LABA Presents Two Second Stage Productions At The Theater At The 14th St Y

LABA presents two Second Stage events at The Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 E. 14th Street, New York, NY 10003, in February 2018.

"The first year of the LABA fellowship is really about the first encounter -- the first try, the impulse, a first creative sketch and creating a touch point for the artist," said Ronit Muszkatblit, Artistic Director of LABA. "In the Second Stage program, we go into the next layer -- it's about finding depth.

This program gives the artists the resources and community to continue their development and process. Through this program, artists are able to deepen their engagement with the material and the final outcome. Our goal is to guide the evolution and nuance of the piece into the next level. Ideally, our artists come back for a third stage -- whether that be performance, gallery exhibit, concert, or even have a book published -- we want to serve the artistic community as an incubator for new Jewish Culture."

Keren Moscovitch presents One More Way: Revolt!, a video installation, from February 1-4, 2018. Hours: Thurs, 7-10pm; Fri, 4-8pm; Sat, 4-8pm; Sun, 4-8pm.
FREE - 18+ ADULT CONTENT
One More Way: Revolt! is a multi-channel, site-specific video installation that re-imagines a living text through performance and communal interpretation of intimate dialogue. Instead of a live audience, a script unfolds in front of multiple cameras, audio recorders and a crew, resulting in footage that questions the possibility of singular meaning. Projected on multiple surfaces, the immersive experience invites viewers to meditate on the infinitude of significations found in the empty space between words, the ways that the body interprets text, and the subtle shifts in meaning that happen over short bursts of time. The piece demonstrates that it is through our intimacy that we are able to escape the structures that imprison us, and create a new realm founded in freedom. Performances by Dawn Akemi Saito and Yehuda Hyman; performance direction by Michael Leibenluft; cinematography by Keren Moscovitch, Ken Lavey and Zen Piet Astrud; sound by Shuonan (Liam) Liu and Eamon Goodman; projection design by Gil Sperling; production assistance by Morgan Day; consulting by John (Jackie) Kelsey.

Hadar Ahuvia presents "Everything you have is yours?" from February 8-10, 2018 at 8pm.
Tickets are $20 in advance and are available at 14streety.org/everything.
"Everything you have is yours?" This was the question an Israeli security official asked Ahuvia when she went to renew her passport. The question resonated with her as she considers her relationship to her Israeli heritage. "Everything you have is yours?" explores the construction of Israeli identity through the performance of Israeli folk dance - with attention to gestures appropriated from Palestinian and Arab Jewish traditions. Ahuvia's investigation also explores the double-appropriation of Israeli dance by American Christian Zionists in their own pursuit of "authenticity." Through mirroring of archival footage and instructional videos, the work reveals the subtext of the dances, making explicit the Otherness at the kernel of Israeli identity. Performances by Hadar Ahuvia, Mor Mendel, and Lily Bo Shapiro, Projections Gil Sperling, Sound Design Avi Amon, Dramaturgy Lily Bo Shapiro, Dramaturgical support Stacy Grossfield, Rowan Magee

Hadar Ahuvia is dancer, choreographer and educator investigating collective history and mythology through movement, voice, and text. Her work has been presented at Dixon Place, Danspace DraftWork, MR Fall Festival, Roulette, CPR, BkSD, AUNTS, Catch, and others. Raised in Israel and the U.S., Ahuvia trained at the SF Conservatory of Dance, and earned a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. She was a 2012 DTW/NYLA Fresh Tracks Artists, a 2015 Movement Research Artists in Residence, a 2016 LABA Fellow, a 2017 CUNY Dance Initiative Artist, Artist, and recipient of ETM Choreographer + Composer Residency. She also performs for Reggie Wilson / Fist and Heel Performance Group.

Dawn Akemi Saito is an actress, writer, movement artist and director. Her performance credits include Suns Are Suns, Blood Cherries, HA, Knock on the Sky, Hiroshima Maiden, Arden/Ardennes, My House is Collapsing Toward One Side, Thrift Shop and Deshima. Her own work has been performed at the Walker Art Center, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Orpheum Theatre (Austria), the Berkshire Theater Festival, the Whitney Museum, Dance Theater Workshop, New York Theater Workshop, LaMaMa, New World Theater, the Electric Lodge, The Public Theater, and Aaron Davis Hall. She is co-director of a theatre devising program at Bard College Berlin and an Artist-in-Residence at Fordham University at Lincoln Center.

Stacy Grossfield has choreographed and performed in NYC since 2003. Her work, hot dark matter, was presented by JACK in March of 2016. Her previous full-evening piece, Red, Pink, Black, received a 2013 MCAF grant. She has shown work at many venues including CATCH, DTW, FFT at Danspace Project, Roulette, and through AUNTS at NADA Art Fair and the New Museum. Grossfield was a 2008-2009 Fresh Tracks artist. She holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase.

Yehuda Hyman: Artistic Director, Mystical Feet Company. Original plays: The Mar Vista, The Mad Dancers, Center of the Star and Swan Lake Calhoun. Honors: Kennedy Center Fund/New American Plays Award; two NEA grants, Jerome Fellow/Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, Artist Fellow at LABA/14th Street Y. MFA, Dance, Sarah Lawrence College. Michael Leibenluft's credits include I'll Never Love Again by Clare Barron at the Bushwick Starr (Obie Award for Direction), Salesman??at the 14th Street Y, Lost Tribe by Alex Borinsky at Target Margin, The Subtle Body by Megan Campisi at 59E59 and other projects with LMCC, The Flea, the Lark and EST.

Rowan Magee is a performer, puppeteer, and director. BA Sarah Lawrence College. New York credits: BAM, La Mama, St. Ann's Warehouse. He has toured internationally and nationally with Phantom Limb Company, Robin Forhardt's The Pigeoning, Dan Hurlin's Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, performed at the Baku 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan. Rowan Magee is a co-curator of the Object Movement Festival, a puppetry incubator at the West Park Presbyterian Church. Mor Mendel is a Brooklyn based dancer, performance artist and educator. Mendel moved to NY from Israel to earn her MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. Mendel is engaged with Dance for Parkinson and other diverse communities. She expands her interest and love to dance in many ways, refining its place in her life; 75 words won't do it. Mendel has the pleasure of working with many lovely artists as she continues to make her own work.

Keren Moscovitch is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar investigating intimacy, sexuality and collaborative practices. She is interested in intimate relationships as poetic sites of deconstruction, and works in experimental modalities to find new meanings, interpretations and revelations in existing structures. Her photography, video and performance-based work has been exhibited worldwide, and her writings published widely.

Gil Sperling's video design has been seen in shows at the Chocolate Factory, HERE Arts Center, The New Ohio, Cherry Lane, Dixon Place, and the Cologne Opera, among others. Video design for dance includes work by Stacy Grossfield and Liz Gerring (as associate video designer). His multimedia performance and video installation work has been presented at the 14th Street Y, The Brick, The Israeli Opera, and art centers in New York, Germany, Israel and Japan.

Lily Bo Shapiro is a dance and performance artist born and raised in New York City. Current projects take up residence in the shifting constellations of archive, elision, rejuvenation and the strangely intimate (intimately strange). Bo works at a proposal of ongoingness, togethering and care, approaching circulation as an antidote to the monumental. https://www.instagram.com/bo_archive_scraps/

"Everything I have is yours?" and One More Way: Revolt! were developed through the LABA Fellowship at the 14th Street Y. The LABA program is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. LABA is a program of the 14th Street Y.

The project "Everything you have is yours?" was made possible through the Movement Research Artist-in- Residence Program funded, in part, by the Jerome Foundation, by the Davis/Dauray Family Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The views and opinions expressed are those of the artist and do not necessarily reflect those of the 14th Street Y or the Educational Alliance.

"Everything you have is yours?" Was sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). "Everything you have is yours?" has been developed with the support of a CUNY Dance Initiative residency at the College of Staten Island, and a residency at Brooklyn Studios for Dance, and an EtM Choreographer + Composer Residencies in partnership with the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) "Everything you have is yours?" was developed through research conducted and taught at Kolot Chayeinu Children's Learning Program in Brooklyn, NY.

Each year, The Theater at the 14th Street Y presents the residency program LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture. The goal is to support Jewish art and culture by providing the space, time, and resources needed to create new work. At the core of LABA's mission is the belief that classical Jewish text study can and should be a source of inspiration and creativity for contemporary culture-makers and thinkers. All of the public art created through LABA aims to transcend cultural and social borders by bringing to light the universal themes and questions that our artists encounter through their engagement with Jewish thought.

LABA brings together ten fellows to study classic Jewish texts in a non-religious, open-minded setting centered on a chosen theme - this year's theme, chosen by Lead Teacher Liel Leibovitz , is WAR+PEACE. Commentary and elucidation is provided by Resident Scholar Ruby Namdar. Inspired by the fourteen study sessions of the fellowship, the Fellows share their new works with the public with DRUNK and in the LABAlive Series at the 14th Street Y. About The Theater at the 14th Street Y The Theater at the 14th Street Y focuses on social awareness and change through big picture narrative. Inspired by works that welcome artists of all backgrounds, we place artists at the heart of our community and seek to create an inclusive and open cultural experience for all. Art is incubated here.

The 14th Street Y's philosophy is grounded in the belief that contemporary Jewish sensibilities can be a source of inspiration, connection and learning. No matter what your background, we aim to inspire you to live your best life. We're committed to the development of the whole person, to strengthening family connections and to building inclusive and sustainable communities. The 14th Street Y serves more than 20,000 people annually with a variety of community programs and is proud to be a part of Educational Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a 128-year history of serving New Yorkers downtown.

Full Season Tickets and detailed information on shows available at www.14streety.org/tickets.