spinal Tap also still has a relevant take on the U.S. of A. after all these years. St. Hubbins explains, “I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn’t believe anything.” Speaking about a new album cover, St. Hubbins says, “Well, I think it looks like death. It looks like mourning,” to which their manager, Ian Faith (Tony Hendra), responds, “Death sells.” And then there’s this exchange: St. Hubbins: “It’s such a fine line between stupid, and uh . . .” Tufnel: “Clever.” St. Hubbins: “Yeah, and clever.” Tickets for the Dazed and Confused and Spinal Tap reunions are pay-what-you-wish; as we approach the end of the campaign (and maybe the end of our nation), don’t forget these key words from St. Hubbins: “Well, I don’t really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like? It’s like saying when you try to extrapolate the end of the universe, you say, if the universe is indeed infinite, then how — what does that mean? How far is all the way, and then if it stops, what’s stopping it, and what’s behind what’s stopping it? So, what’s the end, you know, is my question to you.”

PEAK HD: FALLING & LOVING

PEAK HD kicks off with SITI Company and STREB Extreme Action’s Falling & Loving (photo courtesy PEAK Performances)

Who: SITI Company, STREB Extreme Action
What: Online premiere of dance-theater collaboration
Where: Peak HD
When: Sunday, October 11, free, 8:00
Why: In September 2019, SITI Company and STREB Extreme Action joined forces for Falling & Loving, an adaptation of love sonnets and plays by Charles L. Mee, who has written such works for SITI as bobrauschenbergamerica, Hotel Cassiopeia, Under Construction, and American Document. The piece, codirected by SITI’s Anne Bogart and STREB’s Elizabeth Streb at PEAK Performances’ Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University in New Jersey, featured six actors from SITI and six dancers from STREB, along with a Guck Machine providing color, humor, and danger. (SITI recently announced a legacy plan that will follow its thirtieth and final season, 2020-22.) The collaboration was Mee’s idea, bringing together Bogart’s Viewpoints and Suzuki Method and Streb’s PopAction technique. Falling & Loving will have its online premiere October 11 at 8:00, kicking off PEAK HD’s inaugural digital season, in conjunction with WNET’s All Arts.

“The obstacles we’re facing today are catastrophic and coated in painful loss, but this is not new for the performing arts,” PEAK executive director Jedediah Wheeler said in a statement. “The performing arts in America are filled with the most tough-minded, forward-thinking, get-it-done people I have ever experienced in the world. So PEAK HD comes as a celebration of the deep, purposeful, important creativity that exists not just in the U.S. but worldwide, and it’s an intense creative process with multiple experienced minds focused on it. The day we can open the Kasser’s doors to 465 people (and simultaneously capture these performances for broadcast) — that will be another celebration. But the doors that are open are the doors of our ideas. Everybody is welcome. All seats are available. There is no social distancing to the imagination.” The lineup continues November 8 with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the International Contemporary Ensemble’s Appalachian Spring and The Auditions from November 2019, December 13 with Gandini Juggling and Alexander Whitley’s Spring from December 2019, January 10 with Grand Band (Kate Moore’s Sensitive Spot, Julia Wolfe’s my lips from speaking, Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla, and Three Fragile Systems by Missy Mazzoli with Joshua Frankel’s Emergent System and Faye Driscoll) from February 2020, and February 14 with the Richard Alston Dance Company’s Detour, Shine On, and Brahms Hungarian also from February 2020.

WOOLLY MAMMOTH: HUMAN RESOURCES

HUMAN RESOURCES
Telephone audio play
Thursdays at 12:01 am through Sundays at 11:59 pm through November 1, $7 minimum
www.woollymammoth.net

We’ve all been there. Whatever our class, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, politics, geographic location, or height, we call up a customer service hotline and spend an annoying amount of time shuttled between mechanical voices, with no resolution in sight and no one to scream at. The DC-based Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has taken that infuriating scenario and transformed it into a unique and fun theatrical piece, an audio rabbit hole that is well worth a deep dive.

Human Resources is a telephone play with no visuals and no live people, only recordings. For as little as seven dollars, you receive not a ticket but an access code that allows you to explore all that can be found at 800-804-1573, the number for the Telephonic Literary Union. Organized as a kind of choose-your-own-adventure narrative with texting (landlines will limit your experience), the show encourages you to track various threads either in one call or over several during the course of ninety-six hours, from 12:01 am Thursday to 11:59 pm Sunday. The goal is acquiring the super-secret happiness access code, which requires plenty of patience.

Right from the start, you are given the option of filing a claim for unhappiness (because of financial pressure, loneliness, race relations in America, mask fogging, or guilt over buying products from Amazon), seeking self-care with a travel agent through the Department of Conscious Rearrangement, or holding for technical support. You might end up hearing actor Jin Ha recite a poem by Wendell Berry in multiple accents, booking a mental escape pod vacation, or being offered the opportunity to reach parties in the Office of Essential Workers, which includes some of the creators of Human Resources: The thoroughly entertaining play was developed by Brittany K. Allen, Christopher Chen, Hansol Jung, Sarah Lunnie, Stowe Nelson, Zeniba Now, and Yuvika Tolani and features Marc Bovino, David Greenspan, Mia Katigbak, Brian Quijada, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, and Ha.

Although I was given the chance to leave a message at the end of some threads, the calls always got cut off at that moment; I’m not sure whether that was on purpose or a technical flaw, but it was the only element that left me frustrated. Oh, wait; maybe that’s the point: the inability to make any real connection or achieve any kind of legitimate progress with an actual human.

I don’t want to give anything else away, but take your time and wander through the handful of alternatives. When you do reach a dead end, call back and frolic down another path. Eventually you will find yourself hearing a very strange conversation that just might lead you to the promised land.