In celebration of Indie Theatre Week (July 23 - July 29, 2012), we asked members of the OOB community to share some of the Indie Theatre moments that inspired them.
Contributed by Rachel Klein
As this season draws to a close, I must reflect on how proud I am to
be part of the independent theater scene.
To see such visually outstanding, powerfully dramatic, and sincerely
authentic work from my colleagues fuels my own creative energies and instills
me with a sense of pride and community.
In these days of multi-tasking and slashed budgets and a world that
demands so much of us, I’m particularly enraptured by work that screams of
innovation, effort, and a straight-up, intensive time commitment. Be it large-scale visual spectacle, amazingly
adorned characters, carefully heightened dialogue, or labor-intensive movement,
I always appreciate stylization that goes the extra mile. I applaud this
especially in indie theater because the artists creating the work are making
virtually nothing feel like a million bucks. I’d like to give notice to a few
indie theater artists that I find particularly inspiring for their enormous
visions pulled together this past year with the two most essential elements in
my book: elbow grease and glitter.
 |
| The Love Show |
Let’s
begin with the gift of spectacle. One of my favorite troupes of glam geniuses
is the Love Show. Choreographed by Angela Harriell, these classically trained
dancers consistently put on shows that are clever, hilarious, and dynamic.
Their work embraces both sexiness and silliness, but their moves are no joke.
Their annual show, the Nutcracker: Rated R is always an amusing
and beautiful depiction of the ballet, even featuring time travel to NYC in the
1980s for a little added Christmas cheer.
 |
| Kae Burke |
Another
example of awe-inspiring visuals comes from those renegade sparkle bombshells
at the House of Yes in Brooklyn. This is a space built by two fiercely driven
young women who put on magnificent circus shows, run an aerial school, and
maintain their own performance company, Lady Circus. Kae Burke, the Co-Artistic
Director of HoY, is also a fashion/costume designer (IT Award Nominated for
Outstanding Costume Design in 2011) and she can literally spin straw into
gold—I swear, I’ve seen it! I am so inspired by this designer, often using
found and bargain materials and creating pieces that look like they came from a
Broadway Musical (in a good way).
 |
| Sean Gill |
Jaw-dropping wonderment doesn’t always have to originate from visuals,
however, often it finds its basis in the backbone of dramatic content, and some
artists choose to embellish their content with the sheer style of their
words. Junta Juleil Theatricals’
Founding Artistic Director and Playwright, Sean Gill, has a tendency to
simultaneously enamor and terrify his audiences with poetic bouts of
hard-hitting social commentary and eerie sci-fi and horror motifs. His work is
otherworldly, and the power of his dialogue takes to you another
dimension—sometimes literally.
 |
| Poetic Theater |
Another company that that is completely grounded
in the strength of dramatic language is the Poetic Theater Company (run by Alex
Mallory and Jeremy Karafin), who dedicate every moment to the integrity of
language. They similarly are driven by social issues, politics, race, and other
subjects that we aren’t supposed to talk about—and they not only talk about
them, they rhyme, rhythm, rap, sing, and emote!
 |
| Chi Chi Valenti |
This
brings us to authenticity. The luminaries of downtown worked very hard to
create a scene for us, an environment in which we can build art that is
distinctly New York, that is distinctly subculture, that is distinctly ours. Chi
Chi Valenti is a nightlife pioneer who ran Jackie 60, the Jackie Factory,
Mother NY, and Wigstock. She currently produces Night of 1000 Stevies (yes,
that’s right folks, we’re talking Stevie Nicks!) and LowLife @ HOWL Festival.
Chi Chi handpicks artists that she believes in and has created a family of
indie performers who feel safe to showcase their work. On a personal note, Mz.
Valenti has been a beacon of good energy and an advisor for my theater company,
motivating us to push ourselfs, be boisterious, and to (in her words) “take
back the night”.
 |
| Vageline Theatre |
Other luminaries who do sincere, beautiful, and authentic
work include dance and Butoh Master Vangeline of Vangeline Theater and
visual/performance artist Rob Roth. Vangeline who’s grotesque and gorgeous production
of Hereafter that recently ran at the
Wild Project was a mind-blowing tribute to deceased artists, horror films,
Victorian beauty, and human struggle.
Rob Roth’s tortured portrait of a wolf in
Craig’s Dream is seriously like nothing else ANYONE is doing right now, or has
done. Roth’s transformation into Craig is mesmerizing– with thin layers of fur
all coating the performer’s face and body, you would never suspect there was a
human within those woolly confines if not for the profundity in his sharp eyes.
These artists truly set the tone for the rest of us, and I
am consistently inspired by their steadfast conviction, their sheer commitment,
and that ‘against-all-odds’ elbow grease that forms the foundation of their
style.
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Rachel Klein, Artistic Director of The Rachel Klein Theater
Ensemble, is a director and choreographer, who has been developing original
pieces of visual story telling since 2007. The Rachel Klein Theater Ensemble’s
choreographic work has been presented all over the city at several venues,
festivals, art galleries, and nightlife events including the Kitchen, Dixon
Place, Theater for the New City, DUMBO Dance Festival, Night of 1000 Stevies,
the Highline Ballroom, La MaMa, Banzai!!!!,
the Red Lotus Room, legendary rock ‘n roll club Don Hill's, the Hiro
Ballroom, the Bushwick Site Fest, Bushwick Open Studios Festival, Galapagos Art
Space, the House of Yes, HOWL Festival, and Off-Broadway at the Bleecker Street
Theater. Miss Klein recently won Big Vision Empty Wallets’ “Biggest Balls”
competition (!!!!!), is a recipient of the Mondo Cané Dance Comission from
Dixon Place this past June, enabeling her to debut her genre defying circus
fantasia, Symphony of Shadows, was a
recipient of an Emerging Artists’ Residency Grant from the Field in 2010, and
was nominated for Outstanding Director of a Play and Outstanding
Choreography/Movement for the 2011 New York Innovative Theater Awards. Upcoming
projects include Gay Bride of
Frankenstein Off Broadway (currently in develpoment at the iStar Theater
Lab.) www.rachelkleinproductions.com
