Performance Space 122 Presents the World Premiere of RADIO PLAY, Closes 5/22

Performance Space 122 presents the WORLD PREMIERE of RADIO PLAY by Reggie Watts & Tommy Smith for the final time on Sunday, May 22, 2011

PLUS: As part of The Festival of Ideas for the New City, Reggie Watts joins Heather Kravas for a free discussion on Rhythm and Repetition: Reconfiguring Performance Practice Across Genres

"Nakedly entertaining! Watts, with his cloud of black hair and surprisingly beautiful voice, is loads of fun to watch" - Variety

Modeled after radio programs of yesteryear, RADIO PLAY gathers a group of actors, musicians and sound-effects artists to create a surreal sonic entertainment. Songs, stories and soundscapes collide in a comedic mash-up of non-temporal quasi-political pop-cultural tropes.

Reggie Watts (co-creator, performer, composer, musician, writer) and Tommy Smith (co-creator, writer) create absurd experimental comedic theatricals for modern performance spaces. TRANSITION played at The Under The Radar Festival at The Public Theater, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time Based Art Festival and On The Boards (Seattle); it was also the winner of the MAP Fund Award and Creative Capital award. Their previous theater piece DISINFORMATION was seen at the UTR Festival, PICA: TBA, The Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), The Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), and ICA (Boston). DUTCH A/V, a live environmental film performance and winner of the MAP Fund Award, was workshopped at IRT Theatre (New York) and premiered at the 2011 Under The Radar festival. When not collaborating together, Reggie and Tommy work on their "A-Side" careers, which can be seen at www.reggiewatts.com and http://smithsmith.wordpress.com, respectively.

Written by Reggie Watts & Tommy Smith. Directed by Kip Fagan. Performed by Reggie Watts, with Havilah Brewster, Beth Hoyt, Mary Jane Gibson and Jen Rondeau on the Theremin. Lights by Seth Reiser. Additional writing by Mary Jane Gibson.

Reserve online: http://www.ps122.org/performances/radioplay.html

Reserve by phone: 212-352-3101

Reserve in person: Performance Space 122 is located at 150 1st Avenue at East 9th St.

Performance Space 122 is one of New York's ultimate destinations for cutting-edge theatre, dance, music, live art and multi-media. Now celebrating its 30th Anniversary Season, PS122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists who explore innovative form and provocative content, rigorously challenging the boundaries of contemporary performance. PS122 is committed to a steadfast search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures, nations and beliefs. www.ps122.org

Twitter: @PS122

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Performance-Space-122/109911652392000

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PerformanceSpace122

As part of The Festival of Ideas for the New City:

Rhythm and Repetition: Reconfiguring Performance Practice Across Genres

Working in dance and technologically-enabled comedic performance, Reggie Watts and Heather Kravas are hailed as multidisciplinary innovators in their respective spheres. RadioPlay, Watts's current collaboration with Tommy Smith, remixes historical radio dramas of yesteryear to produce a contemporary sonic hybrid. Kravas's The Green Surround emulates traditional balletic forms in an endeavor to transform them, offering a critical commentary on the language of classicism. Rhythm and Repetition: Reconfiguring Performance Practice Across Genres brings together Watts and Kravas to discuss the intersections in their most recent work, and their respective methods for envisioning new models of practice.

Moderated by Jenn Joy.

Reserve online http://www.ps122.org/performances/festival_of_ideas_for_a_new_city.html or by phone (212-352-3101)

The Festival of Ideas for the New City, May 4-8, 2011, is a major new collaborative initiative in New York involving scores of Downtown organizations, from universities to arts institutions and community groups, working together to affect change. A first for New York, the Festival will harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore the ideas destined to shape it. It will take place in multiple venues Downtown and is organized around three central programs: a three-day slate of symposia; an innovative StreetFest along the Bowery; and over eighty independent projects and public events. The Festival will serve as a platform for artists, writers, architects, engineers, designers, urban farmers, planners, and thought leaders to exchange ideas, propose solutions, and invite the public to participate. For more information, visit festivalofideasnyc.com.

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