Theater | Performance Space New York

The Society

society

“Expertly straddles the fragile line between humor and horror.”
-GIA KOURLAS, New York Times (full review)

“The Jo Strømgren Kompani has never appeared in New York City. It is time it came.”
-Jennifer Dunning, New York Times

As a society of sworn coffee drinkers gather for their daily ritual the harmony is broken by a horrific incident: the discovery of a used teabag. As the investigations unfold the questions become more complicated. Do they have a domestic traitor among them or is the teabag a symbol of a much larger global scenario? How far will they have to go in order to track the traitor down, smoke him out, and bring this evil act to justice?

Jo Strømgren Kompani mirrors the macro-world by scrutinizing basic elements of contemporary phenomena: in our turbulent times the average citizen is ever more tempted to accept torture, suppression of minorities, and other violent means in order to restore order and avoid a clash of civilizations. Can theatre contribute to change this? JSK neglects any responsibility to join that debate. Rather, JSK pursues its signature fart-in-the-universe quest to pinpoint utterly sad human behavior.

Jo Strømgren Kompani’s has created its own international niche through its long-term research on abstract text. Each production performed by JSK involves a completely new linguistic alias, inspired by a specific culture or region. Worldwide success in 45 countries has proven this nonsensical language manifesto to be more than just a temporary funny idea. For all audiences: Don’t panic, the performers do not even know what is being said on stage.

Co-presented with The Abrons Arts Center.
The Society is supported by Arts Council Norway, the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, and the American-Scandinavian Foundation.

Photo courtesy of Knut Bry

October 15-19, 2008
Wed-Sat 8:30pm
Sun 6:30pm
At the Abrons Arts Center located at 466 Grand St.
Tickets from $25
$15 (students/seniors)
$10 (PS122 members)

Special Event:
OPENING NIGHT BENEFIT
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15 8:30pm
The Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St.

Support P.S. 122 and join us as we celebrate with the cast and welcome
Sissel Breie, the new Norwegian Consul General.

Ticket $100
(of which $75 is tax deductible)
Includes premium seating and post-show reception.

Impulse to Suck: The Performance of The Apology and The Separation of Sex and State

finley
finley

Karen Finley was in Albany, New York on March 10 waiting to hear a speech from Eliot Spitzer on Reproductive Health. Instead later that day, Spitzer performed an apology with his supportive, devastated wife standing beside him. Finley will speak about the performance of the apology, the erotic transference of the media’s fixation on Spitzer’s frown and the emotional starring role for his wife, Silda.

Finley will perform her latest spoken word text which examines the confession, the apology, the imagining of the sexual encounter, the travel of the escort, the compulsion, the immigrant father’s plan for his son to succeed and the couples imagined therapy sessions. Looking at the psychodrama in the intimacy of our political leaders, Finley poses to see the agony of the son’s need for the approval from the father and the ancient wrestling of the ancient wrestling of the feminine archetypes of mother and whore.

Conceived and performed by Karen Finley
Artwork by Karen Finley
Photo courtesy of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

August 14, 2008 at 8pm
Tickets from $20
$15 (students/seniors),
$10 (P.S. 122 members)

Stories Left to Tell

stories left to tell

“Vividly funny. joyous, devastating, affecting, gorgeous…a breathing portrait.” – Ben Brantley, New York Times

“Fresh, engaging, moving, powerful. Gray’s words not only relate the story of his own life, they allow a new group of artists to reflect on what being alive can mean.” – Mark Blankenship, Variety

Stories Left to Tell catapults us into the hilarious and heartbreaking life and words of one of the most revered storytellers of our time. A five-person ensemble performs Spalding Gray’s legendary stories and monologues—interwoven with previously unpublished material from his letters and journals. As Backstage put it: “Gray was a funny funny man; this show is a gift.”

Starring Ain Gordon, Kathleen Chalfant, Hazelle Goodman, and Bob Holman
NIGHTLY GUEST STARS CONFIRMED:
Wed Jan 5 with Rich Kind / Fri Jan 7 with David Straithairn / Sun Jan 9 with Jonathan Ames / Tues Jan 11 with Whoopi Goldberg

Conceived and Directed by Kathleen Russo and Lucy Sexton

Gray developed may of his famed monologues at Performance Space 122 and it is still home to his signature desk. Gray developed and created Morning, Noon and Night, Gray on Gray and Interviewing the Audience at PS122, where he was working on Life Interrupted at the time of his death.

PRESENTED AS PART OF COIL 2011
THEATRE | DOWNSTAIRS at PS122
January 5,7,9 & 11, 2011
Wed, Jan 5 6:30PM / Fri, Jan 7 6:30PM / Sun, Jan 9 9:30PM / Tue, Jan 11 4:30PM

Single Tickets:
$30, $15 (students/seniors)

Help PS122 Go Green by viewing your Stories Left To Tell program online!

Trash Warfare

shalimar

The Shalimar
Trash Warfare

Winner! The Stage Award for Best Ensemble at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

“The most exciting young American company I have seen up here so far this century.”

– The Financial Times

“Beauty and grotesqueness in one, this is a must see.”
-The List

The Shalimar’s smash hit Trash Warfare returns to New York for eight performances at PS122. Using found text, live music, frenetic dance, raw meat and eight wild performers writer/director Shoshona Currier delves deep into America’s celebrity obsession. A savage send-up of a country hell bent on escapism even when all around it things are falling apart. Flash photography is encouraged.

With text compiled from speeches of General George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur,
Winston Churchill, interviews with Lizzie Grubman, Mary Kay Letourneau, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, and Gwyneth Paltrow, and works by Seneca, Georges Bataille, and Bret Easton Ellis, The Shalimar retells the timeless Phaedra myth. What happens at home when the men are away at war?

More info can be found at the Shalimar Productions Site

Original PS122 Run: May 14-18, 2008
Also playing in the COIL 2009 Festival

Vengeance Can Wait

vengeance

Written by up and coming Japanese playwright Yukiko Motoya, Vengeance Can Wait is a kinky comedy about love, submission, and sweet revenge by one of Japan’s leading contemporary
female playwrights.

Influenced by anime and manga (Japanese graphic novels and comic books), Vengeance Can Wait navigates Japanese sub-culture as it charts a different kind of love story. A couple has the perfect domestic relationship: he spends his days planning the perfect revenge, while she awaits her perfect punishment. Dark, twisted and touching, the couple come to understand the “kinks” in their relationship – and embrace them.

Directed by Jose Zayas

Co-translation by Kyoko Yoshida and Andy Bragen

Featuring Becky Yamamoto, Jennifer Lim*, Pun Bandhu*, and Paul H. Juhn*

Stage Manager/Assistant Director: Mark Karafin ; Scene Designer: Ryan Elliot Kravetz; Lighting Designer: Evan Purcell; Sound Designer: Matthew Tennie; Costume Designer: Carla Bellisio

This production is made possible through generous support from the Japan Foundation and the David Schwartz Foundation.

*Actors appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

Web Photo by Gregory Costanzo

BOB 2008
Best of Boroughs Festival – Queens

Presented in association with Queens Theatre in the Park and The Immediate Theatre Company

qtp

U.S. Premiere
Friday, April 25 – Sunday, May 4, 2008
Tuesdays – Fridays at 8
Saturdays at 2 and 8;
Sundays at 4
More about the BOB Festival

The Shalimar Trash Warfare

The Shalimar
Trash Warfare