La MaMa Announces 62nd Season And Expansion Of RADICAL ACCESS INITIATIVE

La Mama Experimental Theatre Club announces its 62nd Season and its RADICAL ACCESS INITITATIVE (RAI), an expansion of La MaMa's local and global network that increases outreach to new artists and audiences beyond the four walls of La MaMa's three theatres and new Community Arts Space. Providing multiple access points to the art and the creative process, RAI programming includes creative exchanges, workshops, community programs, digital storytelling, and more with artists and communities that wasn't possible before. 

According to La MaMa Artistic Director, Mia Yoo, “La MaMa has always been a place for those outside the mainstream.  During this time of rapid technological and environmental change, and political disruption, how can art deepen our ability to see and understand each other? Theatre can bring people together in groundbreaking and revolutionary ways. There is a need for all of us to respond with urgency.”

RADICAL ACCESS comes on the heels of La MaMa's 61st season when the company saw its attendance surpass pre-Covid records, and the re-opening of its newly renovated, original theater at 74A East 4 Street. That building's $24 million makeover provides the return of the fully accessible Club, a new Community Arts Space for neighboring groups in the East Village, and an expanded public lobby and galleries. Earlier this year, La MaMa received a Special Citation for Ongoing Achievement from the New York Drama Critics Circle, having previously received the 2018 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

A host of artists and shows from around the globe will be presented on La MaMa's stages, including Dmitry Krymov, Oscar-winner Estelle Parsons, En Garde Arts, the Slovak-American artist Pavel Zustiak, Bulgarian performer Ivo Dimchev and his In Hell with Jesus, French choreographer Ashley Chen, John Jarboe/The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, J-CHOES a new music-theatre work set to live music by John Cage, Hans Otte and Erik Satie, the rock opera The Poisoner by Maura McCarthy, Edward Einhorn's adaptation of the history's oldest-known Jewish play, three-time Obie winner Ain Gordon, Anne Bogart + Talking Band, TONY-award nominee, John-Andrew Morrison in the title role in H.M. Koutoukas' Medea Of The Laundromat, La MaMa Puppet Festival, and many more.

The 62nd Season will also feature work from artists: Justin Elizabeth Sayre, Rawya El Chab, Loose Change Productions, Belova ~ Iacobelli Theatre Company, Joyce Griffen, Alex Aron, Morgan Bassichis, Ian Andrew Askew, Truth Bachman, and the La MaMa Squirts program.

The Season will open with the American debut of exiled Russian theater director Dmitry Krymov's BIG TRIP, his singular theatrical vision that explores both American and Russian cultures through the decades, with performances at the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. 4 St.) from September 23 to October 15, 2023. This work was previously workshopped during an artist residency at La MaMa last season.

As well, La MaMa's celebrated PUPPET FESTIVAL – curated by Denise Greber – will take place in the company's numerous venues from November 2 to 18, including: Motel by Dan Hurlin; Tom Lee's world premiere, Sounding the Resonant Path with Japanese Kuruma Ningyo puppetry depicting the connection between humans and nature; The Healing Shipment by Maria Camia; Tricyckle by Les Sages Fous, about a scrap-metal collector who travels through a fantastical world on his tricycle; and The Pact by Aaron Haskell about the Mother Goddess who returns to earth to guide the world. More to be announced.

THE 2023-24 LA MAMA SEASON 

Fall/Winter 2023-2024:

--BIG TRIP by Krymov Lab NYC, directed by Dmitry Krymov. Explores American and Russian cultures past and present through unique theatrical adaptations of such iconic writers as Hemingway, Pushkin and O'Neill. (Sept. 23-Oct. 15)

--HELEN by En Garde Arts, written by Cailin George, directed by Violeta Picayo. A SuperGeographics production of a funny, feminist riff on a familiar myth, Helen. is a story you know - told in a way that you don't. (Oct. 12-29, 2023)

--HEBEL by Palissimo Company, directed and choreographed by Pavel Zustiak. Hebel – from the ancient Book of Ecclesiastes with its various translations from vanity to absurdity – asks “What do you take from all your work?” and draws us into a charged exploration of our life's quest for meaning. (Oct. 19-22, 2023)

--LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL curated by Denise Greber. This international collection of puppet works includes shows by Tom Lee, Dan Hurlin, Maria Camia, Maiko Kikuchi, Les Sages Fous, Aaron Haskell, Jump Start: puppet works in progress by four resident artists: Charlotte Lily Gaspard, Evolve Puppets, Tristan Allen and Marcella Murray. Other events include: La MaMa Kids family programming with The Gottabees (Bonnie Duncan) and Puzzle Theatre; and the La MaMa Puppet Slam curated by Jane Catherine Shaw. (Nov. 2-18, 2023)

--IN HELL WITH JESUS by Ivo Dimchev. The U.S. premiere of the Bulgarian choreographer/singer/songwriter's performance about six people who are resurrected after having been gunned down in a gay bar.  A visual artist, as well, Dimchev is known for his works Facebook Theater, X-On And Lili Handel. (Nov. 16-26, 2023)

-- UNISSON, RUSH, DISTANCES A TRIPTYCH by choreographer/performer Ashley Chen, founder of dance company Kashyl. Mr. Chen has set his newest work – a triptych – with 8 dancers in an exploration of how movement can be a tool to forge a sense of sharing and unity as part of Villa Albertine's 2023 Dance Season. (Nov. 30-Dec. 10, 2023)

-- A STARLESS DEEP a new music-theatre work by Dane Terry.  Dane Terry is a multi-media story-maker, performer and composer. He has made stories and music for all sorts of rooms and situations and with all sorts of people. Works for stage include Jupiter's Lifeless Moons (PSNY 2018) and Bird In The House (La MaMa 2015, Under The Radar Festival 2016). (Dec. 1-10, 2023)

--CHRISTMAS IN NICKYLAND, curated and hosted by Nicky Paraiso. A downtown holiday favorite with Nicky Paraiso as the master of ceremonies. Each night there will be a holy host of characters singing, dancing, gender-bending, and merry making, all to get you into the East Village spirit of the season. (Dec. 16-17, 2023)

--ROSE: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT written and performed by John Jarboe, directed by MK Tuomanen. A theatrical co-world-premiere with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Cultural DC. Described as a true story – told to Mr. Jarboe, a twin, by his aunt – of fetal cannibalism and gender feasting, set to music. (Jan. 5-15, 2024)

--OF THE NIGHTINGALE I ENVY THE FATE by Motus and directed by Daniela Nicolò, Enrico Casagrande with Stefania Tansini; dramaturgy Daniela Nicolò.  A contemporary exploration of the Oresteia by Italy's Motus (MDLSX, Nella Tempesta at La MaMa) with Stefania Tansini as the prophetess Cassandra. (Jan. 10-14, 2024)

--CHORNOBYLDORF: ARCHEOLOGICAL OPERA IN SEVEN NOVELS part of the Prototype Festival, Composed and directed by Roman Grygoriv and Ilia Razumeiko, Libretto by Yurii Izdryk, Publii Ovidii Nazon, Ivan Kotlyarevskyy, and Ilia Razumeiko Chornoblydorf is a Ukrainian post-apocalyptic fantasy, which combines folk and classical singing with physical theater, dance, unique musical instruments and cinematic video-novels. (Jan. 11-21, 2024)

 

Winter/Spring 2024:
 

--ARISTOTLE THINKS AGAIN, is part of Great Jones Rep's Humanismo: Ancient Futures Series, directed by Dan Safer (Witness Relocation) with original text from playwright Chuck Mee, music composed by Julia Kent, set designed by Sara Brow. The work continues a company June 2020 online workshop performance with Safer. Great Jones Rep members are joined by guest performer Marcus McGregor to explore Greek tragedies, post-apocalyptic possibilities, how awful people are, and how awesome it can be to exist on the planet. (Jan. 25-Feb. 4, 2024)

--EXISTENTIALISM by Talking Band, created and directed by Anne Bogart. The award-winning troupe marks its 50th anniversary with a new work set in two tiny houses, side by side in a vast space, where a woman lives in one, a man in the other. They are a couple, both close and apart. (Feb. 22-Mar. 10, 2024)

--AMERICAN ROT by Kate Taney Billingsley, directed by Estelle Parsons. Is set in a diner off the New Jersey Turnpike, members of two historically linked families meet: Jim Taney, a descendant of Chief Justice Robert Taney who penned the infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857, seeks to apologize to Walter Scott, a descendant of the formerly enslaved Dred Scott. (Mar. 14-31, 2024)

--J-CHOES by Ingo Ahmels. J-CHOES asks “What if Erik Satie visited a musical-culinary feast of artist friends John Cage and Hans Otte?  Written collaboratively by Ingo Ahmels from Germany, and Canada's Lou Simard, J-CHOES is a new music theatre piece that imagines three iconoclastic composers at a sumptuous meal and piano in Cage's NYC loft in 1991. (Mar. 21-31, 2024)

--SWIMMING WITH LESBIANS written and performed by Marga Gomez, directed by John Breen. Gomez's 14th solo play is a sapphic seafaring spoof that takes place aboard the world's oldest lesbian cruise ship, The Celesbian. (Mar. 28-April 7, 2024)

--THE POISONER by Maura McCarthy. A rock opera in the ballad opera tradition, about a city worker who is desperate to keep his job and allows a governor to coerce him into choosing a contaminated river to supply the public drinking water where the worker's own family resides. (Mar. 28-April 7, 2024)

--A new work by award-winning interdisciplinary artist and theater director Theodora Skipitares. Trained as a sculptor and designer, she is the author/director of more than 25 performance works, each featuring documentary texts, original music, video, and as many as 300 puppet figures. (April 4-21, 2024)

--TONY-award nominee, John-Andrew Morrison takes on the title role in a revival of H.M. Koutoukas' Medea of the Laundromat. The “ritualistic camp” premiered in 1965 at Café LaMaMa E.T.C. before moving on to Café Cino & Theatre Genesis. It was regarded by the Village Voice as a work so “eccentric as to be nearly unthinkable.” Cast includes Jason Howard (Jason) & Jenne Vath (Nurse); Costumes by multiple EMMY-award winner, Sally Lesser; and Direction, Set/Light design by Arthur Adair. (April 18-28, 2024)

--EXAGOGE, with music by Avner Finberg, script, libretto, and direction by Edward Einhorn. Based on an ancient Greek play by Ezekiel the Tragedien, Exagoge is described as an immersive opera/play/Passover seder, based on the oldest known Jewish play written in Alexandria in the 2nd century BCE. In this case, a composer brings his non-practicing Muslim girlfriend home for the first time – for seder.  A production of Untitled Theater Company, whose previous La MaMa productions include Iphigenia In Aulis and The God Projekt. (April 25-May 12)

--LA MAMA MOVES! DANCE FESTIVAL curated by Nicky Paraiso. Continues to support La MaMa's commitment to presenting diverse performance styles that challenge audiences' perception of dance by featuring performance/installations, experimental film screenings and public symposiums which address dance artists' engagement with the current political climate. (May 16-26, 2024)

--HOW TO EAT AN ORANGE, written by Catherine Filloux, directed by Elena Araoz, featuring Florencia Lozano.  A new play about the visual artist and activist Claudia Bernardi, her childhood in Argentina under the military junta, and her subsequent work digging up the past. Histories are woven together in a kaleidoscopic play that depicts how both families and justice may be reconfigured. Catherine Filloux is a French/Algerian/American award-winning playwright, librettist, and activist. (May 30-June 16, 2024)

--RELICS AND THEIR HUMANS by Ain Gordon and Josh Quillen. The 3-time OBIE-winner, writer/director/performer Ain Gordon partners with composer/performer Josh Quillen and dramaturg Talvin Wilks and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton about a family's 3-year odyssey following their father's ALS diagnosis.  The piece builds on the team's most recent collaboration at Baryshnikov Arts Center, Radicals In Miniature. (June 20-30, 2024)

--A Recreation of Frank Maya Cub show from 1987 By Morgan Bassichis (June 2024)


La MaMa will also present its ongoing series including Poetry Electric, La MaMa Kids, Coffeehouse Chronicles and the 25th anniversary of the MaMa Experiments Play Reading Series.

Tickets for all shows start at only $10! Memberships available.  Ticket prices include all fees.  www.lamama.org  Tickets on sale Aug. 15

La Mama Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa's 62nd Radical Access Season comes on the heels of our 61st season when we re-opened our newly renovated, original theater at 74 E. 4th St. The building's $24 million makeover provides the return of the fully accessible Club, a new Community Arts Space for neighboring groups in the East Village, and an expanded public lobby and galleries. As an experimental theatre, La MaMa is always adapting to the needs of its community. In this time of deep division in our society and around the world, La MaMa felt an urgency to create a way for artists to respond. The Radical Access Initiative (RAI) was born out of this need. RAI connects local artists and audiences to people and communities around the world in shared artistic experiences to spark creativity and human understanding that wasn't possible before.

La MaMa has been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie Awards, Villager Awards, the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and most recently a 2023 New York Drama Critics' Circle Special Citation. We are a creative home to artists and resident companies from around the world, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ed Bullins, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Playhouse of the Ridiculous, Tom Eyen, Pan Asian Rep, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Mabou Mines, Meredith Monk, Peter Brook, David and Amy Sedaris, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O'Horgan, Andrei Serban, Liz Swados, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa's vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961.

La MaMa has been experimenting with digital tools for 13 years and seen how these tools can empower artists, expand access to shared artistic experiences, and facilitate the artist's capacity to transform their communities through the arts. La MaMa's RADICAL ACCESS 

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