La MaMa Presents HEAVEN ON EARTH
By: Gabrielle Sierra Jan. 14, 2011
In "Heaven on Earth," a new play by Charles L. Mee, Witness Relocation will apply its unique, pop-culture dance/theater style to a show about civilization's chances of post-apocalyptic happiness. The production was initially developed in partnership with Collective ildi ! eldi, an ensemble from France, during a residence there in 2009 and is being completed in New York as of this writing. La Mama E.T.C. will present the work's world premiere February 17 to 27 in it large Ellen Stewart Theater, after which it will travel to Le Substance in Lyons for its French premiere March 31 to April 3.
Productions of Witness Relocation combine dance and theater with the energy of a rock show, exploding contemporary culture into intensely physical, outrageous, poetic, and sometimes brutal performances. Charles L. Mee is an Obie-winning playwright who is recently best known for his work with Siti Company, for which he wrote "Orestes," "bobrauschenbergamerica," "Hotel Cassiopeia," "Under Construction" and "soot and spit (the musical)." Mee was Signature Theater's Playwright-in-Residence in 2007-2008."Heaven on Earth" is a collage play, written with Mee's unique philosophy that all art is both received and created, so texts are taken from and inspired by other texts. It combs through history to reveal a quirky but simple realization: that hope is inextinguishable because in spite of the calamitous darkness when eras pass and civilizations collapse, happiness endures in the small pleasures of life. To illustrate this, Mee weaves a collection of lyrical monologues about Roman ruins, the American Dust Bowl of the thirties, biodiversity in seeds, principles of Greek democracy, a financially ruined American widow who turns for help to family and friends, stadium building and stock car racing. The play incorporates texts from the catalog of Revolution Seeds, Isaac Bashevis Singer, O. The Oprah Magazine, and Arthur W. Leonard.The New York Times wrote that Witness Relocation's work "aggressively blurs genres and makes high-low culture distinctions obsolete." The troupe was formed in 2000 by director/choreographer Dan Safer and has created about 14 original productions, engaged in a two year residency in Bangkok, and performed in theaters, nightclubs, rock videos and a Thai TV Soap Opera. The troupe is based in New York City and tours domestically and internationally. Its recent productions include "I'm Going to Make a Small Incision Behind Your Ear to Check and See if You're Actually Human." (Bushwick Starr, 2010), the English language premiere of "Five Days in March" by Toshiki Okada, translated by Aya Ogawa (La MaMa, 2010), "The Panic Show" (DNA, Bumbershoot Festival, in France at Le Quartz), "Haggadah" (La MaMa, 2009), Mikuni Yanahaira's "The Blue Bird " (English language premiere, CSV 2009), "Vicious Dogs On Premises" (Ontological, 2008) and "Dancing Vs. the Rat Experiment" (La MaMa, 2006).
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