In alignment with A Noise Within's (ANW) season theme of Spirits Rising, Noise Now will further expand its reach for fall 2020 by partnering with ten Los Angeles cultural arts organizations for ten events beginning in late August through the beginning of January. The fall season was announced last week via Facebook Live by ANW Director of Cultural Programming Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx. Launched in February 2019 and now in its second year, Noise Now is a cultural initiative by A Noise Within aimed at sharing artistic resources and producing events that are radically accessible to all audiences, including underrepresented groups, communities of color, young people, and anyone who may not be equitably represented in theatre.
"Noise Now and A Noise Within are committed to making classic theatre as accessible and inclusive as possible," said Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx. "In alignment with our season theme, Spirits Rising, these fall projects celebrate stories of rising from the ashes, rebirth, and confronting the ghosts of our past. These characters-like all of us today-are on the precipice of transformation. Whether it be losing a cherry orchard, surviving a war, or defending one's innocence, the stories this fall celebrate the resilience in us all."Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Rule My World is a modern retelling of William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Set in a dystopian future, it incorporates diverse musical genres such as spoken word, pop, R&B, Latin, Techno, and Hip-Hop. The show was adapted by local award-winning actor and writer, Karole Foreman and Emmy Award-winning composer, Allan Phillips.
Oct. 23 at 7 p.m and Oct. 25 at 1 p.m.
Presented with MKM Bollystars Dance Company
MKM Bollystars returns for their third collaboration with Noise Now, this time re-envisioning Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale through Indian classical dance. Recognizing the parallel experiences of Hermione from The Winter's Tale, and Sita from the Ramayana, choreographers Shalini Bathina and Shivani Thakkar bring a new creation delving into Her Story. Bollystars has roots in a rich dance heritage as an offspring of the well-established and recognized Bharata Natyam (Indian classical) dance institution Manu Kala Mandir (MKM) Dance Productions and Academy.
Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Presented with Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble
Vanye, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's adaptation of the Chekhov classic,a??Uncle Vanya, takes on issues of gentrification, exploring our complicated relationships with corporations, community, and social capital in "developing" spaces. For Chisholm: "Uncle Vanya is a story about limitations. It's about people who understand, in their bodies, that they aren't entitled to anything-least of all happiness. But never-the-less, they persevere. In order to truly capture this feeling of hopelessness and endurance, the adaptation must center around a black family living in my hometown: St. Louis." Chisholm is a National New Play Network Affiliated Artist, and has received the 2018 Smith Prize for Political Theater for Vanye, a commission award established in 2006 by Timothy Jay Smith and a group of socially conscious donors to encourage emerging playwrights to tackle the pressing issues of our times.
Nov. 13-15
Presented with UCLA's Diversifying the Classics Project
Founded in 2018 and organized by UCLA's Diversifying the Classics project, LA Escena is a biennial festival dedicated to Hispanic classical theater. In 2020, LA Escena will bring new plays and partners to A Noise Within, with exciting performances celebrating the Hispanic heritage of Southern California and connecting today's audiences to a more diverse vision of the past. In partnership with Playwrights' Arena, the festival will feature Golden Tongues, adaptations of Hispanic classical theater by LA writers.
Dec. 5 & 6 at 1:30 p.m.
The Cherry Orchard has always been a play about time-how it affects not only people, but also places. In this new adaptation, conceived and directed by Satya Bhabha, the central family are Latinx landowners in California, struggling with the onslaught of gentrification and urban expansion. The play embraces the eccentric comedy of Chekhov's text, while also examining the heartbreaking fragility at the heart of these characters-nostalgia isn't an affliction reserved for the rich and white. Join us for a deeply moving, funny, and unexpected work-in-progress showing of this new adaptation.
Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Presented with Elan Ensemble
A beach between worlds. Freedom and captivity. Death and life. Fate and free will. Things known and unknown. Five women wait on the shore of their homeland ravaged by war, and reflect on the events that brought them here. Developed in 2014 by the USC MFA Acting class and director David Bridel, this adaptation of Euripides' Trojan Women is raw, poignant, and at times hysterical-a carnival of memory that asks the question: Who are we, after everything we know has been stripped away from us? Drawing from improv and mythology, the ensemble created a world where movement explodes off the stage. This contemporary version of the epic story illuminates themes such as the cost of war and its effects on women, fate, duty, power dynamics, and sexual politics between men and women. Realizing the true potential of devised theatre, Trojan Women is one not to be missed.
A Staged Reading with Unbound Productions • Jan. 2 at 7:30 p.m.Jan. 2 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Jan. 3 at 2 p.m.
A timely comedy about those of us who ride the edge between the culture of our immigrant parents and the culture of our home: America. Every ethnicity can relate to the feeling that their parents and families are a little "weird" (that's a nice word) during the holidays when compared to the traditional American Christmases fed to us on TV. Three comedian friends: Sandra Valls (Showtime's Latin Divas of Comedy), Maria Russell (MTV's Teen Wolf), and Diana Yanez (Margaret Cho's Sensuous Woman) show us with their personal tales that every family has its own hilarious peculiarities, everyone wants to belong, and everyone-regardless of their background-has a hard time at some point in their life. After sold out shows last holiday season, A Noise Within welcomes Latina Christmas Special back to our stage for three performances only!
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