2012 undergroundzero festival Announces Full Line-Up, Set for 6/29-7/29

A cooperative of NYC-based cutting-edge experimental theater companies and artists will present their work throughout July as part of the 2012 undergroundzero festival (Paul Bargetto, Artistic Director, Connie Hall, Executive Director). The festival will take place June 29-July 29 on 5 stages in the East Village and Brooklyn and outdoor sites throughout lower Manhattan. Weekly parties, panels, and new play readings will happen at festival headquarters: the legendary Living Theatre.

The festival presenters are veteran “hardcore downtown” independent artists who have formed the undergroundzero cooperative to improve the conditions for making work in NYC, and to host an artist-controlled international exchange and presenting platform. Together, these artists span multiple disciplines including theater, dance, multi-media and installation. Guest programming will include individual artists from Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland; fellow New Yorkers, The Assembly and Patrick Flynn; and the US premiere of the critically acclaimed B-Floor Theatre Company (Thailand).

FESTIVAL VENUE ADDRESSES:

- Living Theatre: 21 Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton, Manhattan

- Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center: Flamboyan Theater and Los Kabayitos: 107 Suffolk Street at Rivington, Manhattan

- JACK: 505 1/2 Waverly Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

- Scapegrace: 20 Wyckoff Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn

For advance ticket sales visit www.undergroundzeronyc.org or call 1-866-811-4111.

ALL-FESTIVAL EVENTS:

UNDERGROUNDZERO Kickoff Event
Fri 6/29 @ The Living Theatre FREE

6:30pm: A Brief History of Avant Garde Theater in NYC
By Arnold Aronson with special guest Judith Malina

Columbia University professor Arnold Aronson provides historical context for the current experimental theater-making environment in NYC, with Judith Malina of the Living Theatre.

7:30pm: The NEA 4 Revisited – Politics, Art & Culture War
Moderated by UGZ Artistic Director, Paul Bargetto

A discussion with members of the original NEA 4. After twenty-two years where do we stand in the Culture Wars and what is the future of the National Endowment of the Arts?

9pm: Festival Opening Night Party

Celebrate with festival artists at the opening party with DJ and video art. An extra-special toast is planned for the supporters of the Kickstarter campaign!

Romanyeah – Live Video Performance
By Cinty Ionescu and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York.
Music by Brennan Green - Sat 6/30 @ 9pm & Sun 7/1 @ 7pm at the Living Theatre $20

Take a walk on the wild East side with Romanian video artist Cinty Ionescu (winner of the 2011 Excellence in Video Design award at the NY International Fringe Festival) as she weaves an immersive video and musical journey through contemporary Romania. For more, visit cintyionescu.weebly.com.

Talk show: common ground
Tuesdays, July 3, 10, 17, & 24 @ 7:30pm at Clemente Soto Velez in the Kabyitos Theater FREE

Meet the undergroundzero artists and their guests in a live-streamed talk show hosted by Artistic Director Paul Bargetto and Saviana Stanescu.

Dance party: latenightzero
Saturdays, July 7, 14, 21, & 28 @ 11pm at the Living Theatre FREE

A late night dance party with guest DJs and VJs. Boogie down with the avant garde at the legendary Living Theatre.

New play readings: playgroundzero
Curated by Saviana Stanescu
Sunday, July 8, 15, 22, & 29 @ 1pm at Clemente Soto Velez in the Kabyitos Theater $5

playgroundzero is a series of works-in-progress play readings curated by playwright Saviana Stanescu. This year Saviana has selected four fierce and diverse women playwrights including Dawn Saito, Cecilia Copeland, Penny Jackson, and Pamela Jackson. Each presentation will be followed by a talkback with the artists. For more, go to www.saviana.com.

July 8: Sword of Sea by Dawn Saito, Directed by Maria Millie

July 15: Courting by Cecilia Copeland, Directed by Matt Dickson

July 22: All Alices by Penny Jackson, Directed by Joan Kane

July 29: G.E.M.S by Pamela Jackson

FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS:

The Gospel of St Matthew
Presented by the Living Theatre & East River Commedia
Thu 7/5, Fri 7/6, & Sat 7/7 & 7:30pm; Sun 7/8 @ 5pm at the Living Theatre $20

Director Paul Bargetto collaborates with the Living Theatre to stage the life of Jesus Christ as told in the Gospel of Saint Matthew inspired by Pier Paolo Passolini’s 1964 film Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo. For more, visit www.eastriver.org OR www.livingtheatre.org.

Trace of Purple Sadness
Presented by LEIMAY Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya
Thu 7/5, Fri 7/6, & Sat 7/7 @ 8pm; Sun 7/8 @ 5pm at Clemente Soto Velez in the Flamboyan Theater $20

Meditative dance and poetic video design unify in a mesmerizing experience constructed by LEIMAY, the duo behind CAVE, The NY Butoh Festival and the Soak Festival. www.leimay.org

TITANIC! A Folk Rock Musical
Presented by Tribeca Lab, written and performed by Al Ramos & Stefan Zorich along with Stuart Rudin, Lynn "Ice" Berg, Audrey Crabtree and other special guests
Fridays, July 6, 13, 20, & 27 @ 10pm at The Living Theatre $20

Downtown veterans Tribeca Lab reprise their cult musical hit TITANIC! in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic performed by the musical duo Low End (Al Ramos and Stefan Zorich). The entire adventure and ultimate tragedy are told in an original song cycle by the ship’s captain E.J. Smith and First Officer William Murdoch. (Special Performances on the Historic Light Ship FRYING PAN to be announced...)

DEBT! A Series of Performative Lectures on Debt

Curated and produced by Paul Bargetto, Amiel Melnick & April Sweeney with Cinty Ionescu, Michael Ralph, Peca Stefan, Saviana Stanescu, Robert Wosnitzer, Martha Poon, Nick Mirzoeff, HOBO Arts Warsaw & Ida Daniel

Fri 7/6, Sat 7/7, Thu 7/12, Fri 7/13, Sat 7/14 & Sat 7/21 @ 7:30pm

Sun 7/8, 7/15, & 7/22 @ 5:30pm - C.S.V. in the Kabayitos Theater FREE

An experimental lecture series on debt. Five artists from Eastern Europe paired with five American scholars will present their collaborative research in a series of performative lectures on the nature, history and meaning of debt.

Little West 12th Night
Conceived by Rachel Murdy & written by Peter Lettre
Original workshop created in collaboration with Stephanie Dodd, Cynthia Croot, & members of Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant $25
Sun 7/8, Mon 7/9, Sun 7/15, Mon 7/16, Sun 7/22, Mon 7/23, & Sun 7/29 @ 8pm
Mon 7/30 @ 7am

Former meatpackers, displaced club kids, personal assistants to a wealthy hotel heiress, and artists trying to find their way back home ... these are your guides in this modern-language riff on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Neighborhood history provides the backdrop for four intersecting tours with visits to a number of local establishments. For more, visit www.avantgarderestaurant.com.

Disquiet
Directed by Anna Brenner
Wed 7/11, Thu 7/12, Fri 7/13 & Sat 7/14 @ 7:30pm, Sat 7/14 @ 5pm & Sun 7/15 @ 5pm at The Living Theatre $18

A new play by veteran undergroundzero resident artist Anna Brenner (winner of the 2009 undergroundzero audience award) inspired by The Master and Margarita, Fernando Pessoa, and her upstairs neighbor. For more, visit www.annabrenner.com.

Cho H Cho
Presented by One-Eighth, Directed by Daniel Irizarry
Wed 7/11, Thu 7/12, Fri 7/13 & Sat 7/14 @ 8pm, Sat 7/14 & Sun 7/15 @ 5pm at C.S.V. in the Flamboyan Theater $20

Cho H Cho' is an original theater collage created by the new theater collective One-Eighth directed by downtown all-star Daniel Irizarry. The play explores and observes the culture and values of globalized consumption through the lens of quantum physics, DaDa, Artaud, and the loving and violent extremes of the body. For more info, visit www.facebook.com/OneEighth.

Baal
By Bertolt Brecht. A Hoi Polloi production, directed by Alec Duffy
July 12 - August 5, Thu - Sun @ 8pm Pay-What-You-Can (tickets are first come, first serve at the door – no advance)
JACK, 505 1/2 Waverly Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

OBIE Award-winning theater company Hoi Polloi inaugurates its new Brooklyn performance space, JACK, with Bertolt Brecht's first play, Baal, about a self-destructive poet who incites chaos wherever he goes. Helmed by Artistic Director Alec Duffy (Three Pianos, Shadows), the immersive production features an ensemble of seven actors taking on thirty roles, with set design by Mimi Lien and music by Steven Leffue. Visit www.hoipolloiworld.com AND www.jackny.org.

Habits of Imagination
Directed by Shannon Sindelar with Sound design by Erik T. Lawson
Location and times TBD FREE

Director Shannon Sindelar (31 Down, Incubator Arts Project) stages an outdoor public installation/performance using live broadcast radio and audience interaction in a celebration of John Cage’s one hundredth birthday. Location TBD.

…BUT THE NEXT MORNING

Presented by Dangerous Ground, Directed by Doris Mirescu

Wednesday, July 18-August 15 @ 8pm (No performances Mondays or Tuesdays or 7/26, 7/27, 7/28, 8/4, 8/9, or 8/12) @ Scapegrace 20 Wyckoff Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn

… BUT THE NEXT MORNING is a multimedia art-installation/performance event inspired by Jacques Rivette’s 1974 film Céline and Julie Go Boating created by undergroundzero resident artist Doris Mirescu and her company Dangerous Ground. Anything is possible as a parallel reality reveals another realm of existence where spectators cross the line from mere observation into action. It is a fairy-tale, a puzzle, a thriller, a farce, a play, and a film all at once. This intricate, and layered set-up of live video feed, projections, and performance combine to create a unique theatrical environment that deconstructs perception and uncovers new terrains of intimacy and participation. For more, go to www.dangerousgroundproductions.com.

Take What Is Yours
Presented by anecdota - originally conceived by Erica Fae script by Erica Fae and Jill A. Samuels, directed by Jill A. Samuels
Wed 7/18, Thu 7/19, Fri 7/20, & Sat 7/21 @ 7:30, Sat 7/21 @ 4pm & Sun 7/22 @ 5pm at The Living Theatre $25

Take What Is Yours, the (too) little-known (true) story of how American women fought and won the right to vote, is back by popular demand!

Servers
Presented by Patrick Flynn
July 17, 18, & 19 @ 8pm at C.S.V. in the Flamboyan Theater $20

Servers is a live play for television in three installments that explores the stranglehold technology has over public privacy, and a plan that leaves an entire television network in the dark. Inspired by early television artists of the 1950s Rod Serling and John Frankenheimer, the play will be live broadcast on public access television and the Internet.

HOME / SICK
Presented by The Assembly
Wed 7/25, Thu 7/26, Fri 7/27, & Sat 7/28 @ 8pm, Sat 7/28 at 4pm & Sun 7/29 @ 5pm at the Living Theatre $18

A reprise of the Assembly’s critically acclaimed play on the Weather Underground. Disgusted by the Vietnam War and rampant inequality at home, a handful of leaders from the 1960s U.S. student movement seized control of Students for a Democratic Society and reshaped it in the name of overthrowing the United States' government. Based on real events, HOME / SICK explores the Weather Underground's inspiration and idealism, infighting and ultimate disintegration, in a passionate examination of collective action. For more info, go to www.assemblytheater.org.

Oxygen
Presented by B-Floor Theatre Company (Bangkok, Thailand)
Wed 7/25, Thu 7/26, Fri 7/27, & Sat 7/28 @ 8pm, Sat 7/28 @ 4pm & Sun 7/29 @ 5pm at C.S.V. in the Flamboyan Theater $20

The US Premiere of the latest production by B-Floor, hailed in the Bangkok press as “Thailand’s most active and vibrant physical theatre company.” Oxygen is a visual, movement and multimedia exploration of Thailand’s tumultuous political situation from 2010 to the present. The performance explores a nation deprived of the oxygen of free expression. Visit www.bfloortheatre.com.