Japanther | Performance Space New York

PS122 at Bumbershoot


Presented in association with Bumbershoot

This Labor Day weekend, Performance Space 122 delivers a live bento box teeming with a delectable assortment of technology-infused multimedia, mind-bending dance, inflammatory theatre and addictive live art to Bumbershoot, Seattle’s premiere music and performing arts festival.

Sample bites from five of NYC’s vanguard of genre-defying artists. Come hungry.

Witness Relocation
The Panic Show


“A dance-theater anarchist’s Utopia” – Performing Arts
Journal

Witness Relocation combines dance & theater with the energy
of a rock-show.
The Panic Show attacks mass hysteria, hyper-ventilation,
stress, fight or flight, self help techniques, not to mention “Panic Room”,
that mess of a film starring Jodie Foster.
This wild ride includes dances,
dark confessions, confetti, and real time performance tasks that will whip both
the audience and performers into a lather.
Co-commissioned by
Dance New Amsterdam.

Reggie Watts / Tommy Smith – RADIO PLAY

“Nakedly entertaining! Wouldn’t it be strange if this is what the
future of theatre looks like?”- Variety

“Sharp, wry and elusive … moves seamlessly from skits to songs to
off-kilter stand-up.” – New York Times

Join sonic auteurs REGGIE WATTS & TOMMY
SMITH for RADIO PLAY.
Modelled after radio programs of yesteryear, RADIO PLAY
gathers a group of actors, musicians and sound-effects artists to create a
surreal sonic entertainment.
Songs, stories and soundscapes collide in a
comedic mash-up of non-temporal quasi-political pop-cultural tropes.
Performed in the dark!

REGGIE WATTS (performer) and TOMMY SMITH
(director) create absurd experimental comedic theatricals for modern
performance spaces.

LeeSaar The Company – GEISHA

“LeeSaar’s dances always require
unwavering attention, they are powerful.”
– The New York Times

“This is the kind of work that could awaken a love
for modern dance.” Oregon Arts & Culture

A feminine woman and a virile man are locked in a seething
and sensual duet interwoven with a surreal concert performance by an
over-the-top Celine Dion-esque diva .
Navigating a world that is alternately
disturbing and seductive, intimate and extroverted, ultimately Geisha opens the
door to an intensely voyeuristic and hypnotic experience.

31 Down radio theatre & JAPANTHER – THE
SCREAM CONTEST


Japanther is “A New York-based band whose music conveys what I would call springing life”- Art Forum

31 Down provides “mind-shattering spiritual enlightenment” – Time Out New York

A startlingly cathartic installation of alt-punk proportions: 31 Down challenges you to The Scream Contest, with music written by punk band Japanther and performed live by the duo Breelah (featuring members of TacocaT). Sign up to read a short radio theatre scene ending with a blood curdling scream provided by YOU. Like a sideshow at a county fair where people test their strength by pounding a hammer and ringing a bell, The Scream Contest rewards the best set of lungs. The winner of each day is decided by the SCREAM-o-METER and receives a mystery prize.

The 39th annual Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Music and Arts Festival, Presented by Samsung Mobile will showcase a wide range of arts over Labor Day Weekend (September 5 – 7). The Festival stretches across the 74-acre Seattle Center, located beneath the city’s iconic Space Needle, and programs 20 indoor and unique outdoor venues. This progressive Festival features a comprehensive arts program including live music, comedy, visual and literary arts, theatre, dance, film, and urban crafts.

Single day-specific and three-day Festival passes are available NOW at bumbershoot.org, and Ticketmaster outlets. Single day-specific tickets are $50; three-day passes are $120. For more ticket information visit bumbershoot.org/tickets.htm.

Photos by: Justin Bernhaut, Jules Hil, Rachel Roberts, Jay Ryan

Sept 5 and 6, 2009
Saturday and Sunday at 6pm
The Seattle Center

bumbershoot logo

(3-D) Dinosaur Death Band

(3-D) Dinosaur Death Dance

Williamsburg’s favorite noise-rock band Japanther (Ian Vanek and Matt Reily) unveils a new comedic rock-opera of unpredictable scale, repercussions, and decibel levels. Using a high-energy multi-media format – their tool kit integrates live music, dance, an interactive set, video projections plus an animatronic robot dinosaur – the band and their collaborators create a full-immersion theatrical concert experience that sports a a sharp political edge and an equally edgy heart.

What starts as a post-modern funeral becomes an uplifting and entertaining ceremony. The set, designed by conceptual artist Dan Graham, becomes a canvas for simultaneous stimuli: a large optical glass wall not unlike his “pavilions” is situated next to a circular band stage, a la the Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan, where Japanther works their musical magic. While Sonya Robbins and Layla Childs dance up a storm, an animatronic dinosaur narrator, designed and built by industrial artist Doyle, inhabited by the text and voice of peace-punk Penny Rimbaud (spoken word artist and the co-founder of anarchist punk band Crass) lies on his deathbed recanting his belief systems. Darkly humorous intersticial commercials advertise the sunny plight of the American Indian and advocate arresting those who feed the homeless. By daring the audience to laugh at sad truths, Japanther opens up a door to hope and makes it cool again.

A PERFORMA Commission, produced by PERFORMA in cooperation with P.S.122 for PERFORMA07.

(3-D) Dinosaur Death Band

Approximate running time: 45 minutes

About Japanther: Japanther was formed in 2001 by Ian Vanek (drums, cassettes, vocals), Matt Reily (bass, Casio SK-1, vocals). They have recorded with Plan It X Records, Tapes Records, and the Menlo Park label. The band appears in the indie documentary film B.I.K.E, which premiered at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival; they created and performed Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30; they teamed with Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Laurent P. Berger, and Tony Oursler to create an abstract video installation for the 2006 Whitney Biennial.

Listen to an interview about New York’s underground clubs with Japanther’s Ian Vanek on WNYC’s Sound Check.

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November 15-19 2007

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