Results tagged “radarfestival”

In 2004, Mark Russell resigned from his position as Artistic Director of P.S. 122 after more than two decades spent developing the theater into a mecca for wildly adventurous performance art. And he hasn't looked back; in addition to serving as Artistic Director for Portland's Time Based Art Festival, Russell has remained a major force in New York with his Under the Radar Festival, now in its fourth year and headquartered at the Public Theater. The event draws performers and audiences from around the world for what has arguably become the most exciting theater festival in New York City, a town lousy with them. Russell's impeccable taste is integral to Under the Radar's success; as Eric Bogosian – who got his start at P.S. 122 in the 80s – puts it: "Russell is a genius at finding the awkward new stuff, the gems and diamonds no one's noticed yet. If the 'artist is the antenna of the race,' then Mark is the antenna of the antenna."

In The Brothers Size, three shirtless black men struggle for scraps of peace and prosperity under the blazing sun of some unnamed, dirt poor southern town. Ogun and Oshoosi Size are two recently reunited brothers – the older, more responsible Ogun has taken Oshoosi in after he’s released from prison. Oshoosi makes a halfhearted go at rehabilitation working at Ogun’s auto-body shop, at least until the appearance of his old jailbird buddy Elegba, who surfaces...

THEATER: A one-of-a-kind theatrical event is happening this weekend only in a clothing store and barbershop on the edge of Chinatown. Called American Standard, this solo, seven character ‘sideshow’ is the work of Canadian-American troupe bluemouth,inc., which has been building a reputation for staging innovative theater in bizarre locales. (Other productions have taken place in hotel rooms and the basement of an office building.) In their latest foray, “a preacher, a tourist, a politician, an entertainer, an immigrant, a poet and a terrorist inhabit a storefront installation, spilling onto the street and lurking within the basement.” Martin Denton praises the show as “dense, artful, absorbing, and fun. The penultimate scene is so thrillingly unexpected that to say anything about it risks spoiling American Standard's neatest surprise; suffice to say that you've almost certainly never witnessed anything like it in any theatre of any description.”

Starting tonight, the Under the Radar Festival of new theater will be cleared for take-off. The three-year-old festival is produced by indie theater impresario Mark Russell, who, as Executive Artistic Director of P.S. 122 for over two decades, nurtured the venue into the alt-performance epicenter it is today.

In the weeks after 9/11, when Operation Infinite Justice (later re-branded Enduring Freedom) readied vengeance for peasants in Afghanistan, there were several writers who immediately stood out by simply noting the truth amidst an avalanche of jingoism. One that springs readily to mind is Arundhati Roy, who wrote in an article on September 29, 2001: “Witness the infinite justice of the new century. Civilians starving to death while they're waiting to be killed.”