The Segal Center's Fall 2015 Season to Feature New Black Fest, Theatre from Italy & More

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, located at the Graduate Center City University of New York, announces its Fall 2015/Winter 2016 season of public programs. The season will launch with the twelfth annual PRELUDE Festival (October 7, 8 & 9), an always thought-provoking and engaging first look at the latest in New York City downtown experimental performance scene. 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 Fall 2015 season of programs include:

· The New Black Fest: Un-Tamed: Hair, Body, Attitude, October 19: Theatre visionaries The New Black Fest (with guest curator, award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau) commissioned five Black women playwrights to participate and dig deeper into the national conversation around Black womanhood and social perceptions of Black femininity, providing Black women a creative platform to personalize these issues.

· Fassbinder and the Stage, November 16: An afternoon of film screenings related to the theatre work of legendary German filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Then in the evening, a discussion about Fassbinder, the stage, and his influence on the current generation of theatre makers.

· Richard Schechner Day, November 30: An all-day retrospective on the life and work of lauded director, teacher, theorist, writer, editor, and founder of the Performance Group and East Coast Artists, Richard Schechner. This rare presentation, in recognition of his 80th birthday last year, highlights a day-long exploration of Schechner's work featuring screenings, panel discussions, featuring Schechner reading selections from his poetry and fiction, as well as entries from five decades worth of notebooks.

· Performance Robot Dramaturgy-Tokyo/New York, December 3: The Segal Center's investigation into Performance Robot Dramaturgy. Influential Japanese theatre artists Keisuke Takahashi and Mikuni Yanihara (Nibroll), will join Marianne Weems (The Builders Association) in discussion, as they examine new concepts of the dialogue between man and machine.

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

FALL SCHEDULE

October 7-9
PRELUDE 2015
Times Vary. Full Schedule at www.preludenyc.org

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY presents the twelfth annual PRELUDE Festival. Dedicated to artists and companies at the forefront of contemporary New York City theatre and performance, PRELUDE 2015 features an array of over 25 artists working in theatrical and interdisciplinary performance. The festival gives audiences and artists a survey of the current New York moment via in-process presentations, installations, and discussions.

Monday, October 19
The New Black Fest: Un-Tamed: Hair, Body, Attitude
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Reading

In the tradition of Facing Our Truth: Short Plays on Trayvon, Race, and Privilege and HANDS UP: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments, The New Black Fest (with guest curator, playwright Dominique Morisseau) commissioned five Black women playwrights to participate and dig deeper into the national conversation around Black womanhood and social perceptions of Black femininity, providing Black women a creative platform to personalize these issues. The playwrights include Jocelyn Bioh, Chisa Hutchinson, Lenelle Moïse, Nikkole Salter, and Cori Thomas. Readings will be followed by a discussion with the playwrights, The New Black Fest's dynamic Artistic Director Keith Josef Adkins.

Monday, October 26
TCG: Publishing for the Theatre
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Discussion

Join us for an evening celebrating the work of Theatre Communication Group's publishing wing with publisher Terry Nemeth, Robert Weinert-Kendt (new editor of American Theatre magazine), and Kameron Steele (editor and translator of Tadashi Suzuki's Culture Is the Body). Nemeth will highlight TCG's unique contributions to the American landscape of theatre and introduce Weinert-Kendt, who will outline his vision for American Theatre magazine. The evening will also feature a discussion of Culture is the Body, the writings of legendary theatre director Tadashi Suzuki, who will join the conversation via Skype.

Monday, November 2
Contemporary Theatre from Argentina: Matías Umpierrez
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Reading

Join us for an evening with one of Latin America's most innovative emerging theatre directors, Matías Umpierrez (Buenos Aires)-a multidisciplinary artist who produces works in theatrical, audiovisual, and curatorial formats in theatres, museums, and non-conventional spaces around the world. In addition to readings by Debbie Saivetz and April Sweeney, there will be a discussion with Matías Umpierrez led by GC CUNY professor and translator Jean Graham-Jones.

Monday, November 9
Contemporary Theatre from Brazil
6:30pm, Segal Theatre

Reading

Discover contemporary Brazilian playwriting at the Segal Center in a unique presentation of new plays from Brazil: Fluxorama by Jô Bilac, Galápagos by Renata Mizrahi, The Meal by Newton Moreno, and A Porta da Frente by Julia Spadaccini. The readings will be followed by a panel discussion with the visiting playwrights. The readings are co-curated by Brazilian producer Marcia Abujamra, in collaboration with Tom Sellar (editor of Yale's Theater magazine) and Claudia Tatinge Nascimento, guest co-editor of Theater magazine's special fall edition on contemporary Brazilian dramas in newly commissioned English translations.

Monday, November 16
Fassbinder and the Stage
All Day, Segal Theatre

Screenings, Readings, and Discussion

A day honoring the work of legendary German filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the leading force in the New German Cinema. The afternoon will feature screenings related to Fassbinder's theatre work. The evening features a discussion about Fassbinder, the stage, and his influence on the current generation of theatre makers. Co-curated by Antje Oegel. This event is made possible with generous support from Juliane Lorenz of the Fassbinder Foundation and Verlag der Autoren.

Monday, November 23
What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing

-The 2015 Daniel Gerould Memorial Lecture-
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Discussion

Join us in celebrating New York Times dance critic Brian Seibert's What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing, a book (7 years in the making) on the history of tap dance, which illuminates tap's complex origins and theatricalization.

Monday, November 30
Richard Schechner Day
9:00am, Segal Theatre

6:30pm, Elebash Recital Hall

Readings, Screenings, and Discussions

The Segal Center celebrates the work of Richard Schechner. This rare presentation highlights a day-long exploration of Schechner's (who celebrated his 80th birthday last year) work as a theatre director, teacher, theorist, writer, editor, and founder of the Performance Group and East Coast Artists. The evening will feature Schechner reading selections from his poetry and fiction, as well as entries from five decades worth of notebooks. The evening event is presented in collaboration with Karen Sander, Public Programs, The Graduate Center, CUNY.

Thursday, December 3
Performance Robot Dramaturgy-Tokyo/New York
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Discussion

The Segal Center's investigation into Performance Robot Dramaturgy, which examines new concepts of theatre through performance-based explorations of liveness and the dialogue between man and machine. Influential Japanese theatre artists Keisuke Takahashi and Mikuni Yanihara (Nibroll), will join with Marianne Weems (The Builders Association) and Japanese theatre and contemporary performance specialists Peter Eckersall (Professor of Theatre, GC CUNY), Shintaro Fujii (Waseda University/Tokyo), Cody Poulton (Victoria University/Canada), and Krisztina Rosner (Waseda University/Tokyo) to explore contemporary aesthetic practices of Performance Robot Dramaturgy. This event is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program.

Monday, December 7
Italian Playwrights Project
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Readings

The Segal Center, in collaboration with Italian Artistic Director Valeria Orani (369gradi/Italy and Umanism/NYC), has co-curated a new Italian translation, performance, and publishing initiative. Featuring excerpted readings of award-winning plays: Ce Ne Andiamo per non darvi altre preoccupazioni by Daria Deflorian & Antonio Tagliarini, Il Guaritore by Michele Santeramo, I Vicini by Fausto Paravidino, and Origine Del Mondo by Lucia Calamaro. Three of the four playwrights will be present for the readings. This event is made possible with support from the Italian Cultural Institute, New York. Translations by Ana Candida de Carvalho Carneiro & Raquel Almazan, Janice Capuana, and Jane House.

Monday, December 14
Gianina Carbunariu's Mihaela, the Tiger of Our Town (Romania)
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Reading

An evening of excerpted readings from internationally renowned playwright/director and enfant terrible Gianina Carbunariu's (Bucharest) play Mihaela, the Tiger of Our Town. In this fictional play inspired by a real event, a tiger escapes from a zoo and is shot after 3 hours of freedom in a neighboring forest. With an introduction by Cristina Modreanu, a curator, theater critic, and expert in performing arts based in Bucharest and New York. This event is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York.

Wednesday, December 16
Called to Account: The Indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair and George W. Bush for the Crime of Aggression Against Iraq-A Hearing.
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Reading

In a reading inspired by the Richard Norton-Taylor play (that famously put "Tony Blair" on trial for crimes against humanity), The Segal Center will present a new version (placing "George W. Bush" on the stand) that includes excerpts from Dianne Feinstein's CIA Torture Report (2014). Directed by Ashley Kelly Tata.

Monday, January 11
Lincoln Center Theater Review
6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Discussion

An evening celebrating the seminal literature and art journal Lincoln Center Theater Review. Founder and Co-Executive Editor John Guare will be joined by LCT Dramaturg and Co-Executive Editor Anne Cattaneo, Editor Alexis Gargagliano, Art Director Tamar Cohen and Picture Editor David Leopold, and others. The panel will showcase highlights from past issues, discuss the mission of the Review, and look back on their challenges and successes from almost two decades worth of collaboration.

January 25 + 26
Segal Film Festival on Theatre and Performance
All Day, Segal Theatre
Screenings

The international Segal Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP - Film Theatre Performance), now in its second year, presents experimental, emerging, and established theatre artists and filmmakers to audiences and industry professionals from around the world. The festival program includes feature films, short films, documentaries, advance screenings, meet-the-filmmaker Q&A sessions, and panels with leading artists in the field that deal directly, or indirectly, with themes of theatre and performance.