writing.performance

Talking about our show at HERE…

xtine3 — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:57:58 +0000

Two shows only! Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th January at HERE in NY.
Show page is here (for bookings and info):

War Plays in print

xtine3 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:48:34 +0000

Thanks to Caridad Svich and NoPassport, the anthology of my plays, WAR PLAYS, is now published.

xtine3 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:23:30 +0000

Coming up soon! Two nights only— Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th at HERE, NY.

Art and War in NY

xtine3 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:53:10 +0000

We’ve started rehearsals at HERE for our CultureMart show, You Are Dead. You Are Here. . It’s exciting to see other artistic responses to war in NY right now that also eschew the earnest and journalistic approach that often frames theatre about “real things”.

One is Haroun Farocki’s show at MOMA, Images of War (At A Distance)
and the other is Pure War/ The Madness of the Day at TheaterLab (just til Saturday this week).

Virtual Iraq – YouTube

xtine3 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:25:25 +0000

Skip Rizzo is the creator of Virtual Iraq, the program he’s generously shared with us for use in our multimedia theatre piece, You Are Dead. You Are Here., coming up in CultureMart at HERE, NY. Check out some of the amazing work they’re doing with virtual reality therapy–and meet the visual world we’re working with in our piece. This video shows the program in action.

AlbertSkipRizzo's Channel – YouTube.

Space and performance

xtine3 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:57:09 +0000

In talking with Erik Ehn this morning, I’m reminded again of the centrality of space–and the way we conceive of it–to theatre.

This is Erik, writing on the Soulographie blog: “Conversation comes up again and again around the idea of space… I have just about no understanding of Hegel and Heidegger, but I think I’m more on the side that space is more important a ground of being than time. Our experiments have a handle on duration – we’re steaming ahead there. But the political, economic and architectural spaces of theater, while also finding reform, are begging for a radical break. Our body is breaking down, our meme is weakening to the point where it can no longer include death, and without death (mortality, mourning) we ain’t live, and sure aren’t performance.”

I like this formulation, “Without death (mortality, mourning) we ain’t live.” It crystallizes why I often feel, in this country’s most expensive and impressive houses for theatre, a feeling of panicky displacement. A sense of banished, disavowed death breaths down my neck.

Paradoxically, theatre is most live when it’s haunted. A ghost light in an empty room, a gesture, a look, a shared held breath in an awful moment, that moment when decision hangs in the balance and things could be otherwise–the trapeze artist could fall; the door could slam in the wrong face; the house could be lost. Here we are then, breathing together in a room.

But what kind of room, if the big brick and mortar houses are losing their ghosts, their breathing audiences?

These rooms grow more dispersed and lighter, spun of pixel cobwebs. Some of them are chat rooms. Perhaps the “space” of theatre is one where we can witness the possibility of change–which means it plays out in time. Something in a frame of human dreaming that says, look, wait, see…something is happening here. The circus tent, the breaking-down bus, the cupcake stand, the streaming bulletin board. These aren’t random locations, but in some way frame and amplify human effort and its failures. An invitation, a doorway, something at stake that plays out in space/time. If not actual performances, these are the signs of portals into performance.

Dates for performance

xtine3 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:14:06 +0000

I’m looking forward to the next step in building YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE HERE. with my collaborators Joseph Megel and Jared Mezzocchi. We’ll be putting up the first act of the show, with full media, at HERE’s CultureMart in January 24th and 25th, 8:30 p.m.–more on that soon. Here’s our teaser trailer:

New Teaser: You Are Dead. You Are Here. from JaredMezzocchi on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, check out media designer Jared’s work and process in his blog, where he writes about his recent design process on A Child Shall Lead Them: The Night of the Hunter.

Working with the ICT, home of Virtual Iraq

xtine3 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:46:48 +0000

We had an amazing visit with the 3 of us taking YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE HERE. to the Institute of Creative Technology in L.A. These are the guys that designed Virtual Iraq and are inventing other therapeutic uses for virtual technologies. YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE HERE. is repurposing Virtual Iraq to theatrical, multi-media narrative (away from its primary use as a therapy tool) and there’s much to learn from the collaboration with the designers and therapists. Here’s their take on our visit, from the ICT blog:

Reading with digital media

xtine3 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 07:30:20 +0000

Friday’s reading in L.A. should be exciting! A quick preview from our last workshop:

Come along if you’re in town, and please RSVP here.

L.A. reading

xtine3 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:19:33 +0000

Working this week with Dr. Skip Rizzo and the creative team at the Institute for Creative Technologies in L.A.
It’s fascinating to see new developments in Virtual Iraq and think about how we can work together in creating our theatre piece. Here’s a teaser trailer of the piece, YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE HERE. from our previous workshop in North Carolina.

We’re doing a reading this Friday at 4 pm with media at the I.C.T. in La Playa.: Event details are here. Please come if you’re in town– it’s free and open to the public. You’ll hear the play, YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE HERE. and see some of the amazing work the I.C.T. team are doing on Virtual Iraq, a virtual-reality program for use in military rehabilitation from P.T.S.D.