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Nature Theater of OK's LIFE AND TIMES EPISODES 4.5 & 5 Set for FIAF's 'Crossing the Line', 9/20-21

By: Aug. 22, 2013
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The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York's premiere French cultural center, presents the New York premiere of Nature Theater of Oklahoma's Life and Times Episodes 4.5 & 5, as part of its acclaimed Crossing the Line 2013 festival, which also commissioned Episode 5. Nature Theater of Oklahoma's epic Life and Times series is a sixteen-hour, multi-art serial created from a single phone conversation with a 34-year-old woman, who tells her whole life story up to the present day.

Episodes 4.5 & 5 are presented on the heels of the well-received New York premiere of Life and Times Episodes 1-4 at The Public Theater in January 2013,described by Charles Isherwood of The New York Times as "one of the most unforgettable adventures of my theatergoing experience." The production received an Obie award and Nature Theater of Oklahoma's artistic directors Kelly Copper and Pavol Liska were recently awarded the 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards and the 2013 Alpert Award.

With Episodes 4.5 & 5, Nature Theater of Oklahoma embraces animation and visual art in a live performance devoid of actors. Episode 4.5, a 30-minute animated film, begins with the end of high school and the search for love. The saga continues in Episode 5 with high school air bands, secrets, and finally the first sexual experience, graphically remade in the form of a medieval illuminated manuscript with original organ music played live by composer Daniel Gower.

Performances of Episodes 4.5 & 5 will take place on September 20 and 21 at 8pm at FIAF's Florence Gould Hall. The running time is 60 minutes with no intermission. Florence Gould Hall is located at 55 East 59th Street (between Park and Madison Avenue). Tickets are $30 ($20 FIAF Members) and can be purchased by visiting fiaf.org/ctl or calling 800.982.2787. Due to the graphic content and adult nature of the material, admission will be limited to adults over the age of 18.

Two additional Crossing the Line events will take place in conjunction with the New York premiere of Episodes 4.5 & 5.

A three-minute clip from Episode 4.5 will be shown simultaneously across 15 electronic billboards in Times Square as part of Midnight Moment. The video will premiere just before midnight on Sunday, September 1st and play every night throughout September from 11:57 p.m. - midnight. The Midnight Moment is a synchronized program and presentation of the Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts.

An exhibition, 10 fps, will showcase the 1,343 hand-colored drawings that comprise the three-minute Midnight Moment clip from Episode 4.5. Drawn by directors Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper, who retraced images frame by frame from a home movie on 4x6 cardstock, 10 fps will be on view from September 21-November 2 at the FIAF Gallery (22 East 60th Street). An opening reception will take place on September 20 from 6-8pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 11am-6pm, and Saturday, 11am-5pm. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma is an OBIE-winning New York art and performance group under the direction of Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper. Since Poetics: a ballet brut, the company's first dance piece created as an ensemble, Nature Theater of Oklahoma has been devoted to making "the work we don't know how to make, putting ourselves in impossible situations, and working from out of our own ignorance and unease. We strive to create an unsettling live situation that demands total presence from everyone in the room. We use the readymade material around us, found space, overheard speech, and observed gesture, and through extreme formal manipulation, and superhuman effort, we affect in our work a shift in the perception of everyday reality that extends beyond the site of performance and into the world in which we live." Nature Theater of Oklahoma's work has been seen in 23 countries and 46 cities around the world. They are winners of 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards and a 2013 Alpert Award. For more information, visit www.oktheater.org.

Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) is a trade association comprised of major advertisers, retailers, real estate firms, media companies and other businesses involved in the outdoor sign industry in Times Square, along with organizations representing Broadway and the community. Members of TSAC include: ABC Regional Sports & Entertainment Sales, Clear Channel Spectacolor, Daktronics, D3 LED, Digital Domination, Hines Management, Jamestown One Times Square, Lamar Advertising Company, Landmark Sign & Electric, Metro Media Technologies, Newmark Knight Frank, North Shore Neon, P.R.omotion!, Sherwood Outdoor, SL Green, Times Square Alliance, The WOW Factor and Thomson Reuters. Visit www.timessquareadcoalition.org for more information.

Times Square Arts, the public arts program of the Times Square Alliance, presents leading contemporary art and performances in multiple forms and media to more than 400,000 daily visitors to New York City's Times Square, making it one of the highest profile public arts programs in the United States. Since its inception, Times Square Arts has featured works by a diverse group of more than five dozen prominent and emerging artists. Working in partnership with cultural institutions and festivals, the program is further supported by ArtPlace America, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and partner institutions. Visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org/arts for more information. Follow us on Twitter: @TSqArts.

Crossing the Line is the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)'s annual fall festival, presenting interdisciplinary works and performances in New York. The festival explores the dialogue between artist and public, and examines how artists help re-imagine the world as critical thinkers and catalysts for social evolution. Crossing the Line is initiated and produced by FIAF in partnership with leading cultural institutions. The festival's seventh edition takes place this year from September 19-October 13, 2013.

Since its inauguration in 2007, Crossing the Line has cultivated an increasingly large and diverse following, and received numerous accolades in the press. The festival has been voted "Best of 2009," "Best of 2010," and "Best of 2012" by Time Out New York, Frieze, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Events at the festival have won several Bessie awards, and 2012's Habit received an Obie award for creators David Levine and Marsha Ginsberg.The New York Times states, "For terrifically unusual, unpredictable, unnameable performance, we've come to expect a lot from ... the curators of the French Institute Alliance Française's interdisciplinary festival," and Time Out New York says, "This interdisciplinary festival...is one of the season's great joys ... Forget about categories; this is a whirlwind of art." Visit fiaf.org/ctl for more information.

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is New York's premiere French cultural center. FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. Visit fiaf.org for more information.



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