Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – At 20, UNDER THE RADAR expands its reach with a blast of out-of-the-box theatrical experiences (Part 1)

• By drediman
• January 14, 2025
• No Comments

January in New York means a plethora of Under the Radar goodness for performing arts enthusiasts (like myself) to immerse themselves in. This year celebrating its landmark 20th anniversary — and now comfortably untethered from The Public Theater — the essential, two-week festival of experimental, out-of-the-box theater from around the world has expanded its reach, taking over many of the city’s smaller, more adventurous theater venues to present a blast of deliriously diverse, multidisciplinary offerings. Read on for my assessment of my first week’s excursions — note that these thoughts are not exhaustive, as I also did attend a few “under construction” performances of works that are still in development (e.g., Rich With History and other stuff you say at a haunted house at Mabou Mines had just been completely redrafted by its creators when I saw it).

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF EGON TICHY [REDUX]
Presented by New York Theatre Workshop in association with the Lucille Lortel Theatre

One of my most memorable digital “theater” experiences during the dark days of the pandemic was streaming The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux] (RECOMMENDED). For Under the Radar 2025, the production — a loving testament to scrappy, handcrafted ingenuity — has been given a new lease on life with an encore in-person iteration at New York Theatre Workshop’s Fourth Street Theatre courtesy of Sinking Ship Productions and original presenter Theater in Quarantine. Created by Jonathan Levin, Joshua Luxenberg, and Joshua William Gelb, this “redux” engagement of the comically existential romp through the cosmos gives audiences the unique opportunity to experience and celebrate, side-by-side, both the creative process and the so-called end product. Returning to the role of the lone space traveler who must contend with a host of challenges — most prominently dealing with multiple versions of himself — physically agile co-creator Gelb is as affable and poignant as ever.

WONDERFUL JOE
Presented by Lincoln Center

Continuing on the theme of existential musings is Wonderful Joe (RECOMMENDED), the first of two elaborate puppet theater pieces programmed for this year’s Under the Radar (the other is Wakka Wakka’s Dead as a Dodo, which you can read about below). Faced with permanently losing their home, the middle aged Joe and his faithful dog Mister muster their energy to embark on one final adventure together. Along the way, they come across iconic figures such as Mother Nature, Santa Claus, Jesus, and the Tooth Fairy, alongside a number of scenes that depict the harsh brutality of life (despite the funhouse aesthetic of the production, Wonderful Joe is decidedly for grown ups). Performed singlehandedly with astonishing skill and grace by Ronnie Burkett, the show is bittersweet and mildly heartbreaking. The final sentiment, however, is one of hope, which is epitimized by the character of Joe, who — despite life’s unforgiving challenges and tough realities — invariably manages to find the silver lining in every person and situation he encounters.

BLIND RUNNER
Presented by St. Ann’s Warehouse in partnership with Waterwell and Nimruz

Over at St. Ann’s Warehouse, you’ll find Mehr Theatre Group’s production of Blind Runner by Amir Reza Koohestani (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED), which is being presented at Under the Radar in partnership with the documentary theater focused company Waterwell. Based on a true story, the two-hander alternates between a man’s visitations to his political prisoner wife and his interactions with a blind woman, whom he is training for marathon in Paris (at the behest of his wife). Although the 60-minute piece is stylish in its own austere way — its striking use of multi-media techniques is particularly effective — and efficiently acted by the duo of Ainaz Azarhoush and Mohammad Reza Hosseinzadeh (who perform the show in Persian with augmenting English titles), Blind Runner is unable to achieve the poetry it strives for, ultimately faltering as a piece of theater as a result of its its limp, nearly indecipherable storytelling (e.g., the transitions between the play’s two scenarios hardly register).

FIND YOUR EYES
Presented at the Iris Cantor Theatre

Perhaps the most fascinating multi-media hybrid to emerge from my first week’s Under the Radar immersion was Benji Reid’s Find Your Eyes (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at the Iris Cantor Theatre. Reid has a fascinating background that spans dance, hip hope theater, and photography, which makes him unique amongst his theater-making peers. In the piece, he uses the gamut of his experience, intersecting dance, theater, and photography to create a piece that explores the intrinsic dynamism and storytelling capacity of “static” images. Even though the stylish and unexpectedly moving show was marred about halfway through by a technological glitch, what I saw of the performance was beguiling (Reid concluded the performance with a thoughtful improvised lecture on his work). Like the aforementioned The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux], the show creates a compelling dialogue between the process of creation and the resulting “final” product (is it ever, really?) — but with even more theatricality and philosophical potency than its festival companion piece. Suffice to say, I look forward to experiencing more from this intriguing artist in the future.

SPACEBRIDGE
Presented by La MaMa in association with En Garde Arts and Visual Echo

Then over at La MaMa, there’s SpaceBridge (RECOMMENDED), a touching theatrical offering that centers on the plight of a group of Russian refugee children — currently living in New York shelters — who have fled their homeland ro duck the consequences of their families’ anti-war stance (the show is co-produced by En Garde Arts, who specializes in such documentary-like presentations). The work chronicles their stories, particularly their struggles as it relates to integrating into American society, and their hopeful interaction with their young American counterparts. Devised by these Russian and American children in a series of workshops led by Irina Kruzhilina (the endeavor is inspired by the 11-year-old Samantha Smith’s 1983 peace mission to Russia), SpaceBridge is a sobering and uplifting piece of documentary theater, even if its occasional lulls in pacing and lack of editing may at times get in the way of allowing it to achieve its full impact.

MARIE ANTOINETTE
Presented by Chemistry Creative

Of this first crop of Under the Radar shows, the one that perhaps defies categorization most was Ann Liv Young’s Marie Antoinette (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at Chemistry Creative. Thoroughly blurring theater workshop/rehearsal, historical fiction, clowning, and therapy session, the resulting show is an outrageous exercise in extremities, calling to mind the defiantly transgressive and subversive shows that have long epitomized avan-garde downtown theater. In some ways, Young’s piece — fearlessly performed by Young, Nicholas Strini, Stephen Donovan, Tom Ruth, Alex Sabina, and Megan Sipe — can be more substantively viewed as a hilarious and awfully sly critique on the manipulation, desperation, and shame that underlies theater-making. But that’s neither here nor there — Marie Antoinette is an exhilaratingly caustic specimen of anything goes, thoroughly in-the-moment performance art, one whose point is frankly anyone’s guess.

LITTLE MURMUR
Presented by New Victory Theater

This year, Under the Radar has managed to infiltrate New Victory Theater — perhaps the city’s premiere presenter of children’s theater — by including Little Murmur (RECOMMENDED) into its lineup. With a running time of just 40-minutes, Aakash Odedra and Lewis Major’s solo dance theater piece paints a soulful depiction of neurodiversity, using evocative video projection and lighting design, dramatic wind effects, and immersive soundscapes to richly conjure the world as seen through the eyes of someone on the spectrum. Odera and Major’s choreography seamless combines Indian folk dancing and contemporary dance — in many ways reminiscent of the dance aesthetic of notable choreographer Akram Khan — which at my performance was danced with captivating dexterity and ample charisma by Subhash Viman Gorania (who shares the role with fellow dancer Kallirroi Vratti).

DEAD AS A DODO
Presented by Baruch Performing Arts Center, a co-production with Nordland Visual Theatre, Nord Universitet and The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Ever since seeing The Immortal Jellyfish Girl, I’ve been smitten by the folks at Wakka Wakka’s prowess as masters of the art of puppet theater. Using a distinct presentational style that emphasizes kineticism to animate hugely imaginative tales, the company has struck puppetry gold once again with its latest family-friendly creation Dead as a Dodo (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which you can currently catch at Baruch Performing Arts Center. In short, the piece chronicles the epic adventures of two skeleton friends — one a hopelessly optimistic boy, the other a lovable dodo bird — as they journey from the grim Underworld to fantastical realms uncharted. To say that I was completely enchanted and charmed would be an understatement — I emerged from the show deeply moved and entertained by its poetry, spectacle, and irrepressible spirit in the face of mortality and the unknown. All-in-all, Dead as a Dodo is a wondrous achievement, sensationally realized.