blog by arwen

I’ve been absent from the blogosphere lately because I’ve been focused on some big life changes.

Most notably, I left NYC in April to relocate to sunny Florida. Having spent more than 15 years in the Big Apple left me exhausted and needing a break from city life. I made some wonderful friends in Central Florida a decade ago when I lived here the first time, so it made sense to return when wondering where to go next.

Never content to move across the country without going into production at EXACTLY the same time, I am thrilled to share that I am working as Assistant Visual Fringe Producer for the 20th anniversary year of the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival (now officially the longest running Fringe festival in the USA!).   I’ve been affiliated with Fringe in a few different ways over the years – first as a local show Producer and presenting partner, next as the festival Grant Writer and more recently I was the Production Manager for an out of town show that toured here from NY.

This being the 20th anniversary, we have more fun & fringy stuff happening throughout Loch Haven Park than ever before. Some basic festival info in case you are in the Central Florida and can come catch the insanity:

The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival is a 12-day-festival that is founded on the concept of offering 100% unjuried, 100% uncensored, 100% accessible theatre, music, dance, art and madness to all types and ages where 100% of the box office ticket sales go directly back to the artists within The Fringe. The Orlando Fringe is the longest running US Fringe festival. The mission of the Orlando Fringe is to provide an accessible, affordable outlet that draws diverse elements of the community together and inspires creative excellence through the arts.

The Fringe is held in beautiful Loch Haven Park, just north of downtown Orlando, at Princeton Street and Mills Avenue. The shows are in various theaters at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center, Orlando Repertory Theatre and some outdoor or ad-hoc sites; most of the venues are identified by colors May 18-30. Box-office hours on weekdays are 4 p.m.-midnight; on weekends, 10 a.m.-midnight.

Like the theatre portion of the festival, Visual Fringe is uncensored, unjuried and 100% of the money made in sales is given to the artists. The 2011 Visual Fringe will feature both emerging artists and established artists mainly from Central Florida.  It offers Fringe-goers a chance to see artwork they do not normally have access to and features artists creating their work live in the gallery. A primary goal of Visual Fringe is for patrons and artists to interact and all mediums of artwork are encouraged: painting, photography, sculpture, multi-media, installation, drawing, collage, jewelry, conceptual, abstract, figurative, pastoral, comedic, stoic, you name it.

If you live in Central Florida and have never “done the Fringe”, you should do yourself a favor and check it out before it disappears on 5/30/11.

Now that I am somewhat settled in my new home, city & state, I promise more timely updates on all things Arwen going forward. And I am still working remotely as Development Director for Incubator Arts Project, my favorite downtown NYC performance venue and will be returning to NYC periodically during the year so NY friends, do not despair. I am not gone, just farther away…

My final producing project of 2010 runs this week at CUNY’s Graduate Center – it is the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center‘s annual Prelude Festival.

PRELUDE.10: Techniques for Live Stimulation is this Wednesday 9/29 – Friday 10/1 from 3pm – 10pm each day. The Grad Center is located in Midtown Manhattan at 34th & Fifth Avenue.

Here is what it is all about:

PRELUDE.10 asks the blunt question: Why Does Live Matter?

Join us for participatory art sessions, sneak-peak excerpt presentations, live writing, and round-table chats as we investigate different techniques each day: Communication, Provocation, and Simulation. The festival also includes SPOTLIGHT: CATALONIA presented in association with The Institut Ramon Llull with support from Sala Beckett.

Our participating artists comprise a stellar array of individuals and ensembles (in my obviously biased opinion).

* on Wednesday, we explore COMMUNICATION with: The PRELUDE.10 Live Writers, Joyce Cho, Ugly Duckling Presse, Robert Quillen Camp, Hoi Polloi and Sylvan Oswald, Trajal Harrell, and The TEAM

* on Thursday, we address PROVOCATION with: HERE, Aaron Landsman, The Field‘s ERPA Artists, OurGoods.org, Jim Findlay, Julie Atlas Muz, Penny Arcade and Ishmael Houston-Jones

* on Friday, we feature SPOTLIGHT: CATALONIA and investigate SIMULATION with Joe Silovsky, Kimon Keramidas, Reid Farrington, Andrew Schneider, Reggie Watts, and a video from DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid

The festival is FREE with no reservations – strictly first come, first served. Activity sessions occur each afternoon, performances and round-table discussions follow in the evening and late night we journey to the local watering hole to continue our conversations and raise a glass together.

You can view the schedule, read about our artists or learn more about the afternoon’s activities online or by stopping by the Grad Center anytime during festival hours.

Will you join us?

Through a master stroke of fate, I’ve ended up as the Lead Producer for East River Commedia’s 2010 undergroundzero festival opening next week at P.S. 122.

What is undergroundzero you ask? Why, an experimental theater festival of course! More specifically…

undergroundzero festival offers a unique flying repertory of innovative performance by renowned local and international theater makers. Over twenty artists and companies from the US, Australia, Catalonia (Spain), Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, and Wales are participating.

The 4th Annual undergroundzero festival will run July 6-25 at Performance Space 122 (150 1st Avenue at East 9th Street). Tickets ($20) may be purchased online at www.PS122.org  or via phone at (212) 352-3101.

According to Time Out NY, we are a great deal and you can read a bit about the history & philosophy here.

playgroundzero is the Laboratory Division of the undergroundzero festival featuring a series of bold and innovative works-in-progress, followed by feedback sessions with the artists. All playgroundzero readings are downstairs at PS 122 with a $5 suggested donation. The line-up can be found here.

Not content with presenting daring new work by some of downtown’s favorite theater-makers, we are also hosting  weekly special events.

Each Tuesday (July 6, 13, & 20) from 8pm – 10pm in the Upstairs venue at PS122, commonground will introduce the festival artists and highlight our international guests.

commonground is a meta-theatrical talk show in which attendees will comprise a live studio audience for the first hour while special guests interview participating artists and cultural experts. The second hour will be an open gathering for participants, special guests, and audience-goers to mix and mingle.

And everyone knows it ain’t a festival without a dance party somewhere in the mix, so…

Each Friday, the festival presents latenightzero, a downtown dance party that welcomes everyone in the arts community and beyond to shake off the work week by getting down.

latenightzero happens every Friday (July 9, 16, & 23) from 11pm – 1am in the Upstairs venue at PS122. On Friday, July 16 latenightzero hosts the League of Independent Theater, the membership, advocacy and business league for the independent theater community in New York City.

The special events are free and open to the public with a $5 suggested donation and refreshments served.

If you find yourself in the East Village during July, be sure to check it out!

I had the extreme pleasure to spend last Sunday working on a film that is part of this year’s RIPFEST. I was doing extra work as a yogi and gym regular for a friend who was the Director.

What is RIPFEST you might wonder (as I did)?

RIPFEST is a unique collaborative filmmaking project that allows filmmakers the freedom to do what they do best – just make films. At the launch of a RIPFEST event several teams of filmmakers who have never met are given guidelines to create a 5-10 minute film. Each group is comprised of a Producer, a Writer, a Composer, a Director, a DP, an Editor, a Choreographer (for musicals), 2-4 Actors and 2 locations. The teams are given guidelines to create a 5-7 minute film. Then they have:

-  2 days to write the first draft
-  2 days for re-writes
-  2 days for pre-production
-  2 days to shoot the film
-  1 week for post production, scoring, and graphics.

All the films are premiered, just 16 days after the process began.There are no restrictions on content or style – pieces range from the most serious to absurdly comic and for musicals, in styles from R&B to operatic to traditional Broadway. Each team is, however, given the same guidelines for creative inspiration and a theme, and the teams are required to only shoot in the two locations provided and to tailor their movie to the actors on their teams.

I got to chat with one of the Exec. Producers on set and learned all about the process & philosophy behind it. It is pretty amazing that this project/program has survived on bare-bones funding and a completely volunteer staff for the last decade. While working for free is never the best situation, I think the real benefit RIPFEST provides is networking – it is structured so artists can meet and work collaboratively with people outside their normal circles. I can’t wait to see what the different teams created in their 16 days.

They are screening all six films during three showings at Anthology Film Archives next Monday night 4/26. You can get tickets and full details here.

I’m pleased as punch to announce that I will be serving as Associate Producer for Tisch School of the Arts‘ 2010 hotINK International Play Reading Festival. The festival runs during the last two weekends of January on 1/23 – 1/25, and 1/30, 1/31.

A completely FREE festival of plays from around the globe, this year features playwrights hailing from Uganda, Ireland, Canada, Russia, France, Romania, Finland, Austria and Japan.

Now in its ninth year, hotINK is an annual, international festival of play readings, presented by the Department of Drama, that brings together playwrights from around the world with distinguished actors and directors from the New York theatre, as well as students, alumni and faculty from the Tisch School of the Arts.

The many distinguished U.S. playwrights, directors and actors who have taken part in hotINK include Bill Camp, Kathleen Chalfant, Migdalia Cruz, Liz Diamond, Kathryn Erbe, John Gallagher, Jr., Joe Grifasi, Kathryn Grody, Rinne Groff, Stephanie Roth Haberle, Jeffrey Hatcher, Jessica Hecht, Marin Ireland, Len Jenkin, Francis Jue, Arthur Kopit, Michael Laurence, Paul Lazar, Robert Lyons, Joan MacIntosh, Heather McDonald, Steve Mellor, Itamar Moses, Victor Pappas, Keith Reddin, Henry Stram, Caridad Svich, Mac Wellman, B.D. Wong, Frank Woods and Janet Zarish.

As an alumni of Undergrad Drama, I am thrilled to be working again with some of my favorite people on staff at 721 Broadway. Full details for the festival can be found here. Tickets will be available after January 4th through Smarttix and more information will be forthcoming after the New Year.