Yara Travieso (NYC)
La Medea
La Medea is a musical re-imagining of Euripides’ violent tragedy into a dance-theater performance and feature film á la Latin-disco-pop variety show. Directed, performed, filmed, edited and streamed in real time, the dark comedy comes to life not only as a live performance in Brooklyn but also as a feature film for audiences watching and interacting remotely around the world. Everyone becomes a performer, subject to the high-stakes immediacy and vulnerability of live TV, bringing theater to cinema and cinema to theater.
La Medea centers around the story’s protagonist in a live TV special tell-all. A wild mash-up of genres and storytelling tropes, Travieso seamlessly shifts between dance and music, talk show and telenovela melodrama, scripted on-camera action and unscripted behind-the-scenes plot twists. Embracing the complexity of conflicting cultural lenses, La Medea confronts the hysterical, dangerous, foreign woman, versus the revolutionary figure willing to destroy her own children in the name of justice. Chaos reigns under the skin of a classic myth. Through the music and libretto by composer Sam Crawford and Travieso’s other collaborating team members, like it’s namesake, La Medea is a spectacle that upends any attempt to pin it down.
“ intrinsic pursuit of storytelling manifests as stage performance, installation and video; it’s culturally inspired, and an amalgam of genre and influence – she puts the MULTI in multi-disciplinary, multi-media art.” – Kaitlyn Parks, 1985 Artists
Commissioned by PS122
Co-presented with BRIC and Dance Films Association
Jan 20, 21 – 8pm
Jan 22 – 2pm, 7pm
90 minutes
at BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
$20
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Director, Choreographer, Producer: Yara Travieso
Composer, Librettist: Sam Crawford
Set Designer: Brookhart Jonquil
Lighting Designer: Tuce Yasak
Costume Designer: Sue Julien
Director of Photography, Camera Operator: Pamela Giaroli
Assistant Director, Camera Operator: Liz Charky
Illustrator: Ryan Hartley Smith
Dramaturge: Raquel Almazan
Creative Film Producer: Jonathan David Kane
Production Manager: Stacey Boggs
Project Manager: Belinda Adam
Production Assistant: Talia Moreta
FEATURING
Rena Butler
Shayla Vie Jenkins (Cast 2)
Catherine Correa
Erick Montes
Tiffany Mellard
Sol Koeraus
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (band):
Vocals, Guitar: Liz De Lise
Vocals, Guitar: Zeb Gould
Saxaphone: Jeff Hudgins
Percussion: Timothy Quigley
Trumpet, bass, Moog bass synth: Anthony Mascorro
Yara Travieso is a NYC-based director and choreographer creating hybrid works of film, dance installations, musicals and opera. She is a 2016 Creative Capital Awardee, a Performance Space 122 Ramp artist, BRIClab residency artist, and a 2015 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures grantee through the Ford Foundation and the Surdna Foundation. Born in Miami FL, Travieso co-founded the Borscht Film Festival in 2005 and produced various award winning short films, all while attending and graduating from NYC’s Juilliard School (Dance BFA, 2009). Her films and live performances have been presented across national and international venues as well as various galleries, museums, and festivals. Outside of institutional support, Travieso has been commissioned to direct original short films for Hermes of Paris, Glamour, GQ and Elle, as well as music videos for female centric bands. Having been selected as a 2005 YoungArts award winner, Travieso will return to Miami in the spring of 2017 to create an original work for the YoungArts’ “Outside The Box” series, taking over their entire campus in a large scale outdoor production. www.yaratravieso.com
BRIC is the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, and one of the largest in New York City. We present and incubate work by artists and media-makers who reflect the diversity that surrounds us. BRIC programs reach hundreds of thousands of people each year. Our main venue, BRIC Arts | Media House, offers a public media center, a major contemporary art exhibition space, two performance spaces, a glass-walled TV studio, and artist work spaces. Some of BRIC’s most acclaimed programs include the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park, several path-breaking public access media initiatives, including BRIC TV, and a renowned contemporary art exhibition series. BRIC also offers education and other vital programs at BRIC House and throughout Brooklyn. In addition to making cultural programming genuinely accessible, BRIC is dedicated to providing substantial support to artists and media makers in their efforts to develop work and reach new audiences. BRIC is unusual in both presenting exceptional cultural experiences and nurturing individual expression. This dual commitment enables us to most effectively reflect New York City’s innate cultural richness and diversity.
www.bricartsmedia.org
Dance Films Association is the catalyst for the production, presentation, and preservation of dance on camera. We are dedicated to furthering the art of dance film by connecting artists and organizations, fostering new works for new audiences, and sharing essential resources. www.dancefilms.org
Featured Image by Maria Baranova.
Yara Travieso’s La Medea is commissioned by Performance Space 122 as part of its 2016 emerging artists program, Ramp, with support from the Jerome Foundation. La Medea is a project of Creative Capital. The film component of La Medea is produced by Dance Films Association, Paul Galando, and Galen Bremer. La Medea is a recipient of a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Fund for The Arts Grant through the Surdna Foundation and The Ford Foundation. Additional support from BRICLab Residency, BRIC Arts Media House and PS122 Ramp residency support provided by Ideal Glass Gallery.
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