At last, The National Theater of the United States of America returns to Performance Space 122 with its triumphant educative spectacular CHAUTAUQUA!
In its own explosive style and rhythm, the NTUSA uses the historic narrative of the late 19th century adult education movement to explore ever prescient questions about art, education and commerce. The Chautauqua Circuit, a wildly popular lecture circuit that flourished across America from 1874 to the Great Depression, used lecture, debate, demonstration, and performance to spread ideas about history, science, art, culture and progressive politics from farmland to rural community in an attempt to strengthen the national fiber by educating and uplifting the common man. Embracing this mission, the NTUSA combines its own work with that of a revolving roster of guest scholars, artists and performers, as they attempt to disseminate their own status as artist and entertainers, and the figure out the place of art in our common culture of commerce.
SPECIAL UPDATE Nightly surprise guests & lecturers will include:
Mark Russell Founding Artistic Director, P.S. 122
Rich Maxwell Musical Intrigues
the Vintage DJ Time travelling with his VINYL grooves
Vallejo Gantner! Yep, today's Artistic Director of P.S. 122 makes his P.S. 122 debut
Jonathan Lethem Novelist, "Motherless Brooklyn"
Robert Zukerman Director, Theater Program, NYSCA; lecture on Henry Hudson & Samuel de Champlain, and the 400th anniversary of the "discovery" of New York, (September 2nd 1609)
Master prestidigitator Steve Cuiffo!
Kathleen Russo Producer, Washington Square Arts
Barbara Allen Tap dancing and canine feats of daring-do
Dalton Helms In conversation with his 96 year old landlord
Noah Lindquist Chemist and classical pianist playing Charles Ives Sonata no 4
Ethan Lipton Music and incidentals
Rollo Romig Journalist poised to reveal a series of strange and shocking truths about streets named after people in New York City
Samantha Hunt Author; will lecture about inventor Nicola Tesla and read an excerpt from her latest novel, The Invention of Everything Else
Juliana Francis Kelly Playwright and actor will give a lecture entitled "Facts collected by a scriptomaniac"
Greta Byrum Poet; Lecture on her great-great-great uncle Vitruvius Frazee and his father, her great-great-great-great grandfather John Frazee.
Zoe Rosenfeld Writer and editor will give a talk using quotations about New York to illuminate different facets of the city's character and history.
Edgar Oliver Legendary NYC playwright
BOXCAR Billy Burns and his puppet Horizontal John! A lecture on HOBO symbology
PLUS A grand semi-finale dance valentine to N.Y.C. furnished by Faye Driscoll & The Lafayettes (dance troupe's name at press time). Get your jazz-hands ready people!
ALSO NOTE: The next Winner of the Spalding Gray Award will be announced on Wednesday, March 4th during the performance of CHAUTAUQUA!. Kathie Russo, Spalding's widow, and her children will be part of the show that evening. Stay tuned.
Commissioned by the 2007 Spalding Gray Award, honoring innovative theatrical vision, Chautauqua! has been presented at the Walker Art Center, Vanderbilt University, the CUNY Graduate Center and the Collapsible Hole.The NTUSA is an ensemble theater company that democratically creates new works for traditional and non-traditional spaces. In the past seven years, their focus on theatrical environment has been matched by a devotion to the exploration of American history and the history of American entertainment. The NTUSA's theatrical creations are intensely visual and densely layered spectacles which are laced with the questions and arguments they bring to the exploration of each subject. This multiplicity of image and argument invites a complicit audience to engage with each piece as an active participant.
Recent History of NTUSAVideos