blog by arwen

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?

Blog silence of late is the result of a super-hectic producing schedule. I’ve been busy working with Richard Maxwell’s New York City Players to produce a new play opening next week at the historic playhouse in Henry St. Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center.

From our press release:

A new play by Christina Masciotti, Vision Disturbance is about two people whose structured lives suddenly fall apart and who are vehemently looking to find new ground and belonging.

In Vision Disturbance, Mondo, a middle-aged Greek immigrant woman living in smalltown Pennsylvania, is going through a divorce from her traditional, Greek husband. The resulting stress detonates an eye disorder that features a loss of depth perception among other perplexing symptoms. She seeks treatment from Dr. Hull who uses an unorthodox approach involving music therapy to help her regain her eyesight.

Vision Disturbance features Linda Mancini as Mondo and Jay Smith as Dr. Hull. The set and lighting design is by Adrian W. Jones, costumes by Victoria Vazquez, and sound design by Ben Williams.

The play starts September 1st and runs through September 18, Wed-Sat, 8pm at Abrons Arts Center, located 466 Grand Street in New York City. Tickets are $18 and may be purchased by calling 212.352.3101 or at www.theatermania.com.

Vision Disturbance
Written by Christina Masciotti
Directed by Richard Maxwell
80 minutes, without intermission

Wed- Sat, September 1- 18, 2010, 8:00pm
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, NYC
Tickets: $18 | For tickets call: 212.352.3101 or www.theatermania.com

I know Christina from my days at Fractured Atlas and I was thrilled when NYCP asked me to produce the show, which has been in development for about two years. We had a reading at New York Theatre Workshop last May, after being featured in CUNY’s 2009 Prelude Festival.

I love this play, we have an amazing cast & crew and I am so proud to be working on it. There are production elements that excite me so much I want to spill the beans about them here & now, but I won’t. To do so would ruin the experience, so you’ll just have to come down and see for yourself. We have limited seats available (hint hint) so don’t miss it!

Calling all lovers of downtown theatre and performance!

Prelude 09: Ecologies, Economies, and Engagement is currently looking for a few good hands to volunteer for festival outreach and hospitality. Prelude 09 is an amazing opportunity to get involved with New York’s downtown theatre and performance scene, and is chock full of fantastic parties, symposia, and more. Prelude 09 runs September 30th-October 3rd at the Graduate Center, CUNY (365 Fifth Avenue b/w 34th & 35th St.)

Greeters/Ushers!
The festival is looking for 2-4 persons available Wednesday-Saturday (or a portion of those dates) for greeting people, directing them to the Segal and Elebash venues, and, in several cases, acting as the guide between the lobby and other on-site event spaces.

Hours: 2pm-4pm; 4pm-6pm; 6pm-8pm; Each day of the festival.

Hospitality/Runners!
The festival is looking for 2 persons available Wednesday-Saturday (or a portion of those dates) for space and hospitality services for Prelude 09 Artists, liasing between event Producers and participating artists, panelists, and Stage Managers.

Hours: 2pm-4pm; 4pm-6pm; 6pm-8pm; Each day of the festival.

Neighborhood Do-gooders!
The festival needs your help in our marketing efforts. We remain a totally FREE festival at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch – can you think of local haunts (coffee shops, performance spaces, educational institutions) who will display our postcards? Can you commit to taking a stack or two around the city with you in the coming weeks?

Hours: Own.

If you are willing and able to help, please send an email with your interest and availability to volunteer@preludenyc.org.

I am thrilled to announce that I am working in collaboration with this year’s Prelude Festival, presented by The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (MESTC), The Graduate Center, CUNY. Now in its 6th year, this annual festival previews work-in-progress by some of NYC’s most exciting artists and features symposium and artist talk-back sessions daily.

It is FREE and open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis and only lasts four days: Sept 30 – Oct 3.

I am moderating a panel discussion on the subject of citizenship and serving as Associate Producer. I will post again with more details as the festival approaches, but for now I encourage you to follow the festival on Twitter: @preludenyc and become a fan on Facebook.