The Fisher Center and Live Arts Bard present Obie Award-winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma's Life and Times: Episodes 7-9. The screening takes place on Sunday, November 1 at 2 p.m. in the Fisher Center's LUMA Theater. Tickets are $25, $10 for students, and can be ordered online at fishercenter.bard.edu or by calling the box office at 845-758-7900.
An epic spectacle nearly a decade in the making, Life and Times is a nine-part project that encompasses and surpasses the genres of musical theater, disco, dance, science fiction, illuminated manuscript, animation, detective drama- and now, in the final three episodes, film. The source for this multimedia extravaganza is the transcript of hours of recorded telephone interviews with one of Nature Theater of Oklahoma's own company members, who recounted the story of her life in painstaking detail. To complete this massive event, Live Arts Bard presents the U.S. premiere of the culminating three parts, Episodes 7 to 9- films that take inspiration from Citizen Kane, French New Wave, early Cinemascope, and gangsta rap videos. These episodes were commissioned by Live Arts Bard, and were primarily shot on and around the Bard campus in the summer of 2014.
The screening will run approximately five hours with one 30-minute intermission.
A pre-show conversation with Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper, artistic directors of Nature Theater of Oklahoma, and Gideon Lester, director of theater programs at the Fisher Center, will take place at 1 p.m. in the LUMA Theater.
Free round-trip transportation from the Rhinecliff Amtrak Station (with trains from New York Penn Station) to the Fisher Center is provided for the train arriving at noon (10:20 a.m. departure from Penn Station) and the train departing Rhinecliff at 9:01 p.m. Call the Fisher Center box office for details: 845-758-7900.
"Over the past several years the Nature Theater of Oklahoma has evolved into one of New York's most talented ensembles . . . their shows are smart, highly physical, and eager to twist notions of theatricality." - The Village Voice
Nature Theater of Oklahoma is an OBIE Award-winning New York performance group under the direction of Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper. Since Poetics: a ballet brut, their first dance piece created as an ensemble, Nature Theater of Oklahoma has been devoted to making the work they don't know how to make, putting themselves in impossible situations, and working out of their own ignorance and unease. They use ready-made material, found space, overheard speech, and observed gesture, and through extreme formal manipulation and superhuman effort, they effect in their work a shift in the perception of everyday reality that extends beyond the site of performance and into the world in which we live. www.oktheater.org
Live Arts Bard (LAB), the Fisher Center's residency and commissioning program, is a laboratory for professional artists in theater, dance, and performance to test ideas and develop new projects, many of which premiere at the Fisher Center. Each year, LAB invites a number of artists and ensembles from the United States and abroad to be in residence on Bard's campus.
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College
Named for the late Richard B. Fisher, the former chair of Bard's Board of Trustees, the Fisher Center has become an influential force in performing arts programming, earning critical acclaim for innovative productions of opera, orchestral, chamber, dance, and theater programs. The Center was designed by legendary architect Frank Gehry and distinguished acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, and has received international praise for its breathtaking architecture and superb sound.
Each summer the Fisher Center presents the Bard SummerScape festival, eight weeks of performing arts programs reflecting the life and times of the featured composer of the esteemed Bard Music Festival, now celebrating its 26th year. Fall and spring seasons include original productions, special one-night-only concerts, and touring artists from around the globe.
The Fisher Center is home to the Bard College Theater & Performance and Dance Programs, providing students access to exceptional theater facilities and opportunities to work with professional directors and dramaturges on publicly attended productions throughout the year. The Bard College Conservatory of Music and Bard College Music Program stage regular orchestral and chamber concerts.
