Category Archives: Ensemble-Generated

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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Artistic Projects Premiering in 2015-16

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • February 22, 2015 - 11:00 PM , , , , , ,

 

In the coming year, you will have more opportunities than ever to see an Akropolis Performance Lab production. We are thrilled to announce our current slate of artistic projects and can’t wait for you to see them!

Check out the fantastic season graphic by Joe Patrick Kane, and read a bit about each of the pieces below.

2015-16 Artistic Projects

Pomegranate & Ash

An experimental work in Theatre of Polyphony, taking TS Eliot’s Ash Wednesday, Monteverdi madrigals, the Hymn of Demeter, traditional Shaker songs and each performer’s personal biography as source material for an original performance rooted in themes of separation, loss, and reunification. Theatre of Polyphony weaves simultaneous lines of independent performance — a cappella song, movement, dance, physical action and spoken text — into a rich, multi-faceted performance event. This piece is an ongoing, ever-evolving project, bridging the two primary domains of APL’s artistic work: public performance and ensemble training. A segment of the work premiered at  On the Boards Open Studio #6 on February 8, 2015. Pomegranate & Ash will be shown in its full form during Spring and Summer 2015.

The Glas Nocturne

APL Co-Artistic Director Joseph Lavy adapts Hjalmar Söderberg’s scandalous fin-de-siecle novel, Doktor Glas, into a noir monodrama of psycho-sexual fixation, moral questioning, and murder. Our most intimate piece to date, The Glas Nocturne will be produced as a speak-easy chamber piece, pushing APL in new directions as we confront the novel’s central question: Is it ever justifiable to take the life of another human being? Conceived for a maximum audience of 10. Performances will begin in May 2015 and will be by invitation only. Information about how to request an invitation is forthcoming.

Ecce Faustus

A contemporary medieval mystery play excavating the archetypal Faustian narrative. Devised from canonical texts, historical figures, and obscure manuscripts. Woven through with sublime vocal music composed by the diabolical Carlo Gesualdo. Rooted in APL’s unique brand of physical theatre. Ecce Faustus presents an examination of madness, virtue, and the physical and spiritual costs of human ambition. Continuing APL’s fifteen-year tradition of long-form creative process, this production marks a return to the ensemble’s signature theatrical landscapes, exemplified by such past pieces as Jeanne, the Maid and Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Featuring Artistic Associate Trevor Young Marston as Dr. Faustus. Premieres Winter 2016.

Announcements about dates, casts, and more to come!

Pomegranate & Ash Makes a Strong Debut

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • February 9, 2015 - 1:04 PM , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday we premiered Pomegranate & Ash: An Experiment in Theatre of Polyphony in On the Boards’ Open Studio #6 — and today OTB has confirmed that we are the first group to fully pack the house!

The Sad Days that are Surely to Come

"This is the time of tension between dying and birth -- the place of solitude where three dreams cross." | Henry James Walker, Trevor Young Marston, and Zhenya Lavy | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

Dance of Separation

Dance of Separation | Front: Sara Kaus and Annie Paladino. Back: Linnea Ingalls, Margaretta Campagna, Zhenya Lavy. | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

Dance of Seduction

Dance of Seduction "Oh, ho, I will have it. I will bow and bend to get it." | Trevor Young Marston and Sara Kaus | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

The Abduction of Persephone

The Abduction of Persephone | Annie Paladino with Zhenya Lavy, Catherine Lavy, Margaretta Campagna, Linnea Ingalls, Emily Jo Testa. | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

Clairvoyant Action

Clairvoyant Action | Emily Jo Testa with Henry James Walker, Joseph Lavy, Sara Kaus | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

An Angel Hath Troubled the Water

An Angel Hath Troubled the Water | Trevor Young Marston with Catherine Lavy, Annie Paladino, Margaretta Campagna, Emily Jo Testa | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

An Angel Hath Troubled the Water

An Angel Hath Troubled the Water "These waters will heal you, they will set you free." | Linnea Ingalls & Trevor Young Marston | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

Low, Low

"And the sword I will wield, and the sword I will wield... for this is my work while here below." | (L-R) Back: Joseph Lavy, Trevor Young Marston, Henry James Walker. 3rd Row: Annie Paladino, Emily Jo Testa, Sara Kaus. 2nd row: Margaretta Campagna, Linnea Ingalls. Front: Zhenya Lavy, Catherine Lavy. | Photo: Joe Patrick Kane

 

Here’s a sampling of audience responses:

  • “The ensemble was so tight. Precise and tuned into each other.”
  • “The music was amazing!”
  • “Their dance [Dance of Seduction by Sara Kaus and Trevor Young Marston] was really powerful!”
  • “The girl’s [Catherine Lavy] song made me cry!”
  • “It’s hard to believe you’ve only been working together as an ensemble for three months!”
  • “Very moving. Even though there was no story, the imagery and the way you layered everything together was striking.”
  • “It was refreshing to see a performance that was truly interdisciplinary!”

Were you there? We’d love to get your feedback, too! Please email us or comment below.

Thank you to On the Boards for organizing this event.

Pomegranate & Ash continues to evolve. Look for additional showing announcements through this Spring and Summer.

Pomegranate & Ash to Premiere in OTB’s Open Studio

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • December 16, 2014 - 6:58 PM , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Pomegranate & Ash | On the Boards Open Studio | Feb. 8, 3:30 PM.

Pomegranate & Ash | On the Boards Open Studio | Feb. 8, 3:30 PM.

The fullest manifestation to date of APL’s Theatre of Polyphony, Pomegranate & Ash premieres at On the Boards in the Open Studio on Sunday, February 8, at 3:30pm.

Pomegranate and Ash takes TS Eliot’s Ash Wednesday, Monteverdi madrigals, the Hymn of Demeter, music from the Shaker tradition, and each performer’s personal biography as source material for an original performance rooted in themes of separation, loss, and reunification.

The entire ensemble performs in this piece, including all our new Artistic Associates and Apprentices.

Admission to Open Studio is by donation only: $5 suggested.

Learn more about Pomegranate & Ash and APL’s Theatre of Polyphony.

Corpus Christi?

  By Joseph Lavy • December 11, 2014 - 11:23 AM , , , , , , , ,

In 2002, APL was about to begin rehearsals on an original adaptation of Pinocchio when the US–exploiting the wake of 9/11– opportunistically decided to wage war on Iraq based on dubious evidence of WMDs. We were unanimously and vehemently opposed to the action, and agreed APL needed to respond artistically, so we tabled the Pinocchio project and picked up Jeanne, The Maid.
Our intent was not to make a 1:1 equivalency between Joan of Arc and modern-day jihadists (Although, they are both religious extremists/zealots fighting wars in the name of God). We were driven mainly by the impulse to interrogate and illustrate the capacity of a corrupt religio-political power structure to manufacture evidence in order to support their desired outcomes and, through immoral & coercive means, actualize their predetermined objectives. And to demonstrate the social complicity of the people who sit there and let it happen, or accept that Ends justify Means.
When we finished rehearsals and were ready to open in 2003, alt-media just began to break the stories of American atrocities in Abu Ghraib prison. Most of the country was in denial that the USA would do anything like that, still pumped up on jingoistic nationalism. If it happened at all, it had to be merely by a few rogue actors. America was certainly on the Moral High Ground.
We were chastised in the Seattle Stranger for “Politics with a Sledgehammer,” even though we never once used a literal reference to Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld. Now, 11 years later the American Government’s unscrupulous use of torture (ends justifying means) is back in the spotlight.

And our question remains: “Is this the body of Christ?”

Discussion on Devised Theatre

Link

  By Joseph Lavy • August 30, 2014 - 10:20 AM , , , ,

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.)