Wednesday kicked off the Sixth Annual Under The Radar Festival (UTR) in New York, and it just so happens that a good half of our staff has flown out to catch the shows. Maybe it has something to do with the annual APAP Conference taking place this weekend, and maybe (just maybe), it’s because we love UTR Artistic Director (and past PICA Guest AD) Mark Russell. Still, the real reason to be in New York this week is for the incredible lineup of contemporary performance converging at the Public Theater.
UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL 2010 from UTRFestival on Vimeo.
Along with TBA, Under The Radar is one of the few US festivals presenting consistently engaging and genre-bending contemporary performance. For PICA fans, a lot of the names will sound familiar; past artists include Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Superamas, and Mike Daisey, and this year alone, you can catch Philippe Quesne/Vivarium Studio, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, and MK Guth. With over 20 shows running on some days, UTR is a wild and intense burst of theater.
After the jump, read a first-day dispatch from PICA Executive Director Victoria Frey…
Wednesday evening the first shows of Under the Radar open quietly. I see John Cassavettes’ Husbands directed by Doris Mirescu at 7pm. Jessica and Kristan and I are all on different schedules but we meet up afterward for Southern food at Great Jones, a few blocks from the Public. You know you are in NYC, as the small restaurant is filled with UTR goers and artists. At the table next to us is Andrew and Andrew, next to them is a group of artists and producers, and at the end table an actor from American Document sits doting on a woman. After Honey Pecan Chicken (me), Pulled Pork (Jessica), and Bacon Cheeseburger (Kristan), we meander down to see Kristan off to her subway stop and make our way back to hotel for a few hours sleep before the real fun begins.
Jessica and I arrive at the Public at 8 am Thursday morning to help Mark and Meiyin with check in for the symposium. Jessica is not often cheery at this hour, but this morning after one cup of coffee she is pulling registration packets and greeting people with enthusiasm. All morning long, friends and colleagues gather. Hugs all around, and by the time the Bang on a Can orchestra comes drumming into the lobby, the conversation level is at a roar in the over-sized but acoustically loud space. The morning session starts off with a conversation with Ann Bogart and Ping Chong. Just as the conversation gets interesting we divide into 4 groups for breakout sessions.
By 12:30 the festival frenzy for shows begins. Everyone is searching for Meiyin for ticket exchanges and schedule changes. At 1 pm, I see American Document, a work in progress showing by Siti Company that reinterprets a 1938 Martha Grahmn work of the same title using historical documentation, and I watch Space Panorama at 3. Before the 5pm show of Invisible Atom, I catch a quick bite at the Japanese grocery on St Marks. After spending all day at the Public I take the R train uptown to the New Victory to catch Once and for All…. The insanity of Times Square is a stark contrast to the busy, but somewhat insular, atmosphere of the Public.
Then I am again running back downtown to see if I can get into the sold out show of Chautauqua. I don’t make it, but Kristan and Jessica do. I settle myself upstairs in the LuEsther Lounge – the UTR version of The Works – and wait for Reggie Watts to go on. Mark makes a toast and Reggie is off and running – he is hilarious! Staggering out of the LuEsther at 2am I met up with Kristan, Erin, Jessica and Lane Czaplinski (On the Boards) in search of drinks and food. We find an Irish bar a few blocks away and decompress and talk shows, art, life… I find myself walking back to the hotel after 3am in a light snow fall. As I get back to the hotel to sleep at last I realize I have experienced the first 20 hour day of the festival! I will catch a few hours sleep before starting over again tomorrow.
We’ll try to get the PICA team to send a few more updates from their weekend of shows, so check back soon.
