Theban Plays
8:00pm–9:30pm
Photo by Betsey Brown
Theban Plays is a contemporary reflection of Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle. In this excerpt we meet a young middle class white man living in New York City who is disappointed by his inability to achieve what he believes is his destiny—to become a famous musician. Isolated and lonely, he begins making webcasts in which he vents his frustrations. He shares his stories and dreams in an attempt to discover what has gone wrong. Tonight he has invited us to witness his final webcast.
Collaborating Artists: Ryan Pater, Deidrea Hamid, Eliza McKelway (Performers); Adrian Knight (Composer); Asa Horvitz (Director); Lukasz Korczak (Designer); Bryan West (Tech/Consultant); Lio Sigerson (Production); Cassie McQuater (Opening Video)
Each performance will run approximately 15 – 20 minutes. Asa Horvitz is presented within the 8:00pm – 9:30pm set. Follow by a short discussion, moderated by Eliza Bent.
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Asa Horvitz
Photo Courtesy of the Artist Asa Horvitz founded the Koans and Performance Project in 2012. Working between live theatre, sound installation, film, and concerts, he has created original work in the US and Europe at venues including CounterPULSE, Meridian Gallery, Death by Audio, Living Arts Museum, and Teatr Polski (Wroclaw). In 2014 Asa collaborated with Scott Gibbons and Romeo Castellucci of the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio on the performance Go Down, Moses, which premiered at Théâtre de la Ville as part of the Paris Festival d’Automne. March 2015 saw the release of VALES, an interactive website of films and songs in memory of Asa’s longtime collaborator Dominic Ziegler (1988-2012), with an installation and performance at New Amsterdam Records in Brooklyn. In late 2014 he relocated permanently to New York City and began to work with the group of artists that comprises Theban Plays.
Our work seeks to explore—by confronting materials from the past (foundation myths, forgotten histories)—the role of ideology, imagination, and fantasy in contemporary American lives. We aim to create performances that are complete, autonomous, living worlds which break open the possibility of re-imagining the past, present, and future.
Upcoming: Theban Plays Premiere at The Brick, Williamsburg, January 28-30, 2016
