La MaMa Will Premiere John Kelly's TIME NO LINE This February

The acclaimed performance artist John Kelly, a Bessie and Obie Award winner, will debut his newest work when La MaMa (66 E. 4 St.) presents the world-premiere of TIME NO LINE, with previews beginning February 22 prior to an official press opening on February 26, it has been announced by Mia Yoo, La MaMa's artistic director.

One of the most enduring and compelling theater artists in New York and internationally for four decades, Mr. Kelly mines 40 years of his own journal writing to create TIME NO LINE, combining deeply personal text with movement, video, music, song and live drawing as he constructs what he calls a "live memoir." TIME NO LINE theatrically displays aspects of Mr. Kelly's early development in dance and visual art, and moves on to depict his experiences within New York's East Village art scene of the 1980's, gender performance, and the AIDS epidemic, all of which have defined his status as a survivor whose very presence challenges the ruptures in our culture and generational dialogue. His body-of-work blurs the boundaries between theatre, dance, music and visual art, resulting in works that explore the desires and foibles of the human condition and the urges of the creative spirit.

Best-known for his indelible portrayal of the legendary singer Joni Mitchell, John Kelly's previous subjects include the Berlin Wall, the Troubadors, along with character studies of Jean Cocteau, Antonin Artaud, Caravaggio and Egon Schiele. These works have been performed at The Kitchen, Lincoln Center, The Andy Warhol Museum, the Whitney Biennial, PS 122, BAM's Next Wave Festival and London's Tate Modern. His numerous awards include two NEA American Masterpiece Awards, the Rome Prize in Visual Art and the Guggenheim Fellowship along with creative residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Sundance Theatre Institute and the Park Avenue Armory.

John Kelly sings Joni Mitchell (Joe's Pub, July 2017) was recently called one of The Best Opera and Vocal Performances of 2017 by The New York Times.

An accomplished visual artist, as well, "John Kelly Sideways into the Shadows," an exhibition of a new body of visual artwork by Mr. Kelly that is related to TIME NO LINE, will be presented at Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project (6 E. 1st St.) February 28 - March 25.

Scheduled through March 11, TIME NO LINE performs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, with an added performance Monday, February 26 at 7 pm in The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa, 66 East 4th Street.

Tickets are $25 for Adults, $20 for students and seniors with the first ten tickets for every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only via web or phone. And can be purchased at www.lamama.org or by calling OvationTix at 212-352-3101.

La MaMa is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. The organization has a worldwide reputation for producing daring performance works that defy form and transcend barriers of ethnic and cultural identity. Founded in 1961 by award-winning theatre pioneer Ellen Stewart, La MaMa has presented more than 5,000 productions by 150,000 artists from more than 70 nations. A recipient of more than 30 Obie Awards and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards, La MaMa has helped launch the careers of countless artists, many of whom have made important contributions to American and international arts milieus.

La MaMa's 56th season highlights artists of different generations, gender identities, and cultural backgrounds, who question social mores and confront stereotypes, corruption, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia in their work. Our stages embrace diversity in every form and present artists that persevere with bold self-expression despite social, economic, and political struggle and the 56thseason reflects the urgency of reaffirming human interconnectedness.

Photo Credit: Nada Zgan