Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Richard Foreman's Deep Trance Behavior in Potato Land (Review)


Here's a review I wrote of Richard Foreman's latest...

www.thefanzine.com/sections.php?s=art&id=228&a=articles

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Dear Mr. Thom Donovan,

I don't expect you to publish this but hope you might consider reading it first before you delete it.

I am writing to update you and speak on the progress we have made and the direction we are going.

I thought you might be interested.

I am very excited that our principle team and our extended team continues to push forward on multiple projects and is seeing them through to fruition! We all should be proud of the work, the process and the progress as we continue to forge our new creative relationships. This being said, it also means we are becoming an entity that we are slowing sculpting and developing. As the director and visionary for this SMALL BAND APART from the rest of New York City, I believe we are approaching a critical mass where we must make our entity concrete, at least by name and mission. Please consider this as we move forward and I need any and all help in finding unique and new ways of funding our creative entity and process to establish ourselves. Please spread the word and lets have a conversation about the financial architecture we need to continue into the future. More to come.

For those of you who are working on the development of THE RETURN, I want to say we have not left this project. Schedules have been busy and some of the other pilot projects have either been completed or are in further stages of development.

First off I would like to check everyones' schedule to have a cold reading of THE RETURN as John Kearns' text stands either the last week of April or at the top of May. If possible I would like to have the reading in a location where John has had his work read before, as he already has a connection to both the establishment and the individuals running the place. Otherwise I would love to do a cold reading at Rief's Tavern that John suggested earlier on in the process. Those of you who know you are on THE RETURN project should get back to me and John Kearns as to the reading. (We are also looking for more potential performers to develop and fullfill roles in THE RETURN, so step up and say hello or spread the word.)

I am very pleased to say that John Asbury, Tasha England, Erica Miranda, Alison Hope Ferrara, and myself completed the filming of EUGENE AND OTHER on a cold, but clear Sunday on Coney Island. I will be duping the tape this week and should have the DVD by this Sunday. A big thank you to this micro-team for their hard work and dedication! You all should be proud! As soon as we view the DVD together we can look at bringing it to the Cinema Cafe' for a screening ASAP.

I am also very pleased to announce that Erica, Tasha and myself have been accepted to create a new piece for THE ONTOLOGICAL HYSTERIC THEATER'S TINY THEATRE. The new work was one of six selected under some fierce competition. The work will be going up in Mid May. For this work in process, tentatively titled: PORTRAIT OF J.B., we will be meeting this Wednesday after 6PM in SoHo, for a major table-work session. I am sad that Justin Irvin, our original choice as production designer for this project, has scheduling conflicts and will not be on this project, however I want you all to give a warm welcome to Mr. Jeremiah Reeves who has stepped up to the challenge and will be following through with our production design for PORTRAIT OF J.B. We look forward to collaborating with him.

For this Wednesday's table work concentrating on PORTRAIT OF J.B. I will need all principle collaborators to bring all research materials to the table, along with a fresh notebook/binder to keep all archives and progress of development of this new work. Consider the notebook your own bible for this project and it will be necessary for you to have it with you for every meeting and to keep it updated. I would also love to have a tape recorder for this session so if Tasha or Jeremiah you have a recorder or access to one, please bring it and I will compensate you for tapes and batteries.

As a general note to all, please spread the word that I need a costume designer/seemstress and a kick-ass make-up artist ASAP! If ANYONE can do this or knows someone who has an open schedule and wants the experience, please put them in contact with me or better yet, have them meet me this Wednesday with a portfolio of their work. Please understand that for these individuals I am looking more at their SELF-STARTING ATTITUDE, COMMITMENT LEVEL and ability to be a TEAM PLAYER with this collaboration. I would rather have someone with no experience in design or make-up with the right attitude rather than a professional with schedule conflicts and ego. That said, please spread the word because I need these individuals by next Saturday, April 12th.

I have scheduled a meeting with the deputy director of theater at THE POLISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE of New York City to discuss their up-coming festival dedicated to Tadeuz Kantor. I am going to negotiate the re-mounting of COPY 8852 as part of their festival line-up this Fall. For those of you on the original production that took place at RICHARD FOREMAN'S ONTOLOGICAL HYSTERIC THEATRE in May of 2007, please consider if you would like to participate in the re-mounting of this piece in collaboration with The Polish Institute and those of you only familiar with the piece if you would like to add your ability and talent to the further development of COPY 8852. Deb Wallace and James McDaniel were the principle performers in the original COPY 8852 and will have the right of first refusal to re-mount the piece. After that I will take into consideration everyone else that expresses the desire and interest to take on the roles of either YOUNG KING WALLACE and JOHN CRUTCHER from COPY 8852.

That is all I have for now and I am sure that I forgot some points. If you have any questions, concerns, or desire to collaborate with us please email me or just join us for the meeting and I will be happy to converse with you then. Bring your desire, faith, fears, passion and love to the band apart, the NEW GARD OF NEW YORK CITY and get ready to WORK, WORK WORK!

Respectfully,

Director: SZALLA


This Wednesday's Table-Work Meeting for PORTRAIT OF J.B. will take place:

Time: Wednesday, April 9th @ 6PM
Location: Soho Room
203 Spring Street
at Sullivan Street
212-334-3855