The Public Theater Announces Line-Up for 18th Annual UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL

The Public Theater announced the full line-up today for the 18th annual UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL, running January 12-30, 2022. The innovative festival of The Public's winter season returns to in-person performances at The Public Theater and partner venues Mabou Mines and PS21 with work by artists from across the U.S. and around the world, including JoAnne Akalaitis, Migguel Anggelo, Savon Bartley, Salty Brine, Inua Ellams, María Irene Fornés, Phillip Glass, Nile Harris, Miranda Haymon, Jasmine Lee-Jones, Eric Lockley, Michelle Memran, Alicia Hall Moran, Raelle Myrick-Hodges, Pascal Rambert, Mia Rovegno, Annie Saunders, Justin Elizabeth Sayre, Roger Guenveur Smith, Mariana Valencia, and Becca Wolff. Curated by UTR Festival Director Mark Russell, tickets beginning at $25 can be accessed now for Public Theater Supporters and Partners. Single tickets will be available beginning Wednesday, December 1.

"Under the Radar is The Public Theater's investment in the future: young artists, brilliant boundary-breaking theater, and deep engagement with artists from around the globe," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "UTR is the center of the theatrical universe for these three weeks in January; come and see the world, and see the shape of things to come."

January 2022 will bring a fully live in-person Under the Radar Festival back to The Public, and will offer views into the future, revisited masterworks from the past, music with a twist, and stories that are immediate yet timeless. The pandemic has forced the theater field to question how it imagines a post-COVID theater; it has also led to leaps of innovation and reimagination-UTR will be a meeting ground to explore all of those questions and embrace new possibilities.

"This edition of the Under the Radar Festival will celebrate the vibrancy, tenacity, and power of new theater from around the U.S. and the world. It will embrace a newfound perspective on the place of performance in our lives," said UTR Festival Director Mark Russell. "Under the Radar was online in 2021 and the innovations of our artists, live and recorded, reached a record audience. This year it is unmediated, in person, and very alive."

The festival will also include the return of Under the Radar + Joe's Pub: In Concert with performances by Migguel Anggelo, Salty Brine, and Alicia Hall Moran; the INCOMING! works-in-process series featuring projects by Devised Theater Working Group artists; and the Under the Radar Professional Symposium on Thursday, January 13. The new Under the Radar: On the Road Initiative brings UTR productions to venues beyond New York City.

The line-up for the Devised Theater Working Group's INCOMING! Series includes members Savon Bartley, Nile Harris, Miranda Haymon, Eric Lockley, Raelle Myrick-Hodges, Mia Rovegno, Justin Elizabeth Sayre, and Mariana Valencia. The Devised Theater Working Group (DTWG) is an artist resource cohort designed for live arts-makers of all disciplines. Formed as a complementary program to the Under the Radar Festival in 2014, DTWG creates an infrastructure to support collaborative collectives and other untraditional originators as they forge new theater. By offering the dramaturgical, technical, artistic, and administrative resources of The Public, DTWG operates as part of the Under the Radar Festival, where unique modes of creation and independent theater-making are elevated annually.

UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL is considered one of the premier international theater festivals focused on new work. Under the Radar is heading into its 18th edition as a core part of The Public Theater's mission-giving a platform to voices not always heard in the American Theater. UTR supports artists from around the country and the world who are redefining the act of making theater. UTR has introduced numerous artists who are now considered leaders in the field, such as Elevator Repair Service, 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Belarus Free Theatre, Guillermo Calderón, Tania El Khoury, and Lola Arias, to name a few. The festival provides a wide lens on contemporary theater: richly distinct in terms of perspectives, aesthetics, and social practice and pointing to the future of the art form.

The Public is excited to welcome our community back to its flagship home at Astor Place. The Public's audience policy requires complete COVID-19 vaccination by the date of attendance for access into the facility, theaters, and restaurant. For complete health and safety protocols, visit Safe At The Public.

The Library at The Public has reopened, serving food and drink Tuesday through Sunday beginning at 5:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library will be closed on Mondays. Proof of vaccination will be required for entry. For more information, visit publictheater.org.

UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL AT THE PUBLIC (JANUARY 12-30, 2022)

seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner

January 12-16, 18-23, 25-29 (Running Time: 90 Minutes)

The Royal Court Theatre production

By Jasmine Lee-Jones (U.K.)

Presented in association with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

SEVEN METHODS OF KILLING Kylie Jenner explores cultural appropriation, queerness, friendship, and the ownership of black bodies online and IRL.

"Look it's two two tweets that helped me vent my frustrations. It's really not that deep..."

Holed up in her bedroom, Cleo's aired twenty-two Whatsapps from Kara and has cut off contact with the rest of the world. It doesn't mean she's been silent though - she's got a lot to say. On the internet, actions don't always speak louder than words...

"RETWEET

QUOTE TWEET

LIKE

I'm weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak"

Our Country

January 12-16, 21-23 (Running Time: 60 Minutes)

Created by Annie Saunders and Becca Wolff (U.S.)

Produced by Octopus Theatricals

Mara Isaacs, Executive/Creative Producer

From the wild frontier to Ancient Greece, OUR COUNTRY unearths violence in the ennobling origin myths of the West, embodied in one western family. Inspired by Sophocles' Antigone, Annie Saunders sets off on an autobiographical journey based on recorded conversations with her outlaw brother. On this trip into their personal and collective memory, they face each other at their most primal. OUR COUNTRY excavates the past to rethink the present, recalling a time when we were young-as siblings, as a nation, as a democratic system.

An Evening with an Immigrant

January 18-20 (Running Time: 90 Minutes)

Written and Performed by Inua Ellams (U.K./Nigeria)

Produced by Fuel

Award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams, born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother in what is now considered to be Boko Haram territory, left Nigeria for England in 1996 aged 12. Littered with poems, stories, and anecdotes, Ellams tells his ridiculous, fantastic, poignant immigrant story of escaping fundamentalist Islam, finding friendship in Dublin, performing solo at The National Theatre, and drinking wine with the Queen of England, all the while without a country to belong to or a place to call home.

Otto Frank

January 13-16, 20-23 (Running Time: 60 Minutes)

Created and Performed by Roger Guenveur Smith (U.S.)

Live Sound Design by Marc Anthony Thompson

Scenic and Lighting Design by Kirk Wilson

Obie Award-winning collaborators Roger Guenveur Smith and Marc Anthony Thompson have devised new work inspired by Otto Frank, the father of diarist Anne Frank. Smith's intimate meditation, scored live by Thompson, illuminates our present moment through a rigorous interrogation of our not-so-distant past. Smith's Frank addresses his daughter beyond her time and his own, navigating his loss as the only survivor of his immediate family, and negotiating his subsequent service to the living and the dead as the steward of her work.

UNDER THE RADAR + JOE'S PUB: IN CONCERT

Re-engineering the intersection of music and theater.

This exciting series highlights the multidisciplinary music/theater hybrids emerging from this renowned venue's programming. These artists are exploring the intersection of music and theater to bring their unique stories to the stage.

Good News, or Harry the Dog

January 12, 16, 19, 21, 23 (Running Time: 90 Minutes)

Created and Performed by Salty Brine (U.S.)

Hundreds of years into the future, the world is cola brown and the human race has been divided into two warring factions. Dystopian Romeo and Juliet becomes a haunting and hilarious mythology set to Modest Mouse's strange and soaring masterpiece, Good News For People Who Love Bad News. GOOD NEWS, OR HARRY THE DOG is the latest installment in The Living Record Collection, a series of cabaret performances which deftly weave together iconic, popular albums with major cultural touchstones from classic literature to opera and beyond.

LatinXoxo

January 13, 16, 18, 20 (Running Time: 70 Minutes)

Conceived by Migguel Anggelo (Venezuela/U.S.)

Book by C. Julian Jiménez

Musical Direction and Arrangements by Jaime Lozano

Directed by Adrian Alexander Alea

Performed in English and Spanish

LATINXOXO is Migguel Anggelo's nonconforming and self-accepting rallying cry: a break from "Latin Lover" clichés and his own Venezuelan father's gendered expectations. With indelible precision, weaving in and out of the audience, the artist connects past and present while unraveling the stereotypes that would otherwise constrain him. It is a queer, artful mashup of theater, humor, physical movement, and sumptuous song selections-spanning decades of pop hits, his own compositions, and the Spanish boleros of his youth. With equal doses of sensitivity and sensationalism, Migguel Anggelo reminds us that our own self-worth is right there in the mirror.

the motown project

January 18-22 (Running Time: 70 Minutes)

By Alicia Hall Moran (U.S.)

An underground classic returns: Motown's greatest hits and Opera's gems collide in this Nightlife event. Emphasizing the beauty of Motown songwriting, Moran sings 1967 and 1867 as earnestly as she does 1667 and often all in the same musical breath. "It just makes sense in my body, in the shape of my mouth, where the passions align. That isn't about years or styles. It's about human beings calling out." she says. A stellar band of players-on Renaissance flutes and Spanish guitar, shaking Gospel tambourine and drumming Blues, from the opera and R&B-join Alicia Hall Moran on a journey through centuries of Soul.

UNDER THE RADAR AT Mabou Mines

MUD/Drowning

(a play / an opera)

January 12-16, 18-23, 25-30 (Running Time: 90 Minutes)

Mabou Mines and Weathervane Productions, in association with the Days and Nights Festival

Written by María Irene Fornés (U.S.)

Directed by JoAnne Akalaitis

Music by Philip Glass

Co-Presented by Mabou Mines and Weathervane Productions

Mabou Mines - 150 1st Avenue, New York, NY

maboumines.org

Returning to NYC after a sold-out run in 2020, this celebration of María Irene Fornés, the legendary playwright and director, features two profound, astonishing works re-imagined by director JoAnne Akalaitis, with new music by Philip Glass. MUD/DROWNING introduces audiences to the breadth of Fornés' genius with a new version of her acclaimed play, MUD, coupled with Philip Glass' opera adapted from her five-page play, Drowning. Both pieces will be performed in an intimate setting at the esteemed experimental theatre company Mabou Mines.

Documentary Film Screening

The Rest I Make Up

January 15, 22 (Running Time: 79 Minutes)

Directed by Michelle Memran (U.S.)

Co-Presented by Mabou Mines and Weathervane Productions

Mabou Mines - 150 1st Avenue, New York, NY

maboumines.org

María Irene Fornés was one of America's greatest playwrights and most influential teachers yet she remains largely unknown. The visionary Cuban-American dramatist constructed astonishing worlds onstage and pioneered NYC's Off-Off-Broadway Theater Movement, writing over 40 plays and winning nine Obie Awards. When she gradually stops writing due to dementia, an unexpected friendship with filmmaker Michelle Memran reignites her spontaneous creative spirit and triggers a decade-long collaboration that picks up where the pen left off. "Above all, the movie embodies Fornés's inherently and irrepressibly creative presence," wrote Richard Brody in The New Yorker. "The text alone, transcribed, would be a primer in live-wire poetic lucidity." Come see why Brody named it one of "The Best Movies of 2018."

INCOMING! SERIES

Featuring the seventh cohort of The Public Theater's Devised Theater Working Group (DTWG). The INCOMING! series of the Under the Radar Festival was created as a platform to feature in-process works by DTWG artists. DTWG is Under the Radar's artist resource group designed to support collaborative collectives and other untraditional originators as they forge new theater while nurturing a community of supportive artistic relationships. Works-in-process are not open to review.

Holes in the Shape of My Father

January 16, 22 (Running Time: 50 Minutes)

By Savon Bartley (U.S.)

My grandfather tried so hard not to become like his father that he did anyway.

I'm afraid that one day I may share the same fate.

What spirals when an absent father reaches out to his son over Instagram with no apologies, no remorse, and 20 years' worth of unanswered questions? Hip-hop and spoken word poet Savon Bartley unravels the nuances of boys who grew up without a father. Told by the son of a mother who tried, HOLES IN THE SHAPE OF MY FATHER is the myth and miracle of boys becoming men.

this house is not a home

January 15, 21 (Running Time: 50 Minutes)

Conceived and Directed by Nile Harris (U.S.)

And I asked myself, "what is a performance score that I could inhabit towards joy?"

And I came up empty and laughed a bitter laugh.

I had nothing.

A show excavating nothing, just hot air.

this house is not a home sets multidisciplinary artist Nile Harris' improvised physical score inside of a sound-responsive bounce castle. Interweaving sonic feedback as a malleable material, the unique vocal utterances of the cast create a biometrically unique musical composition that cannot be repeated. Made in collaboration with performer Malcolm-x Betts and sound designers slowdanger.

bb brecht & THE WORK-IN-PROGRESS 2022 EPIC ADVENTURE WORLD TOUR

January 14, 23 (Running Time: 45 Minutes)

By Miranda Haymon (U.S.)

bb brecht is a cabaret star.

bb brecht is an influencer.

bb brecht wants to willkommen you back.

In this anarchic, queer, and very Black cabaret series, bb brecht explores alienation, didacticism, and epicness in a 21st century world using unboxing videos, green screens, TikToks, autotune-whatever our churning culture may hand him. He gives lectures, shakes his ass, performs songs, and shares his skin routine (you're welcome).

bb brecht is the alter ego of creator Miranda Haymon. But are they more Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce? Auf geht's!

Sweet Chariot

January 15, 22 (Running Time: 75 Minutes)

By Eric Lockley (U.S.)

Directed by Zhailon Levingston

Come with us, King. There is nothing to fear.

In the darkness you'll discover the other side.

You will discover Home.

Marcus, a down and out teacher, has a disturbing encounter in the forest that launches an adventure across planets and centuries. Mysterious figures promise rebirth, the dysfunctional crew of the spaceship Chariot offers misguided transport, and an immortal love grows impatient along the road to getting Marcus home. SWEET CHARIOT is an Afrofuturistic dark comedy posing the question: is true liberation only possible for Black people beyond Earth?

ELEVATOR

January 14, 19 (Running Time: 22 Minutes)

An immersive video installation

Written and Directed by Mia Rovegno (U.S.)

It's 2020

We're working around the clock for you

And the exhaustive toll

of our infinite scroll

Means

we're here for you

Even when you're unconscious

A tech start-up company called ThoughtThought is pitching a "human upgrade" software suite product to you. The pitch escalates into a surreal visual and sonic choral cacophony unveiling the lens of the white cis male dominating the tech world, whose performative optics claim "client-facing" diversity and inclusion. ELEVATOR is an immersive video installation deconstructing the elevator pitch, a capitalist ritual that promotes the morphing of personhood and product.

He Has the Prettiest Handwriting

January 16, 20 (Running Time: 40 Minutes)

By Raelle Myrick-Hodges (U.S.)

Hey Pop-Pop, it's me, Raelle, calling you.

It's your poor, Black, artist-daughter tryin' to ask for money...

...It's just your artistic daughter, asking for money, But - (not really) - But-

This money could save the world.

Okay, Bye.

Inspired by years of interpersonal letters and recorded conversations, HE HAS THE PRETTIEST HANDWRITING illuminates the unique discourse between Raelle Myrick-Hodges and her father, Ray Hodges. Devised in collaboration with Antonio Brown, Hunter Francisco, and Fred Howard, with music by Jon & Errica Poindexter. This session is the first iteration of a concept album interrogating and celebrating the intersection of family and art.

My Beatnik Youth

January 16, 18 (Running Time: 80 Minutes)

By Justin Elizabeth Sayre (U.S.)

I am not 17, though I once was. This is not 1998, though it was once. This is not my story, though...

After a substance-fueled car accident, a young man is placed in a small town psychiatric ward. Caught in the liminal space between life and self-destruction, he clings to worn copies of Kerouac and Ginsberg as a source of reflection and insight, begging them to take him out of everything he knows and has been disappointed by. Interlaced with a score of jazz music, solo storyteller Justin Elizabeth Sayre narrates a journey to hell and not quite back.

Arrival

January 15, 23 (Running Time: 60 Minutes)

Created and Performed by Mariana Valencia (U.S.)

How is this sustainable?

What will sustain us?

Mariana Valencia isn't done grieving. For two years, the choreographer was sustained by creating short online videos of a semi-fictional news anchor named Edna Schmidt who delivered the news from home. ARRIVAL sheds Edna from lockdown in a live performance of a raw body in motion, with a pared-down choreographic score punctuated by original songs. A return to in-person performance and breathing the same air sparks a rumination upon the problematic body, the body in love, in pain, in flux.

UNDER THE RADAR: ON THE ROAD

During the pandemic, many theatermakers and audiences have dispersed around the country. To highlight this transformation in American theater and follow its audience and artists, Under the Radar will go On the Road with performances outside of New York City.

The Art of Theater and With My Own Hands

January 14-15, 22-23 (Running Time: 90 Minutes)

Created and Directed by Pascal Rambert (France)

Co-Presented with PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century - 2980 Route 66, Chatham, NY

ps21chatham.org

Pascal Rambert, one of France's most adventurous theater directors, presents two monologues developed in residence at Performance Spaces for the 21st Century (PS21) in December 2021 with Jim Fletcher and Ismaïl Ibn Conner. THE ART OF THEATER is a manifesto about the nature of dramatic acting, spoken by a single actor (Fletcher) who addresses, not the audience, but his dog, who patiently attends to his owner's voice. WITH MY OWN HANDS, performed by Conner, is a protean meditation on the human condition. The plays will be performed in PS21's state-of-the-art green-energy theater, located on 100 acres of orchards, meadows, and woodlands in Chatham, New York. This engagement, co-presented with PS21, is a featured project of the new Under the Radar: On the Road initiative.

Additionally, following performances in the Under the Radar Festival, AN EVENING WITH AN IMMIGRANT will be presented by Oklahoma City Repertory Theater in partnership with Oklahoma Contemporary on January 22-23 and Stanford Live on January 29-30. SEVEN METHODS OF KILLING Kylie Jenner will move to Washington, D.C., for a three-week run at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company from February 14 to March 6.

UNDER THE RADAR PROFESSIONAL SYMPOSIUM: JANUARY 13

The Under the Radar Professional Symposium is a full-day event on January 13 featuring a chance to see full productions of festival shows, as well as presentations by keynote speakers and featured artists. Attendance at the Symposium is strictly limited to presenting and producing professionals in the field. For more information on the UTR Symposium, please email utrsymposium@publictheater.org.

The Under the Radar Professional Symposium is a pre-conference event of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and is held in conjunction with the APAP|NYC 2022 conference. APAP is the national service, advocacy, and membership organization for presenters of the performing arts and the convener of APAP|NYC, the world's leading gathering of performing arts professionals, held every January in New York City. For more information on this year's APAP conference, visit apapnyc.org.

JanArtsNYC

Every January in New York City, more than 45,000 performing arts leaders, artists, and enthusiasts from across the globe converge for JanArtsNYC. A partnership among 11 independent multidisciplinary festivals, indispensable industry convenings, and international marketplaces, JanArtsNYC is one of the largest and most influential gatherings of its kind. For more info visit, janartsnyc.org. Promotional support provided by the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.

TICKET INFORMATION

Public Theater Partner and Supporter tickets for the 2022 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL start at $20 and are available now. Full-price single tickets to UTR shows start at $25, except for MUD/DROWNING, which is $24, and Incoming! shows, which are $15. Tickets can be accessed by visiting publictheater.org, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street. All tickets are subject to facility and service fees.

The UTR Pack is back by popular demand. Purchase five or six UTR shows and save $5 off each ticket. Good for all UTR shows at The Public and Mabou Mines; not applicable for Joe's Pub or Incoming! shows. Visit publictheater.org to purchase your UTR Pack online. Each UTR Pack purchased over the phone and online is subject to a $1 per ticket package fee per performance. Service fees waived for in-person purchases. All sales are final, no refunds or cancellations. Exchanges must be made at least 24 hours before a performance.

Food and beverage service will be available during Under the Radar + Joe's Pub: In Concert performances. There is a two drink or $12 food minimum per person. The Library at The Public will also be open Tuesday through Sunday for food and drink, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

The full performance calendar and complete ticket details can be found at publictheater.org.