It's time to play You Bet Their Life, the only show that lets you – the audience – be detective, judge, and jury for some of America's most heinous unsolved crimes. Let's Watch! combines classical singing with electronics, rock guitar, a chamber ensemble, and multimedia video effects.  Directed by Emma Griffin with video by Greg Emetaz, Let's Watch! is a dark comedy in the form of a reality gameshow, which allows the audience to watch the hour leading up to a murder, then convict and sentence a suspect. Are you ready, America? Let's watch!

Photo: Carl Skutsch

 

>>Listen to the interview on WPS1: Art Radio 

 

A theatrical series of love songs about voluntary amputation in which the unrequited lover – whose heart is broken – begins to question the usefulness of his other body parts. Directed by Emma Griffin with dances by Yvan Greenberg and production design by Raquel Davis, Removable Parts returns to HERE after being developed and premiered through the HERE Artist Residency Program in 2007.

Removable Parts was made possible, in part, by The New York State Music Fund, the American Composers Forum, with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation, and the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center.

Part of the Under the Radar Festival 2009

Photo: Mark Barton
 

HYBRID PERFORMANCE BRUNCH
Jan 11 11am
Open to members of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and others.

See excerpts of current HARP alumni projects:

837 VENICE BLVD Faye Driscoll
WATER Sheila Callaghan & Daniella Topol
SONNAMBULA Michael Bodel
ARIAS WITH A TWIST Joey Arias & Basil Twist

Space is limited, reservations required.
Contact kim@here.org to RSVP.

" She had a way of pouting her lips exactly like that we have observed in the orangutan."
 --Baron Georges Leopold Cuvier
 
"...and the buttocks of the Hottentot as a somewhat comic sign of the primitive, grotesque nature of the black female." --Charles Darwin

Photo: Joanne Levey

Long ago in a faraway land she was the butt of many jokes and a lightning rod for 19th century scientific scrutiny because of her extraordinary body parts: buttocks, genitals, breasts and lips. Who was she? The Venus Hottentot. Fast forward to the 21st century: The demand for more "junk in yo trunk" increased fivefold in the U.S. and in a crowded plastic surgeons office, today's woman complains to Dr. 902where ever:   "My butt is too flat...."  "My lips are too thin, etc, etc, etc."   These comments should sound familiar as they are commonly spoken by a neighbor, Hollywood starlet, a family member, or perhaps even you!   Could Charles Darwin and Georges Cuvier who had much about the Venus Hottentot's body parts have ever imagined that their professional descendants would be performing cosmetic surgery on women in order to re-create them in the image of the Venus Hottentot? She would've laughed her head off.   The Venus Riff blends irony, satire, and social critique in a twisted, "burlesque-y" commentary on the fall and ressurection of womankind. Dance, music, and digital media intermingle in a theatrical exploration that shines an informed light on the past and present perceptions of the female body and the beginnings of what we call the cult of celebrity.

>>Watch the artist interview on HERE's youtube.com 

 

Performed in Culturemart 09 on a shared program with Amazingland.

 

Amazingland.  |__m_zi ng land|(n) place, zone or state.  Where your mind is blown clean through the back of your head by the sheer grace and unbelievability of a magical performance. Where your jaw drops helplessly to your knees, you are overwhelmed in a barrage of glitz, glam and shazam — and you wonder — where am I? From the twisted minds of all wear bowlers and machines machines machines machines machines machines machines (coming to HERE this June), and now teaming up with the shaman-like powers of Steve Cuiffo comes an experience you weren't even aware was out there.  Three magicians. Two nights. One stage.  Zero boring stuff.  Sub-zero intelligence.  It's time to make it all add up…in Amazingland.

Commissioned by Center Theater Group, Los Angeles, CA. 

Border Towns explores how recordings have reengineered the psychological landscape of the U.S., stitching together hundreds of recordings collected along the borders. Seven performers lipsync, sing, and move precisely with a dense map of song fragments, ambient sounds, and border broadcasts. Along the way, musical Americana gets reconstructed into a surreal theatrical collage reflecting on recording, location, and culture.

 

>>WATCH the artist interview on HERE's youtube channel

 

Performed in Culturemart 09 on a shared program with Don Cristobal: Billy-Club Man

 

 

Don Cristobal, Billy-Club Man explores the violent appetites and poetic possibilities of the Spanish Punch as he existed in the plays of Federico Garcia Lorca and as he is re-imagined by composer Rima Fand and puppeteer Erin Orr. What really drives the violent desires of Don Cristobal? Do even the most brutal players on the stage have complicated potential for goodness? Is it the hand within, the demands of the paying audience or the design of the puppet itself that makes Don Cristobal the Billy-Club Man?

 

Biography

 

Developed in part through the Puppet Lab at St Ann's Warehouse. Funded in part by the Jim Henson Foundation, with support from Cheryl Henson.

Photo: Chris Green

 

Performed in Culturemart 09 on a shared program with Border Towns.

Lucid Possession, the uncanny manifestation of a virtual multiple personality, combines music, text, dimensional robotic screens and projections to create a character, like an instrument, that speaks, sings, and dances. On-stage performers Toni Dove and composer, Mari Kimura control the entity's physical and virtual movements, singing and speaking databases, in a form like cinematic bunraku. This short demo is a trio for two humans and one virtual entity.

Winner of The Eugene McDermott Award, M.I.T.

Jan 15 8:30pm BUY TICKETS
Shared program with Alchemy of Light
$15

Jan 16 10pm BUY TICKETS
Showcase followed by Interactive Lecture Demonstration
$8 

 

Photo: Toni Dove

There is an aching tension between the promise of technology and our critical need for human interaction and touch. Melding 19th century illusionism with current interactive technology, Alchemy of Light traces the life of the legendary magician, Torrini, who toured the world with his daughter and wife showcasing their illusions. One day, a tragedy dispels the happy demonstration of technical prowess.  Torrini is left straining against the limits of technology as he struggles to regain his lost family. Alchemy of Light is a parable from a time when our lives first became mediated by machines.

Jan 15 8:30 pm BUY TICKETS
On a shared bill with Lucid Possession

$15

 

Jan 16 8:30 pm BUY TICKETS

Solo Showcase

$8

 

Support received from Digital Performance Institute and the Schindler Stiftung Foundation.

artist statement

artist bios

A layered look at the breaking point of matter and motion, Sonnambula presents an amalgam of puppets, contraptions and choreography that delves into the eventual reduction of everything to nothing.  The work originates with the arias from Bellini's mysterious opera by the same name, following a soprano's voice through the nebulous world that separates human from object, living from lifeless. In collaboration with opera singer, Casey Cole.

Photo: Michael Bodel  

Developed in part through the Puppet Lab at St. Ann's Warehouse. Funded in part by the Jim Henson Foundation. 

 

>>Listen to the interview on WPS1: Art Radio

 

Performed in Culturemart 09 on a shared program with Ego.

 

On the cusp of completing his latest theater piece, a puppeteer finds himself dissatisfied with the state of his art. As he stumbles through the creative process of developing a new piece, he realizes that in order to create a better show he will need to enhance his control over both his puppet skills and his people skills. But as his search for perfection grows, so too does the artist's self-assurance, tempting him to transcend to a higher level.

Funded in part by the Jim Henson Foundation.

Photo: Bellwether Studio/Siobhan Harris

 

 Performed in Culturemart 09 on a shared program with Sonnambula.

Based on a strange psychological phenomenon afflicting some thirty-something Japanese women when visiting Paris, Paris Syndrome explores issues of culture shock, identity, competition, and dreams, through the experience of three "French" and three "Japanese" women who come to New York to pursue a dream. Interweaving movement, interviews, games, and humor, Paris Syndrome asks the question, "Why did you come to New York?" and examines our collective sanity as New Yorkers, while reminding us why we are still here.

Support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, NYSCA Commissioning Grant for development, as well as an LMCC Swing Space grant.

 

>>Watch the artist interview on HERE's youtube.com

 

 

 

 

For family audiences ages 12 and up
 
A century-old haunting.
An old woman and an adolescent girl neither of whom are listened to.
A dead man on the lawn. A nightly ritual.
A tale from the dark woods of the Hudson River Valley and the darker woods of the imagination.
A story about stories.
Support from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

 

Image: Robert Flynt

MOSHEH is the biblical story of Moses re-enacted as an ancient-futuristic ritual. Created by Yoav Gal, whose style has been termed "Indie Opera" by the New York Times, and directed by Kameron Steele, MOSHEH presents a new aesthetic in the realm of opera. It draws on a wide palette of genres spanning performance and video art, minimalism and modern dance. It is also influenced by Baroque opera, with its virtuosic singing, intricate yet melodious music, and formal storytelling. The work treats its biblical theme as a personal, spiritual hallucination, emphasizing the role of four female characters in the hero's evolution.

Originally commissioned by Kaufman Center-Merkin Concert Hall with generous support from Denise Simon and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Photo: Yoav Gal
 

Loosely inspired by Ibsen's Lady from the Sea, this multi-media performance, written by Jennifer Gibbs and directed by Kristin Marting, synthesizes cinematic first-person perspective and live-feed video by Maya Ciarrocchi with music by Kamala Sankaram.  Leda, once New York City's art rock goddess, is now wife to a psychiatrist on Cape Cod. A Dionysian figure from her past, a musician known as The Stranger, refuses to release her.  As she mourns the death of her infant child, Leda confronts the disorder and outsized desire The Stranger brings.

Supported by New York Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts & Media Collaboration Award, an LMCC Swing Space grant, and Gertrude Stein Repertory Theater's Digital Performance Institute.

Photo: Carl Skutsch

>>Listen to the interview on WPS1: Art Radio 

 

Water (or the secret life of objects) is a 6-hour epic (an excerpt of which will be presented) set in the near future where a flood of mythic proportions has destroyed 70% of the population. This piece bears witness to memories of survivors and surviving objects.  What do people do when they cannot trust the thing they most need? What happens to the souls of objects when they outlive their owners?  Through textures and tones, this fragmented, multi-lingual epic journey to the "source" (part installation, part narrative) explores what it means to survive, or not to survive, or to exist in the space between.

Support from the Princess Grace Work-in-Progress Award, and through a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.

Photo: William Cusick
 

Led by Kameron Steele and Ivana Catanese, Brooklyn-based The South Wing theatre company presents their translation/adaptation of Kobo Abe's 1977 novel Secret Rendezvous, chronicling the bizarre and erotic adventures of a man searching for his missing wife in a mysteriously vast underground hospital. Brought to American audiences for the first time through The South Wing's neo-expressionist lens.

 

A reading of the work is being presented in Culturemart 2009. Free and open to the public.

 

>>Watch the artist interview on HERE's youtube.com

 

 

Soul Leaves Her Body is an integrated-media performance synthesizing theatre, dance, live video, music, and cinema. Inspired by a 13th century Chinese story about a young woman who rips her soul from her body in order to pursue her destiny in the city, this original, contemporary work explores the soul-body relationship in today's networked, electronic culture. A team of international film, theatre, electronic music, and visual artists create a multi-channel film live onstage, mixing pre-recorded film with a multitude of onstage cameras. Lush cinematic visuals appear on ghostly moving panels, reshaping and obscuring the glass stage, while outside the cameras' frame we are drawn into a highly integrated folk dance for modern life.

Made possible with a lead residency and support from Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); a development residency at Yaddo; and by an LMCC Swing Space grant.