a new work based on the best-selling book BLINK
by Malcolm Gladwell

“Visually arresting… absurd comedic style…. Yehuda Duenyas is irresistible."
-- The New York Times

“God knows literary daptations are tricky, so extra kudos to writer-director Yehuda Duenyas who turned George Saunders’s novella about a prehistoric theme park into a deadpan delight at P.S. 122.” -- TimeOut NY, Top-10, 2005

00:07 SEC. is a new work of non-fiction theater based on Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book Blink. 00:07 SEC is an ensemble work that uses event recreation, live psychology experiments, lecture, and explosive dance to unpack, second by second, the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo by four NYPD officers.

Amadou Diallo, a 22-year-old Liberian immigrant, was mistakenly gunned down in front of his Bronx apartment by four white plainclothes police officers in 1999.  What is interesting about this shooting is that in the time it took four plain-clothes police officers to exit their car, identify Diallo as dangerous, and unload 43 rounds—killing him—only seven seconds were reported to have elapsed.  This incredibly brief window of time holds an insane amount of information.  What happened in those seven seconds?  There was no evidence these four police officers were racists, and yet clearly the shooting couldn’t have just been a simple accident.  Was it conscious or unconscious?  How can such decisions be made so quickly? The officers made a series of critical misjudgments—what did the officers see that made them react so quickly and violently?  Would you or I have acted any differently?  This split-second decision-making process is a constant activity that flirts the line between conscious and unconscious parts of your mind—its happening in your brain right now.  00:07 SEC. will draw attention to a subtle and complex set of psychological conditions that play an integral part in our moment to moment thought processes, and our day-to-day interactions

 

MORE INFO:

www.drengas.com

I like to build theaters.  I typically transform unassuming spaces--storefronts, warehouses, basements, display windows, existing theaters--into epic and intimate theater micro-spectacles.  These venue-worlds playfully engage with the conventions of attending the theater, and re-envision how audiences interface with live performance.

I am consistently interested in subverting the theatrical frame. Through continually challenging the relationship between audience and performer, I strive to create of the viewers a unified group out of what began as a random collection of individuals. Audiences in my work typically inhabit an active, unified role that is intrinsic to the production. I believe that the powerful circuit created between subject and viewer in the right context ignites an enormous potential to unify people, bring about a dynamic shift in consciousness and lead to social change.

Yehuda Duenyas is a director, designer, producer, actor, and founding member of the Obie-award winning collaborative the National Theater of the United States of America.  Yehuda likes to build theaters.  His spectacles re-situate the theatrical environment--turning audience into performance and back again--while blending the comedic the dramatic and the profound.  He has been compared to the late Charles Ludlam and his directing credits include One Million Forgotten Moments (a September 11th Memorial commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, 38 Park Row at City Hall, 2007), Tom Bradshaw's PURITY (world premiere, PS 122, 2007), 00:07 SEC. (a new work based on the best-selling book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, NYU/Experimental Theater Wing, 2006), The Citizens Band (Hiro Ballroom), NTUSA's ABSN:RJAB (Obie award for design, PS 122, 2006), George Saunders's Pastoralia (world premiere, PS 122, TimeOut NY Top-10 of 2005). 

He has adapted one short story and one novel for the stage--"Pastoralia" by George Saunders (published 2007, Dramatics Inc.) and Molloy by Samuel Beckett. He is currently creating theatrical adaptations of Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling book Blink, and George Saunders’s short story "Brad Carrigan, American." His original works include X9601733 (HERE, 1998), The Disappearing Act (Ontological, 1998), Brains (Walker Space, 1999), 7 Minutes in Heaven (Ontological, 1999), 5 (SoHo Rep. 1999/2000), hors-la (chashama, 2000), Phase I-selling out to the bare walls (created with longtime collaborator Ryan Bronz; chashama, 2000).

Yehuda has performed and toured with Richard Maxwell's Obie award-winning House, Richard Foreman's Obie award-winning Pearls for Pigs, Phil Soltanoff/Maddog's to whom it may concern, and has performed and designed in various venues and festivals around the world including BITEF (Serbia), Festival D'Automne (Paris), Theatre Der Welt (Berlin), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Dublin Fringe Festival, Wienner Festwochen (Vienna), Festival Theatre Des Ameriques (Montreal), Teatro San Martin (Argentina), Teatro Valle (Rome), The Roxy Theater (Prague) and the Williamstown Theater Festival, among others. He is the recipient of a MacDowell fellowship, 2007; a HERE Artists Residency, 2008-2010; studied theater and clown with Philippe Gaulier, and holds a BS in theater cum laude from Skidmore College.