Theater Mitu Will Host The World Premiere of REMNANT

Theater Mitu (Rubén Polendo, Founding Artistic Director; Justin Nestor, Associate Artistic Director; J.J. El-Far, General Manager), is proud to present the world premiere of Remnant. Created by collaborating artists Rubén Polendo, Justin Nestor, Denis Butkus, Michael Littig, Scott Spahr, Corey Sullivan, Ada Westfall, Kayla Asbell, Attilio Rigotti, Alex Hawthorn, and Xiao Quan, and directed by Rubén Polendo, Remnant begins performances at Theater Mitu (580 Sackett St, Brooklyn, NY 11217) on Friday, August 24, for a limited run through Friday, September 14, 2018.

"War is inevitable - but there are miracles. Every day millions of people die, yet we live as if death will never touch us."

-St. Vyasa, The Mahabharata

These words sit at the heart of one of the greatest epic poems- a meditation on war, death, and loss. Its core question is of a particular resonance: what should we fight for and why?

Over the past three years, in an attempt to understand this exact question, Theater Mitu has gathered hours of interviews with a range of communities worldwide: current and past members of military forces; citizens who have been directly affected by war; people diagnosed with terminal illness and their families; doctors, nurses, police, spiritual leaders, scholars, teachers, mental health professionals, and artists. As they touch upon, come to the edge of, and often confront death, each interview becomes a portrait of what is left behind - a remnant.

The result is a new work- part performance, part visual art installation. Engaging Theater Mitu's interdisciplinary practice, this piece interjects interviews with found text, technology, and image. In Remnant, the stage is no longer a static place of representation, but one of polyvocal transmission. Building upon the style developed by the company in Juárez (2014), the performers challenge the idea of character and narrative, and instead become potent transmitters of image and voice.

Through the use of multiple performance installations and an individually delivered audio experience, Remnant invites audiences to witness and affirm how loss can scar us, shape us, and at times propel us towards change-towards understanding what we should fight for and why.

The piece will be the first show to open in Theater Mitu's new arts space in Gowanus, Brooklyn. After a seven-year residency at the NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center in the Middle-East, Theater Mitu has transformed an old warehouse into a new multi-use arts space performance venue, solidifying it as a major voice in this burgeoning arts-focused area of New York City.

Tickets are $25 General Admission, $15 for Students, and can be purchased at www.artful.ly. Tickets to post-show roundtable discussions on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays can be added to the price of any ticket for $20. The performance schedule for Remnant is as follows: Tuesday-Thursday at 7:30pm; Friday-Saturday at 8pm; Saturday-Sunday at 3pm.

ABOUT THEATER MITU

Founded in 1997, Theater Mitu has earned a wide reputation as an adventuresome and dynamic ensemble of artists. Under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Rubén Polendo, the Company is committed to challenging the parameters of theater research and practice. Theater Mitu's work is situated in the tension between acting and performance, theatrical design and installation, multi-media and interactive technology. Their practice investigates trans-global performance; interdisciplinary collaborative models; the performativity of non-violence; the geopolitics of objects; contemporary mythology; artist training, ritual and the sacred. Its considerable body of work has taken on a variety of forms: developmental and production work with some of the world's leading theatrical innovators, research and pedagogical work with renowned universities and conservatories, engagement with non-theatrical communities, and international trainings and research initiatives with leaders in the field.

Theater Mitu's work has been presented and developed nationally at New York Theater Workshop, The Public Theater, Lincoln Center, The Skirball Center, Alliance Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, The Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, McCarter Theater, South Coast Rep, Sundance, Watermill Center and Z Space among others as well as internationally including The Cairo Opera House (Egypt), Centro Cultural Paso Del Norte (Mexico), Duoc UC (Chile), Kontakt Festival (Poland), Mansion Blatt (Lebanon), Blackbox (Mongolia), The NYUAD Arts Center (UAE), Patravadi Arts Center (Thailand) and Visthar (India). Recent recognitions include funding from CEC Artslink, MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, NY Cultural Development Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, NEFA's National Theater Project, New York University, NYSCA, Trust for Mutual Understanding and US Department of State.

To post a comment, you must register and login.