Written, Directed and Produced by New York Neo-Futurists
Nomination: Outstanding Performance Art Production
About the Company: The New York Neo-Futurists is a collective of wildly productive writer/ director/performers who create theater that is fusion of sport, poetry, and living-newspaper. Their work is “non-illusory,” which means that all the characters are the performers themselves. Their performances are interactive, energetic and timely.
About the Production: The Infinite Wrench is a mechanism that unleashes a barrage of two-minute plays for a live audience. Each play offers something different, be it funny, profound, elegant, disgusting, topical, irrelevant, terrifying, or a song; all are truthful and tackle the here-and-now, inspired by the lived experiences of the performers. With new plays every week, The Infinite Wrench is the Neo-Futurists’ ongoing and ever-changing attempt to shift the conventions of live performance and speak to audiences including those unreached or unmoved by traditional theater.
Make sure to follow the New York Neo-Futurists on Twitter and Instagram @nyneofuturists
Written and Performed by Colin Summers
Directed by Nessa Norich
Produced by New York Neo-Futurists
Nominated for: Outstanding Solo Performance, Colin Summers; Outstanding Original Full-Length Script, Colin Summers; Outstanding Production of a Musical
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Photo by Hunter Canning
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About the Production
Steve: A Docu-Musical chronicles the true story of Colin Summer’s 8-year online correspondence and artistic collaboration with Steve, a “Gen X” Australian. Together, Steve and Colin have written hundreds of songs. In Colin’s account of their unconventional relationship, Steve’s original songs and emails paint a vivid picture of a fascinating character. A refreshing exploration of the artist within all of us, Steve: A Docu-Musical reveals the potential for human connection sparked by a simple Google search.
Performer and playwright Colin Summer and Producer Yoshi Kuroi briefly give their thoughts on this modern musical.
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What prompted you to write this musical?
Colin: I kept telling my friends this story until I realized I had to make it a real show.
What attracted you to this production?
Yoshi: I love real and human stories about technology making people's lives better and connecting people to one another. Steve: A Docu-Musical is nothing if not a tale of the Internet connecting two unlikely artists who would never have found each other to collaborate without the connectivity of our age and the charismatic creations they made together.
You can follow the New York Neo-Futurists on Twitter @nyneofuturists
Written by Yolanda K. Wilkinson
Directed by Joey Rizzolo
Produced by New York Neo-Futurists
Nominated for: Outstanding Solo Performance, Yolanda K. Wilkinson
About the Production
The New York Neo-Futurists “embrace those unreached or unmoved by conventional theater-inspiring them to thought, feeling, and action.” Yolanda K. Wilkinson’s solo play Bible Study for Heathens epitomizes this mission. It is the story of Yolanda's real-life journey through the ten different religions she has practiced over the years. In it she explores the what, why, and how of these experiences.
Writer performer Yolanda K. Wilkinson and producer Kyra Sims talks about creating this very personal perspective on religion and politics.
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What was the impetus to write this play?
Yolanda: The way this country and the world is being manipulated by religious zealots and/or Fundamentalists is something, I felt I had to speak to from my unique perspective of having practiced 10 religions. I wanted to reveal what was really in the Bible about social and monetary issues. And I wanted to remind people of the beautiful and simple spirituality that connects all of humankind, love.
What was your favorite part of this production?
Yolanda: There were so many parts of the production I enjoyed. I enjoyed the team I was fortunate enough to work with. They are all brilliant. Joey Rizzolo is one of the best directors with whom I have ever worked. He brought the best out of me and his imagination caused the space in which I performed to be that more dynamic. I also loved the space. The Loft at Judson Memorial Church was absolutely perfect for this play.
Kyra: Definitely load-in. We got to transform a church choir loft into a theatrical space. I've seen theatrics in religion for sure, but never quite in this way before. It was very cool.
What was the strangest thing about this production?
Yolanda: I chugged grape juice, drank red kool-aid, ate cookies, drank rum, ate a strawberry, drank disgusting wine, drank awesome wine, and ate tomato pesto bread every performance.
What is it like working with the New York Neo-Futurists?
Yolanda: The NY Neo Futurists are a truly supportive company in that the aesthetic itself forces and artist to reveal their true self and hone various skills so they can have various devices to use to build plays and tell stories.Every member of the company contributed their feedback in making the play and the show better.
And they took a chance on producing a solo play written and performed by a woman of color. That is a testament to our commitment to true diversity.
What was it like working with Yolanda?
Kyra: Yolanda is one of the smartest and hardest-working artists I know. Her words and the way she delivers them are completely her own, yet they draw you in time and time again.
You can follow these artists on Twitter
New York Neo-Futurists - @nyneofuturists
Yolanda K. Wilkinson - @yeauxlanda
Mute
Written, Performed & Designed by Nicole Hill, Christopher Loar, Daniel McCoy, Mike Puckett & Yolanda K. Wilkinson
Produced by New York Neo-Futurists
Nominations: Christopher Loar is nominated for Outstanding Sound Design; and Nicole Hill is nominated for Outstanding Innovative Design for Puppetry and Shadow Design
Photo by Lorikay Photography
About this Production
Do you remember a time when you were expected to be seen and not heard? The New York Neo-Futurists have created a show that illuminates these times, using every theatrical tool at their disposal save one: speech. Drawing on images and impressions from their childhood memories, the creators of Mute will take you on a trip into their early years, reflecting on forces that silenced them, and bringing you back to share these immersive moments on stage. Using shadow puppetry, clown work, video, live music, soundscapes, and three-dimensional “GIFs,” the Neo-Futurists ask what remains of the artist when the physical voice is removed.
Christopher Loar, Daniel McCoy and Nicole Hill talk about creating a production about communicating without words.
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What attracted you to this project/subject matter?
Nicole: The mandate for the NY Neo Futurist's production of Mute was to create compelling work sans the avalanche of words that we normally use as writer/performance artists. So the challenge of storytelling without the benefit of using the spoken word was key and of utmost interest...
Loar: I liked the creative restriction very much of not using any speech. It provided an opportunity to challenge myself to create something I have never attempted before, a solo movement piece. I also loved aiding and assisting the sound design of other peoples' projects.
Dan: The idea of creating a Neo-Futurist show based entirely in non-verbal theatrical forms. I wanted to challenge us, a very verbal company, to create an evening of theatre in which not a word is spoken, but to do it in such a way that the audience wouldn't even miss hearing our mouth-voices.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Dan: Discovering what it was about. In the initial conception, the short plays were each to revolve around the idea of restriction - societal, artistic, self-imposed, what-have-you - and as we worked on building our plays, we realized that each of them was in some way about childhood. All five plays in Mute were about memories, artifacts, or impressions from our formative years, moments in which we felt silenced in one way or another, and how we dealt, and still deal, with that feeling.
Loar: The free and supportive spirit of the creative team
Nicole: I was inspired by the work of the Chicago company "Manual Cinema" (who I saw perform in the Fringe Festival in 2013). They create visually stunning work that looks amazingly "high tech" via the use of live shadow puppetry and the very 'low tech" overhead projector. Exploring and discovering the complexities of working in this medium was a mind expanding joy!
What was the most challenging part of working on this production?
Loar: Creating a sound design that I performed live as well as being a live body in the show.
Nicole: Learning to think in terms of light and shadow & negative and positive space with a mind to projection.
Dan: Probably just the sheer amount of stuff we used for the show. Two digital projectors, two overhead projectors, a live internet feed, a bunch of balloons, a TV/DVD combo, a chandelier made of umbrella frames, about 30 different shadow puppets, a giant rotating screen made of PVC pipe and butcher paper, and so on. Oh, and we had to do a complete set-up and strike every night because we were renting the space by the hour. Yay independent theatre!
What was the craziest thing that happened during this production?
Loar: Tina Howe came to the show. I don't really think that's so "crazy" but it was great to meet her.
Dan: Despite all the material elements listed above, we had a surprisingly smooth run (much credit to our technical director and stage manager). Nothing unexpected ever happened during performance outside of a few inevitable glitches. I guess the craziest thing is that nothing crazy happened. Crazy, right?
What do you want the audience to come away with after watching your production?
Loar: I would like for the audience to feel something and have a good time watching it.
Dan: With the feeling that they've experienced something unique. True to the Neo-Futurist aesthetic, the plays in Mute come from the personal experiences and points of view of each of the writer/performers. I hope the audience left each night knowing that they've been let in on something honest and real.
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill Vol 2
Conceived and Directed by Christopher Loar
Produced by New York Neo-Futurists
Nominations The Ensemble (Cecil Baldwin, Christopher Borg, Roberta Colindrez, Cara Francis, Dylan Marron, Martina Potratz) is nominated for Outstanding Ensemble; and The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Volume 2 is nominated for Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play
About this Production
Once confined only to heated discussions amongst doctoral students, the New York Neo-Futurists unleash O'Neill's stage directions from their dissertation prison, transforming O'Neill's eloquent yet obsessive and often controlling stage directions into rip-roaring physical comedy.
Now a Broadway mainstay, Eugene O'Neill was once considered an experimental, downtown playwright. His plays defied the melodramatic conventions of the day and much of his work premiered with the Provincetown Players on MacDougall Street. The New York Neo-Futurists return O'Neill to his experimental roots. "A stoner convention for scholars" (Time Out NY on O'Neill V. 1), The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Volume 2 spans the years 1913 - 1915, and includes his plays Recklessness, Warnings, Fog, Abortion, and The Sniper.
Director Christopher Loar and cast members (Cecil Baldwin, Christopher Borg, Dylan Marron, and Martina Potratz) share their experience of creating an entirely new perspective of a classic American playwright.
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What attracted you to this project/subject matter?
Cecil: It was a great honor working with the rest of the Neo-Futurists on such a fun, challenging and unique production.
Dylan: This is a show that grew out of the Neo-Futuristic aesthetic that found a great way to perform classic American theater pieces while still keeping true to our performance art roots. It was encouraging (and intimidating) that its predecessor was such a success. Big shoes to fill.
Martina: The show is physically quite challenging, which is something I love as a performer.
Borg: I've been a company member of the New York Neo-Futurists since 2006 because I am really charged by artists that explore new ways to create theatre and engage the audience. The Neos are the most innovative, daring group of hard-core art makers that I've ever worked with. As such, I've been integrally involved in the development of their work for many years and I watched and cheered Christopher Loar on as he took an idea for a 2-minute play and fleshed it out into one of the most ambitious projects I've ever seen, The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill. I absolutely loved Volume 1 and I told him that I wanted to be a part of the project.
Loar: It was kind of an accident as a result of subconscious O'Nellian indoctrination from Drama School. I went to Circle In The Square Theater School and they were hugely responsible for O'Neill's revivification in the 60s and 70s. As a result, their actor training program is steeped in O'Neill. We were reading Boleslavsky's Acting: The first 6 lessons, and in it there is an exercise where you write out everything that your character does, all his actions. Some playwrights don't provide to much information in this department, so the list would be small or one would have to interpret actions. Working on O'Neill the list grew and grew. Some years later after being cast as a Neo, I wanted to adapt a play for Too Much Light . . . the idea do a stage direction version of Long Day's Journey just popped into my head, so I transcribed the stage directions and brought them into rehearsal. Somehow it worked, and that's when I feel down the rabbit hole and experimented with all of his plays. Somehow, they all work. O'Neill wanted to make sure his plays would still work even if people couldn't talk, or his audience couldn't hear.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Loar: The creative team. The absolute A game that this group brought to every single moment of every rehearsal was a true inspiration and reminder of why I do this thing called theater. Every rehearsal was fun for me. I believe in fun and this group are serious fun seekers.
Borg: This show was a BLAST. Rehearsals for Volume 2 were challenging, inspiring, strange and hilarious! I love being in a production where the entire artistic team is so brilliantly creative and funny.
Martina: Working with such a talented ensemble, they are amazing!
Dylan: As a group of performers we've worked together so much in a weekly, short-form capacity that it was such a delight to explore how far that could go. The rapport we have with each other shows in our work, and is crucial to creating a strong, cohesive project.
What was the most challenging part of working on this production?
Dylan: Almost the same as the above. When you're developing a longer piece with a company of people you have such a fun time with, and with whom you are used to performing in a shorter, more "late night" capacity it is a challenge to cross over into feature-length work.
Borg: It’s HARD! Especially physically – we do things with our bodies and our faces that normal people do not do on a day-to-day basis. Plus I’ve never been in a play where I am onstage the entire time but almost never speak! We didn't use scripts and had to train ourselves to simply listen and follow directions. It is very liberating - it frees a performer from any text or pages and you can see and touch and move without restrictions.
Martina: I was the understudy, so I had rehearsed to whole show with the ensemble and felt prepared. But before I went on I had to learn all the transitions, which include a lot of set-up and costume changes, within a few hours, which was definitely challenging.
Loar: Finding the right theater. Space is so hard in this city.
What was the craziest thing that happened during this production?
Loar: During final dress, the night before we were to do a special invite only performance for the Drama Desk Nominating Committee, a huge part of our set that involved hung boards and flats from a rope upstage, collapsed. It was during the quietest moment of the show. Total silence and then CRASH!!!! It was too perfect of a disaster. I was so tired from tech and so stressed about the next day that it was actually humorous in how absurd it was. I guess it's true what they say about having a bad dress . . .
Dylan: Backstage we recorded a song that we believe would be a huge hit in 1993.
Borg: The entire experience was kind of crazy, to be honest. It was like working in an insane asylum with a really loving bunch of loonies. We became obsessed with "S"-hooks because we used so many to hang props, we developed songs about them. They were really Hip-Hoperas.
What did you want the audience to come away with after watching your production?
Borg: I want them to have laughed heartily and cried a few times with no apparent reasonable explanation. I want them to feel like they have a deeper understanding of Eugene O'Neill and of why theatre in its most primitive form is interesting to watch.
Loar: I'd like them to have fun and get sucked into the kinetic world on stage. Fun is my goal, always.
