La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club to Present The Sun Up Close: Community Chat & Telescope Viewing
Weather permitting, participants will view the sun's real-time surface activity, including solar granulation, convection patterns, and potential sunspots.
La Mama Experimental Theatre Club will present the The Sun Up Close: Community Chat & Telescope Viewing on December 15, 2025 at 1PM in advance of the World Premiere of Birth + Carnage, a dance work by choreographer and director Marla Phelan. The discussion and viewing will take place at La MaMa Community Arts Space, 74A East 4th Street, NYC.
The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, email info@thepeoplesreative.org. For more information about Birth + Carnage, visit https://www.lamama.org/birth-carnage/.
Choreographer Marla Phelan and astrophysicists Dr. Blakesley Burkhart and Dr. Matt Orr will share insights into their creative and scientific collaboration, connecting cosmic processes-like the birth of stars-to the movement and themes of Birth + Carnage. Dr. Orr will introduce the 80mm refractor H-alpha telescope that reveals the layer of the sun just above the photosphere.
Weather permitting, participants will view the sun's real-time surface activity, including solar granulation, convection patterns, and potential sunspots.
About Birth + Carnage
Birth + Carnage is a dance work fusing choreography, astrophysics, and video installation. Born from the collaboration between choreographer Marla Phelan and astrophysicist Dr. Blakesley Burkhart, the piece is inspired by the astrophysical phenomenon of stellar birth as both visceral metaphor and choreographic framework.
In collaboration with director Tim Richardson and video artists KLSR and REINFECTED.ME, astrophysical data is abstracted into shifting visual fields that echo cycles of creation. An ensemble of dancers performs against the backdrop of a monolithic digital installation, creating a feedback loop of allegory and sensation. The original score by James Newberry deepens the emotional terrain through epic sonic landscapes.
Birth + Carnage invites audiences into a theatrical abyss where cosmic and human systems mirror one another-bridging the vastness of the universe and the depths of human connection.
Dance Collaborators: Damontae Hack, Sydney Hirai, Mizuho Kappa, Eleni Loving, Sayer Mansfield, Meenah Neemeh, Wyeth Walker, PAUL ZIVKOVICH
Project Background
In 2022, The Simons Foundation partnered with Gibney Center to create Open Interval, a residency that supported the research between astrophysicist Dr. Burkhart and choreographer Marla Phelan. Their collaboration led to the development of Birth + Carnage, where Phelan transposes computational simulations of Star Formation into a unique choreographic process that physically and emotionally mirrors the dynamic systems of stellar birth.
Birth + Carnage is supported by the Simons Foundation's Science, Society & Culture division. Developed with residency support from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New Directions Choreography Lab (NDCL) at The Ailey School, and Simons Foundation & Gibney's Open Interval Residency Program.
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