Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Scoping out some downtown theater: Nicholas Brooke’s TEN TRANSCENDENTAL ETUDES and Raja Feather Kelly’s THE ABSOLUTE FUTURE

• By drediman
• April 8, 2024
• No Comments

Before the onslaught of spring theater openings in Midtown, I was able this past weekend to catch some multidisciplinary experimental downtown theater. Here are my thoughts on two of them (each ran just a handful of performances).

THE ABSOLUTE FUTURE
NYU Skirball

First up at NYU Skirball was The Absolute Future (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED). Conceived, written, choreographed, and directed by Raja Feather Kelly — perhaps best known to the more casual theatergoer as the choreographer for the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning A Strange Loop — the new work is a fascinating hybrid of dance and experimental theater that tells the story of a group of friends who take a trip to experience the “Great American Eclipse” on April 8th (today!). However, due to escalating squabbles amongst the group, they miss the historic event altogether. Despite Kelly’s auteur-like ambition for the piece to forge the way to uncover new forms of theatrical expression, The Absolute Future is unfortunately marred by relentlessly oppressive dialogue that seems to go nowhere and a muddy sound design that nearly derails the production (at least on opening night). That being said, the well integrated dance sequences are often lovely, if not particularly memorable. As for the performances, the young, game ensemble cast bring authenticity to their performances, which collectively seem to constitute a microcosm for humanity itself. Perhaps most effective is the lovely denouement that seems once and for all to get to the thematic crux of it all.

TEN TRANSCENDENTAL ETUDES
HERE

A bit more successful was Nicholas Brooke’s Ten Transcendental Etudes (RECOMMENDED) at HERE. Part of the Soho-based experimental theater company’s HERE & Back presenting series, the piece is another hybrid theater piece that uses rapid fire samples from the popular songbook to showcase how songs influence how we communicate with each other. Running at just about an hour in length, the work is comprised of ten short segments that display how assembling these samples in various combinations can yield a wide range of relatively well-articulated thoughts. Additionally, the show is an exploration on the act of falling — fascinatingly, a theme covered magnificently by a new work just commissioned by Trisha Brown Dance Company (Noé Soulier’s In the Fall, which I saw at The Joyce Theater last week) — which the show primarily conveys through the seamless use of choreography. Thanks to a wonderful ensemble effort from a committed cast, the production unfolds smoothly and with the confidence of a well-researched paper. In summary, Ten Transcendental Etudes is an interesting academic exercise — an expertly calibrated marriage of sampling, sound design, lip synching, singing, acting, and dance that elegantly makes its point without overreaching its scope.