I Understand Everything Better
David Neumann (USA)
I Understand Everything Better is a deeply personal reflection on the consciousness of dying and narratives interrupted by a cataclysmic storm. Combining personal narratives, traditional Japanese Noh theater, along with work by collaborators Tei Blow and Sibyl Kempson, Neumann’s virtuosic movement and humor reveals the shimmer of realms unseen, the concurrence of unrelated events and the body itself as evidence of a will having to let go.
Creator: David Neumann
Sound Design & Lead Collaborator: Tei Blow
Text: Sibyl Kempson
Performers: John Gasper, Jennifer Kidwell
Lighting Design: Chloe Brown, Christine Shallenberg
Set Design: Mimi Lien
Costume Design: Erica Sweany
Project Advisors: Dr. Pamela Barton, Rick Davis
Administration: Amanda Brandes, Meredith Boggia
“By now the line on Mr. Neumann is well established: He is the smart joker of dance. What’s not said as often is how deeply felt and deeply moving his work can be.” – New York Times
Co-presented with The Chocolate Factory Theater
Co-produced with Mabou Mines
Jan 10 – 3pm
Jan 11 – 7pm
Jan 12 – 7pm
Jan 13 – 7pm added
Jan 14 – 2pm
Jan 15 – 2pm
Jan 16 – 5pm
The Chocolate Factory
5-49 49th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens
$20
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David Neumann‘s work has been presented in New York City at PS122, New York Live Arts, The Whitney Museum, MAD, Danspace and The Kitchen, among others. Neumann performed in the works of Susan Marshall, Jane Comfort, Sally Silvers, Doug Varone, Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar’s Big Dance Theatre, and club-legend Willi Ninja. He was also an original member of the Doug Elkins Dance Company. He has worked with directors Hal Hartley, Jonathan Demme, Laurie Anderson, Robert Woodruff, Lee Breuer, JoAnn Akalaitis and Sarah Benson in a range of works for the stage. More recently he choreographed An Octoroon at Soho Rep and directed The Object Lesson at BAM. Neumann is on faculty at Sarah Lawrence College and is an independent director and choreographer based in New York.
Since its founding in 2005, The Chocolate Factory Theater has supported the development and presentation of new work by a community of local, national and international artists working in dance, theater, performance, and multimedia. The Chocolate Factory’s programs have drawn many thousands of new visitors to its 5,000 square foot industrial facility in Long Island City, Queens. The organization is currently planning for the purchase and renovation of a permanent facility in the neighborhood.
The Chocolate Factory is artist-founded and artist-led. It’s Artistic Director, Brian Rogers, continues to create and present his own work at The Chocolate Factory while providing support to a close-knit community of forward-thinking visiting artists working at all stages of their careers.
The Chocolate Factory received an Obie grant in 2009. It’s works have received Bessie and Obie Awards and have toured nationally and internationally.
The Chocolate Factory is located in Long Island City, at the first stop on both the 7 and G trains into Queens. L.I.C. is a waterfront neighborhood which in recent years has become known for its thriving arts community, and has among the highest concentration of art galleries, art institutions (among them MOMA’s PS1, the Institute of the Moving Image, Socrates Sculpture Park, Isamu Noguchi Museum) and studio space of any neighborhood in New York City.
Featured image by Maria Baranova
I Understand Everything Better was co-commissioned by The Chocolate Factory Theater and Abrons Art Center, and received its world premiere at the American Dance Institute. This project was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Project support was also provided by Mabou Mines, the David and Leni Moore Foundation and individual donors. Development was supported through residencies at The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, The Banff Centre Theatre Arts, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the BRIClab residency program at BRIC and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at The Florida State University.