Get 40% OFF your registration for one or both of APL’s fall workshops, thanks to a donation from a friend who wants the broadest range of artists exposed to our training.
Our foundational Embodying the Impulse series — Spontaneity/Precision (Oct 18-19) and Voice (Nov 8-9) — offers a rare opportunity to expand your artistic presence through practices rooted in Central and Eastern European technique that you will not find taught elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest! Learn more about the workshops.
To activate your discount, register using this password: Polyphony
We are beyond excited about our autumn Sunday Salon!
Every Salon presents a careful selection of artists and intellectuals to read a great play and dive into deep discussion, and our October 12 reading of The Fence in its Thousandth Year is no exception. You will want to be in the room with this incredibly talented and erudite group when we take on Howard Barker’s epic story of a blind boy on a quest to understand his true identity in a world of forced segregation, illegal immigration, and shifting sands of Truth:
The US-Mexico Border at Tijuana
PHOTO, a Blind Adolescent – Zachary Hewell
ALGERIA, A Duchess – Aimée Bruneau
ISTORIA, Friend to Algeria – Valerie Curtis-Newton
DOORWAY, A Suitor – Joseph Lavy
LOU, A Young Woman – Annie Paladino
KIDNEY, A Servant – Paul Budraitis
YOUTERUS, A Blind Thief – Jose Amador
CAMERA, A Blind Child – Margaretta Campagna
NARRATOR – Zhenya Lavy
Click here for more information.
Note: RSVP required — claim your spot now!
New | Design: Carmen Lau-Woo | 2014
The past year has been filled with new beginnings. With our return to main-stage production and the expansion of our ensemble, we decided it was time to retire our 14-year-old logo.
In partnership with Carmen Lau-Woo of Lauwoo Designs (email), we honed our concept into a graphic that honors our heritage while aligning with our artistic aesthetic.
We love the results!
A final look at the logo that embodied our story and aspirations for so long:
Can you guess what inspired the original? Hint: What’s in a name? | Design: Zhenya Lavy | 2000
Akropolis Performance Lab eschews production for production’s sake. Instead, we prize the catalyst of the studio … the workroom … the room of labor: the laboratory of our name. We reject the trappings of infrastructure which force the presentation of season after season of shows, on pre-determined, tight schedules devised first and foremost to cover rents or other priorities of a non-artistic nature. We do not base our identity upon seasons of plays, summer-stock Shakespeare, genre delineations, or the like. Since our inception, we have striven to exist as an antithesis or — perhaps better — in counterpoint to such theatre-making approaches. We believe in the necessity for an alternative to the constant churn of productions, and we have deliberately situated ourselves elsewhere on the artistic spectrum. This is not a values judgment. To the contrary, we celebrate the full spectrum of approaches and honor the vitality each brings to the theatre community. But for APL, this choice is a matter of Artistic Ethos. Continue reading…
Do you have a script in the works (or on the shelf) that you would like to have considered for a reading with talented actors and feedback from an open, intelligent, supportive (if sometimes motley) collection of artists, intellectuals, and lovers of the arts? APL’s New Year New Play Salon in January might be your launch pad for something BIG!
Last year’s inaugural New Year New Play selection, FANGS by Jim Moran, has been picked up for full production by Eclectic Theatre this fall. We’re thrilled for Jim and pleased to have been part of his play’s development! | Photo: Zhenya Lavy
I started a discussion about devised theatre on APL’s Facebook group page, and it’s generated quite a bit of interest among artists and theatre scholars. The discussion was inspired by Kate Kremer’s August 28 opinion piece on Howlround — my opening remarks are as follows:
This discussion of so-called “Devised” theatre seems to me exceptionally myopic. First, if Devised Theatre arose as an attempt to break away from the hegemony of the Playwright, why interview 3 playwrights to the exclusion of other collaborative artists? Second, positioning Devising against Schechner’s nearly 50-year-old statement about directors violating vs respecting the text ignores nearly 2 generations of world theatre artists who have been “devising” (long before there was a pigeonhole for the work) without violating OR respecting The Text, but encountering text as a single, (sometimes) necessary element in the development of the performance event: For example, Eugenio Barba/Odin Teatret, Slowiak – Cuesta /New World Performance Lab, Raymond Bobgan, Gardzienice, APL, and countless others. I wonder if this “New Avant-garde” realizes they’re actually behind the times.
I could add Anne Bogart/SITI Company, NaCL, UMO, Wooster Group, Double Edge…
Join the conversation or just take a look at what’s been written — it’s a robust and thought-provoking read. (Facebook account required.)
Marina (Zhenya Lavy) and Astrov (Carter Rodriquez) | Photo: Annie Paladino
People’s Choice nominations are still being accepted for this year’s Gregory Awards — through September 4 — and we ask you to consider Uncle Vanya for Best Production when you vote.
Our work doesn’t fit neatly into Tony-style award categories. In fact, almost everything we do falls outside convention. Consider music alone: while APL’s productions are all deeply musical — with sophistication and complexity outpacing most musical theatre — it would and should never be classified in the same category as musicals.
We need your support to be recognized, and anyone can submit a nomination. VOTE HERE! The not-to-be-missed Gregory Awards ceremony is October 20.
Uncle Vanya may not have nabbed reviewer nominations, but we did receive some Gregory Nominator love and appreciation for the work we do. Here are some highlights:
About the production:
I thought staging this production in an old Victorian House was brilliant. I was skeptical about the intimate setting but for a Chekhov play it worked very well.
Ballsy choice to set the show environmentally, in a location that has a limited potential audience. Excellent use of architecture.
For the space, the lights were great. They were low when necessary, warm when they needed to be, and stark enough to make me feel like I was in a dark Russian countryside.
The music was exceptional. They set the scenes up nicely, and the fact that almost all singing was done unaccompanied should be applauded. The actors did a fantastic job and Zhenya Lavy did some beautiful work.”
Not surprisingly, the Vanya music received special attention:
Zhenya Lavy should be recognized for her outstanding direction of the music in Uncle Vanya. The music–sung all in Russian, mostly a capella, in rich 3 & 4 part harmonies, was exquisite and brought so much depth and texture to the production as a whole. Brilliant work!
The music was exceptional. They set the scenes up nicely, and the fact that almost all singing was done unaccompanied should be applauded. The actors did a fantastic job and Zhenya Lavy did some beautiful work.
Superb use of music and song as environment.
This love went to Carter Rodriquez for his brilliant turn in the role of Astrov:
Complex, authentic portrayal of a character that could easily be two-dimensional.
He seemed to understand the dark humor of Chekov.
And, finally, Zhenya Lavy received this acknowledgment for her on-stage marathons as the largely dialogue-free but always-present Marina:
Lovely, natural approach, made all the more compelling by realistic reactions during long periods where she had no dialogue.
Wow — both the October 26 and the November 2 selection sessions filled rapidly! Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word.
We are still adding names to the waitlist, and we encourage people to sign up. Make your best case for why you are a strong fit for our ensemble. We are not opposed to creating an additional opportunity for top applicants to be seen.
Our October 26 ensemble selection session has already filled. Given the length of the waitlist, we are adding a second selection session on Nov 2, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Sign up before they’re gone!
Network of Ensemble Theatres
APL is the proud recipient of Sustained Support funding from 4Culture.
APL is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas.
