Reno to Host Theaterlab's 5th Anniversary Fundraiser 10/24

Noted comedian Reno will host Theaterlab's fifth anniversary fundraiser Sunday, October 24, 2010 from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm at the arts organization's downtown Manhattan complex (137 West 14th Street). The evening will feature entertainment, drink, food, music and a very cool silent auction.

Gypsy and Flamenco Duende Carolina Fonseca Morais; Theaterlab Co-Artistic Director Carlo Altomare, and the Renegade Cabaret are slated to perform. The silent auction includes guitar lessons from Al Gorgoni (Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel), theater tickets, amazing spa packages from Angel Feet Reflexology and Whole Health MedSpa, handbags by Stinky Minky, jewelry by Globalcoolo, artwork by Naoki Iwakawa, Liza Cassidy and more.

Tickets to the event start at $5 at the door. All proceeds benefit Theaterlab, an artistic laboratory dedicated to research into the nature of live performance and providing affordable space to the artistic community at large for the development of new works. Tax-deductible donations may also be made at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/store/28175/donate/1225.

Since 2005, Theaterlab has presented daring new works, primarily in the fields of theatre, music and performance art. Recent projects include THREE SISTERS COME AND GO, a stunning theatrical production drawing from the texts of Anton Chekhov, Samuel Beckett and Julia Kristeva; EXCAVATION, a two-year action painting cycle featuring the painter Naoki Iwakawa and composer Carlo Altomare; MMiX INTERACTIVE MUSIC TECHNOLOGY, co-produced with Patrick Johnson and Jocelyn Gonzales; and APPEARANCE - A SUSPENSE IN BEING, a theatre piece that explores new directions in the art of acting. NYTheatre.com called THREE SISTERS COME AND GO "quite possibly the best abstraction of all the things that make Chekhov's plays so marvelous that I've ever seen."

In addition to its in-house productions, Theaterlab hosts visiting local artists as well as residencies for international performers and teachers. Some of the most recent resident artists include Carolina Morais Fonseca, Gypsy and Flamenco Duende from Portugal; celebrated Dutch movement theatre artist Linda Olthof; and Jef Johnson, renowned principal clown of SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW.

RENO is a comedic provocateur who started performing in the mid '80's at various dives in New York City's East Village. She has performed RENO: REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE, her critically acclaimed ("Insightful and Very, Very Funny." NEW YORKER; "The woman is consistently, energetically, loudly funny." NY TIMES), Drama Desk Award-nominated personal/political rant show about the events of September 11th that opened October 4th, 2001 at LaMaMa ETC, over 700 times both in the US and abroad.

CARLO ALTOMARE (Theaterlab Co-Artistic Director) is a producer, director, composer, and actor. He was a member of The Living Theatre from 1973-1980, acting in the plays of THE LEGACY OF CAIN cycle and composing music for THE DISMANTLING OF THE MONEY TOWER and PROMETHEUS. He is the founder of The Alchemical Theatre in New York (1981-). The Alchemical Theatre presented the world premiere of THERE IS NO MORE FIRMAMENT by Antonin Artaud in 1983 and devised an original piece, PURE WAR/THE MADNESS OF THE DAY based on the writing of Paul Verilio and Maurice Blanchot. He returned to the LT in the late 80's to compose and perform the music for THE TABLETS and I AND I. He is co-founder and artistic director of Theaterlab performance space at 137 W 14th St. where he teaches Meyerhold's Biomechanics and Jazz Acting, a new form of non-fictional acting. He is co-director, with Orietta Crispino, of the Actors Research Group, which performed the first Jazz Acting piece: APPEARANCE - A SUSPENSE IN BEING in 2008.

ORIETTA CRISPINO (Theaterlab Co-Artistic Director) is a producer, director and actress. She is an accomplished theatre artist. Born in Italy, she is a graduate of the prestigious Piccolo Teatro School in Milan, where she worked with the major Italian directors Giorgio Strehler and Massimo Castri. She later taught acting and directing there. Among her many Theatre Projects are: PASSPORT NO. 23.922, a piece she wrote and directed on the life of Tina Modotti; and a three year project in Trieste directing the plays of Pirandello's Italian contemporaries She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. In addition to her theatre work, Ms. Crispino has done art projects on the body in its performative aspect. This work led her to contributing to a cycle of seminars called Acting Out: The Art of Living held in Milan with the participation of doctors, artists and patients. Her body research culminated in a performance piece with the photographer Vibeke Jensen, Camera Obscura, shown at PS1 in New York, Bogota and Trieste. Most recently she directed three pieces by Dario Fo and Franca Rame at Theaterlab. She conceived and directed THREE SISTERS COME AND GO, drawing from the texts of Chekov, Beckett, and Julia Kristeva, at Theaterlab this year.