CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

FROM THE EDGE

LaMama-Postcard.pdf



FROM THE EDGE -- the USITT-USA PQ 11 National Exhibition returns from Prague to make its New York debut at La MaMa LaGalleria Dec. 6 to 16, 2012.

This dynamic exhibit of performance design represented the USA during the
2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, an international competitive mega-exhibition that is considered the Olympics of Design. The USA national pavilion, sponsored by USITT (United States Institute for Theatre & Technology), focuses on the socio-political issues consuming American performance makers today.





The exhibit of photographs features the work of 36 design collaborations from across the United States as well as seminal ensembles in the USA devoted to making work that courageously pushes boundaries both literal and figurative.  "The Edge" refers to the brave and precarious edge of creation but also references our country on edge.

FROM THE EDGE offers a buoyantly self-critical view from the ground: This is who we are now as Americans. This is how theatermakers irreverently created self-reflective performances during the dramatic transition in the White House from 2006 to 2011-- a wrenching reevaluation of core American values that brought about the rise of an African-American as our country¹s 44th president.

On display are 36 unique viewpoints from U.S. theater artists reflecting on those issues consuming Americans today: issues of identity, healing and obsessions with death and loss after 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. The pull of conscience is inevitable when engaged in war; anger directed toward the obliviousness of many to the destruction of our planet; rising political polarities and ambiguities in reaction to our first African American president; tensions relative to race and gender; anxieties about technology; the role of religion in society; challenges of the differently-abled and finally, a nod to Americans at play, while eating, and while re-envisioning classic work and performance as we know it.

Some of the featured works include Paul Chan¹s Waiting for Godot set in New Orleans, Nancy Keystone¹s Apollo and The America Play, Brian Sidney Bembridge¹s design for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Rob Roth¹s Screen Test, and Basil Twist¹s Arias with a Twist. Special recognition was given to The Builder¹s Association, Cornerstone Theatre, Ping Chong and Company, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Siti Company, and The Wooster Group for the inspiration and leadership they have provided through the years. Tribute was given to two American theatre greats: August Wilson and Ellen Stewart.

FROM THE EDGE
Performance Design in the Divided States of America La Mama Galleria
6 East 1st Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue New York, New York

December 6-16th,  2012.
Wed- Sun 1:00-7:30 p.m.

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