Public Theater Launches UNDER THE RADAR Festival, 1/9

By: Nicole Rosky Jan. 02, 2013

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham; UTR Festival Director, Mark Russell) will begin performances for the 2013 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL on Wednesday, January 9. Now in its ninth year, this acclaimed downtown festival committed to tracking new theater from across the U.S. and around the world will run for 12 days through January 20 at The Public Theater at Astor Place. Excluding Life and Times, all single tickets to UTR shows are $20; Member tickets are $15.

The UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL will again offer the "UTR Pack," which grants admission to any five shows (except Taylor Mac and Life and Times) for only $75. Discounted tickets to Life and Times will also be available for Public Theater Members and "UTR Pack" holders. Single tickets may be purchased at The Public Theater Box Office at 425 Lafayette Street; online at www.publictheater.org or by phone at 212-967-7555.

For the first time, this acclaimed annual festival will take place entirely at The Public Theater's home on Lafayette Street. A late night Festival Lounge in The Public's lobby and Shiva Theater for artists and audiences to gather after performances will also be offered. During the festival, where more than 90 performances will be presented in a 12-day marathon of theater, The Library at The Public will also be open nightly for food and drink, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe's Pub will continue to offer some of the best music in the city.

The Festival Lounge, located in The Public's Shiva Theater and newly revitalized lobby, will offer a place for patrons and artists of the festival to come together, create new connections, and exchange ideas. The lounge will also feature DJs and a cash bar beginning Thursday, January 10 at 9:30 p.m. to late night. Dates of the lounge are January 10-14 and 17-20, 9:30 p.m. to late night.

COMPLETE LINE-UP FOR UNDER THE RADAR (JANUARY 9 - 20, 2013):

Hollow Roots
January 10-20 (Running Time: 55 minutes)
Christina Anderson and Lileana Blain-Cruz (USA)

Written by Christina Anderson
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Performed by April Matthis
$20 Tickets

In Hollow Roots, a woman traverses a nameless urban landscape plagued by a question: can a person of color have a "neutral narrative"? A spare and intimate setting evolves into a vivid world painted in detailed observations and marked by memories, music, maps, and circumstance. Tapping into the rich and complicated genre of one person plays by writers such as Wallace Shawn and Spalding Gray, Hollow Roots asks the question - can someone live a life unaffected by one's race or gender?

Ganesh Versus the Third Reich
January 9-14 (Running Time: 105 minutes)
Back to Back Theatre (Australia)
Directed by Bruce Gladwin
Devised by Mark Deans, Marcia Ferguson, Bruce Gladwin, Simon Laherty, Scott Price, Kate Sulan, Brian Tilley, and David Woods
$20 Tickets

Wed. Jan 9th 8pm| Thurs. Jan 10th 8pm| Sat. Jan 12th 8pm| Sun. Jan 13th 1pm| Mon. Jan 14th 7pm

Last seen at UTR in 2008 with small metal objects, Back to Back returns with a beautiful and disarming production, full of vulnerability. Ganesh Versus the Third Reich begins with the elephant-headed god Ganesh traveling through Nazi Germany to reclaim the Swastika, an ancient Hindu symbol. As this intrepid hero embarks on his journey, a second narrative is revealed: the actors themselves begin to feel the weighty responsibility of storytellers and question the ethics of cultural appropriation.

Formed in 1987 and led by director Bruce Gladwin, Back to Back Theatre has developed a reputation for its unique ability to present the issues of our times with a distinct outsider focus. Previous works include Soft, Food Court, Mental, and Dog Farm.

Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker
January 15-20 (Running Time: 85 minutes)
Belarus Free Theatre (Belarus/UK)
Concept, Adaptation and Direction by Uladizmir Shcherban
Devised by Belarus Free Theatre
Originally co-produced by Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, and "Fuel" Theatre Company (UK)
$20 Tickets

Performed in Russian and Belarusian with English supertitles.

Sat. Jan 19th 7pm| Sun. Jan 20th 8pm|

If scars are sexy, Minsk is the sexiest city in the world. In Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker, strip clubs, underground raves and gay pride parades pulse beneath the surface of a city where sexuality is twisted by oppression. In this raw and provocative production, BFT presents a potent lament for a country that has lost its way.

Belarus Free Theatre brought us Being Harold Pinter, Zone of Silence, and Discover Love and returns to New York and UTR with their newest award-winning production.

Blood Play
January 9-20 (Running Time: 75 minutes)

The Debate Society (USA)
Written by Paul Thureen and Hannah Bos
Directed and developed by Oliver Butler
$20 Tickets

In the tranquil Chicago suburbs in the early 1950s, the kids are away camping with their Jr. Cherokee Troop, and a string of coincidences yields a spontaneous grown-up party. In the basement of a brand-new ranch house, exotic cocktails like "Rapupu Sours" are sampled, games like "Bee Pee Bo" are played and new friends like Jeep, the door-to-door photographer, are made. But things are happening that no one is talking about, and something is stirring underground. For their seventh full-length work, the New York based company The Debate Society (Buddy Cop 2) has created a darkly comic thriller of post-war verve and pre-adolescent disquiet.

C'est du Chinois

January 9-16 (Running Time: 80 minutes)
Edit Kaldor (Hungary/Netherlands)

$20 Tickets

Performed in Mandarin with no supertitles.

Sun. Jan 13th 3pm| Mon. Jan 14th 7pm| Wed. Jan 16th 9:30pm|

"Thank you for your interest to learn Mandarin. It is a good investment of your time." Meet the Yao and Lu families from Shanghai, determined to reinvent themselves in a new country. The only language they speak is Mandarin, but that will not stand in the way of a productive exchange with their audience. In this highly original production, we learn basic comprehension of the Mandarin language, just enough to decipher their unfolding story. "C'est du Chinois" is a French expression, meaning "it's all Greek to me" (literally, "it's Chinese"), indicating that something is impossible to understand. The equivalent of this idiom in Mandarin is ??????? (literally, "sound like Mars language").

Netherlands based Hungarian director Edit Kaldor is recognized internationally as a unique voice in the Contemporary Theatre landscape for her work that mixes documentary and fictional elements.

Arguendo (Work in Progress)
January 12-14 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
Elevator Repair Service (USA)

Directed by John Collins
Created and performed by Elevator Repair Service
$20 Tickets

One of New York's most highly acclaimed theater companies, Elevator Repair Service (GATZ; The Sound and the Fury, April Seventh, 1928) presents their latest work in progress - Arguendo. In Barnes v. Glen Theatre, a 1991 First Amendment case brought by a group of go-go dancers, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court debate whether dancing naked in a strip club is an exercise of artistic expression or a crime. In Arguendo, ERS presents the case's oral argument, verbatim, revealing a compelling intellectual struggle and the court's often-absurd sense of humor. There will be a 20-minute talk back following every show, included in the price of admission.

Hamlet, Prince of Grief
January 10-20 (Running Time: 30 minutes)
Leev Theater Group (Iran)
Directed by Mohammad Aghebati
Written by Mohammad Charmshir
$20 Tickets

Performed in Farsi with English supertitles.

Using household objects and children's toys to play out his family's history of betrayal and death, in Hamlet, Prince of Grief, Shakepeare's tragic hero comes to terms with his violent fate through an obsessive retelling of the moments that preceded the tragedy.

Featuring acclaimed Iranian actor, Afshin Hashemi, Hamlet, Prince of Grief was first presented in Iran by Leev Theater Group and chosen as Iran's "Best Theater Group" by the Critics and Writers Association of Iran's Theater House and was named Tehran's "Best Theater Group" by the Dramatic Arts Center.

A 20th Century Abridged Concert of the History of Popular Music

One Night Only: January 11 (Running Time: 90 minutes)

Taylor Mac (USA)

Over the next two years, a bedazzled creature builds a community by singing 24 concerts of the last 24 decades of popular music. Ultimately all 24 concerts will be stitched together culminating in a 24-hour long extravaganza. To help prepare for the big concert, Taylor Mac, called "one of the most exciting theater artists of our time," by Time Out New York, and his band will be performing an abridged version: music from the 20th century.

Fri. Jan 11th 8pm

Life and Times: Episodes 1-4
January 16-20 (Running Time: Episode 1, 3 hours 15 minutes with a 15 minute intermission; Episode 2, 2 hours; Episodes 3 & 4, 2 hours 30 minutes. Marathon runs 10 hours 15 minutes including three breaks).

Nature Theater of Oklahoma (USA)
Conceived and directed by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper
Produced by Soho Rep
$25 Tickets per episode, $60 Tickets for marathon performances for Public Theater Members and UTR Pack Holders
$30 Tickets per episode, $70 Tickets for marathon performances

Episode 1: Wed. Jan 16th 7:30pm| Episode 2: Thurs. Jan 17th 7:30pm| Episodes 3 & 4: Fri. Jan 18th 7:30pm|

Marathon (all four episodes, includes three breaks): Sun. Jan 20th 2pm|

The Public Theater presents the Soho Rep production of the American premiere of Nature Theater of Oklahoma's Life and Times: Episodes 1-4 as a special engagement of the 2013 Under the Radar Festival. It will continue to run through February 2, 2013 at The Public Theater following the close of the Festival.

When can the ordinary become extraordinary and the mundane monumental? "Epic stories need epic forms," says Nature Theater of Oklahoma, making their triumphant homecoming with this bold, exuberant 11-hour celebration of the most epic story of all: life. Life and Times: Episodes 1-4 charts one person's account of their own life from earliest memory through adolescence through music, movement, and mystery. It's about you, too!

2 Dimensional Life of Her
January 10-20 (Running Time: 40 minutes)
Fleur Elise Noble (Australia)
Concept, direction, set Design, and performance by Fleur Elise Noble
Produced by Insite Arts
$20 Tickets

An enchanting mix of drawing, animation, puppetry, projection and paper, 2 Dimensional Life of Her is a richly imagined performance installation set in an artist's studio. Fleur Elise Noble creates a parallel world in which everything thought to be flat becomes something else. In this illusionary, captivating and cheeky work, visual tensions build and realities pile up - until the artist loses control of her creations and absolutely anything becomes possible...

Zero Cost House
January 10-20 (Running Time: 110 minutes)
Pig Iron Theatre Company and Toshiki Okada (USA/Japan)

Directed by Dan Rothenberg

$20 Tickets

A stripped-down work of anti-theater from Pig Iron Theatre Company (Chekhov Lizardbrain) and Toshiki Okada (Hot Pepper..., Enjoy); Zero Cost House is a meditation on how Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond changed a man's life; on the disruptions and re-imaginings that accompany a national disaster; and on the uneasy compromises between radical idealism and contemporary living. An unusual, cerebral work of autobiography brings together Okada's sly, idiosyncratic writing and Pig Iron's precise, physical performance spirit.

ToasT
One Performance Only: January 19 (Running Times: 90 minutes)
Lemon Andersen (USA)
Written by Lemon Andersen
Directed by Elise Thoron
Free Tickets. Call (212) 967-7555.

A reading of Andersen's new play, ToasT, celebrates the poetic history of black oral narratives called "toasts" and re-imagines Dolomite, Stackolee, Annabelle Jones, Jesse James and other legendary folklore heroes in Attica prison where a riot is brewing.

Sat. Jan 19th 12pm

For a full listing of generous support for Under The Radar Festival productions, please visit www.undertheradarfestival.com

Under The Radar Professional Symposium
January 10-11

The Professional Symposium is a two-day event on January 10 and 11, featuring a chance to see full productions of the festival shows as well as keynote speakers and expert panel discussions. Attendance at the Symposium is strictly limited to presenting and producing professionals in the field. For more information on the Symposium, please contact Associate Artistic Producer Meiyin Wang at mwang@publictheater.org.

The Under The Radar Professional Symposium is a pre-conference event of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Arts Presenters) and is held in conjunction with the APAP|NYC 2013 conference. With over 1,900 members worldwide, Arts Presenters is the largest national service and advocacy organization dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together through presenting and touring. For more information on this year's conference and Arts Presenters, visit www.apapnyc.org.

OK Radio

January 9-20
Nature Theater of Oklahoma (USA)

NTOK has launched their own OK Radio podcast: long form conversations in the spirit of the radio conversations of John Cage and Morton Feldman. Listen in as they talk with artists and curators from around the world during Under The Radar. Nothing is off limits. Free at www.okradio.org.

Arches & Light: A History Tour of 425 Lafayette Street
January 11-19
For times and reservation information, please visit www.undertheradarfestival.com

The history of The Public Theater's downtown home is replete with landmark architecture and landmark cultural events, hidden artifacts and secret passages, theater ghosts, soldier stories, immigrant legacies, and the dazzling results of a $40 million renovation. On this tour, the theater's resident historian David Loewy takes audiences through the building's six performance spaces as well as its 163-year history.

Videos

Email:
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Public Theater Launches UNDER THE RADAR Festival, 1/9

LATEST NEWS