Category Archives: Annie Paladino

The Maids/Vexations Premieres October 24th!

  By Joseph Lavy • October 1, 2018 - 9:00 AM , , , , , , ,

Seats are available now for our upcoming production, The Maids/Vexations, a simultaneity of performance
Running Oct 25 through Nov 24.

This is the latest APL production to follow our distictive chamber drama format (pioneered with our 2015 The Glas Nocturne), produced in the APL Downstairs Studio for audiences of no more than 10 per performance.

Request your invitation at https://goo.gl/forms/0fQP4vmfKucwLkLP2

"The game is dangerous. I'm sure we left traces." ~Solange "...it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities." ~Erik Satie

“The game is dangerous. I’m sure we left traces.” ~Solange
“…it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.” ~Erik Satie

Featuring:
The Maids by Jean Genet ~ Annie Paladino, Catherine Lavy, Emily Testa
Vexations, by Erik Satie ~ Zhenya Lavy, piano

Direction and Scenography ~ Joseph Lavy
Production Assistant ~ Kyrie Dawson
Technical Direction ~ Tomas Campomanes

By bringing together Genet’s The Maids (original English translation by Joseph Lavy) and Satie’s Vexations in independent but concurrent performances within a shared space, APL seeks to challenge the notion of unified event – Satie’s brief, infinitely expansive experimental piano piece being no more accompaniment to the theatrical performance than the play is dramatic context for the musical performance.

The confluence of Genet’s erotically-charged rite of desire, identity, fantasy, and power with Satie’s notorious durational composition – reported to induce hallucinations in the performer – will prove illuminating, confounding, and potentially mind-altering!

Each performance is limited to 10 attendees. Come to see The Maids. Come to hear Vexations. Come knowing both will happen simultaneously!
All performances are by invitation only and PWYC ($30 suggested).
To request your invitation follow the link
https://goo.gl/forms/0fQP4vmfKucwLkLP2

*NOTE: The Maids contains mature language and physicality. Not recommended for audiences under 14.

Akropolis Performance Lab productions are made possible in part by 4Culture and the generous support of individual patrons.

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Summer 2018 Open Training Sessions!

  By Joseph Lavy • June 1, 2018 - 12:00 PM , , , , , , , , ,

We’re delighted to announce that during July and August APL is inviting performers interested in rigorous, practical work engaging essential elements of the performer’s craft to participate in our twice-weekly ensemble training. Performing artists with an openness to embodied exploration are welcome regardless of experience or discipline.

Interested? Sign up here: https://goo.gl/forms/rJR29Gg4L0hflpdu2 or keep reading to learn more!

Our training objective:Living Impulses shaped by Deliberate Form piloted by an Engaged Mind

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Joseph Lavy, Annie Paladino, Emily Jo Testa: Plastiques

 

When:  July 5 – August 16, 2018

Wednesdays – Voice (7:30 pm – 9:30 pm)

  • Listening
  • Impulse, Breath, Tone, Resonance, Shared Voice
  • Harmonic/Polyphonic/Overtone Singing

Thursdays – Body (7:30 pm – 9:30 pm)

  • The Basics: Awareness, Presence, Contact
  • Plasticity: The shape and flow of associations
  • Corporeality: Identifying, owning, and surpassing our personal limitations
  • The Tangible World: Deep play at the intersection of attention, action, and objects

 

 

 

Introductory Intensive: To accelerate participants’ experience we are also offering an 8 hour Introductory Intensive – June 30 & July 1 – during which we will provide a beginner-focused introduction to APL’s core principles, exercises, songs, and activities.

Participation in the Introductory Intensive is strongly encouraged but not required. Everyone is welcome on a drop in basis.

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APL corporeality training

 

Cost: Drop In Sessions: $20 per session or $25 per week if attending both voice and body training sessions (4 hours/week total)

Introductory Intensive: $80

Discounts:Participants in the Introductory Intensive will have a reduced drop-in fee of $10 per session/$20 per week.

We also offer discounts for paid-in-advance, multi-session commitments.  Situational sliding scale rates available

Sign Up: Interested? Click through to this simple form to let us know! https://goo.gl/forms/rJR29Gg4L0hflpdu2

Get a Sneak Peek at 730 Steps!

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • July 1, 2017 - 12:24 PM , , , , , , , ,
Devising Duklida: Joseph Lavy (R) provides feedback to ensemble members (clockwise from L) Emily Jo Testa, Tyler Polumsky, Matt Sherrill, and Annie Paladino during the devising process.

Devising Duklida: Joseph Lavy (R) provides feedback to ensemble members (clockwise from L) Emily Jo Testa, Tyler Polumsky, Matt Sherrill, and Annie Paladino during the devising process.

Please join us Friday, July 28, for a full rendering of our work-in-progress on 730 Steps.

 

This was the culmination of a year’s work, which began July 23, 2016, with a reading of the initial rehearsal script. As with any new-work, and especially with source material of the scope and complexity of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the generative phase of our development process has been richly rewarding. We now have a wealth of material to put in front of an audience for feedback.

What is a rendering?

Akropolis uses “rendering” as a particular term of art. On the one had, there is the common sense definition related to performance and the word rendition: representing or depicting something artistically; causing something to be; submitting something for inspection. However, in our work “rendering” always incorporates an older meaning that is less commonly used today: melting something down; extracting parts; or clarifying (as with butter). For APL, a rendering is always an opportunity through performance — whether for an audience of 100 or 1 — to present work for inspection for the express purpose of clarifying it, identifying parts to cut, rearrange, or reshape.

 

The July 28 rendering is an important part of 730 Steps’ development process. The feedback we receive will help us shape the final form of this massive production!

You can expect to see scene work developed to date, in continuous performance. Where there is material still to be devised for major plot points, we will represent that material in a more temporary performance manner. While the finished piece will incorporate music, we will not perform music as part of the rendering. Actors will be in costume. Major props and set pieces will be used, and there will be basic theatrical lighting. Audience will be seated on 3 sides of the action on padded chairs, and there will be risers for optimal viewing.

Plan for a 4 hour viewing. The rendering begins at 7:30 pm. You are welcome to arrive as early as 7:00 pm. Light refreshments will be provided.

This one-night event is free and open to the public. However, to comply with the wishes of our donated venue, we ask that you send us an email requesting an invitation. Seating is limited, and invitations will be sent out by email on a first-come, first-served basis.

We hope you will join the ensemble around the table afterwards to talk about your observations!

4Culture Logo
This project is sponsored, in part, by a grant from 4Culture.

Theatre Journal publishes Glas Nocturne Review

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • April 16, 2016 - 8:10 AM , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Theatre Journal TGN ScreenshotWe are so proud to share this performance review of The Glas Nocturne, which is published in the current issue (68.1) of Theatre Journal!

Thank you to Jeanmarie Higgins and ‪#‎theatrejournal‬ for venturing out to our corner of the country and giving APL’s work critical consideration as part of the international theatre conversation.

From the author: “What started as a quick trip to Seattle to see some friends and some theatre turned into a Theatre Journal performance review of Joseph and Zhenya Lavy’s The Glas Nocturne. I love writing about Akropolis Performance Lab; the work is always virtuosic, irrefutable, and strangely joyful.”

READ THE REVIEW FREE ON ACADEMIA.EDU

Je Suis le Fils de Quelqu’un

  By Joseph Lavy • December 29, 2015 - 3:55 PM , , , , , ,

Je Suis le Fils de Quelqu’un:
A reflection on touring The Glas Nocturne to Akron OH, November 2015

By Joseph Lavy

“You have the song. You must ask yourself where this song began.” ~J. Grotowski

 

I can’t seem to write the post I want to write.

I want to write a long meditation on heritage and homecomings;
about artistic fathers and family re-membered
over coffee and broken bread;
how the past and the present converged
over wine and rillettes
and how a bottle of aquavit can almost reach the Hour of the Wolf.

I want to write a treatise about the fallacy of linear time

and a Thanksgiving hymn of gratitude
to my colleagues for their faith, talents, and work,
to our hosts for their hospitality,
for artistic homes;

a cry of deep joy
sprung from meeting the challenges of
transforming our performance from one sort of
intimacy to another,
without loss or sacrifice;

a profound parable
of returning and laying it all on the line
before those people–visible and invisible–
who matter the most
and who prove that you are not a vagabond
but that you come from some country,
some landscape
which is still there
and which is you
near or far.

“The Story of the Girl,” segment from Akropolis Performance Lab’s The Glas Nocturne,  Saturday, November 21, 2015, at The Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture/New World Performance Lab in Akron OH.  L-R: Joseph Lavy,  Emily Jo Testa, Catherine Lavy, Annie Paladino, and Zhenya Lavy.

The Doctor Returns! Glas Nocturne reopens Nov 5

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • October 19, 2015 - 10:26 PM , , , , , ,

We are thrilled to announce that we are remounting The Glas Nocturne in Seattle (Nov 5-7 & 12-14) and in Akron OH (Nov 20-21)! The Ohio tour is hosted by Akron’s Center for Applied Theatre & Active Culture / New World Performance Lab. It’s our first tour out of Washington State, and we can’t wait to share this potent piece with new audiences.

Check out our new Glas trailer video, too!

 

Learn more about our Ohio host, the Center for Applied Theatre & Active Culture / New World Performance Lab, on their website.

July 26 Salon Cast Announced!

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • July 18, 2015 - 7:59 PM , , , , ,

Goody GoodyWe have some exciting announcements about our July 26 Sunday Salon reading of John Longenbaugh’s Noir thriller, The Sound in the Next Room!

The cast assembled for this reading is absolutely stellar:

EUCA/CLARICE – Alex Highsmith
MELANIE/LESLIE – Annie Paladino
CLEO – Emily Jo Testa
DANIELLE – Kate Kraay

Playwright John Longenbaugh will join us for the reading and discussion, as well.

If you haven’t already made plans for what promises to be a hot, midsummer Sunday, we hope you will join us for this great night of theatre and conversation. Registration information.

Reviews Are In & Word Is Out About Our Secret Performance

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • May 26, 2015 - 12:25 PM , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Poets say the moon is passionate and desirous. Others see an ethical-religious meaning in moonlight. Youth sees the moon as a promise of all those tremendous things which await it; The old find a memento that the promise was never kept, a reminder of all that broke and went to pieces. And what is moonlight?” | Joseph Lavy as Dr. Glas | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

Although we restricted marketing for The Glas Nocturne to social media and word-of-mouth, word has gotten out quite well. So well, in fact, that we are extending our run by a full week beyond our initial expectation!

If you haven’t yet gotten a seat, we have just 30 available between now and June 7.

Check out some of what’s being said about this truly remarkable performance!

Just 30 seats remain through June 7, so act quickly to get your invitation!

REQUEST INVITATION BUTTON

Annie Paladino Named Associate Artistic Director

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • February 16, 2015 - 2:21 PM , ,
Headshot - Annie Paladino

Annie Paladino

We are thrilled to announce that Annie Paladino has joined  Akropolis Performance Lab’s leadership team in the newly created role of Associate Artistic Director.

APL met Annie when she showed up for our first Performers Lab on August 18, 2013. She remained a steady participant throughout the three-months of open training sessions and we quickly recognized her affinity for our process. We were delighted when she agreed to assistant direct Uncle Vanya (2014). In the sixteen months since work began on Vanya, Annie has consistently demonstrated commitment and vision aligning with our best hopes for the work of this Company. And since becoming an Artistic Associate last May, she has established herself as a trusted advisor to Co-Artistic Directors Zhenya and Joseph Lavy and as a passionate advocate for Akropolis in the Seattle community and beyond.

During the past eighteen months, as APL has moved into a period of unprecedented activity for the Ensemble, Annie has been among the few key people whose role behind the scenes of this growth has been critical.

As Associate Artistic Director, Annie will continue to partner with the Artistic Directors on organizational leadership, strategic planning, and outreach. She also will expand her artistic voice within the Company, taking on directorial responsibilities for select projects.

Joseph and Zhenya write, “Although inviting another person into APL’s artistic leadership was never previously part of our plan, Annie has earned our deep trust as a steward of Akropolis Performance Lab’s artistic aesthetic and vision. We feel incredibly fortunate both for this professional partnership and for Annie’s friendship.”

Please join Akropolis in enthusiastically welcoming Annie as Associate Artistic Director!

Learn more about Annie.