Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Sets Spring 2016 Season

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, located at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, announces its Spring 2016 season of public programs. The season successfully launched with The Second Annual Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (February 25 + 26), a yearly event that celebrates the themes of theatre and performance on the screen. The season continues with free public programs throughout the fall and winter, featuring contemporary theatre and performing artists from around the world.

Highlights from the Segal Center's SPRING 2016 season of programs include:

Playwright Wolfram Lotz (Germany), The Ridiculous Darkness, March 21: Germany's much lauded emerging playwright will be at The Segal Center to talk about his work and the contemporary German theater scene. His play, The Ridiculous Darkness, is inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and current events. Mining the absurdities of our postcolonial world, Wolfram Lotz sheds light on western society's inability to comprehend the realities of distant warzones and global trade. In collaboration with The Goethe-Institut (Dr. Wenzel Bilger, Director of Cultural Programs North America), the Segal Center presents a staged reading of The Ridiculous Darkness, directed by Big Dance Theater Co-Artistic Director Paul Lazar, followed by a discussion with the playwright Wolfram Lotz.

The New Black Fest, Revolutionary Writing, April 4: New York's extraordinary theatre company The New Black Fest commissioned new writing on the contemporary meaning of Revolutionto explore how writers can find revolutionary ways to permanently bring equity to everyone, everywhere. Keith Josef Adkins, The New Black Fest's Artistic Director writes: "The evening will bring together some of our community's most brilliant and incisive minds for a town hall gathering to lay out how we as a community can help to bring equity."

Spalding Gray, A Celebration of His Life and Work, April 11: Theater critics John Willis and Ben Hodges described iconic New York actor and writer Spalding Gray's monologue work as"trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." This all day celebration of his life and work will feature screenings of his work on film and an evening program that will present excerpts of his writing from Spalding Gray-Stories Left to Tell. All-day screenings, followed by an evening panel that will include Kathy Russo and Lucy Sexton.

Kris Verdonck (Flanders/Belgium), Listen to the Bloody Machine, May 25: Kris Verdonck's creations are eclectic works that utilize visual arts mediums, theatre, performance, installations, dance, and architecture. Verdonck will showcase his body of work and discuss its impact on the contemporary stage with Professor Peter Eckersall (The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Kristof van Baarle.

All events are presented at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016). Events are ALWAYS FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. NO RESERVATIONS. All programs are subject to change. For updates, please visit www.theSegalCenter.org.