PROJECT #2: OUTSIDE THE BOX

http://www.independenteye.org/stage.html



The Tempest, 2009, Sonoma County Repertory Theater, Sebastopol, CA

Shakespeare's classic tale of magic, relationships and deception is presented as a fairy tale involving many elements of experimental theatre. The company utilizes live actors, puppets, and masks along with an intense musical score.  This production was also made into a DVD for those who were unable to attend this spectacular visual masterpiece.

http://www.deepellum.org/midsummer.htm




A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2001, Deep Ellum Ensemble, New York, NY

One of the greatest Shakepseare comedies performed by an intimate cast of five. This production was performed in a chalk circle and utilized modern apparel. The final product also included original music and chanting which was written and performed by the cast.  Deep Ellum Ensemble is also available to perform this show for a live tour if interested.


http://www.axiscompany.org/hospital.htm



Hospital, 1997-2010, Axis Theatre Company, New York, NY

This play is an original, episodic play produced by Axis every summer. The play explores the vast abyss of the mind of a patient in a terminal coma as he lives out the last few days of his life.  The play centers around the past events of a man's life through his memories and is written and performed by the entire company.  The name of the play changes yearly (i.e. Hospital 1997, Hospital 2010) and has become a cult classic in the Greenwich Village area. Each year the mind is breeched in different ways and has a different theme each time.  These plays are also available in movie form. 

http://www.pigiron.org/productions/isabella



Isabella, 2011, Pig Iron, Philadelphia, PA

A disturbing adaptation of William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Isabella proves to be comic, shocking and stylized.  The company uses human puppetry and is actually set in a modern day morgue.  Because of prominent nudity and adult themes, this production is not your traditional Shakespearian play.  This version of the play debuted for the 2007 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and is currently running with a new cast at the Pig Iron Theatre.

http://www.here.org/shows/detail/531/




The Last Story, 2010, Theatre TAS, New York, NY

This play has been dubbed as a "postmodern European version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and first opened in at The Tank in New York City in March of 2010.  This play explores the never ending need for a fulfilling relationship between a man and a woman. With its constant war of words and intentions,  Kaća Čelan's award-winning work thrives off of the relationship of the only two characters in the play. 

http://www.inparentheses.org/andwhen.htm

Androcles and the Lion, 2005, In Parenthesis, New York, NY

This play is based on Aesop's classic fable in which a slave befriends a lion in the wild. This play features not only shadow theatre and video animation but also the symphonic music of the New York Philharmonic. Directed by Marion Shoevaert and conducted by Xian Zhang, this show is geared towards younger audiences in the hopes of bringing them into artistic settings more frequently.  Another collaborative effort between these artists included "The Tortoise & The Hare", which was produced in 2004 using the same special effects. 

http://www.temporarydistortion.com/productions/americana-kamikaze/

American Kamikaze, 2011, Temporary Distortion, Astoria, NY

Based on Japanese ghost stories, this emsemble piece is the brainchild of the entire company of Temporary Distortion. The company uses their trademark boxes to house the story and to create a claustrophobic, intense setting.  They also utilize digital images to project and tell the story of various victims and villians.  There is no blocking in the play; just a constant stream of images, people freezing in positions, eerie sounds and titilating speech patterns indicative of Western cult horror stories.

http://www.waxfactory.org/ 




Blind.ness, 2010, Waxfactory, New York, NY

Directed by Ivan Talijancic and co-written with Slovenian playwright Simona Semenic, this production centers heavily around the topic of love.  The all female cast uses media and dance to convey the hardships one must endure while engaging in the throws of passion.  Another fascinating element of this show is the lack of set, which allows the story to be told in a unique styling and keeping it easily identifiable to the masses. The production leaves you with the question: Can we identify ourselves by who we attract and who we have sex with?

http://www.thebuildersassociation.org/prod_continuous_images.html

Continuous City, 2007, The Builders Association, New York, NY

This play tells the story of a traveling father and his daughter at home tethered and transformed by speed, modern family ties, and failing cell phones. The characters in this production are not only interacting with other people but with various screens projecting their families on the other side.  The show also portrays each city with unfailing accuracy as the company even set up on-site filming in the countries visited by the main characters and "skype- like" conversations. Thye Builders Association have begun to develop the frame for these components during key residencies at the Krannert Center and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, at the University of California, Berkeley and at The Kitchen in New York. This show also is available as a touring production, providing that the space is equipped to handle the technological needs of Continuous City.

http://www.seinendan.org/en/play/2010/robot/

I. Worker, 2008, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

The future of theatre? The first theatre production ever to include robots, I. Worker, is truely a revolutionary concept.  Written and directed by Oriza Hirata, this productions explores the relation between man and machine and evaluates what defines us, respectively.  The 20 minute long production argues that a machine can have limitations on its productivity, much like humans are able to block their own paths with inhabitions.  The Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University developed the two robots, Takeo and Momoko, specifically for this purpose and plans of future performances are in the works.