Advertisement
WHATCHACALLIT? I don’t know what it is, but I like it!
Hybrid, multi-media, interdisciplinary, experimental… Dance theatre, movement theatre, performance art? Every year, without fail, the Live Arts staff and Fringe coordinators, sit down to begin designing the Festival guide and attempt the impossible; categorizing boundary-breaking art that does not seek to be categorized. Whatever you want to call it, these Festivals are where you find it. Some of the most groundbreaking work is collected in Philadelphia to stun audiences who never know what to expect.
New Paradise Laboratories made its home here in 1998 because they found Philadelphia to be a city of possibilities; a breeding ground for experimentation. They spend a year in small rehearsal studios, conducting experiments, using themselves as guinea pigs to create work that challenges not only audiences, but themselves as well. Don Juan in Nirvana proves to be the most starkly naked product of their lab results to date. And I use starkly naked quite literally. Using the writings of Moliére, Carlos Castenaeda, Wilhelm Reich, and the Buddhist Canon, as well as visual artists Honore Fragonard, Henry Darger, and Odd Nerdrum as catalysts, Director / Conceiver Whit MacLaughlin and the Company uncovered some very mutated, but revealing results about themselves and their own process.
If NPL ever eluded you in the past, their most recent results leave the back door of the laboratory open a crack. Don Juan in Nirvana produces the stunning visual imagery and transcendent soundscape audiences will recognize from previous NPL experiments. However, the surprise lies in the hyperbolic glimpses the audience gets of one artist’s vulnerable process and the muses that can both inspire and torment a creative mind. As always, make your own conclusions—and safety goggles may be required if you don’t want your eyelashes singed.
The Rude Mechanicals are in town! When it comes to artistic adventurers, these guys are renowned for playing aesthetic hardball. I’m truly looking forward to sifting through How Late It Was, How Late running at Christ Church Meeting house until September 12th. I’m also hoping my recent trip to Scotland will help me acclimate to the dense Glasgolinian dialect in which the story unfolds, but I trust that regardless, the visceral indulgence that Rude Mech audiences usually partake in will fill me up just fine. This is one not to miss.
Another group of out-of-towners who’ll be gone before you know it is Festival veterans Sabooge Theatre. Returning for a third time to Philadelphia with Fathom, the Lecoq-based ensemble spins another wild tale in their unique style. Catch them at Mum Puppettheatre before they head back to Montreal after their final show September 7th.
Keep on Fringing!
Your ex-administrator,
Lee Ann Etzold
Hybrid, multi-media, interdisciplinary, experimental… Dance theatre, movement theatre, performance art? Every year, without fail, the Live Arts staff and Fringe coordinators, sit down to begin designing the Festival guide and attempt the impossible; categorizing boundary-breaking art that does not seek to be categorized. Whatever you want to call it, these Festivals are where you find it. Some of the most groundbreaking work is collected in Philadelphia to stun audiences who never know what to expect.
New Paradise Laboratories made its home here in 1998 because they found Philadelphia to be a city of possibilities; a breeding ground for experimentation. They spend a year in small rehearsal studios, conducting experiments, using themselves as guinea pigs to create work that challenges not only audiences, but themselves as well. Don Juan in Nirvana proves to be the most starkly naked product of their lab results to date. And I use starkly naked quite literally. Using the writings of Moliére, Carlos Castenaeda, Wilhelm Reich, and the Buddhist Canon, as well as visual artists Honore Fragonard, Henry Darger, and Odd Nerdrum as catalysts, Director / Conceiver Whit MacLaughlin and the Company uncovered some very mutated, but revealing results about themselves and their own process.
If NPL ever eluded you in the past, their most recent results leave the back door of the laboratory open a crack. Don Juan in Nirvana produces the stunning visual imagery and transcendent soundscape audiences will recognize from previous NPL experiments. However, the surprise lies in the hyperbolic glimpses the audience gets of one artist’s vulnerable process and the muses that can both inspire and torment a creative mind. As always, make your own conclusions—and safety goggles may be required if you don’t want your eyelashes singed.
The Rude Mechanicals are in town! When it comes to artistic adventurers, these guys are renowned for playing aesthetic hardball. I’m truly looking forward to sifting through How Late It Was, How Late running at Christ Church Meeting house until September 12th. I’m also hoping my recent trip to Scotland will help me acclimate to the dense Glasgolinian dialect in which the story unfolds, but I trust that regardless, the visceral indulgence that Rude Mech audiences usually partake in will fill me up just fine. This is one not to miss.
Another group of out-of-towners who’ll be gone before you know it is Festival veterans Sabooge Theatre. Returning for a third time to Philadelphia with Fathom, the Lecoq-based ensemble spins another wild tale in their unique style. Catch them at Mum Puppettheatre before they head back to Montreal after their final show September 7th.
Keep on Fringing!
Your ex-administrator,
Lee Ann Etzold
Advertisement
Advertisement
