Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – A roundup of the Public Theater’s digital 2021 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL

• By drediman
• January 11, 2021
• No Comments

This time last year, I was furiously hopping from show to show as I immersed myself in the city’s various “experimental” (for a lack of a better term) performing arts festivals, namely Under the Radar, Prototype, and Exponential. Understandably, things are a bit different this year – to say the least – but these festivals have adapted admirably to the ongoing logistic and economic challenges facing the arts, primarily by migrating to a digital platform. Arguably the marquee festival of the lot is the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, which this year (its 17th!) has embarked on creating an especially serious dialogue with some of today’s most pressing existential issues. Here are my thoughts on UTR 2021’s digital lineup (most of which will be available through January 17), which this year is available for consumption at no cost.

CAPSULE
Whitney White and Peter Mark
On-demand

As the the title suggests, Whitney White and Peter Mark Kendall’s Capsule (RECOMMENDED) has documented the creators’ tumultuous inner lives over the course of 2020. Delicately performed by Ms. White and Mr. Kendall, the emotionally wrought fantasia is comprised of a handful of moody songs and candid musings on isolation, relationships, and identity, particularly as it relates to the unprecedented happenings of last year. The piece embraces its multimedia heritage, as evidenced by the seamless merging of its filmic and performative aspects (kudos to directors Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky for stylishly mending the seams of the work’s patchwork construction). Even if some of the artful abstractions alienate instead of illuminate, Capsule ultimately captures the disorienting experience of living through recent history.

ESPÍRITU
Teatro Anónimo
On-demand  

Next up was Teatro Anónimo’s virtual presentation of Espíritu (RECOMMENDED), Trinidad González’s haunted meditation on materialism and the centrality of money in society. Performed in Spanish with English subtitles, the work operates in a surrealist/symbolist vernacular, which imbues interactions with menace and a confrontational quality. Luckily, the Chilean company’s excellent actors approach the short play’s spiky, unsettling scenes with intensity and meticulous care. Although the piece ends in a purgatorial stalemate, it nonetheless poses large, looming questions that ask us to examine the underlying tenets that drive our existence.

DISCLAIMER
Piehole
Live-stream

Then we have Piehole’s live-in-Zoom production of Disclaimer (RECOMMENDED). I had seen a previous incarnation of Tara Ahmadinejad’s work – which explores Iranian/Iranian-American identity through familiar entertainments like cooking shows and murder mysteries – as part of UTR’s developmental Incoming! series last year. Although it’s been translated (smoothly) into the Zoom format, the piece has retained its communal spirit, especially with Ms. Ahmadinejad confidently orchestrating the interactive performance. Even when Disclaimer gratuitously evolves into an admittedly amusing whodunit, her deadpan, fabulously calibrated performance cuts through the kitsch to spark genuine empathy in the viewer.

RICH KIDS: A HISTORY OF SHOPPING MALLS IN TEHRAN
Javaad Alipoor
Live-stream

Continuing on the theme of Iranian identity – and the use of the murder mystery framework – is Javaad Alipoor and Kirsty Housely’s ambitious Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran (RECOMMENDED). The second installment in a planned trilogy about our teetering society, Rich Kids investigates and excavates the circumstances around a deadly car crash that has killed two Iranian youths, but in the dizzyingly wide-screen context of world history. By incorporating Instagram into the experience, the production also contemplates the role of technology in how we perceive time and document identities. Although certainly thought-provoking, there’s a lecture-like quality to the show that blurs the line between narrative and general exposition, thereby muting the human drama of the instigating incident.

BORDERS & CROSSINGS
Inua Ellams
Live-stream

Inarguably, one of the most urgent humanitarian issues facing the world today is the global refugee crisis, which is the topic of Fuel Theatre’s Borders & Crossings (RECOMMENDED) by Inua Ellams. Made up of a pair of short poems and two brief plays, the slight but compelling work dives headlong into the refugee experience, particularly as colored by Mr. Ellams’ own personal input (Mr. Ellams originally hails from Nigeria and now resides in London). Despite its disparate components, the work has a unified feel to it, with each text flowing thematically and emotionally into the next. The two plays, “Dolphins” and “Ike/Rust” (brought to vibrant life by Ṣọpẹ́ Dirisu and Mylène Gomera), are particularly evocative as they straddle dramatic and prose narrative.

THE MOTOWN PROJECT
Alicia Hall Moran
On-demand

In many ways, one of UTR’s main objectives is to fudge the boundaries that separate genres, mediums, themes, and so forth. This goal is on apparent display in Alicia Hall Moran’s the motown project (RECOMMENDED). More a set of meditative music videos than a narrative-driven experience, the presentation is an experiment in extreme musical fusion, particularly between Motown and opera. By infusing the musical qualities and historical connotations of the respective genres into each other, Ms. Moran – who possesses a sweet, flexible soprano – has opened a dialogue that has long been dormant. A mark of the project’s success is that her appealing compositions defy easy categorization. Presented by Joe’s Pub as part of its New York Voices Commission, I look forward to the day I can see Ms. Moran perform live on the storied venue’s stage.

A THOUSAND WAYS (PART ONE): A PHONE CALL
600 Highwaymen
Phone call

Last but not least is 600 Highwaymen’s A Thousand Ways (Part One): A Phone Call (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) by Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone. When I experienced the unique piece last year (it’s being remounted for UTR), I raved about it, naming it one of the top “shows” of 2020. Conceptually, the piece is as simple as they come – it’s basically a phone call between two strangers (as overseen by a robotic moderator). The hourlong call boils down the immersive theatrical experience to its essence – the act of giving and taking. As such, the work is a potent reminder that theater only truly works with the active engagement of all parties involved. To summarize, the folks at 600 Highwaymen, whose consistently transcendent works have regularly graced UTR, have struck gold again. I eagerly look forward to the subsequent installments of A Thousand Ways and the ways they’re sure to recast my understanding of what constitutes theater.