Taylor Mac and More to Take Part in The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center's SEGAL TALKS

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center has announced the first weekly line-up of its new global series SEGAL TALKS.

New York, US, and international theatre artists, curators, researchers and academics will talk for one hour with Segal Center's director Frank Hentschker about life and art in the Time of Corona and speak about challenges, sorrows, and hopes for the new Weltzustand--the State of the World.

A daily one-hour LIVE online talk from Monday to Friday -- about making art and making sense in the Time of Corona.

The newly introduced SEGAL TALKSare in English, ad-free and will be live-streaming on www.HowlRound.comas well as on the Segal Center YouTube Channel. Each session will raise money for a theatre artist or a company. In collaboration with HowlRound Theatre Commons, based at Emerson College.

The first weekly program, starting March 30th, will feature:

Taylor Mac & Kristin Martin (New York); Mok Chiu Yu (Hong Kong) + Hanchen Feng, Shuyi Liao (China); Thomas Ostermeier (Germany); Marco Martinelli & Ermanna Montanari Teatro delle Albe (Italy); Toshiki Okada (Japan) and Meredith Monk (New York)

SEGAL TALKS was conceived, created and curated by Frank Hentschker in March 2020.

SEGAL TALKS has been made possible by the support of Susan and Jack Rudin(†), the Hearst Foundation, and Marvin Carlson, Sidney E. Cohn Chair, The Graduate Center CUNY.

For more information on the SEGAL TALKS, please visit www.theSegalCenter.org

WEEK 1 SCHEDULE

MONDAY, MARCH 30

12 noon, EDT New York Time, www.HowlRound.com

Opening Session: Taylor Mac & Kristin Martin (New York)

New York Theatre artists Taylor Mac & Kristin Martin (HERE Arts Center) will talk about the New York situation and TRICKLE UP, an initiative where over 50 New York theatre artists and over 20 theatre organizations help their peers living below the poverty line. They share videos on new subscription-based site, counteracting the loss of income in the COVID-19 pandemic. The video streaming service launched Monday, March 23, at www.trickleup.uscreen.io

TUESDAY, MARCH 31

12 noon, EDT New York Time, www.HowlRound.com

Mok Chiu Yu (Hong Kong) + Hanchen Feng andShuyi Liao(Beijing, China)

Join us for an update on the situation for theatre artists in Hong Kong / China

Mok Chiu Yuhasbeen a tireless promoter of performance art in Hong Kong - introducing in the early 1990s Seiji Shimoda's performances to Hong Kong, staging overseas and Chinese performance artists, and organizing many performance art festivals in Hong Kong, collaborating with Sanmu, Yuenjie, Ko Siu Lan etc. He himself is a performance artist - having performed in Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Beijing, Macau, Yangoon, Chingmai, Linz, Cologne, Basle.

Shuyi Liaois a theatre director, performer, and choreographer, graduated from Beijing Dance Academy and obtained a Master of Arts degree from Queensland University of Technology. She is the co-founder of Beijing Contact Improvisation (BJCI), Touch Contact Improvisation Art Festival, and the artistic director of Urban Body Nomadic Project. Enthusiastic about movement research, her experience is applied to performances, performer training, theatre directing, and community communication.

Hanchen Fengis a dramaturge, researcher and award-wining playwright based in Beijing. He has collaborated with several influential Mainland directors to expand the definition of theatre through experimentations with its content and form, seeking to bridge the gap between theory and practice. In the past years, he worked as a visiting scholar in New York and London, focusing on avant-garde performances.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 1st

12 noon, EDT New York Time, www.HowlRound.com

Thomas Ostermeier, (Berlin, Germany)
Join us for an update on the situation in Germany with Schaubühne Berlin's influential artistic director Thomas Ostermeier-one of the world's most recognized German theatre-makers of today. Since 1999, at the age of only thirty-two, he has become the Artistic Director of Schaubühne Berlin and since 2005, he has also been Professor for Directing at the Ernst Busch Academy. He is best known for his acclaimed and worldwide touring productions like Hedda Gabler, Hamlet, An Enemy of the People, RICHARD III, and Returning to Reims.

THURSDAY, APRIL 2

12 noon, EDT New York Time, www.HowlRound.com

Marco Martinelli & Ermanna Montanari; Teatro delle Albe (Ravenna, Italy)

Join us for an update on the situation in Italy with Teatro delle Albe

Marco Martinelli, playwright and director, founded with Ermanna Montanari the Teatro delle Albe in Ravenna (1983), one of the most respected Italian theatre companies. Martinelli has been awarded numerous prizes including: seven Ubu Prizes; the Drammaturgia In/Finita Prize; the Hystrio Prize and others. His texts have been published and staged in France, Belgium, Germany, Romania, U.S.A., Et al.

Ermanna Montanari is an actress, author and set designer, known best for her extraordinary itinerary of vocal and musical research, the subject of several books and essays in multiple languages. Awards include seven Ubu Prizes, the Golden Laurel-international Festival Mess; the Lo straniero Prize-dedicated to the memory of Carmelo Bene; the Eleonora Duse Prize, a.o. Presented in collaboration with Umanism, Italian Playwright Project, Valeria Orani (Director).

FRIDAY, APRIL 3rd

12 noon, EDT New York Time, www.HowlRound.com

Toshiki Okada (Japan)

Join us for an update on the situation in Japan with Toshiki Okada-one of the world's most recognized theatre-makers of today. His company chelfitsch, where he writes and directs all of its productions, was founded in 1997. The troupe is applauded for its unique use of language and physicality, and is widely considered, both inside and outside Japan, as one of the leaders of contemporary theater. chelfitsch made its debut abroad with a performance of Five Days in March in 2007 and has since performed works in more than 70 cities around the world. Okada moved his family left Tokyo after the Fukushima disaster.

Thursday, APRIL 9th

12 noon, EDT New York Time, www.HowlRound.com

Meredith Monk

Join us for a conversation with New York artist Meredith Monk. Considered one of the most unique and influential artists of our time, Monk has been a pioneer of interdisciplinary work for over 50 years. Her award-winning films have screened world-wide and on PBS, and her music has been used by filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard, Terrence Malick, David Byrne, The Coen brothers, among others. Monk has made more than a dozen recordings on the ECM label, including the 2008 Grammy-nominated Impermanence. Recent honors include the 2017 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize and a 2015 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos