THE CULTURE OF NOW Makes World Premiere at Dixon Place
By: Julie Musbach Aug. 21, 2018
Dixon Place Theater proudly announces the world premiere of "The Culture of Now", a multi-disciplinary drama navigating the clash of familial and cultural morals. This one-night-only performance epitomizes what setting prices says about people's values.
The main characters, Sophie and Joanne, always got along until they decided to host a charity auction together. Now they must confront their views on race, class, gender, and nationality as Sophie's father, a local politician, tries to shut them down. In the process they realize that setting a price for artwork reveals more about their own values than the value of what is on a canvas.
This timely, contemplative, surprising, and socially aware play strives to bridge the gap in our politically polarized climate. It practices its mission to harness art's power as purveyor of consciousness, thereby inspiring the audience to cast aside labels and interact intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually with the guts, minds, and hearts of their neighbors. In this divided time it is critical for people who hail from different social categories to hear each other without bias. Through the crafting of nuanced and human characters as well the apt casting of multi talented and multinational actors, The Culture of Now achieves this in lurid color. Speaking about their collaboration, Jess Domain and Julianne Lavallee explain, "When we started this process, our goal was to cast blind and structure the play to raise questions about how the voices of race, ethnicity, sexuality and class resonate inside artistic communities."
Get tickets here: http://dixonplace.org/performances/the-culture-of-now/
Directed by Christina Reilly
Starring (in alphabetical order)
- Navin Das
- Jes Davis
- Jess Domain
- Idalmis Garcia
- Victor Hazan
- Cat Ivy
- Jane Kotlyar
- Julianne Lavallee
- Laura MacLean
- Milagros Simon
- Phyto Stratis
- Ben Venturina
Jess Domain (Actor: Sophie ; Co-writer of The Culture of Now, Producer): an actress/writer/singer/producer who began her career touring with Aretha Franklin and has appeared in multiple New York Theater productions including Sleep No More's McKittrick Follies and ATNY's Suddenly Last Summer as Violet Venable. She is the recipient of the ASCAPlus Songwriters Award and has had her original music in over 100 tv/film projects, including Pokémon films. Jess had the privilege to originate her favorite role of Goddess Akka in the off-Broadway musical Serenade in New York.
Julianne Lavallee (Actor: Joanne; Co-writer of The Culture of Now; Producer): a Chicago born actress/writer/producer who has appeared in 16 independent theatre productions and four independent films in New York. Her favorite roles were Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Samantha in 16, and Vixen in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. She also dabbles in cinematography and lighting.
Christina Reilly (Director): is a New York-based narrative film director and documentary film producer. She has produced several short form documentaries for non-profit agencies and institutions such as El Puente Leaders for Peace & Justice, BLDG 92 (Brooklyn Navy Yard Museum,) BRIC Media Arts, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, and New York University. As a narrative filmmaker, Christina has written and directed several short films, earning her the 2016 Best Director Award at the Studio4 Film Festival. She co-directed James Franco's experimental collaborative feature film, HORROR TIME, which is slated for release in Fall 2018. Prior to her directing work, Christina produced the feature film, ZOMBIE HONEYMOON for Showtime Networks. This is Christina's first time directing for theatre.
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