La MaMa Announces January Programming Featuring Bobbi Jene Smith, Santee Smith, Anabella Lenzu, and More

La MaMa has announced programming for January 2021. This month will feature In Process with Bobbi Jene Smith, a look at the artistic progress of Bobbi Jene Smith and the team behind her next work, Broken Theater. January will also include Downtown 2021, an exhibition that reveals the currents of new visual culture and the idea of a new downtown at La MaMa Galleria, curated by Sam Gordon and La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, which explores the creation/recreation of choreographing for an online platform, curated by Nicky Paraiso. La MaMa, in partnership with New York Theatre Workshop, will also present the Reflections of Native Voices Festival, featuring theatre, music and native dance performances by visionary Indigenous artists from across the country.

January will also see the continuation of La MaMa's Online Happenings programming, featuring LiveTalks:Take 14 with some of La MaMa's Resident Artists, Coffeehouse Chronicles Revisited: Ellen Stewart, Downtown Variety: Brazil Edition, and La MaMa Kids: Creative Dance Workshop.

The previously announced return of Last Gasp WFH, written and performed by
Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches and created in collaboration with Nao Nagai, Vivian Stoll and Morgan Thorson, will continue to be available On Demand through January 21, 2021.

La MaMa's 59th Season, "Breaking It Open," explores how new works are created, performed, and experienced during a pandemic. The season revolves around development residencies that are customized to the specific needs and processes of each artist. Each residency is customized to suit the artist, their unique vision, and where they are at in their creative work.

January 2021 will feature the following programming:

IN PROCESS WITH BOBBI JENE SMITH

By Resident Artist Bobbi Jene Smith

Filmed in the Ellen Stewart Theatre

January 15-17, 2021

Take a rare look into the artistic process of La MaMa's 59th Season Resident Artist, Bobbi Jene Smith, and the team behind the making of her next work, Broken Theater. The evening will showcase an excerpt from the work featuring five dances and four movements of music by Johann Paul von Westhoff, performed by violinist Keir GoGwilt.

This presentation goes backstage and onstage, exploring aspects of the process, and offers special conversations with some of the featured artists, including Or Schraiber, Mouna Soulem, Yiannis Logothetis, Emily Terndrup, Coleman Itzkoff, Julia Eichten, Vinson Fraley, Jesse Kovarsky and Derrick Belcham.

Performances are on Friday, January 15 and Saturday, January 16 at 7PM EST, and Sunday, January 17 at 12PM EST. Tickets are Pay What You Can starting at $5 and are available here lamama.org/in-process-with-bobbi-jene-smith.

DOWNTOWN 2021

Curated by Sam Gordon

La MaMa Galleria

January 4-30, 2021

DOWNTOWN 2021 takes its name from the film Downtown 81, which portrayed a day in the New York City of 1981 in all its glory. Forty years later, the exhibition acts as a sequel to the film, taking inspiration from downtown as an idea, a state of mind, and a generative space-rather than just a geographic location-and extending its scope beyond Manhattan to galleries in Brooklyn and Queens. The exhibition is composed of works by artists who have been included in current or previous exhibitions from a selection of over 25 galleries. An essay in two parts will accompany the exhibition; one on the artists and spaces in the exhibition, and the other on spaces from the recent past that have closed or are on hiatus, for a total of 50 spaces. Taken together, the spaces reveal the currents of new visual culture and the idea of a new downtown, taking shape through painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video, installation, and touching on themes of collaboration, liberation, dance, and bartending.

Co-presented by Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), and online video component is also available at downtown2021.eai.org.

Admission to exhibition is free. La MaMa Galleria is located at 47 Great Jones St and is open Fridays and Saturdays from 12pm-6pm and by appointment. For more information, please visit lamama.org/downtown-2021.

LA MAMA MOVES! DANCE FESTIVAL

Curated by Nicky Paraiso

January 19-27, 2021

La MaMa presents Café La MaMa Live: La MaMa Moves! Online, curated and hosted by Nicky Paraiso. This edition of Cafe La MaMa Live will be the second in an ongoing process of choreographers exploring the creation/recreation of work for an online platform. These presentations of works by Kevin Augustine (USA), Kari Hoaas (Norway), Anabella Lenzu (Argentina/Italy/USA), Tamar Rogoff (USA) will be streamed on La MaMa's website and will be followed by a live discussion with the artists.

The works featured include Kevin Augustine's BODY CONCERT, Kari Hoaas' Heat - the distant episodes, Anabella Lenzu's The night that you stopped acting/
La noche que dejaste de actuar, and Tamar Rogoff's The Yamanaka's At Home (Working Title).

The performance schedule is Tuesday, January 19 (Kevin Augustine & Anabella Lenzu), Wednesday, January 20 (Anabella Lenzu & Kari Hoaas), Tuesday, January 26 (Kari Hoaas & Tamar Rogoff), and Wednesday, January 27 (Tamar Rogoff & Kevin Augustine). All performances begin at 7PM EST. Tickets are Pay What You Can starting at $5 and are available here lamama.org/moves.

REFLECTIONS OF NATIVE VOICES FESTIVAL

Curated by Safe Harbors NYC

In partnership with New York Theatre Workshop

January 25 - February 7, 2021

The Reflections of Native Voices Festival is Safe Harbors NYC's two-week festival, featuring theatre, music and native dance performances by visionary Indigenous artists from across the country. Reflections of Native Voices Festival runs January 25-February 7, 2021 and is curated by Safe Harbors NYC and presented by La MaMa Indigenous Initiative in partnership with New York Theatre Workshop.

La Mama Experimental Theatre Club will stream three Festival pieces on their website: Tiger Lily by Anthony Hudson on January 28, 2021 at 7PM EST; Blood, Water, Earth by Santee Smith on January 29, 2021 at 7PM EST; and Death and Mourning After by Timothy White Eagle in collaboration with Cellist Lori Goldston on January 30, 2021 at 7PM EST. Following the initial streams, these three events will be available to view on demand at lamama.org through the end of the Festival on February 7, 2021. To purchase tickets to these streamed events, visit: http://lamama.org/reflections-of-native-voices

New York Theatre Workshop will present the following projects, available on-demand, for the duration of the Festival: Don't Feed the Indians: A Divine Comedy Pageant; Everything is a Circle by Ikidowin; Este Cate by Nicholson Billey; Duke by Moses Goods; and Tipi Tales from the Stoop by Murielle Borst-Tarrant.

Safe Harbors NYC will host a weekend of live Native music performances live on their social media channels Saturday January 30 & Sunday January 31. To watch live, visit @safeharborsnyc on Facebook & Instagram.

Tickets to the Reflections of Native Voices Festival are $15 for a Full Festival Pass, which includes access to both streamed & on demand shows, and $10 for an individual show pass. On-demand tickets and festival passes may be purchased at www.nytw.org/reflections-of-native-voices-festival-2021.

LA MAMA LIVETALKS: TAKE 14

Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 6:30PM EST

La MaMa presents La MaMa LiveTalks, conversations with artists, activists and thought leaders from around the country and around the world who join in discussions about art and life in times of crisis. LiveTalks: Take 14 will feature 59th season Resident Artists Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra, Charlotte Lily Gaspard, John Maria Gutierrez, and Joshua William Gelb & Katie Rose McLaughlin of Theater in Quarantine. The evening will be hosted by Ryan Leach.

For more information and to tune into this free event please visit lamama.org/livetalks-take-14.

COFFEEHOUSE CHRONICLES REVISITED: Ellen Stewart

Curated by Michal Gamily

Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 3PM EST

Coffeehouse Chronicles Revisited will stream Coffeehouse Chronicles #155 that celebrated Ellen Stewart's 100th birthday the way MaMa loved it with music, dance and puppets. This event was originally streamed on November 2, 2019 in the Ellen Stewart Theatre in the East Village.

The celebration features recorded personal memories from artists all over the world. Great Jones Repertory Company remounts scenes from Ellen's shows including Mythos Oedipus, Antigone, Hercules and Asclepius. Rod Rodgers Dance Company performs scenes from The Cotton Club with a live band. Puppeteers Jane Catherine Shaw and Vit Horejs perform two live scenes based on the Pushcart story and Ellen's early days. Two animated films are shown by Tom Lee and Naama Zarfaty with documentary excerpts of Ellen's last show by Marybeth Ward.

For more information and to tune into this free event please visit lamama.org/ellen-stewart-revisited.

DOWNTOWN VARIETY: BRAZIL EDITION

La MaMa and CultureHub Present

Powered by LiveLab

Friday, January 22, 2021 at 7PM EST

This special edition of Downtown Variety brings a snapshot of Brazilian contemporary artistic production centered on plurality, language research, experimentation and diversity of expressions in Brazil today. This edition, curated and hosted by Lenerson Polonini, will highlight significant artists of the underground scene.

"La MaMa represents the avant garde of the experimental theater. Over almost six decades of existence, it has produced and hosted very important works and the most restless and transgressive artists in the world scene, transforming itself into a creative engine, an oasis of creative, cultural and social freedom," comments Lenerson Polonini, Brazilian Cultural Ambassador of La MaMa and guest curator of this edition.

The evening will feature Neville D'almeida, Otavio Donasci, Christina Fornaciari, Marcus Galina, Pedro Granato, Gabriela Leite, Rui Moreira, Wilson Sukorski, and Jurandy Valença.

For more information and to tune into this free event please visit lamama.org/downtown-variety-brazil.

LA MAMA KIDS: CREATIVE DANCE WORKSHOP

Led by Anabelle Lenzu
Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 4PM EST
For ages 7 to 10

Creative Dance focuses on discovering the body as an instrument, the introduction of the elements of dance: space, time and energy, and self-expression through the exploration of creative ideas through movement and beginning exploration of the world of dance.

This class is designed to introduce kids 7-10 years old to movement and enhances emotional growth through imaginative exploration and the opportunity to connect with and release emotion through movement.

Imagination, creativity, and joyful expression are nurtured. This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for parent/child bonding.

This workshop will take place on Zoom and capacity is limited. For more information and to RSVP please visit lamama.org/creative-dance.

LA MAMA KIDS: SHADOW PUPPET DEMONSTRATION AND SHOW

Led by Watoku Ueno

Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 4PM EST

For ages 5+

Watoku Ueno gives a puppet shadow demonstration followed by an excerpt from Tall Keyaki Tree, a shadow puppet piece which combines music, shadow puppets, projections, and dance, "it feels like a theatre version of an art house silent film..."

Watoku Ueno was born in Japan and graduated from the Sokei Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied various kinds of painting techniques. Given his interest in theatre and Modern Art, it was quite natural that he eventually landed in New York. Watoku is a designer, director and puppet maker, creating enchanting shadow puppet shows.

WEATHER#

La MaMa Umbria

Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 9:00 AM EST

Weather is one of the last works composed by American writer, composer, and director Elizabeth Swados on the text of Filippo Consales. The goal of this "dramatic oratorio," as Swados defined it, is to use music and theater as tools to raise public awareness on urgent issues related to climate change. Originally presented onstage at Teatro Romano in Spoleto, Italy's Festival Dei Due Mondi 2014, WEATHER# is now being produced as an online immersive experience through an international collaboration involving partner organizations and artists from Italy, France, United Kingdom, United States, Korea, and Mexico.

With sounds and rhythms that mix the atmospheres of western music and world music, the composition collects a great variety of stories, scientific descriptions, newscasts and mythological narrations that tell of storms, destructions, rebirth and beauty. This kaleidoscopic vision is a kind of hymn to the force of nature and at the same time a warning that wants to encourage people to reflect on the environmental emergencies that our planet is facing. An alternation of instrumental parts and songs invoke different stories and environments, independent of each other.

For more information and to make reservations please visit http://lamama.org/weather/.

LAST GASP WFH

Written and Performed by Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches

Created in collaboration with Nao Nagai, Vivian Stoll and Morgan Thorson

Now through January 21, 2021

Last Gasp WFH looks for ways we might catch our breath in these times of global uncertainty, considering our 'last acts,' whether personal, political or environmental. Written and performed by Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches, and created in collaboration with Nao Nagai, Vivian Stoll and Morgan Thorson, Last Gasp WFH is a series of verbal and physical essays that playfully dances through the dangerous intersections of permanence and impermanence, interdependence and care, knowledge and experience, narcissism and echoes. In the New York Times, Elisabeth Vincentelli called the piece "not just one of the 40-year-old company's best pieces, but among the most evocative art to emerge from the Covid era."

On-demand tickets are $10 to access viewing over a 72-hour period and are available at lamama.org/last-gasp.

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