Day One for the Hotel Project

Perhaps the catchy phrase “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” would not exist if it weren’t because of the Hotels that there are in Vegas. Following on this logic there might be a little bit of Vegas in every town. In fact, hotels themselves are more alike than different in this hermetic quality; walking through the hallways of most inns one can experience the same sense ambiguity when thinking what is at the other side of each door; is the room empty, neatly prepared for the next guest? Or is the room inhabited? And when we say inhabited do we suggest a specific way to inhabit a hotel room? Being anonymous to a space, no having any other reference to our own selves than our luggage, might give us some kind of benefit that we might choose to take advantage, or not. But in any case, this is just one of the many possibilities that this kind of spaces seduces us with, and one of the many options that the group of writers and directors of the internationalists might have stumbled upon, as they took a deeper dive into the story of the Grand Summit Hotel this past ...read more.

With Ana and Tamillla about Hotel Project

Hotel Project visonary Ana Margineanu and her collaboratorTamilla Woodard sat down to answer some questions about the Hotel Project coming to the Tri-State Area and they're very excited as you will read. Click here for the interview.in between shows the actors have some fun rewriting the play...

Hotel Project - coming soon in NYC & Summit NJ

Hotel Project is a theatrical experience for one spectator at a time, performed in and inspired by a hotel and created by local and international teams of playwrights and directors. Adapted for local hotels in major cities around the world, this performance offers audiences a view of contemporary international artists and emerging theatrical forms. The uniqueness of the project consists in the relationship between performer and spectator. Audience members will travel through several rooms revealing the unseen lives of others. In this exclusive performance, you get to be a fly on the wall. Closed doors will be open.

                                                  WELCOME

For more info visit : www.hotelproject.co

2012 Global Playwriting Contest

The Internationalists is proud to announce our 2nd Annual Global Playwriting Contest.  The winner’s play will receive presentations in various locations around the world.  In 2011, John Freedman’s ‘Dancing, not Dead’ was presented in Berlin, Bucharest, Moscow, New York and the Hague, and translated from English into Russian, Romanian and Dutch.

2012 Contest Mission

This contest is for a groundbreaking new play that addresses the theme of ‘Presence/Absence’ (Whenever one is present somewhere, he/she is absent everywhere else.  When does one’s absence become more significant that one’s presence?).  The play should offer each director and cast in the various locations a unique opportunity to work on the development of a provocative and engaging text through the lenses of audiences around the world.  This play should speak both on a personal and universal level. It should be ambitious and stretch the boundaries of what is theatrical.  Though the characters can be few and the location specific, we are looking for big ideas and challenging questions.  This is not only an opportunity to have a text exposed to different audiences, but a chance to engage in a cross-cultural exchange that fosters a collaboration with multiple directors around the world who will each have a personal vision of the play.

Submission Guidelines


The Submission Form is Required and Available Online. If you have trouble with the link, email us for the form directly.  Click here for the Online Submission Form or visit our website.

1.              Playwright may only submit one full-length script.

2.              The play submission must be in English (either original or translation).

3.              The play must not have had a fully mounted production.
4.       Electronic form (Word or PDF) copy of full script

5.       The playwright must fill out the online submission form that includes:


a.                Name, address, phone number, email address and how you heard about the contest
b.             Cover letter introducing yourself and explaining how your play addresses the mission of the contest. (500 word limit)
c.                 Bio (300 word limit)
d.                Synopsis and Character Breakdown (300 word limit)

Deadline

The deadline for submissions is Midnight EST on Friday 13 January 2012.  Finalists will be notified by mid-March.  The final round of selection will include a telephone, video or in-person interview.

Contact

Submissions should be sent to: submissions@theinternationalists.org

You will receive a confirmation of receipt.

For more information visit our website at www.theinternationalists.org   

You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Frequently Asked Questions about 2012 Global Playwriting Contest

Is my play eligible if it has been produced before?

We are looking for new plays that are in earlier stages of development, that have not had design elements or a paying audience.  It should be at a point where the writer is done writing and wants to 'hear' it. We are not excluding things that have been previously developed in a reading or workshop or university, but are primarily looking for something that The Internationalists and the winning writer can develop further together.  

Why was my submission returned?

In addition to the script, we ask that you respond to the specified guidelines and questions listed on the contest form.  You can find all this information on our website and facebook.  We have a lot of submissions, so please read the information carefully.  It only helps us distribute plays faster.

What do you mean by 'presentation'?

The Internationalists are committed to producing public staged readings of the winning play.  As the term 'reading' has different connotations in different cultures, we decided to use the term presentation.  Depending on specific circumstances in select locations, there may be a higher level of production value, but this is not a condition of the award.

If I win, will I receive compensation?

There is no monetary prize for this contest.  The award includes public presentations of your play, and in specific circumstances, may also result in the translation of your play into another language.  

If I win, will I be invited to the readings?

You will be more than welcome at any and all of the public presentations, and The Internationalists will assist in securing travel funds and housing accommodations for you.

What is the time frame of the readings?

It is the goal of The Internationalists to produce five public presentations within 2012.  Depending on scheduling, they may continue into the beginning of 2013.

What about copyright?

The text of the play will remain at all times the property/copyright of the playwright.  The Internationalists will require 1) listing in future publications and programs, 2) that no other productions take place between our first and last reading, and 3) right of first refusal for a full production within a reasonable amount of time following the final reading.  ‪Details to be negotiated in good faith upon winning.

What will be expected of the winning playwright?

Though we are happy to receive all eligible scripts, we are looking for someone who is also interested in accompanying The Internationalists on this journey.  We look forward to developing a relationship with both the play and the playwright.  We are eager to share a fantastic new play to as broad a global audience as possible.

HOTEL PROJECT (The Grand Summit Hotel)

We are incredibly excited to start our new adventure: Hotel Project. The pilot of this international theatical series happend this summer in Queretaro, Mexico. And in January 2012 we are going to launch Hotel Project in Summit, NJ and in Manhattan, NYC. 

Hotel Project is a theatrical experience for one spectator at a time, performed in and inspired by a hotel and created by local and international teams of playwrights and directors. Adapted for local hotels in major cities around the world, this performance offers audiences a view of contemporary international artists and emerging theatrical forms. The uniqueness of the project consists in the relationship between performer and spectator.

In Hotel Project, 3 playwright and director teams are assembled and commissioned to create a 20-minute performance inspired by the character and history of the hotel.Each is performed in a separate room of that hotel and given for a single spectator at a time, creating an immersive theatrical experience. The spectator is given the opportunity to view a set of three rooms in an evening. Once keys are chosen, the spectator is invited to enter the corresponding rooms alone. Inside, the play begins to unfold and the spectator becomes the proverbial “fly on the wall;” an invisible witness to a unique and intimate story.
 

For now, the first step: visiting the gorgeous Grand Summit Hotel, our new set:

 ...ask a lot of questions about rooms, hotel, people... everything...

... then ask more questions ....

do not steal the chocolate covered strawberry! ...

... but feel inspired by the unique athmosphere of the rooms - there are no two alike in this hotel!

...then plan, plan plan. 6 hours of planing, and it feels like we are just getting started :)

5 best things from Around The World

Virtual Dinner Party - Berlin

What a day, November 12! But we did it, we did it! One day, 4 shows, 3 continents, and over 25 artists from 13 different countries! So, we started with a Skype Duet...

Skype Duet NYC

...then we exchanged food and drinks with Berlin in Virtual Dinner Party.

Virtual Dinner Party - NYC

In the evening we jumped in a "Long Distance Affair" with 9 actors performing for NYC audiences via skype from Australia, Mexico, Russia, Finland, Italy, Iceland, Romania, Greece & Turkey.

Long Distance Affair

Miguel Loyola in Long Distance Affair

Next, the spectators wrote live the script for Make Me Talk or Watch Me Drink!

Make Me Talk or Watch Me Drink

The 5 Best Things? Hard to say. Still. Here are my personal favorite moments of the day:

1. Watching the spectators both in NYC and Berlin dancing in Skype Duet

2. When I heard Cathy announcing that Long Distance Affair is sold out

3. Working with artists from other countries, without traveling - it's funny sometimes, how emotion can break through and how connections can be made regardless the physical distance. (well, in fact this was my biggest accomplishment in this process)

4. Watching all the people in the audience texting on their phones for Make Me Talk or Watch Me Drink

5. When one spectator from Virtual Dinner Party, said to another, after the show: "Let's come back later."
& one more:
5a. Watching the spectators from LDA writing postcards for the actors

Ok. It's time to make a confession. This post is not only a post, it's also a test. I'm curious to see if you read so far, if you are still here. So, please, if you are still here, post a comment! It can be as short and easy as "I'm still here" or, if you are in the mood to write, tell me how you ended up reading this article and what made you stay. If you were one of our audience members in  "Around The World" tell me what show you saw and what are your feelings, good or bad. Ok? Thank you!

love,
Ana

Long Distance Affair - meet (almost) all the actors!

Just one day left until Long Distance Affair.  Meet now the actors and come see them performing tomorrow! (But buy your ticket now - tomorrow it may be too late...)

AROUND THE WORLD this Saturday Only! have you bought tickets yet?

Last chance to be a part of this exciting adventure !  Live, interactive productions in NYC and Berlin with performances from 9 other countries.  Buy tickets here for New York.

The Internationalists' 4th Annual AROUND THE WORLD begins simultaneously between New York and Berlin, with directors Brina Stinehelfer (DE) and Jake Witlen (US) teaming up for an adventure through the very depths of the Internet, with Skype Duet and Virtual Dinner Party.

Starting 7.30 PM, New York will host a festival of new work by directors Ana Margineanu (RO), Jeremy Lydic (US) and Doug Howe (US). First sit face to face via Skype with actors in Turkey, Iceland, Italy, Finland, Russia, Australia, Romania, Mexico and Greece for a Long Distance Affair. 

Then you, the audience, will write the script for two actors in real time using social media technology in Make me talk or watch me drink. Be sure to stay for the after-party!!!

Long Distance Affair - featured in GUSMEN Magazine

Our "Long Distance Affair" was featured in GUSMEN  Magazine - check it out:

http://www.gusmen.com/2011/11/05/long-distance-affair

And watch our latest video featuring Aimée Horne, from Australia:

Long Distance Affair explores the question – what can you get from one person when all the information you get comes through a computer screen? 21 artists from 12 countries decided to take this virtual adventure. Be one of the 27 participants who get to take this journey and have 9 actors performing solely for you from their private homes.

"Long Distance Affair is NYC-based. Sort of. It's NYC-based for the audience. The premise is that each audience member will enter the space and have access to up to nine computer terminals. At each terminal, Skype will connect the audience member to a performer in another location - actors' countries include Australia, Mexico and Turkey. The audience member will then see (and probably interact with) a ten-minute performance at each terminal. In short, each performance will have only one audience member at a time" Lisa Parry, playwright, UK


Concept: Ana Margineanu

Directed by Doug Howe, Jeremy Lydic & Ana Margineanu

Choreography by Andreea Duta

Written by Alfonso Carcamo (Mexico), Ella Greenhill (England), Stacey Gregg (Ireland), Diane Lefer (US), Sigtryggur Magnasson (Iceland), Lisa Parry (England), Monica Raymond (US), Peca Stefan (Romania) & David L. Williams (US)


Performed by Radu Campean (Romania), Svandis Dora Einarsdottir (Iceland), Fatih Genckal (Turkey), Aimée Horne (Australia), Miguel Loyola (Mexico), Martina Marti (Finland), Lorenzo Montanini (Italy), Oksana Mysina (Russia) and Anastasia Papatheodorou (Greece)

Buy tickets here.
($18 for visiting 9 countries or $10 for visiting 3 countries)

Make Me Talk Or Watch Me Drink in next weekend's Around the World!

What happens when a global network of strangers collaborate on an instant, completely unedited and uncurated script? Absurdity or profundity? The audience is the playwright, and online social networking her pen and paper. Two dudes with nothing much to say, each having just purchased a 40 oz. bottle of cool refreshing malt liquor, sit at a table. In front of them is a cell phone, and a computer screen. Dude #1 utters a sentence. The audience, observing these two guys via an online video streaming service, begin to send them text messages, tweets, emails, and facebook chats in a desperate, quick attempt to collaboratively dictate a script. The guys read the lines as they come in, in the order they come in. And if there are no lines coming in, they drink. The play is over when they finish their malt liquor.

Concept by Jeremy Lydic
Written by You, the Audience

Buy your tickets now for 'Around the World' on November 12th.
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/208192

THE KINGS by Julio Cortazar - translated in English

If you love Cortazar as much as we do, you'll be happy to hear this:

Caridad Svich's translation of Julio Cortazar's prose poem for the stage THE KINGS will be published in the 2nd Brooklyn Rail Fiction Black Square Editions anthology edited by Donald Breckenridge forthcoming early 2012. The collection also features work by Charles Bukowski, Eugene Ionesco and Fernando Pessoa, among others.

We are so looking forward to it! Congratulations and thank you, Caridad!

Caridad Svich

                                        

Long Distance Affair - meet (some more of) the actors

So, we are still in the middle of preparations for the Long Distance Affair :).  The playwrights are still writing, the actors are still rehearsing. Meet some of them now and meet them all on November 12. Buy tickets here.

 

                                       
Long Distance Affair explores the question – what can you get from one person when all the information you get comes through a computer screen? 21 artists from 12 countries decided to take this virtual adventure. Be one of the 27 participants who get to take this journey and have 9 actors performing solely for you from their private homes.

"Long Distance Affair is NYC-based. Sort of. It's NYC-based for the audience. The premise is that each audience member will enter the space and have access to up to nine computer terminals. At each terminal, Skype will connect the audience member to a performer in another location - actors' countries include Australia, Mexico and Turkey. The audience member will then see (and probably interact with) a ten-minute performance at each terminal. In short, each performance will have only one audience member at a time" Lisa Parry, playwright, UK

Concept: Ana Margineanu


Directed by Doug Howe, Jeremy Lydic & Ana Margineanu

Choreography by Andreea Duta

Written by Alfonso Carcamo (Mexico), Ella Greenhill (England), Stacey Gregg (Ireland), Diane Lefer (US), Sigtryggur Magnasson (Iceland), Lisa Parry (England), Monica Raymond (US), Peca Stefan (Romania) & David L. Williams (US)


Performed by Radu Campean (Romania), Svandis Dora Einarsdottir (Iceland), Fatih Genckal (Turkey), Aimée Horne (Australia), Miguel Loyola (Mexico), Martina Marti (Finland), Lorenzo Montanini (Italy), Oksana Mysina (Russia) and Anastasia Papatheodorou (Greece)


To reserve tickets (we have only 27 available) - email to info@theinternationalists.org 

($18 for visiting 9 countries or $10 for visiting 3 countries)

DANCING NOT DEAD - Live online!

The Internationalists is proud to bring you the NEW YORK presentation of
Dancing Not Dead by John Freedman
Winner of the 2011 Global Playwright Contest.

This engagement is a Live Theatre / Streaming Broadcast.
Sunday, October 30th 2011

2:00pm EST - Live Broadcast Online
Tune into www.theinternationalists.org

Directed by Doug Howe and Jeremy Lydic
Starring Orietta Crispino, Hank Kim and Sara Oliva

Or join us in the flesh
1:30pm EST - New York
TheatreLab, 137 West 14th St. bet. 6&7 Aves, New York, NY 10011

Admission is free, but guests must wear black. Seating extremely
limited.

This marks the 3rd city world wide that Dancing Not Dead has been
presented this year through the Internationalists Global Playwright
Initiative. Previous presentations include Berlin, Moscow, Bucharest.
Next up Full Production by Internationalists Director, Karina Bes in The
Hague.

The Internationalists production SEEWATCHLOOK in NYTIMES

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/theater/seewatchlook-street-scenes-at-the-high-line.html

Farewell LIVIU CIULEI (1923 – 2011)

The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York is deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of the masters of modern Romanian theatre and film, LIVIU CIULEI (July 7, 1923 – October 25, 2011). Ciulei died on October 25th in a clinic in Munich , Germany . He was 88. Long time collaborator and star of the film Forest of the Hanged, Victor Rebengiuc said he feels profoundly indebted to Ciulei: “Liviu Ciulei was a great personality of the Romanian theatre and film. He created schools of theatre and film, he created actors and wonderful performances. He was a good man and a great artist of incredible modesty.”

Born on July 7, 1923, in Bucharest , Romania , Liviu Ciulei was a theater and film director, as well as film writer, actor, architect, educator, costume and set designer. During a career spanning over 50 years, he had a seminal influence on Romanian cinema and theater. Known for his daring theatrical interpretations, he has distinctively marked the area of performing arts inside Romania and abroad. He was described by Newsweekas "one of the boldest and most challenging figures on the international scene."

Ciulei studied architecture and theater at the Royal Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Bucharest . He made his theater debut, as an actor, in 1946, playing Puck in the Odeon Theatre production of William Shakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dream. Soon afterwards, he joined the theater company of the Bucharest Municipal Theatre, later renamed Bulandra Theatre, where he directed his first stage production in 1957 — Rainmaker by Richard Nash.

Between 1956 and 1957, his theatre directing work was also reinforced by a series of consistent essays on directing and stage designing, in the context of a national media debate around the modernization of theatrical aesthetics. He continued to act for the stage and in films.

In 1961, Ciulei gained general acclaim and recognition as a theatre director for his version of Shakespeare's As You Like It. As a film director, he won the Crystal Globe for Best Director at the 1960 Karlovy Vary Film Festival with his second film, The Danube Waves, but it was with his third feature, Forest of the Hanged, that he and Romanian cinema reached widespread international recognition, receiving the Best Director Award at the 1965Cannes Film Festival. This was to be his last feature film as a director. However he continued to appear in several films, as an actor, until the end of the 1970s.

Ciulei was the artistic director of Bulandra Theatre for more than 10 years. In the 70s he also worked in several European countries, the United States , Canada and Australia . In the U.S. , he first directed Leonce and Lena at The Arena Stage in Washington D.C. , in 1974. During the 70s he returned in the U.S. for several extremely notable productions at The Arena Stage, The Juilliard Theatre Centre, Circle in the Square, The Public Theatre and The Acting Company. As an example of Ciulei’s mastery, in his review of Ciulei’s staging of Hamlet at The Arena Stage in 1978, New York Post critic Clive Barnes notes: “The man is a genius – a word to be sparingly used. He sees “Hamlet” as a pattern of wills – and grasps instantly that this classic Elizabethan revenge tragedy, a popular dramatic form of Shakespeare’s day, derives its greatness from the fact that destroyed hero is never actually revenged."

In late '70s he was marginalized by the communist regime and transferred to work at the Sahia Film studio, as a documentary filmmaker. In 1980 he fled Romania with a motor vessel during the filming of a documentary about the life of Romanian sailors.

After his arrival in the U.S. , Ciulei was the artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis , Minnesota , from 1980 to 1985, creating memorable shows such as The Tempest, Requiem for a Nun or Peer Gynt. During this time, the Guthrie won a Tony Award for its activity, in 1982.

Don Shewey profiled Ciulei (and noted that his name is pronounced "Leave-you Chew-lay") for the New York Times in 1986: "In 1972 at the Bulandra Theater in Bucharest, he presented a production of The Inspector General, Nikolai Gogol's satire of bureaucratic government, that was taken rather too personally by Romania's bureaucratic government. The production was closed by censors, and Ciulei left the position he'd held for nine years as the company's artistic director. When he was hired in 1980 to run the Guthrie Theater, one of the oldest and largest regional theaters in America, he inaugurated his regime with a startling production of The Tempest where Prospero's kingdom was presented as an oasis surrounded by a moat of blood, in which floated such cultural artifacts as a Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and a clock without hands. Last summer, having tendered his resignation after only five years as the Guthrie's artistic director, Ciulei mounted his bitter, frightening Midsummer Night's Dream in which Bottom's ragtag troupe of players is humiliated by the indifferent response of its royal audience – a reflection, perhaps, of Ciulei's own disappointment at the lack of enthusiasm for adventurous theater in middle America. 'I think there is, in this country, a certain prudence or refusal to be troubled, much encouraged by TV,' he commented. 'Many people still want the theater to be like a cool lemonade when it's hot.'"

Beginning with 1986, he taught at Columbia University and New York University . He kept staging work in the U.S. at The Guthrie, at The Arena Stage, at the American Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre,Lincoln Center , The Lyric Opera in Chicago and also in Europe (where he did mostly operas in London ,Amsterdam , Florence or Cardiff ).

After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, Ciulei returned to Romania and directed a series of stage productions that have been both publicly and critically acclaimed. He was named Honorary Director of the theatre he has always loved the most, Bulandra, as a token of appreciation and respect for his entire career. Besides being the costume and set designer of the majority of his own productions, as an architect Ciulei contributed decisively to the rebuilding of the auditorium of Bulandra Theatre, as well as to important architectural work of other theater buildings. In 1996, UNITER (the Romanian Theatre Union) awarded its annual prize to Ciulei, in recognition of his overall work.

Liviu Ciulei passed away at age 88.

Honoring this outstanding Romanian personality, the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York and the Film Society of Lincoln Center will present a Liviu Ciulei Retrospective as part of the 6th Annual Romanian Film Festival in New York , which will take place between November 30 – December 6 at the Lincoln Center . New York audiences will get a chance to see, for the first time in the U.S. , in new prints, all the three films Liviu Ciulei directed – Eruption, The Danube Waves and Forest of the Hanged.

[Image: Liviu Ciulei starring in his 1964 film Forest of the Hanged]

ROMANIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE IN NEW YORK

200 East 38th Street (at 3rd Avenue ), New York , NY 10016

Tel: 212-687-0180 - Fax: 212-687-0181icrny@icrny.org; www.icrny.org

Lisa Parry: Long Distance Affair

Lisa Parry: Long Distance Affair: What is theatre? Is what I'm writing theatre? What should theatre be? These three questions have been swirling around my mind lately. I'm ...

Dancing Not Dead

(the journey of a play Around the World)

                                                                                                    

Early in 2011, The Internationalists launched their first Annual Global Playwriting Contest.  125 plays from 18 countries were submitted.  The selection process was difficult, but John Freedman's 'Dancing, not Dead' was the ultimate winner.  In the past three months, his play has been presented (workshop or staged reading) in Berlin, Moscow and Bucharest. And it will be fully staged in January in The Hague by Karina Bes.  On 30 October it will also be presented in NYC – a live theatre/broadcast hybrid, directed by Doug Howe and Jeremy Lydic. At the end of the journey, we will sit down with John over a virtual coffee and ask him how the journey was for him, but for now, I asked Doug & Jeremy, who are currently in rehearsals, some questions. 


Ana: When you first read the Dancing, not Dead what impressed you the most?
Doug:‘Dancing, not Dead’ poses large questions without attempting to definitively answer them. Though the setting is simple and domestic, the themes and issues that pervade the text reach well beyond the home and across national borders. I was also impressed that John Freedman had written such strong and engaging female characters, especially those advanced in years. Their internal and external conflicts are both compelling and heart wrenching.  

Jeremy: A tragic death has happened, and yet the characters in this play are able to isolate and eliminate their empathetic response to the deceased, in order to pull focus to their own issues. I think that to write a play about someone who has just died, committed suicide rather, or was murdered, even, and make it entirely about the self-absorption of the survivors, is a challenging glimpse into human nature.

Rehearsal for Dancing Not Dead in Moscow with Oksana Mysina & Rimma Solntseva

Ana: What scares you the most about this play?

Doug: Nothing specific scares me about the play, but the constant challenge of honoring the text while putting it up on its feet is ever present. As we are only rehearsing for a limited time, we want to be able to do justice to the writer’s intentions while simultaneously making the performance engaging for the audience. Fortunately, we have some very talented and insightful actors, so my fears are minimal.

Jeremy: This is a play about two women whose game is bicker and banter, and yet a rule between them is to not let the game elevate to a "dramatic" level. And they refuse to really listen to each other. So, you have two strong women, who argue without blowing up, who don't really listen to each other. It defies typical drama in many ways, and the challenge is to keep this dialogue compelling to an audience.

Dancing Not Dead in Berlin, directed by Jake Witlen

Ana: Why have you chosen to co-direct this presentation?

Jeremy: I believe that Doug and I both have different strengths as directors, and I was really interested in seeing how his particular strengths, especially the ones I don't think I possess, combine with my particular process. I think the process will be greatly enhanced by this collaboration. I think Doug is incredible at talking about the play that exists, and I am not. I have a hard time engaging with the play until we start discovering what it can be through experimenting on our feet. So, I'm interested in seeing how our dynamic may or may not shift once we're up on our feet.

Doug: I am thrilled to be working with Jeremy. Every time I’ve seen one of his productions, I’ve always thought about how much fun the actors are having. Jeremy possesses a true sense of play and adventure, and encourages actors to really breathe life into their roles. I hope our individual talents inspire us both to become better directors. From our work together thus far, I am confident about the outcome of our pairing. Having an equal next to you in the room to bounce ideas and experiments off of is a real joy.

John Freedman with actresses Oksana Mysina and Rimma Solntseva after the Moscow reading of Dancing Not Dead

Ana: You also intend this presentation for online audience - why? how do you think the relationship between performance and audience will change depending on where this audience is present?

Doug: In this age of advanced technology, Jeremy and I were interested in experimenting with a live theatre/broadcast hybrid. Though the live performance is our primary focus, we wanted to create a more engaging virtual viewing experience for our online audience. Instead of the typical static wide-shot, we want to produce a more cinematic, interactive experience. We have spoken at length about how the two experiences differ, and we are specifically creating two different perspectives for the people present in the room and those on their computers. Like the three characters in the play, we want to offer both audiences varying points of view.

Jeremy: I believe that the online audience is always secondary when you include them in a live performance event. And, rightfully so. But since I do not believe that viewing performance online is very interesting, I'd like to try to direct this piece for them. I wouldn't say, however, that at this point we are directing more for the online audience. Basically, we're trying to create two different experiences for each audience. Rather than the audience just getting that back of the house camera view, which is super-boring, especially on a 240p window, we want to give them a different experience, an alternative to those in the live audience. In some ways, we're trying to think of it in filmic terms. Viewing theater online will always be more akin to film, so why not take advantage of that?

Dancing Not Dead in Bucharest, with Maria Ploae and Katia Pascariu

Ana : Watching online the previous presentations of DND in Berlin, Moscow and Bucharest had any influence in the way you perceive the play?

Jeremy: I don't want to watch any of those until after our performance is done. I don't like to be influenced in any way by what has been made in recent history.

Doug: One of the objectives of The Internationalists Playwriting Contest was to present the play in multiple locations across the globe. Each culture is going to get something different out of the experience, and to have the capability to witness those performances has been informative and inspirational. Even when it was performed in a language I don’t speak, I felt connected to my fellow company members around the world who were presenting it. It’s also been helpful to discuss successes and failures with the other directors who have already presented the play. Even though the presentation in New York is starting from scratch, I feel uplifted by the presentations done before, and am much better prepared to tackle this complex and challenging play.

Well, I hope you all won’t miss the Dancing Not Dead in NYC (even if you are not in NYC, you can still log online and watch it)! So, prepare yourself for a bit of adventure – this play traveled a lot this year, it would be nice for her to see familiar faces in NY.

Dancing Not Dead

Written by John Freedman
Directed by Doug Howe and Jeremy Lydic
Starring Orietta Crispino, Hank Kim and Sara Oliva

Sunday, October 30th, 2011 at 1:30pm - Live in NY; 2:00 live online
TheatreLab, 137 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011

Limited seating, email to reserve your place to: info@theinternationalists.org

NIGHTLANDS

Sylvan is "empathic!" Tamilla is "inventive"! Rachel Leslie is "powerful"! Polly Lee's "coiffed discontent evokes Julianne Moore in “The Hours” and “Far From Heaven” " and "a versatile supporting cast sprints through a variety of races and genders... “We are in history now,” one character says as the simmering tensions finally burst loose near the end. When “Nightlands” is at its strongest, it reminds us that that statement is always true."  said The New York Times. So, I had to ask Tamilla Woodard (congrats, Tamilla, by the way) some questions.

Polly Lee and Rachel Leslie, Photograph: Carol Rosegg

Photographs: Carol Rosegg

Ana: When you first read the play (and while working on it's development) what was your main interest/ attraction?

TAMILLA: The section of the play called the RIOT was from the beginning a very curious and attractive element of the dramatic structure. I took a lot of clues about how the play works from how the play structure gets destroyed in the Riot. I love that destruction. I like it when the rules are subverted.

Ana: And what were you most afraid of?

TAMILLA: I was afraid about my choice to have such a paired down, sparse environment and style. I am attracted to sparten approaches in general. Sylvans language is lush, rich, The situation is very dramatic. I wanted to make a counter balance to that so we as an audience could really hear, really see, really feel instead of just being told. A great distance exists between these characters. That's something our audience can also feel. That great gulf. That loneliness. That distance between human beings. Ironically, the most emotionally impactful section of the production is the Riot. Because we don't try to act the riot. Or rather, we try and then we give up and then just commit to being. I was afraid that I was not giving enough room to the chaos, too. Chaos can require THINGS and we don't have much stuff-- just bodies and voices in space. Just two chairs in the midst of a wide white canvas. Every single gesture made in front of that canvas gets picked up and amplified. Beautiful things and very messy things. I'm afraid of the messy things.

Hubert Point-Du Jour and Michael Milligen, Photograph: Carol Rosegg

                                   Photographs: Carol Rosegg

Ana: Can you tell me a bit about the role that – the  absence of objects/ presence of sounds - have in the show?

TAMILLA: I wanted to give the audience more to do. I want them to lean into the play, lean forward, add their own imagination. Acknowledge that this is not real life, nor are we trying to convince anyone of that. Perspective is very important as a theme. Who gets to tell a story, who owns the narrative? This way the audience has participated in the story making to by filling in more blanks than they normally have to do.

Ana: What is the connection between 1964 and 2011?

TAMILLA: Ohh. We are now in a very combustable time. Riots breaking out everywhere-- protests. The old order is being challenged in the same way that it was being challenged during the Civil Rights Movement. Like IVY says at the end of the play-- We are in History Now. And this is History making itself around the world. 

Polly Lee and Micheal Milligan. Photograph: Carol Rosegg
                                

NIGHTLANDS

By Sylvan Oswald

Directed by Tamilla Woodard

with 
Linda Marie Larson, Polly Lee, Rachel Leslie, Michael Milligan, 
Hubert Point-Du Jour

design 
Jim Findlay, Stephen Arnold, Hillary Charnas, Emily DeAngelis

psm Michal V. Mendelson asm Matt Hundley prod mgr Robert Ingram
choreographer Nicco Annan asst set design Rachel Schapira 
casting Paul Davis/Calleri Casting press rep David Gersten & Associates

THRU OCTOBER 29 ONLY! 
8.30pm
Wednesdays thru Mondays

at HERE 145 6th Avenue 
(enter on Dominick, 1 block south of Spring)

$25
Sundays pay-what-you-will (at the door only)
tickets: www.here.org or 212.352.3101
info/group rates: 646.336.8077

more info all the time: www.newgeorges.org

This project received support from Full Stage NYC at New Dramatists, a program made possible by New York City’s Theatre Subdistrict Council and Time Warner. 
This production is a part of HEREstay, HERE’s curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.