Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre
Fowl Play: Conference of the Birds
inspired by Farid us-Din Attar’s 12th century Sufi poem
La MaMa Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 E 4TH ST. NYC
Thurs, Fri, Sat, Nov. 21, 22, 23 @ 7pm, Sun. Nov 24 @ 2pm / Fri, Sat, Nov. 29, 30 @ 7pm, Sun Dec. 1 @ 2pm, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat. Dec. 4, 5, 6, 7 @ 7pm, Sun Dec. 8 @ 2pm
Presented in association with GOH Productions
Director: Vít Hořejš / Assistant Director/Producer: Bonnie Sue Stein
Project Illustrations by Peter Sis, from his book “Conference of the Birds”
Music Composed by Avi Fox-Rosen (AFR) with help from Izzy / Music arrangements by AFR with the band and cast / Lyrics adapted by AFR from “Conference of the Birds” by Peter Sis
Production/Scenic Design: Tom Lee and Theresa Linnihan
Choreography: Martha Tornay with the cast / Costumes: Michelle Beshaw
Production Supervisor: Rebecca Werner
ASM: Nora Iammarino/ ASM: Alex Church-Gonzales
Project dramaturg: Michael Posnick / Project consultant: Frank London
Cast: Deborah Beshaw-Farrell, Michelle Beshaw, Vít Hořejš, Saima Karin, Theresa Linnihan, Gage Morgan, Sammy Rivas, Sarazina Stein, Emily LaRochelle
The Fowl Play Band:
Avi Fox-Rosen, guitar + voice / Rima Fand, violin + keys + voice / Eleonore Weill, flutes + keys + voice / Jesse Chevan, drums + percussion
Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) is produced by GOH Productions, a nonprofit organization and receives public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, and NY City Council. Additional support: Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, Czech Center, Materials for the Arts, Maturity Works, and BrouCzech Beer.
BEGAUZE is an informance exploring Sherry Erskine and Bonnie Sue Stein’s collaborative interdisciplinary arts practice in performance, video and installation. Their screening and talk is a direct response to the resurrection of their ½ inch open reel video series, Gauze in the Bowl created in 1978. In September 2015, they created a prototype ‘performance with video documented to video’ in Newtown Castle, County Clare, Ireland utilizing Gauze in the Bowl. The resulting digital video Gauze in the Castle, a layered self-portrait spanning forty years, will be displayed with an original percussive soundtrack. The event will also include Ode to Bachelard, 2016, an installation incorporating video projection on sculpture. These works explore place and memory in terms of human interaction and the symbolic function of architectural spaces including a vacant bowling alley, a castle chamber and the form of a house. Erskine and Stein will discuss the theoretical contexts of their work – Jungian archetypes, Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space, and the Japanese NOH Theatre spatial concept known as “MA” (“nothingness”). Erskine and Stein recently exhibited The Gauze Series: 1978-2015, at La MaMa Galleria in New York City.