I'd Rather Be Doing It

Hey hey.  I have to tell you.  I am on an amazing streak of seeing awesome work by my friends.  Everything from Ashley Tata & ThingNY’s immersive opera at The Knockdown Center to Radical Evolution’s The Golden Drum Year.  

It was actually through writing my The Golden Drum Year piece that I found out that Simón Adinia Hanukai (the coolest of cool cats) was also directing this show called Rest Upon The Wind at the Skirball Center this weekend (10/3-10/4).  The piece concerns the life and times of poet and artist Kahlil Gibran.  

Last summer I had the pleasure of working as a producer on a piece Anna Asli Suriyah by my friend Sarah Sakaan and her company Polybe + Seats.  That piece focused on the not-quite-yet-but-soon-to-be nightly news topic of Syrian refugees and how Syrian Americans were experiencing the invasion and destruction of their homeland at the hands of ISIS through long distance phone calls and Skype exchanges.  Through that piece I met several amazing actors of Arab descent.  When Simón put out the call a few months ago looking for actors for Rest Upon The Wind- I was actually able to pass it onto a whole posse of great people.  So I take much producer-ly pride in seeing Nuah Ozryel (Columbia SOA Alum and Anna Asli Suriyah cast member) doing in Rest Upon The Wind what I know Nuah does best- playing multiple intense and flamboyant characters and just totally KILLING it all along the way.  Big UPS to my BOY.    

Rest Upon The Wind features a super strong cast of actors (lead by Mark Naji as Gibran), nearly all of them international and of Middle Eastern descent.  This is a marvelous thing to see (ringing especially true in light of the Skirball Center’s recent cancellation of The Mikado- I am glad to see their programming getting back on track with a show that features a diverse cast of actors playing fully realized, complicated characters who actively fight against discrimination and stereotypes.)  

Straight Talk: going into watching a full rehearsal run of Rest Upon The Wind, I barely knew anything about Kahlil Gibran.  I think the play will resonate greatly with Gibran fans and scholars, but even for someone who knew next to nothing about him, there is a ton of interesting stuff to unpack about the man’s life and work.  First and foremost- what is the experience of a Lebanese immigrant who came to America in 1895?  EIGHTEEN NINETY FIVE!!!!!  I feel like we’re all remotely familiar with immigrant tales from Irish, Chinese, and Italian families of this time.  But what was the deal with being a Lebanese immigrant living in the South End of Boston at the turn of the 20th century?  What the what?  Also prominently featured in the play is the somewhat mysterious relationship Gibran shared with his benefactor, patron, sometimes muse, and possibly romantic partner: high society mainstay and headmistress Mary Haskell (portrayed with skill by Hadley Boyd).  

I was also inspired by some of the choices that Simón was making with the material.  As someone who tends to favor the experimental scene myself, and as someone who knows Simón as the guy who did a thesis that employed so many genres, we could barely talk about it in class- I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to see.  There is some video design that wasn’t up in rehearsal that I am sure will be a great vehicle to explore Gibran’s visual art (from the same designer as The Golden Drum Year, David Bengali).  I think Simón was also wise to include some musical interludes and choreography that wasn’t previously featured in the script (including some haunting original music by Veracity Butcher of VIOLETS who plays Gibran’s sister Myrianna and unrelated: probably has the best name ever?).  These pieces brought some great energy and modernity to the show.  All in all though- it’s a wonderful, respectful treatment of the work and I’m all, “LOOK HOW GROWN WE ARE SINCE GRAD SCHOOOOOOOOL!!!” :)    

Finally, what I love just as much as a great story or a great piece of performance- is a passion project with serious producers who take care of their team.  Apparently Rest Upon The Wind has already had runs in the UK and through out the Middle East.  The shows this weekend are meant to be the beginning of a US run.  This is the first time Simón and this cast have tackled the material and I hope that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful process for them.  The Skirball is HUGE- so I am sure tickets are still available for Sunday if you want to check it out!  

If there is one person who takes this blog even remotely seriously, it is Meropi Peponides (Radical Evolution, Soho Rep). Therefore I get to do awesome things like watch rehearsals for Radical Evolution’s The Golden Drum Year by Beto O’Byrne and write about it.  As goes the saying: #katienakawins

The Golden Drum Year was inspired by and contains poems written by O’Byrne, who produced one poem every day in 2011.  (Do you remember what you were doing in 2011?  I barely do.  It was peak Occupy Wallstreet time though, and that movement makes a timely cameo here.)  The piece has been in development for over three years, transforming from a disparate collections of musings and observations into a touching tapestry of interlocking tales.

The format is that our narrator Eugene (played deftly by Allan K. Washington) provides the context and introduces the characters in prose, while they in turn address him and the audience solely in poetry.  It is a play that was born of a 3 year experimental process that somehow rendered a rich, tight narrative flow (bravo).    Speaking from the perspective of a surly decade+ New Yoker, even I was moved to remember a time when the city not only evoked poetry, but functioned as it.  If The Golden Drum Year does it’s job, you will leave the theatre looking a little more closely at the buildings, the reflections in the puddles, and listening more closely to the rhythm of the trains.  Some of you might be thinking, “But Katie, don’t you normally want to face-shove nostalgia into a tile wall and yell, ‘I KNOW I WAS THERE’?” Yes dear reader, only most of the time. I can assure you that The Golden Drum Year will sneak up on you delicately (like one of those slow moving rats on the subway platform) and before you know it, you’ll be sharing your pita chips with it.

I wasn’t able to see the full tech of the piece.  There is a rich collection of animation, projection, and lighting that will accompany the final performance that I am excited to see layered in.  Lighting designer Yuki Nakase is one of my all time favs.  In my experience, she interprets text and poetry through lighting in the most creative and thoughtful ways.  I didn’t know Yuki was working on this piece till I showed up at rehearsal, but it is no surprise and I am super excited for the Yuki/Radical Evolution collaboration.  The projection (some early versions of which you can see here) by David Bengali also looks totally awesome.  The Golden Drum Year’s performance and text painted with a vivid array of colors and tones with no tech in a rehearsal room, so I can only imagine what that the completed piece will be stunning.

What they did have going in the rehearsal room on the day I visited was a killer score by one-man-band/composer Jonathan Camuzeaux. My understanding is that Jonathan will be a visible part of the action during the show, which is great as he brings with him a few unique instruments that you’re not likely to see anywhere else.  These include the “mandocastor” something akin to an electric mandolin that was custom built for him, and the Sazouki- only invented in the last 10 years- Jonathan owns the 8th one that was ever built.  The score was written through out early workshops in conjunction with the rehearsal process.  The music fits the action like a glove and who hasn’t walked around the city wishing for their own personal jazz scoring? #Birdman #whiplash #milestellersstupidface

At the helm of this groovy little project, is groovy director and all around cool-kat, Simón Adinia Hanukai.  I really have to hand it to Meropi and Beto for putting together a stellar team, many of whom have been involved in this project for years.  Sonia Villani leads the charge there, having been at the very first workshop at the Tofte Lake Center Retreat in 2012.  Her presence, her work, and her booty shorts are a joy in this piece.  If the shorts were only rehearsal clothes, then I apologize for leading you on.

One of the things I love about Radical Evolution is that they have this (to me, it’s always sounded kind of subversive, but maybe that’s just the twinkle in Meropi Peponides’ eye when she tells me about it) mission of “seeding the downtown theatre scene with artists of color”.  What I dig about this particular mission and how they implement it is that in practice it doesn’t look like a mission is being enacted at all.  What it looks like is a great group of artists.  It looks like Brooklyn, USA 2015, man.

So come on down!  Come on out.  Try to figure out where you were in 2011, one poem at a time.

Performances Sept. 26 – Oct. 10 The Performance Project at University Settlement

Over the weekend I had the epic, absolute pleasure of getting to see “Swamp Is On” as it appeared at Union Transfer in Philadelphia as part of the Fringe festival (Philly Fringe kicks a lot of ass).  

I did also have the epic, absolute pleasure of getting to work on this show in it’s early development stages through my tenure as Pig Iron’s interim production manager.  I first found out about the show last year when I applied to be their producing director and in the first moments I knew of it’s imminent existence I thought, “That is going to be the dopest dope and I need to work on it.”  POSITIVO REINFORCEMENT or something, I guess.  

So I mean...for those of you who know Katie Naka...this was just about the closest thing to a perfect show I can imagine.  Many theatre companies have weakly attempted to do “rock shows” and many of my favorite bands give theatrics the old college try with seemingly whatever friends and morph suits they can find laying around before a gig (I’m looking at you Of Montreal- except for the thing with the horse, which was amazing- I mean you are still amazing and I want to wear Kevin Barnes’ jorts all the time, but I’m just trying to make a point here).  What we have with “Swamp is On” though is a really great theatre company with top-of-their-industry resources, coupled with a really great band who is ALL IN (”Swamp Is On” was Dr. Dog’s original concept after all).  

The result of this stellar mashup is a true hybrid work of art that immerses you in the world of the the swamp and Dr. Dog music before you even enter the venue.  It plays fast and loose with a narrative that is told by the music and the performances, it has a true beginning, middle, and end, and it knocks your socks off like nothing I have ever experienced before.  (I believe this is/will be true for people who weren’t a part of development as well.  It has a great WTF quality that keeps you paying attention, pays off in a mysterious way that is still extremely satisfying, and hopefully drives audience to do more research about the swamp after the show...and buy the album when it comes out.  der.)   

The show is also right on trend with beautiful video design (by Josh Higgason and Ilan Bachrach)- using live feeds of actor-manipulated miniatures and green screen performances mixed and edited together with previously filmed short films and live shots of the band.  It’s one of those things (much like the Manual Cinema show that just came through NY) that you can’t believe is actually being done live.  That is until a well placed fingertip creeps into frame and you realize that the fan boat that you just watched dock onto a magical island is probably smaller than your chapstick and is being manipulated by performers on a platform above the band.  

And it’s MUSIC, man.  There is probably some great nerd logic here I could go into- but I am just going to quote my friend Phil from a conversation we had a long time ago wherein I was lamenting much of the theatre landscape that leaves me feeling so dried up and frustrated- and why going to a concert- almost any concert is always an inherently more real theatrical experience than any play.  The simple answer: “Music is just better.”  I sat through 3 hours of Annie Baker recently and left mildly amused and scratching my head.  But I screamed, swayed, clapped, and sang through 2 hours of Dr. Dog.  

So yes.  The Swamp is old, the Swamp is new.  The Swamp is me, the Swamp is you.  The Swamp is a concept album brought completely and fully to life by one courageous band, about 30 actors, killer designers, and a true boundary pushing theatre company.  Oh and if that wasn’t enough for you, the Swamp is also a full KILLER Dr. Dog set that follows the “experiment”.  

(via CHICKEN TENDERS: Peter Whitehead, poultry, and the art of collapse in Sister Sylvester’s They Are Gone But Here Must I Remain)

Blogs. Better late than never. There was a new “Strong Bad Email” on April 1st- and that’s how I knew I was REALLY behind.  

Anyway. I had the pleasure of taking in these three little “treats” recently and then went, “Now hold on a second...I think I’m onto something here....” So I am going to write about it. That’s what we do, right? 

So check it. Richard Maxwell’s “The Evening” (which gets a groovy write up in the NYT), “Kumiko The Treasure Hunter” (starring my beloved Rinko Kikuchi aka Mako Mori)- the review I am choosing to link to describes it as “like a Michel Gondry movie that isn’t stupid”, and Catherine Lacey’s novel “Nobody Is Ever Missing” (which gets a good write up PRETTY much everywhere- so just read it)- I put myself in front of all of these things and then I wonder why sometimes life seems so bleak?  Good lord.  Get it together Naka.

The Maxwell play deals with death and inversely, life (deep, I know) and how we choose to approach each event. I am just going to go ahead and talk about the final moment b/c that ish closed and trust me- no written approximation can top the actual effect. But after the set disappears- the female character dons some kind of raggedy Nick Cave looking  contraption and literally disappears into CRAZY FOG onstage before your eyes. I saw this piece last of the three and after contemplating the other two stories, I started connecting the dots when I realized that I LITERALLY just saw a woman disappear in front of me. The effect (easy enough to achieve) was startling, devastating, and silent- much like how moments (or people) in your life can slip by with you even noticing.  All of sudden you are somewhere you never thought you’d be and there is no Talking Heads song to sooth you.  Even a change of venue might not be enough to jolt you back into reality.  What then?        

I saw Kumiko on a bad date, which probably only aided in my acceptance of the void that this story opened up for me. A young woman in Tokyo highjacks her bosses credit card and takes off for Minnesota to find the treasure from the movie Fargo. She has embroidered a map for herself. She abandons her pet bunny on a Tokyo subway and it’s just about the most heartbreaking thing: ever. And while this all sounds delightfully twee- this whole movie is so freakishly heartbreaking when you stop to think about it that some people (like my date) would probably just prefer not to think about it at all. While her death is implied and not shown- this is a woman who would rather steal from every person she meets, walk on the frozen shoulders of Minnesotean highways, starve, and wander the wilderness alone- then face another phone call from her mother asking why she isn’t married yet or take another dressing down from a pompous supervisor. And GIRL. As fucked up as it is, sometimes I can totally relate.

“Nobody Is Ever Missing” has a similar story to Kumiko- a woman takes off with out telling anyone for New Zealand and proceeds to hitchhike around, sleep in barns, and generally creep out everyone she meets. Elyria would rather do this than live her seemingly “nice” life in New York City, married to a college professor, writing for a soap opera, and having more than 1 pair of shoes.  

In both “Kumiko The Treasure Hunter” and “Nobody Is Ever Missing” you keep expecting some other delightful feminist-adventure shoe to drop, and it never does. All you get is confusion and as much pain as these characters can muster to show you before it’s quickly overtaken by the singleminded determination to escape their situation. And neither situation is anything other than an absolutely average life. And it is startling to see women react so violently to it. These are not “Eat, Pray, Love” funded-by-a-magazine-to-go-find-yourself-and-then-Javier-Bardem-is-there bullshit adventures and they are not even “Wild” your-mother-died-and-how-can-you-ever-go-on-unless-you-challenge-yourself kind of adventures. These are: I-don’t-care-if-I-live-or-die-but-I-just-have-to-get-out-of-here kind of adventures.  And these women TOTALLY have death wishes.  And there are definitely points in both narratives where you wonder if this is just a very intricate portrait of mental illness.  Each story is careful to manage this just as carefully as I feel we all manage our relationship to our own potential mental illnesses (everyone might say that we were totally nutz when we finally do fall off the planet, but until then- if it ain’t broke, we’re not fixing it).

There is a title passage in “Nobody Is Ever Missing” wherein Elyria realizes in a sudden flash that no matter where she hides or what she does while she is there- the kind of disappearance she seeks is impossible as she will always be present to herself. I’m gonna throw one more bleak pop-culture wrench in here and go so far as to say that I am sure Kathy Durst’s family would adamantly protest Elyria’s thesis. Kathy Durst: is really missing. BUT- Kathy Durst is dead. And ergo I draw the inevitable conclusion that for not only Kumiko, but also Elyria and Disappearing Lady In the Richard Maxwell Play- some people seek death, whether they do it knowingly or not.  It is an inevitability that can draw us in.      

Anyway. If there is a point to all this, it is that I detect something in the water, man. While these are terrifying and dark stories to tell, I applaud people for telling them. Yes, there are atrocities out there that make people run towards death. But there are also quiet people who just get so far off track that they can’t come back.  In fact I am sure you know at least one. This is real. Hollywood would like you to believe that hookers end up in penthouses and washed up hacks retrieve their former glories.  More often than not though- people (and in this case women- and I have my theories on that too) sometimes just get up one day and disappear.  Not only do they disappear (as disappearing is no easy task), but they disappear with a vengeance. 

4 million people watched this.  Why wasn’t I one of them till now?  Yes- she employs both Kristen Stewart and Anne Hathaway...but I almost like it more for that bold move in the face of the zeitgeist.  

You guys.  I have an old ass computer and the chrome fucking crashed and I lost like a 3 page post about these 3 baller shows: Let The Right One In, Western Society, and An Octoroon.  At St. Ann's Warehouse (through March 8th), Skirball Center (touring), and TFANA (respectively).  

So when life gives you dick-sauce, I say make dick-sauce lemonade.  I was able to grab a screenshot of the older post before I had to force quit.  So I will post that, just to be extra confusing.  And then because I have other things to do- I am just going to free form whatever I remember from the other post right here- and call it a day.  And get a new computer.  Here we go:

I should be blogging more regularly right after I see the shows, with a kitten sleeping on my knee, but it's winter and I was in LA.  I saw Aziz Ansari and he honked at us and I didn't know what kind of car he was driving, but he was trying to get into the parking lot where the beignet truck was and we were blocking him = LA.  

I was thinking of the Rude Mechs above.  They also did a show about the decadence of their lives with all gold costuming- it was called "Stop Hitting Yourself" and was at Lincoln Center.  It was the same, but different from the Gob Squad show.  Gob Squad is like when someone shows you how they are doing a magic trick, but it fools you any way.  This is extremely satisfying to me.

I saw the movie of "let the right one in" too soon before seeing the show.  (the Swedish version).  Don't do this, or probably don't see "Once" before seeing that show.  The movement pieces should have had grad school trigger warnings, but they were great to help with the set pieces and dead bodies.  Katie Naka would have preferred more violence, less explaining of the homoeroticism, and less crying.  200 year old castrated vampire children shouldn't be so emotional...that's just me though.  

One time I was talking to Sarah Benson and she was saying that she likes to stalk people whose work she admires.  I took her very literally and was like, "I don't understand how you don't get in trouble for that?  Do people think you are crazy?  How does this work out for you?"  In retrospect, I should have said something smarter to Sarah Benson.  The next time I see her I will tell her that I loved An Octoroon I guess.  It's good- everyone should go see this play.  Stephen Sondheim was there.  

Consider this a video blog.  A video blog concerning a snowy day in New York and the idiots GENIUSES that walk around in it.  Blurbage:

"Twee Brooklynite buys wine, ridiculous ice cream, and cheese- heads out into snow storm for futile investigation of the trials of mediocrity."  

Hi, hi, hi.  

Last week I saw 2 shows: Zero Hour written and directed by Miwa Yanagi, performed at Japan Society.  And Winners and Losers created and performed by Marcus Youssef and James Long.  Directed by Chris Abraham at Soho Rep.

So check it.  The first image in this post is from Zero Hour and as you can tell- this was an exceptionally cool visual piece.  Set construction, costume design, and sound design (for the most part)- big ups.  The choreography was about 50/50- eye catching and lovely vs. kind of grad school (which might be FINE).  It was pretty easy to get a little ahead of the story, lots of chess references...some very laborious old-age acting.  Sigh.  But hey- she looked GREAT and it's a fab topic choice.  At the end of the day though, I didn't want to hear anyone talk about Tokyo Rose or chess- I just wanted to see the beautiful automaton Japanese girls roam around and do things in unison.  That was enough for me.  

Winners and Losers was a great juxtaposition to Zero Hour- as you can tell from the image I grabbed from them- not a lot to look at.  The show is a debate, some of it scripted, some of it not (although I'd love to hear a tally of how many times when solicited for a topic in the last month the audience has shouted out, "Bill Cosby" as they did at my show).  I can safely say that this show took me on probably the most wide swinging journey of, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I feel good, this is fun!" to feeling so uncomfortable in my seat in the last 20 minutes that I must have checked my watch about 10 times.  I appreciated this b/c usually theatre that aims to make you feel uncomfortable you can see coming a mile away and even when it's a sneak attack, it is very easy to get ahead of.  I did not see Winners and Losers coming and when it hit- it kept hitting so hard and so fast that I couldn't look away (except to check my watch).  

What I liked most about it though and what has kept it in the back of my mind for the last few days was how well it addressed and revealed what I consider to be some of my generation's dirtiest little inconsistencies (a topic and near and dear to my heart) and how the show edged us ever so gently towards some uncomfortable truths.    

To digress for one second before I address that last statement- for those of you who don't know, I did lose my job about 2 weeks ago.  And I am in the middle of doing all the things that one does around that kind of event.  Getting drunk.  Not changing my clothes.  Saying I'm going to work out and just doing some pushups in my living room instead.  Taking naps in the middle of the day.  Watching Neon Genesis Evangelion, masturbating, and roasting pans and pans of root vegetables (not at the same time).  You know.  The Normal Stuff.  But I am also questioning.  Busy little mind, running busy little circles.  And with out getting too too far off topic, I think one of my personal foibles that is exacerbated by some of the current trends in theatre is that I want the truth.  I want the whole big ball of unsolvable, irresolvable, ugly wax.  And I want to take a stab at it.  I feel like this is what my generation has taxed itself with.  Unlike our gen X predecessors, we can't be idle.  We can't be slackers.  But this is not to say that we don't inherently possess the slacker mentality: why bother, I can't change anything anyway.  I mean and that goes back further than gen x, but whatever.  You know what I mean.  To me I feel it's more like, "Why do I feel like I can't do anything?  Do I REALLY not matter?  How do I make myself matter?" and in order to answer those questions- you really need: the truth.  

I just actually had to go and look up what this show is called.  "24 Decade History of Pop Music" is actually what it is called!  Huzzah. I will stop calling it "that Taylor Mac thing" (which I am sure most people call all his stuff at once point or another).  

So any ways cats and kittens, I went to check out Taylor do the 1930's-1950's on Tuesday.  Which seems like a world away.  Man, sometimes life moves so fast that I truly, truly cannot keep up.  It's good, right?  

Any way.  So, no surprises here- I do love Taylor Mac and whatever he turns his fancy to, I love to join in.  And that's what's pretty great about Taylor Mac, right?  Whatever he is doing, you feel like you can join right in for the most part.  Taylor's aesthetic is so sloppy in a way and yet his persona and his look, are extremely curated. For someone that's never seen one of his shows before- it's kind of like he can wander in and out of the space, he had a ribbon stuck to his shoe like a piece of toilet paper for about 30 minutes before he finally (awkwardly) removed it, there was an epic amount of ad-lib, and a true feeling that if he wanted a part of the show to take 20 minutes instead of 5, he'd just keep talking.  It's not very precise and yet it's quite lovely.

Fun fact: I saw "The Lily's Revenge" in Boston and Taylor Mac was actually- according to an amazing curtain speech- passing a kidney stone DURING the performance.  I think he copped to taking some painkillers and was just gonna see what happened.  And this is like a 6 hour show.  And he totally pulled that shit off.  Legendary.  

Any way- back to this- which was just a 3 hour snippet of the eventual, final, 24 hour event.  Highlights included: being told that we were going to be served soup, but okay they couldn't afford soup, and had peanuts instead.  We were implored to actually TALK to the audience members around us and talk about a time when you truly lost everything.  As my luck would have it- the man next to me turned right to me and told me that he lost his home in hurricane Sandy.  His whole home- and everything in it.  But it brought him and his partner together and they're now stronger for it.  Hot damn.  LIVE THEATRE.  

Other great moments include in the 1950's when the audience was forced to enact White Flight- I actually got to stay in the center of the center section with all the brown folk!  It was great!  Taylor remarked multiple times that he needed to hire someone to work on his audience diversity.  

There was definitely a point somewhere in the 40's where the thing nearly ground to a halt- even Taylor commented on this- but then again, didn't the world almost ground to a halt in the 40's?  So maybe this was apropos? But by the time it got to the 50's it picked back up.  I cannot even imagine what is going to happen as he edges into the 70's, 80's and 90's- where modern pop really makes it's home.

The costumes and lobby installation by Machine Dazzle (not to mention the onstage costume changes that Machine managed) are all stunning in their garish, trashy, DIY, repose.   

Oh and the moment where he sang something about the "call of the lark" and looked out into the audience: "Martha Clarke- Martha Clarke, do the call of the lark!"  I couldn't tell if Martha was actually there, but I hope she was.  In other people sighting news- Christian Parker the ever delightful Chair of the Columbia Theatre Department was in attendance!  Holler holler.

So there you have it.  It was just a snippet.  The real deal is going to be the 24 hour show.  I hope he gets to do it in like Madison Square Garden or something as I imagine he'll only do it once and tickets will be impossible.  I am sure it will be tiring and I can't honestly tell how the schtick will hold up...I did get the distinct impression that the sheer labor of it will probably make Taylor into a whole new heightened version of himself...which should be equal parts amazing and terrifying.  (will it be more or less intense than Lily's Revenge while passing a stone?  My hope will be that by 2016- only Katie Naka and Taylor Mac will be reporting on this.)

Okay there it was.  My 16th show yesterday- The Parable of The Sower by Toshi Reagon, a new opera performed in concert based on Octavia Butler's novel of the same name.  Octavia Butler: African American sci-fi writer, MacArthur Grant recipient, someone I should know better and will.  

I can't really think of a better way to have closed out my festival circuit than with this piece.  It was truly a concert version (no staging or dialogue) and it is an unfinished exploration at this point.  But the vibe of the performance was so rare, not only for the festivals but also just for the whole of the performance world itself.  It was a truly diverse crowd in age and race, which in and of itself is like: serious whoa.  And the first thing Toshi said when she came out was something to the effect of, "Are you giving me theatre face?  You better stop that right now because that's not what this is about."  Another memorable (approximated) quote was right before the final number, "I see you there taking out your cellphone, trying to pretend like we didn't say something here tonight."  Yeah man.  We all know we are on warning when we do this or think this- but I was really glad to be called out.  (and for the record I didn't check my phone, but I thought about it...THE LIGHTS WERE ON.)

The songs were beautiful, but the spirit and the energy in the room was really magical.  Especially to close the festival.  It was a hopeful energy, an honest energy.  It spoke directly to the pains of our city and to the pains of our nation in a prescient way that was downright freaky, really.  It was transportive and inspiring.  And that's not lip service.  It's not just me trying to find the right adjectives.  It was transportive and it was inspiring, like a Ted Talk and vivid deep sleep dream all rolled up into one.  

I am going to post again with a big "official" festival wrap up wherein I talk about my experience as a whole (and suddenly you will realize that while most of this has been nonsense, namedropping, and cheerleading--suddenly it will be all like, "MFA- WHAT!" for five minutes up in here, trust.)  Oh and speaking of namedropping, my daddy- also known as Elizabeth Streb was there.  And she had on great pants.  (And know that when I say "my daddy", I mean it with all the love and reverence (and a great deal of the innuendo as well) as when I say, "my sweet sweet Scott Shepard"- which is A LOT.)  But any way, all I'll say right now, in the fresh immediate glow of the last 2 weeks is that Parable of The Sower is what diversity in theatre looks like.  Not only because it is a Black story, but because it is a musical that isn't a Musical, because it is a black story with an Asian director attached, because it has not 1, or 2, but 3 strong female voices crafting it's tale, because it is SCI FI, and lastly because of the type of performer that Toshi Reagon is: bare, honest, challenging, and lovable.  These things are out there- my god- program them, find them, commission them: please.  I saw a lot of "craft" over the last 2 weeks (which you know I love), and I saw some great stories, and I saw some great ideas, but I can safely say that I did not see anything like Parable of The Sower and I can't applaud Under The Radar enough for programming this.  TAKE ME TO CHURCH MARK RUSSELL. AMEN.  

(Too much?)  Any way- also worth mentioning I think is that I saw the film Selma yesterday and I basically cried the whole time like a first-time hooker.  God.  But with these two pieces back to back, you can't help but feel like we're onto something, you know?  

Any way.  So even though the festivals have shuttered- you can't stop KATIE NAKA.  I will be at Taylor Mac 1930's-1950's tomorrow night at NY Live Arts.  And I will be at Soho Rep on Friday for Winners and Losers- which I have linked to a million times so far on the blog...and will do it again...but not now.  I don't really know why.  

I've included an image here of myself facedown on the 'puter...because this is what it feels like this morning to approach the task of blogging about Kansas City Choir Boy, Sunken Cathedrals, and YOUARENOWHERE.  I mean, can you know the mighty ocean?  Can you lasso a star from the sky?  But because it is impossible: we must try. (and yes- I just combined Mango quotes and Tadashi Suzuki quotes- deal with it.) 

I'll just go in order, bras.  K.  So first things first: Sunken Cathedrals, by Bora Yoon as part of Prototype (at La Mama).  This was one that I knew nothing about going in, but I purchased the ticket cuz when I see Asian Girls with violins are performing avant garde works, I go there.  The overarching theme in all of yesterday's work was reality/dreams/getting lost/found/space/time, etc.  It was a timey-wimey type of day.  

And yes, I make that Doctor Who reference as whether she knows it or not- Bora Yoon's set was downright Gallifreyan.  Other than that...the best way I can describe this show is that Bora Yoon handles a lot of objects, makes a carrot soup, has a stereotypical Asian mother, is in some kind of dream battle with an impish Korean dancer, she loves her giant diamonds, and she rather rogue-ishly removes articles of clothing each time she goes offstage (but in a very demure, Asian way- I can say this because I am Asian).  There was a kind of (to me) weird and vaguely out of place reference to CUPS?  And while I really enjoyed the projections as a whole- there was definitely one that I think was a live wallpaper from my HTC One M8.  The music and text were haunting and performed with a very cool ease.  The show kept my focus and was rather transportive (some parts more effectively than others).  

AND THEN I GOT ON THE TRAIN AND WENT TO HERE FOR COURTNEY LOVE, YO!!!!! (hahah- saying I went to "here" is really funny.) 

In attendance at HERE were Actual Cannibal Broadway Producer Megan Kingery, Blue Man Group Producer Jennie Ryan, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, Curator of Theatre and Dance and Director of Theatre Programs at Bard College: Gideon Lester, and Village Voice critic Tom Sellar.  I was also standing in line with a gaggle of parents of the musicians and singers in the show who could not stop talking about how James Franco had been there the night before and their daughters were just going nuts.  Hmm.

The show started about 10 minutes late which gave me the vapors as I had a tiny window as it was to get from HERE to Invisible Dog.  And also because everyone was like, "COURTNEY LOVE PROBABLY KILLED A GUY."  Well okay.  No one was really like that out loud but I know everyone was thinking it, you know like- behind their eyes.  Okay one of the James Franco loving parents did IMPLY this out loud.  Whatever.  Kristen Marting assured everyone it was a mic issue and we held fast- eventually getting in and starting (like I said) about 10 minutes late.

BUT OMG NOW TALK ABOUT COURTNEY LOVE YOU IDIOT.  Okay.  So check it.  Courtney motherfucking Love is a goddamn beast you guys.  I mean...talk about American Realness.  Courtney Love is "the thing you can't fake".  I had heard from someone on opening night that when she made her first entrance, someone audibly gasped or exclaimed, "oh my god."  And that's kind of how it is.  She doesn't look real...or maybe she looks too real?  Being in a small (and i mean small) black box theater with Courtney Love like 5 feet away from you is somewhere between "prothetic hand" and "bunraku puppet" on the uncanny valley.  Seeing Courtney Love standing in a sea of chorus girls who look like they just graduated from Tisch this year is like seeing a Tiger, confused and maybe kind of hungry, in a sea of kittens.  Same species...different animals.

Other thoughts I had while I was watching her: Courtney Love really sees things.  Courtney Love HAS SEEN things...things that the rest of us probably couldn't fathom.  Courtney Love is wearing a lot of make up, but it somehow looks okay.  In the wrong kind of lighting, Courtney Love has a mild case of Iggy Pop.  

Okay okay okay.  So the show?  Does anyone want to hear about the show?  I give the show +1 for use of LED web.  I give the show +100 for it's use of PARTY LASERS (Katie Naka loves a laser like whoa).  There was a fiendishly unfair moment when everyone onstage played a guitar EXCEPT Courtney Love.  The Zach Posen dress: I DIE.  The chemistry between Todd Almond and Courtney Love is laughable and ridiculous and that's like -50, seriously.  The music was good...but newsflash- the show is more about Almond's character than Love's and he has a lot more stage time than she does...

So the last thing I will say (because I want to talk about Andrew Schneider all day and night) is that I think I read that Todd Almond wrote this with Courtney Love in mind- but could someone down the road do this piece as Courtney Love?  And then there's just this crazy stunt casting factor to the whole thing...like what would this piece be with out the real Courtney?  Would it just be some LED web and party lasers?  Deep questions.  Worth consideration.  But you guys:

YOUARENOWHERE WAS SO FUCKING GOOD.  I CAN'T.

Sometimes I see things and I am like, "Why do I even bother trying to make anything?"  This was one of those pieces.  I LOVED this piece.  It was everything.  I want to marry Andrew Schneider.  let's fucking do this- I already planned out the wedding during that Daniel Fish thing.  I'm good to go.  Just tell me when.    

I've got my head in my hands.  I don't even know how to talk about it.  Okay.  Grad School, don't fail me now.  Everything from the incredibly inventive tech, to the direct address/casting of the audience...the incredibly clear creation of a time and place that's not even an identifiable time and place...the bold self referential humor, the extremely technical explorations of quantum mechanics that somehow managed to still be engaging...the inclusion of both SIA and ROBYN.  The extraordinary coup de theatre.  The shirtless menfolk.  My friend Peter Musante.  The perfect use of the very difficult to use Invisible Dog space.  THE CRAFT, the MF CRAFT.  The fact that it took things WAY too far.  The total exploration of a very difficult theme.  The many questions that I left the piece with.  The fact that I SIGNED UP FOR ANDREW SCHNEIDER'S MAILING LIST THIS MORNING?  Do you understand what that means?  That I actually want to get Mail Kimp updates from this person?  THAT is the ultimate compliment.

In the immortal words of Squiggy in A League of Their Own: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have seen enough to know that I have seen too much."

Wow.  What a fucking Saturday.  This is me.

FRIDAY.  FRIDAY.  EVERYONE GET DOWN ON FRIDAY.  

Whatever.

So check it.  I'm gonna do this as one post since it's all UTR, even though these 2 shows probably could each handle their own.  But I have to be on the train to my THREE SHOW DAY in an hour and I don't have time to be elegant.  

So first things first- I was gonna wait in line for Reggie Watts today, but I had forgotten that it was my friend Corey's last day at the Clown Factory and he was having drinks after work.  Corey represented 1/3 of the asians at my job, he always got me the things that I needed, for some reason I threw away most of my trash in his trash can instead of mine and he never said anything- so I needed to go see him off.  Sorry Reggie.  SORRY FOR YOU.  Good bye Corey!  I'll see when I see you.  

Okay. Then it was Daniel Fish's A (Radically Condensed and Expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.  I've heard a lot about Mr. Fish over the last few years and I was glad to finally get to see this piece.  I had once signed up for free tickets to see his show House For Sale- which received one of the worst NY Times reviews I have ever read (and I am not saying that to dredge up bad feels, as I think that in this day and age, a bad NY Times review can be something to be really proud of)- but I got there too late and there was no late seating, so skipped off into the night with my friend Brendan and we probably went to get some hot dogs or something.

Any way.  Here's the thing.  I dig nearly all the subject matter that Daniel Fish chooses to engage with, cuz I guess we are the same kind of hipster scum that loves Franzen, Eternal Sunshine, and D.F.W.  I mean I am just assuming.  I also dig "craft" in a way that some of my friends can't get behind.  Like I love nearly everything that ERS does, mostly just because of the way they choose to do it.  I get off on craft.  So with this piece- yes there was craft and there was visual daring-do, but the craft was seemingly purposefully impenetrable.  I dunno.  Maybe I kept thinking about ERS while I was watching this because of the literary ties.  But I feel like the ERS literary interpretations are like a level 1 abstraction and this piece was like a level 5 abstraction.  Like don't even TRY to feel anything, cuz that's not what we're doing.  

Did I feel nothing?  No.  My mind wandered to a myriad of different wonderful places (including sleep for short spells- but I had just guzzled white wine and housed a caesar salad- lay off)...um...I think I planned my entire wedding (bearing in mind that I don't even have a boyfriend) and I did go back to many of the times and places that I had traveled too when I read these same David Foster Wallace essays.  Seeing as both DFW and I grew up in Illinois- I am always transported to those wide, flat, empty, lonely and eternal Illinois spaces when I read him.  So I did go there- especially in the last section- which was the most riveting IMHO.  But is that DFW taking me there?  Or Daniel Fish?  And does it matter?  

This show was more "idea" than "craft" and so I didn't pop a big old boner for it right away...but I couldn't wait to write about it.  And I almost wish I could keep going.  BUT THEN:

I also saw IKE AT NIGHT and there was free beer.  Screw craft.  FREE BEER.  

I had not seen this show at Jack in Brooklyn- but I've been to Jack- and I was like, "wait...is that THE foil wall from Jack?"  And indeed it was.  They brought the GD foil wall!  Wow.  

The first guest (news flash- it's a mock-live-late-night-show-as-theatre, complete with breaks and live guests) was Brooklyn Boro President Eric Adams.  And I was like- wait.  The Brooklyn Boro President is a super cool black former cop wearing an AWESOME blazer (yes it was this exact blazer)?  I need to take a second just to let you know that I have a couple of very close friends who worked at Boro Hall during the reign of Marty Markowitz, so finding out that the new Boro President is someone who oozes REAL LIFE COOLNESS AND ATTITUDE was pretty shocking.  President Adams answered every question positively, beautifully, bravely, boldly, and looked good doing it.  The girls next to me were LITERALLY swooning.  Everyone felt good when this interview was over.  +100

Other guests were: comedian Chris Gethard and singer/composer Helga Davis.  And they were nowhere near as smooth.  Hahha.  I'M KIDDING.  Helga Davis was smooth as hell and is also featured in The Parable of the Sower (which I am seeing Sunday).  And Chris Gethard seemed awesome and acknowledged right away that following Eric Adams was ridiculous- but they smoked fake cigars through out the interview, so it was okay.  

Ike at Night was not a raucous parody, it was not a kookie send up, it was extremely contained and for awhile I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop- once I realized it wasn't going to- I really marveled at the restraint and the sincerity of this project.  That's almost a harder thing to do.  He really just like...sits and talks to people.  That's theatre too, man.  

OMG this was a long post.  and I have MINUTES before I have to duck out the door for a jam packed day: Sunken Cathedral at 2:30 (PROTOTYPE at La Mama), OH AND DID I FORGET TO MENTION THAT I PAID MORE MONEY THAN I SHOULD HAVE BUT I GOT A TICKET TO AN ADDED PERFORMANCE OF KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY AT 5:00pm today????  Courtney Love- wash over me with your crazy.  Then I jump to Invisible Dog in BK for YOUARENOWHERE featuring my good bro Peter Musante (Coil).

Thursday 1/15/15- I took the night off from THEATRE and went to see Dr. Dog at Bowery Ballroom.  

Not quite as jaw dropping as Timur's Klaus Nomi cover- they did do a groovy cover of "The Heart It Races" by Architecture in Helsinki...reminding me that they used to be a thing.  

This show was groovy.  I GUESS people in Phish Hats deserve to live too.  I guess...

Oh hey.  Sorry I am so late in the day with my BLOGGINS but I was watching Broad City at my desk with the door closed.  DON'T TELL ANYONE.  

Last night I saw BeginAgain by zoe|juniper.  This show is part of the Coil Festival and was at BAC.  Love me that BAC space, BTW.  

So first off- what a contrast to Bridget Everett.  Hahah.  I've really come to appreciate the diversity of what's available this month with all the shows I've been seeing.  These beautiful tiny dancers could probably live inside one of Bridget's dresses for weeks with out being found.  But enough about that.  

I do love me some dance.  I really do.  It can be trifling sometimes, but I am always floored by the virtuosity of it.  This show was heavy on (as Anne Bogart would say), "Things you can't fake."  Which is inherent in the craft and part of what I also love about dance (and circus for that matter).  But beyond the technical dance feats, certain design elements of this show really resonated with me: the red dirt on the ground getting kicked up and hanging in the light as the dancers increased their intensity.  The subtle smudges of it that clung to their faces and legs even after they moved out of it.  The physical intimacy.  These aren't effects- it was all there, laid bare.  I love that.  

And by the way- for all the other elements of the show- a really intricate and lovely paper sculpture by Celeste Cooning, the video work by Juniper Shuey (of the company namesake), sound design and music used to great effect- the most gripping moments of the whole thing for me were when the 2 girls just looked each other in the eyes.  There was A LOT going on there.  It really took your breath away.  I was sitting in the second row and maybe I could see it better than most, but yeah- it was like, "DANCE, DANCE, MUSIC, PROJECTION, ALBINO BOY SINGING IN FRENCH, DANCE, DANCE- oh wait...hello.  And then they just look at each other...really beautiful.  Really touching...and kind of erotic.  

Worth noting as well was a great duet between a dancer and a projection.  A great take on "me and my shadow", space and negative space, relationship, etc. It was so simple, but it made you scratch your head for a few minutes, "wait a second...how are they doing that..." and then you just settle into the delightful craft of it.    

ALL IN ALL QUITE LOVELY.  YAAAYYYYYY.  

And just also to note: afterwards I ate 2 hot dogs and got a 30 minute massage at one of those cheapy places on 8th street.  Dude.  So good.  I DID almost throw up the hot dogs about 20 minutes after the massage, but I stand by my decision.  2015: you never had it so good.  And then I went to see my boy Ryan Rickenbach play some tunes at Branded Saloon on my way home.  How can one man be so handsome and guitar-y and yet not at all annoying?  YE GODS ANSWER ME.