NYU Skirball Reveals Lineup For Fall 2024 Season

 NYU Skirball’s Fall 2024 season will open on Friday, September 6 with the North American premiere of Counting and Cracking, a two-week run co-presented with The Public Theater, featuring nineteen performers hailing from six different countries, and ends in December with the North American premiere of No President from Nature Theater of Oklahoma, called one of the best ensemble theater companies in the world by Bomb Magazine. The season features premieres by International Artists from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Korea, Senegal, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and France, as well as award-winning American dance and theater companies. 

NYU Skirball, led by Director Jay Wegman, embraces transdisciplinary artists who surprise, productions that astound, and thought leaders who are mind-blowing.  One of NYC’s leading presenters of international dance and theater, NYU Skirball has recently presented such renowned artists and companies as Philip Glass (USA), Milo Rau (Switzerland); Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (Belgium); Krystian Lupa (Poland); Wooster Group (USA); Lucinda Childs (USA); Jan Fabre (Belgium); Mette Ingvartsen (Denmark); Teatro La Re-Sentida (Chile); Trajal Harrell (USA); Elevator Repair Service (USA); Forced Entertainment (U.K.); Philippe Quesne (France); Florentina Holzinger (Belgium); Toshiki Okada (Japan); Seongbukdong Beedoolkee (Korea); and many others.

BELVOIR THEATER: COUNTING AND CRACKING              

North American  Premiere

Friday, September 6 — Sunday, September 22           Australia/Malaysia • Theater

Belvoir St.’s Counting and Cracking, by S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack and directed by Eamon Flack, comes to NYU Skirball this fall for its North American premiere after critically acclaimed productions in Australia and the Edinburgh Festival. The sweeping, episodic play features nineteen actors from across the globe on a multi-generational journey of a Sri-Lankan Australian family from 1956-2004. Radha fled Sri Lanka with her unborn child as the nation struggled with conflict. Two decades later, her son Siddhartha, now an Australian man who knows little of his family’s background, receives a call from the past that changes everything he thought he knew, and who he thought he was. One of the most highly anticipated premieres of 2024, Counting and Cracking is a joyous, epic story of family, forgiveness, the ghosts we leave behind, and the power of love. Counting and Cracking is a Belvoir St Theater & Kurinji co-production and is presented in partnership with The Public Theater.

Based on Gadigal land, Sydney, Belvoir is one of Australia’s most celebrated and beloved theater companies, at the forefront of Australian storytelling for the stage. New work and new stories sit at the center of Belvoir’s programming, alongside a mix of reinvented classics and international writing, and a foundational commitment to Indigenous stories. In short, Belvoir is about theatrical invention, an open society, and faith in humanity. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Eamon Flack and Executive Director Aaron Beach, Belvoir engages Australia’s most prominent and promising theater-makers. Belvoir regularly tours nationally and internationally. https://belvoir.com.au/

MILO RAU: ANTIGONE IN THE AMAZON            

North American Premiere 

Friday, September 27 & Saturday, September 28  

Belgium/Brazil• Theater

Milo Rau creates a political Antigone for the 21st century, together with indigenous people, activists and actors from Brazil and Europe. Rau (previously at NYU Skirball in 2018 with Five Easy Pieces) and his team traveled to the Brazilian state of Pará, where the forests burn due to the expanding soy monocultures and where nature gets devoured by capitalism. On an occupied piece of land, in collaboration with MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra), the world’s largest landless workers’ movement, they created this allegorical play about the violent devastations and displacements caused by the modern state, which places private property above the traditional right to land.

Milo Rau is a Swiss director, writer and filmmaker. Critics call Rau the "most influential" (Die Zeit), "most awarded" (Le Soir), "most interesting" (De Standaard), "most controversial" (La Repubblica), "most scandalous" (New York Times) or "most ambitious" (The Guardian) artist of our time. In projects like The Congo Tribunal, La Reprise, Orestes in Mosul, and The New Gospel or School of Resistance, Rau posits that theater does not have to be detached from society but that it is a necessary contribution to politics, culture, and society – a place to tell true stories that shape our society. After six years as artistic leader at NTGent, Rau was appointed as new curator of the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna. The 2024 season will be his first as curator. Rau remains on board at NTGent as house artist.

NTGent (or Nederlands Toneel Gent) was founded in 1965 as the city theater of Ghent. As a city theater, NTGent wants to question, motivate and rouse a diverse audience. it does so by making and presenting high-profile productions and by mobilizing theater for social debate. It presents its own theater productions as well as guest productions, touring in Flanders, the Netherlands and internationally. 

MIET WARLOP: ONE SONG                

U.S. Premiere

Thursday, October 3 — Saturday, October 5

Belgium

One Song, directed by acclaimed Belgium director Miet Warlop, was cited by The New York Times as one of the top European productions of 2022 at its world premiere  at the Avignon Festival in 2022.

Like a miniature society, the characters of One Song expose their desires and frustrations, rehearsing a ritual about goodbyes and new beginnings. A group of performers enters the arena for a mesmerizing ritual about farewell, life and death, hope and resurrection. Together they go through extremes: through sung text, images and objects, oxygen and sweat, they evoke our human condition. Through the metaphor of a live competition/concert, including a commentator and a cheerleader, Warlop invites us to form a community and lift each other up, as in a celebration. The temporary thus becomes the universal, and the personal becomes something of the collective. That is the subtext of One Song: how one song can give meaning to a whole society. Unity in diversity. Co-presented with Crossing the Line Festival

Miet Warlop is a Belgian visual artist born in Torhout. She holds a master’s degree in visual arts from KASK, Ghent. In addition to her performance work for theater venues, Warlop has created and presented an ever-growing cycle of visual art performances, interventions and live installations. She has been populating European performance and gallery stages for over twenty years with her absurdly colorful figures, living objects, and spectacles of form and color. Among a selection of venues: Festival Actoral Marseille (FR), Hebbel am Uber Berlin (DE), BUDA Kortrijk (BE), Vooruit Gent (BE), De Brakke Grond Amsterdam (NL), Bozar Brussel (BE), Lisson Gallery London (UK), Baltic Triennial Vilnius (LT), ImPulsTanz Vienna (AU), La Villette Paris (FR), Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf (DE) and Usine-C Actoral Montréal (CA). mietwarlop.com/

THE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION: ATLAS DRUGGED (Tools for Tomorrow)

World Premiere

Friday, October 25 — Sunday, October 27    

USA  • Theater

Just in time for the election, ATLAS DRUGGED (Tools for Tomorrow) is a playful analysis of both the current moment, in which AI-generated “evidence” influences much of what we think and feel, and also a speculation about a near future where candidates themselves are as engineered as their messages. We witness Silicon Valley’s creation of an AI-inflected candidate based on the free-market, alt-right teachings of Ayn Rand and we tune our candidate to our audience, engineering and testing new campaigning strategies and multiple strains of political ‘messaging’.

A running game show—Propaganda!—punctuates the evening, where audience members themselves must test their strength against political manipulations past, present and future. 

The Builders Association is an NYC-based, OBIE-winning crossmedia performance company in its 30th year. Founded by artistic director Marianne Weems, the company creates original productions that examine the impact of media on various cultures and communities. The Builders’ work has appeared at over 80 venues across the globe and throughout NYC.  From large-scale installations to intimate character-driven performances, the company’s work has addressed issues such as outsourcing and corporate colonialism in Bangalore, India (ALLADEEN), dataveillance (SUPER VISION), and the global financial crisis developed with victims of home foreclosure (HOUSE/DIVIDED). Their hit ELEMENTS OF OZ (2016-2019) is a celebration of queer culture and American escapism using a custom-made AR app; their most recent work, I AGREE TO THE TERMS (2022) sheds light on the ‘microworkers’ who shape our online experiences and make pennies-per-click in a vast, unregulated industry. thebuildersassociation.org/

NETTA YERUSHALMY: MOVEMENT        

NYC Premiere

Friday, November 1 & Saturday, November 2        

USA • Dance 

Movement, an electrifying performance by acclaimed choreographer Netta Yerushalmy, is a groundbreaking synthesis of a multiplicity of cultures and genres. The piece features over one hundred dance citations woven together into a radical quilt, challenging their boundaries until their pluralistic vision nearly bursts. Movement is a continuation of Yerushamly’s ongoing practice of repurposing, reorienting, and re-contextualizing dance, spinning fragments of seemingly unrelated works into an enthralling new whole. This maximalist performance shines light on dance as an inevitable and unifying force in a brittle and confused world. The performance features a new score by award-winning composer Paula Matthusen and is performed by dancers hailing from Korea, Senegal, Taiwan, and across the USA.

Netta Yerushalmy is a choreographer and performer based in New York. Her research-based dance-making is propelled by a passion for, and trust in, the body as a site of ineluctable knowledge. Her work is aesthetically and ethically committed to generating questions, not answers. She has been recognized with many prestigious awards, including a United States Artists Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Princeton Arts Fellowship, National Dance Project, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, Research Fellowship from New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. She started to choreograph at age 17 and has created more than a hundred dances. nettay.com/

The Civilians: SEX VARIANTS OF 1941: A STUDY OF HOMOSEXUAL PATTERNS  

World Premiere

Thursday, November 14 — Sunday, November 24    

USA • Theater

In their latest venture, The Civilians mine an extraordinary archive to reveal the intimate lives of Depression-era queers. Co-conceived by writer/director Steve Cosson and multimedia artist Jessica Mitrani, Sex Variants of 1941 is a kaleidoscopic fantasia adapted from a medical study of queer sexuality. Drawing on the study's explicit interviews, pseudoscientific analysis, "medical" diagrams, and glossary of era-specific slang, the company uses scenes, songs, and striking visuals to celebrate an undersung community—and subvert the pathologizing gaze of the medical establishment.

Featuring original songs by composers Martha Redbone, Stephen Trask, the late Michael Friedman, and others, this unabashedly queer, unabashedly screwball show paints a radically candid portrait of queer America in the 1930s. Racy bits and all. 

Founded in 2001, The Civilians are a New York City company that creates exuberant “investigative theater” on vital social and political questions. The company develops shows based on original interviews and research, and nurtures the work of leading playwrights and composers. Celebrated productions include The Great Immensity (a globe-crossing adventure on the climate crisis), In the Footprint (multiple top-10 lists play about urban development), and Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play (fourth-best play of the past 25 years according to The New York Times). The company originated Lucas Hnath’s Dana H., recently on Broadway and included in Top 10 of 2021 lists by The New York Times and Time magazine and was the creative home of composer Michael Friedman from 2001 until his passing in 2017. Previously, they were Artist-in-Residence at WNYC’s The Greene Space and at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Led by Founding Artistic Director Steve Cosson, The Civilians continues to reinvent theater for a world on the edge. thecivilians.org  

NATURE THEATER OF OKLAHOMA: NO PRESIDENT

North American Premiere

Thursday, December 5 — Saturday, December 7    

USA/Germany • Theater/Dance

After a six-year absence, Nature Theater of Oklahoma returns to NYU Skirball with No President, a furious and over-the-top, tightly choreographed political-grotesque work that draws from almost everything on offer: ballet, silent film, slapstick, calisthenics, predatory animal behavior, and modern dance all accompanied by the music of The Nutcracker.

It's not easy being a security guard today, with mortal danger lurking around every corner. A public gathering such as a theater performance is a particularly seductive target for an attack. Which is why a security company has been hired - to make sure everyone stays safe. But is merely protecting ever enough, in a world where everything - even security - aspires to show-business? Here, a small but successful security company, staffed with former actors, has been hired to protect a certain precious theater curtain - and behind it, whatever mystery it conceals. But things are about to get out of hand as the guards find themselves infiltrated by a rival security company composed of ex-ballet dancers, who are not only artistically more up to date, but also faster and cheaper, and who want to take over this important gig at any cost.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma is a New York based, award-winning art and performance group, under the direction of Pavol Liška and Kelly Copper. With each new project, they attempt to set an impossible challenge for themselves, the audience, and their collaborators - working from inside the codes and confines of established genres and exploding them. No two projects are formally the same, but the work is always full of humor, earnestness and rigor. Using readymade material, found space, gifted properties, cosmic accident, extreme formal manipulation and plain hard work, Nature Theater of Oklahoma makes art to affect a shift in the perception of everyday reality that extends beyond the site of performance and into the world in which we live. oktheater.org/  

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