International Culture Lab
       Theater Production Blog
     

Translating the Story

International Culture Lab’s production of Outside Inn had
traveled through many incarnations to its Off-Broadway premiere. The
University of Pittsburgh, ICL and Theater Rampe Stuttgart originally
commissioned playwright Andreas Jungwirth to create a text to serve as
a vehicle to explore cultural difference among the collaborators and
their respective countries. From its conception, the project called for
four bilingual actors to perform the play in both languages on both
continents. Outside Inn rehearsed and previewed at the
University of Pittsburgh in September 2007, where it played two German
and three English language performances. It then traveled to Stuttgart,
Germany, where it played at Theater Rampe Stuttgart in the month of
October 2007, including five performances in English and one impromptu
mixed-language performance. This mixed-language version was further
rehearsed and then returned to Stuttgart July 1-5, 2008, as part of the
first annual American Days, sponsored by the German-American Center
there “to further improve and intensify the transatlantic dialog.” 
Throughout the project, language evolved into a dominant creative
element that drove and shaped character development, rhythm and tone,
and actor/audience relationship.

 read full post »

IRIS is a multimedia theatre movement work, premiering in Spring 2010. It is
an experiment, an evening-length piece being developed through residencies
and work in progress showings; equipment borrowed from Digital Performance
Institute is being used to explore the visuals.

The character IRIS, her predicament and her inner world are developing
through improvisation, which started with a black wig, a colored tie, and
then movement. How to relate the content of the movement to the content of
the visuals is a continual question. What do I want to say. How do I say it?

In the first of four sections, there is at various times the sounds of birds
and dogs barking. A window, which had always been part of the piece in my
mind, soon appears on the back wall, and moving branches come and go. The
props in IRIS¹s bedroom include large purple bras and high heels, as she is
exploring her feminity, sexuality, power. I have experimented with various
types of imagery. This includes images of a Victoria Secret catalogue which,
through the program Isadora, enlarge & reduce areas of the images through a
fisheye lens ... to a large bra, surrounded in color, in which one layer of
the bra expands and contracts with the movements of the performer ... to a
single bra tumbling out of a light, turning and expanding until it overtakes
the screen and disappears.

The character¹s projected shadow is something I am very interested to
 read full post »

We are please to announce the 2008-2009 Digital Performance Institute Artist Residency projects.
 read full post »

• rope&pulley
  Michael Chladil  
• The Mahler + Machine Project
  Jennifer Tsuei     
• ‘cara viaggio’
  John Kelly 
• Alchemy of Light
  Ruth Sergel     

MEI-BE WHATever
Seeking Media Artist

to collaborate in projects for ongoing national and international performances.

MEI-BE Whatever is a multimedia dance company located in NYC. We create mixed-discipline works that fuse contemporary dance with a variety of media, including live/recorded video and soundscapes.

Candidates:

• Digital Technology Expert: extensive live video experience including
  troubleshooting absolutely anything & everything
• Creative to the extreme
• Adroit sense of music and movement cues- and the space between
• Positive attitude, open-minded and detail oriented
• Experience working with performing group a plus

Timings:

• Rehearsals: 1st phrase NOW - Aug 22 (4x/week)
• Rehearsals: 2nd phrase November 1-30, 2008
• Performances: US & European Tours April 2009

Participants will be compensated and receive performance credit.

Interested persons please email CV, cover letter, and work link to: NG@MeiBeWhatever.com

I decided that I wanted to use video projection very early on in creating UNPRONOUNCEABLE SYMBOL, for several reasons. It allows you to very easily incorporate outside material in a way you otherwise couldn’t. In this show in specific, we were able to incorporate a lot of footage, both still photos and video clips, that I had taken in Minneapolis and to have the sort of cold “outside”, urban imagery to contrast with the opulence of the “inside” world that we made onstage with heavy curtains, flowers, purple light and haze. Not to mention the easy ability to incorporate Minneapolis itself into the show, which I was interested in. I’ve also always enjoyed the aesthetic of projected video as I often favor very basic, i.e. transparent stagecraft so having slides appear behind the action appeals to me. Generally, the ephemeral nature of projected imagery, lights and shadows and such is something I really enjoy and think added a lot to our show.

Neal Medlyn

work in transformation
PERFORMANCE: March 25 2008 8PM
Glasslands Gallery 289 Kent Ave

DPI will join our resident artist CADEN MADSON and BIG ART GROUP on Tuesday night during their March series of "work in transformation" with fragments and notes from their new production SOS at
Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn. BIG DANCE says each night of the series
"we'll be sneaking performance sections from the new piece into an
evening of anarchic, exuberant performance happenings, including
grotesque video immersion, fresh sound and song, real-time short films,
and invited guest artists. Get a sneak peek at our new direction and
indulge yourself in some party art, bring friends and have a
stimulating group encounter." An informal discussion will follow
whatever the performance may turn out to be... Tuesday March 25, 2008 8PM.
Pay What You Can Donation At The Door.
Glasslands Gallery 289 Kent Ave (btw South 1st and South 2nd, Bedford stop on 'L' train) Brooklyn

SOS
BIG ART
GROUP