RANDY GENER Live |

My interview with Boston-based blog ASPIRE MOTIVATE SUCCEED now online: addressing the challenges of migration and development

2012-01-31T12:10:00.000-05:00

BOSTON, MASS.: On Saturdays, the blog ASPIRE. MOTIVATE. SUCCEED features people from different backgrounds who tell success stories in their own ways. I was honored to be chosen by Alpha Miguel-Sanford who has featured me in her Boston-based blog ASPIRE. MOTIVATE. SUCCEED as the "Success Story Twenty Two: Randy Gener."

We discussed the challenges of migration and development: on the role arts and culture plays in the future development of second- and -third-generation immigrants abroad. Here are excerpts from that Q&A interview:

AMS: You delivered a presentation in Manila about challenges of migration and development, would you tell us how you were selected to be a part of this huge event?

Randy: In December 2010, I went back to Manila with my family to pick up a Presidential Award from His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III at his residence Malacañang Palace. The Commission of Filipino Overseas (CFO), which administers that biennial awards system given to individuals and organizations overseas, invited me to speak on the topic of “Solutions of Culture and Education: Keeping Second Generation Filipinos Overseas Rooted in Philippine Culture” at a two-day conference entitled “Vision 2020: Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development.” This conference brought together all the stakeholders and sectors (academe, civil society, international organizations and the diplomatic corps, national government agencies, local government units, private sector and Presidential awardees who belong to the constituencies of overseas Filipinos). The Philippine government wanted to discuss the direction it seeks to take in relation to migration and development.

Basically the Aquino administration aims to undertake public-private partnerships to modernize the infrastructure of the Philippines. The aim of the CFO is to cooperate with a host of stakeholders and sectors (which also includes leaders of the National Federation of Filipino Associations in America and US Pinoys for Good Governance). Can Filipinos overseas and in the diaspora inspire or respond to the future development of their homeland? What, if any, is the role of arts and culture? How can Filipino artists and arts groups abroad (indivuals, networks and organizations overseas) actively participate in the development of Philippine arts and culture, given the fact that whether we like it or not, Filipinos are both a global, mobile and diverse people?

AMS: Would you share us your views on migration and development?

Randy: I am presently looking for speaking opportunities, discussion platforms and collaborative partners who might be interested in listening to my views on what (and how) arts and culture can do to keep the second- and third-generation Filipinos overseas rooted in Philippine arts and culture. I think that supporting the Filipino languages through education is one obvious answer, but it is actually not enough.

Second- and third-generation Filipinos — in particular, children of Filipinos overseas — need to see Philippine arts and culture as a dominant aesthetic force both domestically and internationally. We do not need any more "role models." We need to see the international world's recognition of Philippine artistic works and aesthetic styles as a moving spirit and a generative force. When second- and third-generation Filipinos visit the Philippines, they need to see that there are thriving Philippine artistic and educational communities back home from which they can draw inspiration, influences, new forms and artistic training.

Philippine performing artists, for example, need to be cultivated, developed, encouraged and promoted so that our postmodernity as Filipino artists is identifiable and recognizable, similar to how the world perks up its eyes and opens its eyes when they encounter new trends in African-American aesthetics. Without an infrastructure that supports both emerging and established Philippine performing artists, our second- and third-generation Filipinos will latch on to other foreign cultures (usually in the foreign lands where they were raised), and they will only see their connection to Philippine culture as only a matter of ancestry, tourism and geography.

Moreover, the parents who work abroad to make money which they send back home, often turn their backs on Philippine arts and culture in the process of attempting to assimilate in the new cultures. Frequently these parents will forbid their own children from pursuing careers in the arts (in favor of business, medicine or law). This process not only impedes the advancement of Philippine art forms abroad but also imbues a sense of shame and embarrasement in our culture.

In the theater we are stuck in a cycle. Filipino American writers are under-represented in mainstream U.S. institutions, because the leaders of those companies will say, "We haven't found the kind of Filipino American plays that will speak broadly to the mainstream U.S interests. If we do produce Fil-Am plays that speak directly to Filipino-American issues and concerns, we don't make money by programming these Filipino-American productions. There is no prestige value in putting them on. Filipino American communities do not make an effort to show up in the audience. It is too difficult for us to put Pinoy butts in seats. Sometimes Filipino Americans themselves will say to us that they are not interested in these works."

So we're stuck in a self-fulfilling cycle. There are no Filipino-American plays because Filipino-American audiences rarely come to see them. Except for families and friends, non-Filipinos are the ones who frequent Filipino artistic events. In terms of culture, Filipino-American audiences do not represent an economic force to be reckoned with because the top theaters and institutions are not convinced that programming or producing Filipino-American shows will lead to material success. Filipino-American artists both abroad and in our homeland remain in the twilight. And since we as artists are perpetually hidden, Filipinos overseas can't see the significance that a strong arts-and-culture aesthetic plays in defining our global identities. Meanwhile, the young people who want to become actors, singers, writers and performers are either out of work or (if they are lucky) working in Western shows or remain perpetual amateurs, because there are no Filipino-American productions where they can practice and ply their trade.

In my presentation, I argue that it doesn't have to be this way.

AMS: Who or what inspired you to be who you are?

Randy: Artists inspire me. The work of other artists frequently have a generative effect on me. When I see or read or hear or experience works that I find fascinating in some way, I am frequently moved and stimulated to follow the artist’s way.

This Q&A interview I gave AMS Daily was posted on Saturday January 28.

Here is the link to the entire interview:
http://amsdaily.net/2012/01/28/saturday-success-story-22-randy-gener/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+amsdaily%2FWMQd+%28Aspire.+Motivate.+Succeed.%29

The AMS Daily site, located at http://amsdaily.net/about/, contains stories, videos, books about aspirations, motivations and successes. "The individuals who have shared their stories with us," according to the site's founder and editor Alpha Miguel-Sanford, "are what the editor believes to be successful. Success/successful is relative to the reader or the person who perceives the idea of who is successful. These individuals have proven their value to the community; their passion to what they do; their mission to the world and to their families and most of all these individuals know who they are and what they are capable of doing."

The AMS Daily site has a Facebook Page located at https://www.facebook.com/amsdaily.

Support education one click at a time:
Every time you "like" this Facebook Page or become a blog subscriber of ASPIRE. MOTIVATE. SUCCEED, the site's founders say that they will donate $0.40 U.S. centers toward the education of about 22 high-school students of the Tarlac College of Agriculture-Laboratory High School in Camiling, Tarlac in the Philippines.

Do you want to support education? Can you be ONE of this site's 3,000 Facebook Fans or Blog Subscribers? If you do, here’s what you can do:

LIKE the Facebook Page – which you can find by clicking here.
SUBSCRIBE to the blog – which you can do in two minutes by clicking here.
SPREAD the word – the site needs to get at least 3, 000 people to visualize this project.

If you want to read more about this, click on the link below: http://amsdaily.net/2011/09/01/pledge-for-education/

Thank you to Alpha Miguel-Sanford for including me in her inspirational new site.

Randy Gener Heats Up MAX Magazine

2012-01-27T14:42:00.001-05:00

SOFIA, BULGARIA: I am honored to be featured as one of "MAX People" (www.maxpeople.bg/).

MAX, the Bulgarian "brother" of the world-famous Italian men's magazine, has dedicated three pages to my life and work in its current 2012 edition devoted to the theme of "Creatives."

Accompanied by two candid photos by the renowned Broadway photographer, Rivka Katva, the article, written by the Bulgarian journalist Emil Iliev, was published in the January 2012 issue.

MAX was first published in Bulgaria at the end of October 2006. The trendy men's magazine has the reputation of being one of the most prestigious editions in Europe with a prevailing male readership. In Italy alone, the monthly circulation is 156,000 copies with more than 1,100,000 readers. MAX Bulgaria is published with a circulation of 20,000 and a cover price of 5 BGN.

MAX considers itself a leader in defining the trends in fashion and the modern way of life. MAX is aimed at the active readers between the age of 25 and 45. "These people," states the Bulgarian publishing house QM, "represent the middle-high and high-class in terms of the professional occupation, income and quality of life. These are people with ideas, taste and money."

The Bulgarian edition of MAX is the "brother" of the original Italian men's magazine, and it bears the genetic inheritance. MAX was created by Paolo Pietronni 25 years ago. The big-format style and creative vision was conceived by New York-based art director Giovanni Russo. QM Media, based in the capital city of Sofia, launched MAX under a licensing agreement with Italian RCS MediaGroup at a time when more and more international magazines were entering the Southeast European country.

Appropriately, the Bulgarian MAX follows the concept of the original -- an elegant combination of amusing and serious readers, high-quality outlook and commentaries. The graphic design of MAX is the trademark that provides it with an advantage on the varied media market. The covers of the magazine are recognizable not only for their high visual style but also for the professional realization of some of the most prominent Bulgarian and world photographers.

MAX People

MAX is a nicely mixed cocktail of lifestyle topics: fashion, cars, accessories and cosmetics, night life, news, politics, sports, music and cinema, beautiful women. World stars such as Monica Bellucci, Carla Bruni, Charlize Theron and Sean Penn have shined the covers of the Bulgarian MAX over the years. Top models such as Cindy Crawford and Eva Hertzigova have marched through its pages, and the pictures were taken by such photographers as Helmut Newton, Marco Glaviano and Gian Paolo Barbieri.

Here is an excerpt from Emil's introduction:

Детството на Дженър минава по времето на диктаторът Фердинанд Маркос, свален чрез народно възстание на филипинците. Като тийнейджър Ранди работи като вестникар по улиците на Манила. Един ден, по път за работа, в автобуса, той се вглежда през рамота на един човек във вестника на пътника отсреща, на страниците разпознава собственото си фамилно име и прочита историята на филипински бизнесмен в щатите, който е застрелян в Лос Анджелис.

Ранди не познава биологичният си баща, но го е виждал в семейните им фотографии и веднага го разпознава на снимката от статията. След падането на диктаторския режим, през 1986-та Ранди Дженър се премества в Америка.

В Ню Йорк пристига с авткобус, прекосил континента от западното до източното крайбрежие. Не се бях къпал 7 дена и нощи и от град на град се хранех само с хамбургери от Макдоналдс. Като пристига се настанява в малкото жилище на бедно филипинско семейство, където, след вечеря, когато всички си легнат, може да използва масата, за да постави върху нея пишещата и да работи.

Намира спасение в тишината на Нюйоркската обществена библиотека, където проучва как да си намери работа и присъства на поетични уъркшопи. За добро или за лошо, една вечер, дащерята в семейството, където е отседнал, подслушва негов телефонен разговор с приятел. Хазяйние му се оказват хомофоби и скоро Ранди ги напуска, за да заживее самостоятелно. По същото време, денем той работи за голяма американска корпорация, а през нощта е неплатен стажант за Вилидж Войс.

Идеята за журналистически пробив в Ню Йорк е да си провреш крака през вратата.
Ранди стажува при двама - Рос Уетстан, обичаният театрален критик на Вилидж Войс и за Майкъл Файнголд - водещ театрален критик, който ме изтощаваше до смърт.

Желанието му де бъде публикуван го кара да работи и за други издания в града е да дава всичко от себе си, дори пари, които не притежава. Когато трябвало да направи интервю с Антъни Хопкинс и Ема Томпсън. отишъл в скъп хотел в Горен Ийст Сайд, където закуската, само кроасан и кафе, струвала $20, а след интервюто се върнал в офиса на корпорацията, за да сервира, сам той, кафе и закуски на работодателите си.

Превърнах се в най-дълго неплатения стажант в историята на Войс. Докато Рос не му предлага платена работа на асистент по проучвания за две книги, а също и да продължи да бъде връзка с театралната общност на Оф-оф Бродуей за наградите на Вилидж Войс.

Всъщност бих изоставил писането за театър ако възможностите за оцеляване се изчерпат. Казва, че писането на критика не е негов избор, до ден днешен предпочита да пише разкази и пиеси. Въпреки, че пиесите му са поставяни той е известен повече като редактор и театрален критик.

Hungarian political weekly picks up my essay on the politics of theater in the former Soviet country of Belarus

2012-01-21T15:13:00.000-05:00

A European political weekly has picked up news about the publication of my essay on the political situation of theater and the arts in the former Soviet country of Belarus in the January 2012 edition of the Hungarian magazine Színház.

Posted on January 20, 2012, the news story, entitled "Színház és politika," appears in 168 ora, a Hungarian weekly review created in 1988. Presented in the Hungarian language, 168 Ora is an independent publication providing articles on the social, political and economic situation in Hungary.

Here is an excerpt from the news article on 168 ora:

"Négy anyag is foglalkozik ezzel a témával. Gajdó Tamás a nyilas idők Madách Színházát mutatja be, Randy Gener egy szabad színházért folytatott küzdelmet Fehéroroszországban, Madli Pesti az Egységes Észtország esetét dolgozza fel, a lap legterjedelmesebb, legfajsúlyosabb anyaga pedig egy körkérdésre adott kelet-európai válasz-összeállítás, amely a színigazgatói kinevezések gyakorlatát firtatja."

The article I wrote, mentioned in the above excerpt, is entitled "The Struggle for a Free Theater | Or "Long Live Belarus." It is about the plight of the actors of Belarus Free Theater who left the country following the violent presidential elections in December 2010. My original article was published in issue number 4 of the international journal Critical Stages.

My article was translated into Hungarian language and then published in a shorter version in the January 2012 edition of the Hungarian magazine Színház, which grabbed the attention of 168 Ora because of Színház's focus on the relationship between theater and politics in Eastern Europe. It is a comprehensive issue that unveils the significant updates and clear differences of the power politics and national theater scenes in Romania, Poland, Latvia, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. The picture Színház presents, as 168 ora notes, "is not very bright."

Because of the political situation in Belarus, the performing arts situation is perhaps one of the bleakest. When I received an invitation to contribute to Színház, that Hungarian magazine's editor wrote to me, in an email, "Unfortunately we cannot commission anybody from Belarus to write an honest article. That is why we would love to publish your work." --RG

Protesting in front the Belarus consulate in New York, January 2010 | Photo by Randy Gener

A lovely profile on the online New York magazine The FilAm

2012-01-16T00:21:00.001-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: The FilAm, an online magazine for Filipino Americans in the New York area, has published a lovely profile article about my work on its site. Written by New America Media fellow Maricar Hampton, the article is entitled "Writing, theater and always the two shall meet."

The FilAm reaches the vast, dynamic network of Filipinos, numbering anywhere from 150,000 to 300,000, in the New York tristate area. The FilAm has enjoyed steadily rising unique views – averaging 7,500 a month so far — with stories that continue to inform, entertain, raise questions and provoke.

The site, which features cutting-edge articles and commentary, is a content partner of Business Mirror in the Philippines; the Philippine Daily Inquirer; FilAm Star in San Francisco; Feet in Two Worlds in New York; and Voices That Must be Heard of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Hampton's article takes the form of a q-&-a and begins with this introduction:

The first Filipino — and first Asian — to win the Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, Randy Gener talks about doors opening to a wind gust of awards, honors and opportunities, including editing a newspaper in the Prague.

TF: Was it easy breaking into a writing career in New York?
RG: I never gave up, even when doors were closing on me. I have learned to just continue doing what I do, I have learned to have faith in myself and faith in my writing as a form of artistic expression.

TF: Would you consider the Nathan Award your most meaningful award?
RG: This award meant the most to me because the prize for which I won are not strictly for reviews. They are mostly for essays, and in some cases they are feature articles. So to be given the prize for best dramatic criticism when in fact I have never seen each of these as pure dramatic criticism pieces is one reason.

Another lovely thing about the prize is it puts me in a group of people many of whom I have admired and respected over the years.

TF: Any advice to young writers?
RG: Writers blossom into different fields depending on what opportunity they have been given. We have chosen a difficult road. There will be obstacles and stumbling blocks but I want to say, ‘Have faith, wake up every morning and do something — even the smallest thing — to move your art forward.’

Please read the rest of the article by clicking here.

If you wish to advertise in The FilAm or give a donation please email TheFilAmNY@gmail.com for pricing details.

Culturebot's panel on citizen criticism and the arts takes place, live-streams from New York's Public Theater on Jan. 15

2012-01-12T00:54:00.003-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: Culturebot.org, a multidisciplinary arts and culture blog, and the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival have graciously invited me to participate in a panel discussion on citizen criticism and the arts during the festival.

Curated by Culturebot.org, the discussion on criticism and the arts is entitled "Everyone’s A Critic! Exploring the Changing Landscape of Arts Writing." It follows a discussion that pits visual-art performance against contemporary performance. And it will be livestreamed at http://www.livestream.com/newplay.

The actual discussion itself takes place Sunday, January 15 at 1PM at the LuEsther Lounge @ The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street.

Here is the description:

As the mainstream media continues to cut its arts coverage, an increasingly diverse field of citizen journalists has filled in the gap. Some decry this as a disaster, proclaiming the death of criticism. Others characterize this as a long-overdue democratization of critical conversation. The truth is probably somewhere in between. What is the role of the arts writer in today’s society – either “professional” or “amateur”, what is the difference between a reviewer, a critic and a crank, and what does the future hold?

Participants:
Randy Gener (editor and critic of CriticalStages.org and in the Theater of One World)
George Hunka (Superfluities Redux)
Margo Jefferson (critic, author, professor)
Tom Sellar (Theater magazine & Village Voice)

RECOMMENDED READING:
Randy Gener, "In Search of a Criticism Without Borders" (Critical Stages)
Randy Gener, "Criticism in the Hybrid Newsroom" (American Theatre magazine)
Randy Gener, "Notes on Heart and Mind, or the Promise of Criticism in the Republic of Broken Dreams (American Theatre magazine)
Michael Kaiser, “The Death of Criticism” (Huffington Post)
George Hunka, “Criticism dies, again” (Superfluities Redux)
Jeremy Barker, “Why Aren’t Audiences Stupid?” (Culturebot)
Andrew Horwitz, “Why Aren’t Audiences Stupid?(Andy Version)” (Culturebot).

Interviewing Japanese theater-maker Hideki Noda ("The Bee") on YouTube

2012-01-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

I recently interviewed Hideki Noda whose upcoming production of THE BEE at Japan Society begins performances tonight as part of the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival.

Our discussion appears on YouTube. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkhIPPHoC88

On the Japan Society site, THE BEE, which runs January 5 to 15, 2012, is described as:

Manga comic-strip-like frenzy turns into a thought-provoking nightmare in Hideki Noda's THE BEE, co-written by Hideki Noda and Colin Teevan and inspired by a story by Yasutaka Tsutsui.

This gripping production, which excited London's discerning theater community when it premiered at the Soho Theatre in 2006, tells the tale of an ordinary Japanese salaryman who turns savage after returning home to discover that his wife and son have been taken hostage.
Conceived by Japan's celebrated playwright/director Hideki Noda, THE BEE draws "links between comedy and pain, beauty and cruelty" (Financial Times).

Within a minimalist set and an eerily beautiful soundtrack, the cast, composed of four members including the director himself and Olivier award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter, seamlessly shift between characters. THE BEE won the Asahi Performing Arts Award Grand Prix and the Yomiuri Theater awards Grand Prize for best play.

http://www.japansociety.org/event/tokyo-metropolitan-theatre-soho-theatre-london-the-bee

Our discussion touches on how he adapted a Japanese short story into a stage production and why he has a propensity to play women's roles. --RG

2011 — My Year in Review

2011-12-31T00:05:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: I know what you are probably thinking. Look at this year-in-review list; Randy did so many things. Check out the variety of activities he took on; he is all over the place. You have a point, I suppose, for I did have a lot of different things going on in 2011. In a deeper sense though, this first impression doesn't match my own perception of reality. To be honest, 2011 had but one theme: I worked to advance the creativity of artists. I tried, in my own busy way, to Occupy American Theater. Looking back, I see I failed to change my world. And I don't think I did enough.

Professions matter because, well, they profess things. They legitimate themselves around a commitment to the public interest and democratic values. All of us come to our professions because we want to make a difference. If the professions are not serving the public as well as they might — if the professions face severe obstacles that prevent them from renewing their commitment to the common good (such as unemployment or sucky employers or the tragically expanding low-wage sector or the giant sucking sound of jobs moving to so-called "citizen journalism" or whatever new ails cling to excellence in journalism these days) — then taking real action is the only way to go. What does civic purpose mean in arts journalism? What is the best way for this profession to serve democracy? How can critics and journalists of the arts exercise civic leadership? What is the political role of a theater critic, an arts writer or a cultural journalist?

Critics and art journalists have no choice but to move with the times, since what we need to survive will change as our problems alter and grow. If you call for an experimental spirit in any public sphere, there is always the chance that trying new "stuff" may be the boldest action. To experiment might mean coming up with fresh ways to combat calcified or slumbering institutions, to disrupt predictable patterns, and to dismiss the reflexive narrow-mindedness of those who cling to position and power.

Recently my way has been to move into the public and declare something larger than the latest arts controversy or missed story or consumer review. If that attitude seems overly grandiose or self-serving, you are doing me or the profession no favors by calling it sham. Not only have I paid my dues, I have also paid dearly for my convictions — in personal ways even I have not begun to fathom. For as long as I can remember, I have never had the backing of any institution, for-profit or non-, that supported my idea of arts criticism as a public service. Today's mainstream publications, print or digital, more or less mimic the dinosaur 20th-century media's dependency on celebrity and fame. Media execs claim their practice is called vetting. The more my ideas get turned down, I am beginning to wonder if they should really call it news suppression.

Such fault lines reveal why change has not happened. Even the supposed last bastions of arts journalism don't truly serve the journalistic profession either. At a majority of non-profit arts magazines I am aware of, the reporters simply write down what the arts administrators and exec directors say to them at press conferences or media interviews. What these reporters are doing isn't journalism — it's stenography. Worse, your own colleagues are frequently the first ones who will work to bring you down in the profession — who will resist or oppose your transparent attempts to rethink how best to achieve a better global dialogue about arts and culture.

So here is how my 2011 went — the year I put on a new coat of optimism and went all out to try new stuff. —RG

DECEMBER 2010

Speaker | “Solutions of Culture and Education: ConcerningSecond Generation Filipinos Rooted in Philippine Culture”
“Vision 2020: Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development”

Commission on Filipinos Overseas | Manila (Philippines)

Delivered a presentation outlining “solutions that address the culture ofmigration, keep overseas Filipinos rooted in Filipino culture, and promoteeducation reform given the perspective that whether we like it or not,Filipinos would become global citizens and that the entire globe will be amobile one.”

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas is an agency of the Philippine governmentunder the Office of the President, which was established on June 16, 1980through the enactment of Republic Act 79.

JANUARY 2011

Selected Artist | Playwriting/Screenwriting
NYFA Immigrant Artists Project

New York Foundation for the Arts | New York City (USA)

For a period of six months, artists selected for the NYFA Immigrant Artists’Project are guided in achieving specific goals and provided broader access tothe New York cultural world through an exchange of ideas, resources andexperiences. This program helpsimmigrant artists build some necessary skills to fairly compete as professionalartists in New York.

Curator and Editor | “Approaches to Training: The Articulate Body”
American Theatre magazine

Theatre Communications Group | New York City (USA)

The biggest issue ever published by American Theatre in terms of pagecount and advertising sales.

The first issue in its 25-year-old history to bedevoted to movement and physical-theatre training for actors in the U.S. andinternationally.

“The Articulate Body” (January 2011) is my follow-up to“Approaches to Training: Pillars of Voice Work” (January 2010) which I alsoconceived, curated and edited. "Pillars of Voice Work" reached out directly to luminaries and innovators in the field ofvoice training in both the U.S. and abroad.

“The Articulate Body” includes avirtual history of U.S. movement training and my posthumously publishedinterview with the late French mime Marcel Marceau. Read my introduction: http://periodicals.faqs.org/201101/2242573491.html#ixzz1hPUpGuIv

Moderator | "Being Harold Pinter" post-performance discussion
Under the Radar Festival presentation of Belarus Free Theatre

The Public Theater and La MaMa E.T.C. | New York City (USA)

Belarus Free Theatre is an underground theatre group that began in Minsk duringthe second term of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. It was anartistic means of resisting Belarusian government pressure and censorship. Ourdiscussion focused on the company’s artistic meetings with Harold Pinter and onthe current repressive political system in which Free Theatre members have beenpersecuted and imprisoned.

In June 2011, I filed this report, entitled "The Struggle for a Free Theatre | Or 'Long Live Belarus,' summarizing their exileabroad in the international web-journal Critical Stages: http://www.criticalstages.org/criticalstages4/entry/The-Struggle-for-a-Free-Theatre-Or-ldquoLong-Live-Belarusrdquo-1?category=2

My Name on Stage | My signature inscribed on a play’s set design
Director Loy Arcenas’s design for Ralph Pena’s Flipzoids

Ma-Yi Theatre Company at Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre | New YorkCity (USA)

My name appeared in Arcenas’s 42nd Street revival of Flipzoids, Peña’s ObieAward–winning play about immigration and exile. A beautiful element of Arcenas’s undulating sandy-beachscenery, which he designed, is the rear wall on which are written thesignatures of dozens of well-known Filipino actors, writers and artists—allimmigrants.

On closer inspection, I realized that my name was inscribed amongthe signatures, with mine placed right above the shoulder of the formidableactor Ching Valdes-Aran, who plays the lead part. Both Peña and Arcenas said that the production “is our loveletter to the Filipino community.” I was honored and very touched to beincluded.

FEBRUARY 2011

Participant (15 seconds) | My name flashes on Australian Museum’s Williams Street façade
“Your Names in Lights” | A Project by John Baldessari

Kaldor Public Art Projects and Sydney Festival | Sydney (Australia)

My name appeared in lights—for 15 seconds—in front of the Australian Museum’sWilliam Street façade. TheAmerican conceptual artist John Baldessari (recipient of the Golden Lion Awardfor lifetime achievement at the 2009 Venice Biennale) looked for people whowanted their name in lights—but for 15 glittering seconds. “Your Name in Lights” reflects thechanging cult of celebrity in modern society and recalls Andy Warhol’sprediction that in the future everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame.

Moderator | “Writing as Metamorphosis”
NoPassport Conference | "Dreaming the Americas: Global Change in Performance"

NoPassport and Nuyorican Poets Café | New York City (USA)

A conversation about the global voice in the age ofglobalization with writers who have newly available play collections: MigdaliaCruz, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Kia Corthron, Linda Faigao-Hall,Catherine Filloux, Carson Kreitzer and Ruth Margraff. Dramaturg Otis-Ramsey Zoe served as co-moderator.

MARCH 2011

Editor and Author | “Viva La MaMa”
American Theatre magazine

Theatre Communications Group | New York City (USA)

For the March 2011 issue of American Theatre, I wrote a tribute to the late Ellen Stewart, the legendary founder of LaMaMaE.T.C. I also compiled and edited, "Viva La Mama," a collection of tributes from Stewart’s friends, collaborators, admirers and“babies” who remembered her as an inventor of the American alternative theatre— who had changed the face of world theater.

Panelist | “Gender-Neutral Casting”
Panel Discussion | “Limitless Casting: Could the Best Man for the Part Be a Woman?"

Actors’ Equity Association | New York City (USA)

In an age when men in drag are commonplace on Broadway, whyare women playing male roles so rare? The Women‘s Committee of Actor Equity’sEastern Equal Employment Committee hosted a panel discussion on gender-neutralcasting, moderated by Gael Schaefer. My fellow panelists were Deborah Wright Houston (KingsCountry Shakespeare Company), Richard Schechner (NYU), Rebecca Patterson(Queen’s Company), Joanne Zipay (Judith Shakespeare Company) and Terry Berliner(Director).

Read Backstage's report about this panel, entitled "It's a Drag for Women."

Book Publication | “About the Phenomenon of Theatre” | published in English, Persian and French languages
Namayesh Publishing

The Fajr International Theatre Festival | Tehran (Iran)

“Re-Orientalism,” my critical essay on the emergence of an Arab-Americantheater, was published in this book of critical essays and scholarlyarticles from the annual international festival held in the Iranian capitalcity of Tehran. Released in three languages, the book was compiledby Nasrollah Ghaderi, in cooperation with Katayoon Husseinzadeh and Ali Najafi.

MAY 2011

Dramaturg
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's NewWorks Festival 2011

Chen Dance Center Theatre | New York (USA)

Consulted with Tisa Chang, Pan Asian Rep’s artistic producing director, andworked directly with emerging playwrights whose 3 full-length comedies and 3solo shorts were featured in this new-works project, led by Ernest Abuba andRon Nakahara. My 5 video interviews with the playwrights, created with Abby Felder, appear on Pan AsianRep’s YouTube channel:

"Allen Hope Sermonia speaks with Randy Gener" – http://youtu.be/LA3WbmcboP0
"Una Aya Osato speaks with Randy Gener" http://youtu.be/U8ov38AQ4oA; and
"Nancy Eng speaks with Randy Gener" – http://youtu.be/jjSoasNTSwU
"What does new work mean to me?" – http://youtu.be/qqcQMw60q60
"Kira Neel speaks with Randy Gener" – http://youtu.be/cgv1XF8ZIg8

USA Participant
The 10th Swedish Theatre Biennial

Svenska Teaterunion and Swedish Institute | Stockholm andGavlé(Sweden)

Moderator | Panel Discussion | “Theatre and Democracy”
Led a seminar featuring Vanessa Cook, artistic leader of Market Theatre Lab ofSouth Africa; Jessica Kaahwa, an actress and writer from Uganda who gave themessage of the World Theatre Day 2011; Ambroise Mbia, an actor and director whoheads the Cameroon Center of International Theatre Institute; and AlexanderKryzhanivskyi of the New Drama Theatre on Pechersk in the Ukraine.

Speaker | “Global Sweden: Swedish Theatre in the World”
In a seminar of international critics, I surveyed the evolution of contemporarySwedish drama, dance and circus in the U.S. and abroad.

JUNE 2011

U.S.A. Participant

2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space

Editor-in-Chief | PQ MAG

The official broadsheet publication of the 2011 Prague Quadrennial

Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic and the Arts–Theatre Institute | Prague (Czech Republic)

Edited PQ MAG, the official broadsheet publication of the2011 Prague Quadrennial. Itpublished interviews with artists, photo reports, critical commentary and muchmore. It was widely available atmajor venues in Prague’s city center: Veletržní Palace - National Gallery,Prague Crossroads - St. Anne's Church, the Piazzeta and the New Stage of theNational Theatre, and DAMU (The Academy of Performing Arts Prague).

Curatorial Advisor and Co-Creator | “From the Edge”
The USITT-USA National Exposition at 2011 Prague Quadrennial

USITT, the US association of design, production andtechnology professionals for the entertainment industry | Veletržní Palace(National Gallery) | Prague

Taking the architectural form of a beat-up performing garage with graffiti ofPresident Barack Obama on the wall (designed by William Bloodgood), theUSITT-USA PQ national exhibition mirrors the socio-political issues consumingAmerican performance makers today. My volunteer work on this project spanned four years.

I also led a series of daily gallerytalks (with artistic director Susan Tsu) featuring renowned U.S. directors anddesigners whose works were exhibited in From the Edge.

Postcards from the Inge, a blog about the William Inge Center of Independence, Kansas, posted a three-part interview with me about the four-year process of curating and creating a USA national exposition in Prague:

Interview – Part 1: "From the Edge"
Interview – Part 2: "Active Searching & The Value of the Prague Quadrennial"
Interview – Part 3: "A Ripple Effect."

JULY 2011

Web Launch | theaterofOneWorld.org

Facebook Page | www.facebook.com/gener.randy
La Biennale de Venezia

The Arsenale and the Giardinni | San Marco, Venice (Italy)

At the Venice Biennale, I launched a new magazine, in the theater of One World, and my new Facebook Page. I filed art criticismand journalistic reports about the Biennale.

Featured Television Guest | “Conversations with William M. Hoffman”
CUNY-TV Cable

Part 1 and Part 2 aired on Channel 75 | New York (USA)

CUNY-TV 75 aired my two-part guest appearances on its cableTV show, “Conversations with William H. Hoffman,” which bills itself as a“television series of discussions with major theatre and musical figures of ourtimes.”

http://cuny.tv/show/conversationswithwilliammhoffman/PR1012401

SEPTEMBER 2011

Book Publication | “The World of Theatre” | published in English,French and Arabic languages
Bangladesh Center of the International Theatre Institute (Bangladesh) and
Peter Lang Editions (Paris, France)

33rd ITI World Congress | Xiamen (China)

The U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute (ITI)invited me to write a critical essay on the state of USA theatre, summarizingthe 2007–2010 seasons. That essay was published in this newest edition of TheWorld of Theatre, an anthology published every two years. This major biennial ITI publicationcontains articles by ITI National Centers and provides a vast panorama oftheatre productions and recent developments in each country over the past twotheatre seasons.

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2011

U.S.A. Jury Member
51st International Theater Festival MESS Sarajevo

Međunarodni teatarski festival MESS | Sarajevo and Zenica(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Establishedin 1960 by Jurislav Korenic as the Festival of Small and Experimental Stages,MESS Sarajevo is one of the best theatre events promoting modern theatreexpression in the former Yugoslavia.

Accompanied by a delegation of artists, we met with threeBosnian prime ministers of culture and sports (federal and canton) in theirgovernment offices. We grilled thepoliticians on matters of European cultural governance and Balkan culturalpolitics. Our meetings werecovered by local Sarajevo newspapers. A report about my experiences in Sarajevo, "An inspiring international festival rises above a 'catastrophic state of culture' in Bosnia and Herzegovina' " appears in theaterofOneWorld.org/ — and on the official website of the International Theatre Critics Association.

OCTOBER 2011

Moderator | “Advancing the Creativity of Artists”
"Dialogues Across Cultures: A Model for Building Enduring Partnerships" | Symposium on Contemporary African Performing Arts

MAPP International Productions and the Africa ArtsConsortium in partnership with Museum of African Art, The African Center forEducation at Teachers College and the Institute of African Studies at ColumbiaUniversity | New York City (USA)

Led a public conversation with Faustin Linyekula,choreographer from Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ralph Lemon, artisticdirector of Cross Performance of NYC

This two-day symposium was designed to open up conversations aroundinternational cultural exchange; to share lessons learned through case studies;and to build understanding and connections between artists, organizations andpublic communities in the United States and on the African continent.

Moderator | “Ivo van Hove with Randy Gener”
BAM Next Wave Festival | Artist Talk: Movies and Theater

BAM Rose Cinemas | Brooklyn Academy of Music | Brooklyn,N.Y. (USA)

A conversation with acclaimed Flemish director Ivovan Hove, whose work Cate Blanchett describes as “stunning with a capital ‘S’ —returns to BAM with a stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s heartrending film Criesand Whispers, performed by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the flagship theater of theNetherlands.

NOVEMBER 2011

Emcee
NoPassport Press Book Launch Party and Salon

New Dramatists | New York City (USA)

Celebrated the publication of Carson Kreitzer’s collection, Self-Defense andOther Plays, and Chiori Miyawa’s upcoming collection America Dreaming and OtherPlays. In addition to Kreitzer andMiyagawa, authors Susana Cook, Kia Corthron, Migdalia Cruz, Christine Evans,Linda Faigo-Hall, Catherine Filloux, David Greenspan, Matthew Maguire, SavianaStanescu and Caridad Svich read and performed from their works.

U.S.A. Media Representative
German and American Media Dialogue

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in cooperationwith Goethe Institute Washington and the Studio Theatre | Washington, D.C.(USA)

The Media Dialogue consisted of a public discussion among German and Americantheater critics and addressed trends in contemporary theater in Germany and theU.S. The Dialogue launched asustained dialogue among critics between the two countries. Joining me were German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig (The Arabian Night and Golden Pavilion); Peter Kümmel, theater critic for thenewspaper Die Zeit, and Peter Michalzik,journalist and theater critic for the newspaper FrankfurterRundschau.

My interview with Schimmelpfennig, "That Point in the Drama Where It Starts to Hurt, That's Where the Work Gets Interesting," appears in Critical Stages.

Organizer and Moderator | A Broadway Panel Discussion
“Anatomy of Breakout”

The Drama Desk and Fordham University Theater Program | NewYork (USA)

Led a star-packed Broadway panel discussion reflecting the remarkable trend ofbreakthrough productions and breakout performances on New York’s commercialstages in the fall 2011.

Featured Broadway panelists were actor Samuel L. Jackson and directorKenny Leon of The Mountaintop; playwright David Henry Hwang, actor Jennifer Limand director Leigh Silverman of Chinglish; playwright David Ives of Venus inFur; actor Liz Mikel, book writer Douglas Carter Beane, composer Lewis Flinnand director Dan Knechtges of Lysistrata Jones. Theatremania writer Leslie (Hoban) Blake served as co-moderator.

U.S.A. Artist
The International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful!”

Teatrul National de Operetta “Ion Dacian” and TeatrulMetropolis | Bucharest (Romania)

Producer and Book Writer | “A Medley of Sondheim”
Performed at the Metropolis Theater, this concert production celebrated the iconicmusicals of Stephen Sondheim (Anyone Can Whistle, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd,Sunday in the Park With George).

This sexy Sondheim tribute featured animpressive cast of Broadway’s top musical talents and Sondheim specialists:Joan Almedilla (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables); Angel Desai (Sondheim’s Company);Ali Ewoldt (West Side Story); Jose Llana (The King & I, The Flower DrumSong, Wonderland); and Orville Mendoza (Sondheim’s Road Show). Albin Konopkawas the musical director.

Lecturer and Moderator | “Sondheim and After: A Listening Party on America’sGreatest Living Composer”

Sondheim considers himself “a playwright in song.” How he arrived at thisunique description was the subject of my lecture, conference and listeningparty.

My presentation pulled aside the curtain on Sondheim’s creativeuniverse: “Sondheim’s creative journey,” my thesis stated, “strives to reachthe heights of a total and cinematic dramaturgy within musical structures.”

DECEMBER 2011

Video Interviewer | Japan Society’s YouTube channel featuring "The Bee"
Conversation with Japanese theatermaker Hideko Noda

Japan Society and Under the Radar Festival | New York (USA)

Interviewed Hideki Noda, director and co-author of The Bee, (Soho Theatre ofLondon), one of two Under the Radar Festival programs produced by the JapanSociety. Noda is one of the mostpopular director–playwrights in Japan.

The video interview appears on http://www.youtube.com/user/JapanSocietyNYC

International journal Critical Stages publishes my latest articles, interviews and editorial content

2011-12-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: The 5th edition of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques is now online. As the U.S. editor, I contributed 4 articles and curated the Interviews section, the most ambitious set of interviews I've ever curated for this international web journal.

Critical Stages/Scènes critiques No. 5 contains 34 authors from 20 countries have written 45 articles for this 5th issue. "There is no journal that has such international resources," says the publisher/editor-in-chief Yun Cheol Kim.

The articles I contributed reflect both the national and international purview from which I always write and edit. I interviewed the U.S. playwright, screenwriter and director Craig Lucas, the author of Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, The Light in the Piazza, The Secret Lives of Dentists and the upcoming musical King Kong, which will premiere at Melbourne's Regent Theatre in early 2013. In recent years, Lucas has frequently declined to give interviews to the media, so my conversation with him, entitled "Fear. Hope. The Life Force": Why I Write Plays," is an exclusive for Critical Stages.

I also interviewed U.S. playwright and librettist Ruth Margraff. In my article, entitled "Trying to Look at Opera from the Pillars of Theatre," Margraff talks about the plays that are gathered in her new collection of plays, Red Frogs and Other Plays, which will be published in early 2012 under the NoPassport Press literary imprint.

Then I turn my attention to Germany. My article on Roland Schimmelpfennig casts a new light on this German playwright and director who is currently one of the most heralded, most prolific and most produced playwright in Europe. My conversation with him — entitled "That Point in the Drama Where It Starts to Hurt, That's Where the Work Gets Interesting" — took place in the lobby of the Sofitel Hotel in Washington, D.C., near the White House, a couple of hours before the opening night of his play The Golden Dragon at the Studio Theatre. At the time, I was participating in a "German and American Media Dialogue" organized by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in D.C.

In my editorial "The Critical Act of Conversation," I observe that the interviews I curated and edited for Critical Stages ranges far and wide and traverses four continents (Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas) in search of their chosen subjects. In all these interviews, I asked the critics to track down a theater artist whom they felt deserved to be more widely known by an international audience. I wrote:

"In choosing our interview subjects, each one of us exercised an essential critical act. If as Peter Brook once said that for an artist the choice of what one works on is an artistic act in itself, I would venture that the same goes for critics who decide to confront artists with questions. Indeed, all of interviewers depart or rebel from the typical slate of questions. It is of course fascinating to see how artists from four different continents respond to a similar set of questions — their replies reveal the hidden or neglected sociopolitical issues that our so-called globalized world frequently fail to expose — but it is even more significant when the critics probe the artists further about their work, their lives and their ideas."

Enjoy my articles in Critical Stages as much as I enjoyed curating and editing it as the U.S. editor. —RG

Revista 22 magazine loves "Medley of Sondheim"

2011-12-24T17:34:00.000-05:00

BUCHAREST: The reviews are out, and they're still giving us love.

In a critical report devoted to this year's edition of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts "Life is Beautiful!", the critic Ioana Moldovan of the Romanian weekly magazine Revista 22, reserves praise for my production of A Medley of Sondheim which performed this past November at the Teatrul Metropolis.

Revista 22 critic Ioana Moldovan

Moldovan's performance review, entitled "Unsprezece zile frumoase în noiembrie (Eleven Beautiful Days in November," individually singles out the incredible Broadway artists who brought to life the music of Stephen Sondheim.

Moldovan praises these Broadway performers for their ability "to reconstruct, even for a moment, that special atmosphere and the entertaining world of [Sondheim's] shows."

She also notes the excitement of the Romanian audiences whom, she observed, "hardly wanted to accept the end of the show."

Moldovan's review echoes similar praise from top Romanian musical artists who saw the Sondheim show.

Alexandra Craescu, the leading star of Rebecca, a major production of the Teatrul National de Opereta "Ion Dacian," commented: "They were absolutely amazing. I love them all. Great voices, great acting, great technique—I love them. I want to hear them again here in Romania. They've changed my life!"

Cezar Ghioca, a U.S.–trained Romanian director who specializes in musicals, operettas and musical revues, stated: "Wonderful evening! I went home floating in a balloon of happiness—a wonderful treat to be able to take back home in Bucharest, straight from the theatre, that anti-gravitation state that only a Broadway show can create. Thank you."

Playbill, a Broadway publication, has published, "A Sondheim-inspired Romanian Adventure With Ali Ewoldt and Friends," a news story by Matt Blank and a photo diary documenting A Medley of Sondheim, the first USA production to ever debut at the International Festival of Musical Performing Arts in Bucharest. The photo diary was created by Ali Ewoldt, the leading actor who played Maria in of the 50th anniversary revival of West Side Story. Here is the link:
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/157088-PHOTO-EXCLUSIVE-A-Sondheim-Inspired-Romanian-Adventure-With-Ali-Ewoldt-and-Friends

This is Moldovan's review in the original Romanian language:

Şase artişti americani de origine filipineză au adus la Bucureşti o oră din muzica lui Stephen Sondheim, cel mai mare compozitor american în viaţă. Arii din musicaluri celebre precum: West Side Story, Sweene Todd sau Anyone Can Whistle au entuziasmat publicul, care cu greu a vrut să accepte încheierea spectacolului. Reacţia este oarecum firească, fiecare dintre cei şase artişti: Albin Knopka, Jose Llana, Joan Almedilla, Ali Ewoldt, Angel Desai şi Orville Mendoza fiind nume consacrate pe Broadway, care au reuşit să reconstituie, chiar şi pentru o clipă, atmosfera specială a acelei lumi de spectacol.

http://www.revista22.ro/unsprezece-zile-frumoase-n-noiembrie-12616.html

A Medley of Sondheim at Teatrul Metropolis in Bucharest

A magazine devoted to politics and culture, Revista 22 is published weekly (since 1990) by the Group for Social Dialogue in Bucharest. In English, the name of the magazine translates as 22 Magazine. It was named in memory of December 22, 1989, the day the communist regime in Romania was overthrown.

Moldovan's article, which was published on December 20, 2011, states that a total number of 450 artists were invited to this year's edition of the festival, of which 310 artists came from abroad. Twelve countries were represented in "Life is Beautiful" — Italy, U.K., Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, France, USA, Georgia and Romania — and the total number of audiences reached 4,000 spectators.

"There is every chance that the festival will continue to grow and become a landmark in the performing arts music scene in Romania and elsewhere," said Alina Moldovan, deputy general director of the National Operetta Theatre" Ion Dacian," which annually organizes this one-of-a-kind international festival. —RG

"in the theater of One World" declares "Radio Muezzin," "Macbeth After Shakespeare" and "Chinglish" among the world's best theater of 2011

2011-12-20T16:57:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: The arts-and-culture magazine in the theater of One World announces its top-10 picks for the world's best theater of 2011. Click here to read the article.

At the top of the hierarchical list are Radio Muezzin (Germany/Egypt), a documentary work by the Swiss director Stefan Kaegi; Macbeth After Shakespeare (Slovenia/Croatia), staged by Ivica Buljan; and David Henry Hwang's Broadway play Chinglish, which originated at the Goodman Theatre of Chicago.

Of Radio Muezzin, the global roundup, "My picks for the world's best theater of 2011, states" "You might say that Radio Muezzin stages a Western country's (Germany's) attempt to promote diverse Egyptian voices abroad. It is also about the Egyptian government's decision to use technology to silence individual voices. In Sarajevo [where Gener saw this documentary theater]..., it was about the triumph of a group of passionate muezzins to perform the story of their lives despite the decision of one of their own to almost sabotage Kaegi's outstanding show."

Radio Muezzin | Photo by Amer Kuhinja

Macbeth After Shakespeare, a Slovenian/Croatian staging of the Heiner Muller drama, is described as "stunning" and "a revelation."

The article praises Hwang's Chinglish quite simply "the best American play of 2011."

Jennifer Lim in Chinglish by David Henry Hwang

J.T. Rogers's Blood and Gifts is "the world's greatest example of a political drama that hits your heart and mind." And Sleep No More "will go down in history as the classic example of a site-specific theater masterpiece."

Moreover, the Romanian director's explosive staging of Faust at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival and the National Theatre of the French community in Brussels is praised as "the greatest Romanian production of this decade."

The Belarus Free Theatre's Being Harold Pinter, which made stops in Chicago and New York City, is described as "a landmark in the history of Pinter productions."

In addition to the top-10 selections, in the theater of One World's best-of-the-year list includes 10 honorable mentions and 15 special mentions from the U.S. and around the world.

The Telling Orchestra from Norway "is hailed as "unquestionably the best theatrical performance by a pavilion at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space.

Film and theater director Loy Arcenas's re-staging of Ralph Pena's Flipzoids "confirms this play's status in the canon of American drama," says the article, adding that Septimus and Clarissa, Ripetime's staging of Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway is "one of the best stagings of Woolf's work I've seen."

Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark was named this year's best comic play.

The Broadway revival of Anything Goes is praised as "a joy from start to finish" -- "a kick-ass lush production that you will not likely ever see in a long while (if you don't go see it now)."

Sutton Foster in Anything Goes at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre

Here are my picks for the world's best theater of 2011:
1) Radio Muezzin (Germany/Egpyt)
2) Macbeth After Shakespeare (Slovenia/Croatia)
3) Chinglish (USA)
4) Silviu Purcarete's Faust (Romania)
5) Being Harold Pinter (Belarus)
6) When Father Was Away on Business (Serbia)
7) more...more...more...future (Democratic Republic of Congo)
8) Blood and Gifts (USA)
9) Sleep No More (U.K./USA)
10) Cries and Whispers (Netherlands/Sweden)

The honorable mentions are:
11) The Telling Orchestra (Norway)
12) Flipzoids (USA)
13) The Book of Mormon (USA)
14) Septimus and Clarissa (USA)
15) Correspondences (Haiti/Mali/South Africa/France)
16) The Normal Heart (USA)
17) Anything Goes (USA)
18) Prometheus Landscape II (Belgium)
19) By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (USA)
20) Silenciados (Spain)

in the theater of One World made a point of expressing enthusiasm for 15 others shows which are given special mention.

These Special Mentions are:
1) Honey Brown Eyes, written by Stephanie Zadravec and directed by Erica Schmidt (USA)
2) Invasion! by Jonas Hassen Khemiri and directed by Erica Schmidt (Play Company, USA)
3) Kom Ta Min Hand (Come, Take my Hand) at the Swedish Theatre Biennial in Gavle (Sweden)
4) Arcadia written by Tom Stoppard and directed by David Leaveaux (Broadway)
5) Hypermnesia (Serbia/BITEF), written by Serbian and Bosnian actors, and staged by Bosnian director Selma Spahic at MESS Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
6) Venus in Fur written by David Ives (Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway, USA)
7) Queen of the Mist, the musical by Michael John LaChiusa (Transport Group, New York, USA)
8) Go Back to Where You Are by David Greenspan (Playwrights Horizons, USA)
9) Heaven on Earth by Charles F. Mee and directed/choreographed by Dan Safer (Witness Relocation, USA)
10) Angel of Swedenborg by Ping Chong and the Great Jones Repertory (La MaMa E.T.C., USA)
11) Unnatural Acts by Plastic Theatre, directed by Tony Speciale (Classic Stage Company, USA)
12) Lucia’s Chapters of Coming Forth By Day written and directed by Sharon Fogarty (Mabou Mines, USA)
13) Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire (Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway, USA)
14) Broadway revival of Follies by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
15) Gardenia by Alain Platel & Frank van Laecke, Les Ballet C de la B (Belgium).

Randy Gener interviewed and extensively quoted in Croatian and Slovenian national media

2011-12-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: This past weekend, I was interviewed on Slovenian national television, Dnevnik, at La MaMa E.T.C. A day after my review of Ivica Buljan's mesmerizing production of Macbeth After Shakespeare, two major European media outlets, one in Croatia and another in Slovenia, published articles about this very physical interpretation of Heiner Muller text which comes "after Shakespeare." Both articles quoted from my text. In the latter case, the quotation lifted from my review is so extensive that my words appear in the title. I am excited to add that my blog, in the theater of One World, is prominently mentioned in the Slovenian article from MMC RTV Slo.

Here are links to these various media outlets:

1) Buljanov 'Macbeth' oduševio njujoršku publiku
http://www.tportal.hr/kultura/kazaliste/164775/Buljanov-Macbeth-odusevio-njujorsku-publiku.html

2) Mini teater New York potegnil "v vrtinec poželenja, brutalnosti in samouničenja"
http://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/oder/mini-teater-new-york-potegnil-v-vrtinec-pozelenja-brutalnosti-in-samounicenja/272658

3) Uspešen nastop Mini teatra pred zahtevno newyorško publiko
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150424954343316

For me, the saddest part about this blizzard of media coverage is that the show ran this past weekend from Dec. 8 to 11. That's not enough time for a show to grab an audience. Just when word of mouth has spread, the show is over. How is it possible for the rest of the public to see for themselves what the hubbub was all about?

Domen Valič, Marko Mandić, Stipe Kostanić, Jurij Drevenšek,
Milena Zupančič in "Macbeth After Shakespeare” | Photo by Miha Frass and SONDA

Revelatory shows like Buljan's come to New York only once in a while. Producing across the Atlantic Ocean is so expensive that there ought to be more exposure for works like this. Add to this the fact that this is a busy season in the commercial theater.

Having seen Buljan's productions last year (Zagreb Youth Theatre’s equally physical The Garage), also at La MaMa E.T.C., I can only hope that the next time this director and the Mini teatar of Slovenia return to New York the current media coverage they gained this time around might be linger in the memory long enough for more New Yorkers to catch their work.

Born 1965 in Sinj, Croatia, Buljan studied political sciences, French and literature as well as comparative literature at the University of Zagreb. As a journalist he worked with the magazines Polet and Start. He served as theater critic for the daily paper Slobodna Dalmacija and is a member of the editorial council of the theatre magazine Prolog. At first, he worked as dramaturg—in Slovenia, France, and Croatia—collaborating with directors such as Vito Taufer, Christian Colin, Jean Michel Bruyere, Krizstof Warlikowski, Ivan Popovski and Robert Waltl.

His productions have been seen in international festivals in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Venezuela, Austria, Greece, Macedonia, Belgium, Switzerland, Russia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Poland, Albania and, of course, Slovenia. From 1998 to 2002, he was the Manager of the Croatian National Drama Theatre in Split. He is also the co-founder of the theatre Mini teater in Ljubljana, where he often works as a director or dramaturg.

He has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Dubravko Djušin Award (1997, for Phaedra), the Petar Brečić Award (1999, for his theatre essays), the Peristil Award (2001, for Oedipus), the Borštnik Diploma and a Special Award from the Jury (2004, for Schneewittchen After Party), the Medal of the City of Havana (2005, for Medea Material), the Borštnik Diploma for best direction and best performance (2007, for Oedipus in Corinth).

Here is my review, entitled " 'Macbeth After Shakespeare' (Slovenia/Croation) muscles its way into brilliance," which I wrote. Enjoy!

http://theaterofoneworld.org/2011/12/11/macbeth-after-shakespeare-sloveniacroatia-muscles-its-way-into-brilliance/

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Sondheim-Inspired Romanian Adventure With Randy Gener, Ali Ewoldt and Friends - Playbill.com

2011-12-06T01:18:00.000-05:00

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Sondheim-Inspired Romanian Adventure With Ali Ewoldt and Friends - Playbill.com

Playbill has published a news story-cum-photo album documenting the lecture/listening party on composer Stephen Sondheim I gave and the musical show I produced in Romania. The show, entitled A MEDLEY OF SONDHEIM, is the first USA production to debut at the International Festival of Musical Performing Arts in Bucharest. The article was written by Matt Blank, and the photo album was specially created by Ali Ewoldt, who starred as Maria in the national tour of WEST SIDE STORY. The article reads:

"Sondheim and After": Gener with Jose Llana, Ali Ewoldt and Orville Mendoza
A quintet of Broadway favorites, directed by Jose Llana, recently had the unique opportunity to bring the music of Sondheim to Romania in a Nov. 17 Bucharest concert.

Joan Almedilla (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables), Angel Desai (Company), Ali Ewoldt (Les Miserables, West Side Story), Jose Llana (The King & I, Spelling Bee, The Flower Drum Song, Wonderland) and Orville Mendoza (Pacific Overtures, Road Show) performed A Medley of Sondheim, a concert presentation of Stephen Sondheim's iconic musical numbers.

Ewoldt documented the whirlwind 2-day trip and offers Playbill.com readers an exclusive look at their travels, the performance and some of the breathtaking historic sights around the city.

Enjoy!

Let's Occupy Broadway: Samuel L. Jackson, David Henry Hwang, Leigh Silverman and other Broadway panelists reveal the radicality of original works and new writers breaking out this fall season in New York

2011-11-27T17:51:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK CITY: The New York press has described my recent Broadway panel discussion "Anatomy of Breakout" as "illustrious," "lively," "all-star," and "rockin'." With the Toronto Star and the India Times publishing articles after the fact, the symposium event made an international impact as well.

Samuel L. Jackson and Randy Gener

In a couple of emails, a former Village Voice colleague and an academic felt moved to state "Wonderful job, Randy. Really terrific" and "Wonderful event." And the New York actor Adam Couperthwaite posted on my Facebook wall: "Inspiring panel tonight at Fordham. Thank you for putting together such a great group."

On the NYC Arts LinkedIn group, a colleague commented, "Fantastic line-up and topic. Congratulations on pulling this talk and talent together, and making it so accessible to seniors and students in particular with that $5 ticket price."

The good word is definitely out. Yet the person whose opinion mattered the most was that of my partner-in-crime, Matthew Maguire, the Obie Award–winning playwright and the chair of Fordham University Theatre Program. Without the support of Maguire and the Fordham University Theatre Program, it would have been impossible to pull off this panel discussion. Held on Sunday November 13, Anatomy of a Breakout investigated just what it takes for a play or a musical, as well as an individual performance, to break through and become a critical and/or popular success. Leslie (Hoban) Blake, a writer for Theatremania, co-moderated the event with me.

David Henry Hwang, Matthew Maguire and Randy Gener

Immediately after the event, Maguire posted on his Facebook wall: "Attended an inspiring Drama Desk panel at Fordham Theatre tonight, gathered by Randy Gener who brought together the movers & shakers of Chinglish, Mountaintop, Lysistrata Jones & Venus in Fur, some of the most unlikely Broadway shows ever. One of the coolest things he [Samuel L. Jackson] said was his advice to young actors. Come to New York because in New York you find community. Randy, great work on getting him on the panel!"

What exactly was everyone so enthused about?

To my mind, the reason this panel made such a huge impression went far beyond star power. No doubt, the presences of actor Samuel L. Jackson, playwright David Henry Hwang, director Leigh Silverman, director Kenny Leon and playwright Douglas Carter Beane contributed greatly to the exciting buzz that the event drew prior to the event (see below the second set of links to articles announcing it).

What really brought home the message is the critical mass of New York productions represented in the panel, not to mention the other productions which were invoked or named during the discussion itself.

"Anatomy of a Breakout" panel at Fordham University

What did these productions have in common? In Broadway terms, they were all new and original American works.

During past seasons, New York's commercial stages had predominantly been swamped with revivals of classic works, imports from London, and star-laden productions by already famous names. Because of the millions of dollars associated with producing a show in New York (and not just on Broadway), it was never a surprise that most producers (including non-profit producers) settle for already known entities. Either a play or musical is already proven to be a hit (the Broadway revival of Anything Goes or the runaway hit Chicago are good examples) — or the shows are direct imports from the U.K., with most of its cast intact (see the example of Private Lives this season or War Horse which continues to sell out at Lincoln Center).

Frequently the shows are stage versions of movies (the mass popularity of cinema being another indication that the material is not unknown). Moreover, Broadway producers invest more on works by Arthur Miller, David Mamet, Edward Albee or Tennessee Williams.

What's different and remarkable about this fall 2011 season is that New York stages are overrun by new works by relatively less famous names. Playwright David Henry Hwang is one of our country's top playwrights but from a commercial standpoint he is still better known for M. Butterfly, his first Broadway hit from the 20th century. So the critical and popular success of his sensational new play Chinglish, starring Jennifer Lim and staged by Leigh Silverman, is worth celebrating, especially if one realizes that more than half of the play is performed in Mandarin Chinese and with supertitles. When I suggested in the panel that Chinglish is more than just an Asian-American drama — that it is, at the core, an international play, even Samuel L. Jackson had to retort, with slight bewilderment, that a foreign producer would have to find an actor who, like Lim, spoke Mandarin. Lim might be a rare actor in Broadway terms, but outside of the USA, Mandarin Chinese is actually the most widely spoken language in the world, including some parts of Africa.

With David Ives and Leslie (Hoban) Blake

David Ives is another master American playwright. He is, however, not exactly a household name yet. Theater cognoscenti know him more as a translator and adapter of Moliere, Yasmina Reza and other comic dramatists. His brand name, as evinced by his breakout work All in the Timing, is closely associated with comedy. The return of Ives's Venus in Fur in a Manhattan Theatre Club production on Broadway is thus notable and surprising, because this original two-hander, a serious work of drama which stars Nina Arianda and Hugh Dancy, first made a splash last season at Classic Stage Company — and because Ives has largely been considered an intellectual's intellectual.

With Samuel L. Jackson and Kenny Leon

Katori Hall is a writer few had ever heard of until Jackson and Kenny Leon both agreed to take on her play The Mountaintop on Broadway this season. Add to this the fact that the play's subject, the famed civil rights Dr, Martin Luther King, is a sacred icon. Any depiction that even remotely characterizes Dr. King in a negative light has immediately met with controversy. Soon after the play opened, the children of Dr. King appeared on CNN to denounce the play's depiction of their father, even though they had not actually seen the play but only read a copy of the script.

As both Jackson and Leon attest in my panel discussion, The Mountaintop would have never been produced on Broadway this season had it not actually won critical accolades in London last year, including the coveted 2010 Olivier Award for Best Play.

With the cast of Lysistrata Jones

Like Venus in Fur, which began its life Off-Broadway, Lysistrata Jones, a new musical, opened to rave reviews in a Transport Group production in a gym in Greenwich Village. It will now open on Broadway in December 2011. And, like Venus in Fur, Lysistrata Jones contains echoes of Greek drama. It plops the battles-of-the-sexes comedy by Aristophanes into the world of high-school basketball.

As unlikely as this collection of productions might be, we can also point to other shows not represented in my panel that had humbler beginnings: Other Desert Cities, the play by Jon Robin Baitz, began its life Off-Broadway before its current Broadway run. Lydia Diamond's play about an upper-middle-class African American family, Stick Fly, has moved to Broadway after a long journey in the non-profit world. And the astonishing Off-Broadway commercial run of Freud's Last Session by Mark St. Germain has similarly reinforced the feeling that something radical is afoot in New York stages this fall.

Director Leigh Silverman confirms the radicality of this feeling by stating that in her opinion, the gathering of these plays — Chinglish, Mountaintop, Lysistrata Jones and Venus in Fur — was "groundbreaking" in terms of how amazing it was to see all these new works have aggregated in one fall season.

David Henry Hwang admits that a key aspect of the emergence of these new works rest in the cultivation of relationships over time. Hwang joked that in the past he had leaped from director to director he felt like "a slut." When he first met director Leigh Silverman, Hwang said he was not at first sure that she might be the right person for the job. And then he realized that the questions she had posed him about his play were actually important — that those very questions she raised were the very issues that needed to be explored and examined in rehearsal if the play were to reach to as broad an audience as possible.

"Anatomy of a Breakout" was a ritual event that recognized and acknowledged that as tough as it may be to develop new work, there is definitely an audience out there that is willing to embrace them. That as financially conservative and artistically parochial the commercial stages might be, new work will out.

As with most stage trends, diehard skeptics will no doubt decry that the critical mass of new works thriving this fall season might simply be a coincidence or simply passing fare. Who knows what next season will bring, after all?

I would like to go so far as to suggest that because of this panel, the cat is now out of the bag. Whatever the future may bring, it will now be hard to dismiss this one enterprising fall theatre season, in the midst of the worst economic recession in memory, when so many new and original American works occupied New York's commercial stages, thus encouraging the best in our creative natures and promising a brighter future for theater artists everywhere in New York. —RG

With the creative crew of Chinglish: Hwang, director Leigh Silverman and Jennifer Lim

ARTICLES AND PHOTOS POSTED AFTER THE "ANATOMY OF A BREAKOUT" PANEL:

From Toronto Star
http://themes.thestar.com/photo/08AZfIYeYteK7

From India Times
http://oneclick.indiatimes.com/photo/08AZfIYeYteK7?q=Bristol

From Getty Images
Photos from Anatomy of a Breakout panel for purchasing
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=132740368&EditorialProduct=Entertainment

From Wire Image
Photos from Anatomy of a Breakout panel for purchasing
http://wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx?igi=537393&nbc1=1

From the blog Theater Life
Drama Desk panel
http://www.theaterlife.com/node/6358

From Asian Connections
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Jennifer Lim, Leigh Silverman, Samuel L. Jackson, Kenny Leon, and more
http://www.asianconnections.com/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=3229&Itemid=135

From Lia Chang Photography
Drama Desk Anatomy of a Breakout Panel
http://liachang.photoshelter.com/index

From the blog Star Sightings
Celebrity Sightings at 2011 Drama Desk and Fordham University Theatre Program panel discussion
http://www.starsightings.com/event-2011-Drama-Desk-And-Fordham-University-Theatre-Program-Panel-Discussion/

ARTICLES POSTED BEFORE TO THE "ANATOMY OF A BREAKOUT" PANEL:

From Critical Mass, the blog of National Book Critics Circle
NBCC Member News: Randy Gener Hosts Samuel L. Jackson, David Henry Hwang, & More

http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/nbcc-member-news-randy-gener

From This Week in New York

http://twi-ny.com/blog/2011/11/11/anatomy-of-a-breakout/

From the blog "Reflections in the Light"
Douglas Carter Beane, Lewis Flinn, David Henry Hwang, David Ives on Drama Desk Panel to Discuss 'Anatomy of a Breakout'
http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/2011/11/douglas-carter-beane-lewis-flinn-david.html

From Playbill
Douglas Carter Beane, David Henry Hwang, David Ives, Samuel L. Jackson, Kenny Leon Set for Drama Desk Panel Discussion
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/156219-Douglas-Carter-Beane-David-Henry-Hwang-David-Ives-Samuel-L-Jackson-Kenny-Leon-Set-for-Drama-Desk-Panel-Discussion

From BroadwayWorld
Samuel L. Jackson, Douglas Carter Beane et al. Set for Drama Desk/Fordham University Panel
http://broadwayworld.com/article/Samuel-L-Jackson-Douglas-Carter-Beane-et-al-Set-for-Drama-DeskFordham-University-Panel-20111103#ixzz1dAb5isco

From Theatermania
Douglas Carter Beane, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Lim, et al., Set for November 13
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/news/11-2011/douglas-carter-beane-samuel-l-jackson-jennifer-lim_44089.html

From Broadway's Best Shows
Samuel L. Jackson to Participates in Drama Desk/Fordham University Panel on November 7
http://www.broadwaysbestshows.com/news/11-07-2011/samuel-l-jackson-to-participates-in-drama-desk-fordham-university-panel

From BroadwayWorld
David Henry Hwang Set for ANATOMY OF A BREAKOUT Discussion, 11/13
http://broadwayworld.com/article/David-Henry-Hwang-Set-for-ANATOMY-OF-A-BREAKOUT-Discussion-1113-20111108#.Trm65Or6vVQ.facebook%23ixzz1dAbq6jA5

From Fordham University's website
Panel to Discuss Broadway's 2011 Breakout Season http://www.fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_2228.asp

poster for the event

Randy Gener presents "Sondheim and After: A Listening Party," a conference and lecture for Europe's National Operetta Theatre "Ion Dacian"

2011-11-14T23:32:00.000-05:00

The National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian”

Presents

"Sondheim and After: A Listening Party on America's Greatest Living Composer”
— a lecture and conference

by Randy Gener

16.00

Tuesday, 17th of November 2011

at Hotel Intercontinental Bucharest

within the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful”

4th edition

Bucharest, Romania

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — Randy Gener — an internationally renowned and award-winning editor, critic and artist — will present a lecture and conference, entitled Sondheim And After: A Listening Party on America’s Greatest Living Composer, within the framework of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful.” This forum and listening party takes place 4 p.m. Thursday November 17 at the Intercontinental Hotel Bucharest.

Taking Sondheim’s own comments and music as a starting point, and joined by several Sondheim specialists from A Medley of Sondheim, Gener’s lecture presentation Sondheim and After pulls aside the curtain on Sondheim’s creative universe to reveal the many influences that have established Sondheim as one of the greatest dramatic composers of the twentieth century.

“Sondheim styles himself as the maverick king of Broadway, the rebel genius who didn’t just write classic songs,” Gener states in his lecture. “He fashioned modernist scores that took advantage of dissonance and urban angst about love, sex, family and marriage to challenge the mind, not soothe it. For Sondheim, the art of writing smart lyrics rhymes with his restless search for dramatic and narrative truths.”

Gener will be joined by an impressive all-Filipino ensemble of Broadway stars who are traveling to Romania to perform A Medley of Sondheim, a concert of Stephen Sondheim’s iconic musical numbers.

Continuing the success gained during their 2010 international collaboration, the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian” has once again partnered with Randy Gener to produce and present A Medley of Sondheim and Sondheim and After: A Listening Party, both of which will represent the USA in Eastern Europe this fall.

This international musical festival is unique in Romania, organized by the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian,” a public cultural institution funded by that country’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. This fourth edition of the festival takes place November 10 to 20, 2011 in several locations in Bucharest.

The diversified program includes musicals, operetta performances; ballets; concerts of international artists like The Tiger Lillies, Emma Shaplin (France), Richard Galliano (Italy), Ornella Vanoni (Italy); workshops for children; book launches; exhibitions and conferences, performed and presented by Romanian and foreign artists from more than 10 countries around the world.

In 2008 (the first edition), and now, perhaps more than ever, the International Festival of the Musical Performing Arts aims to offer the public a series of shows and events under the sign of Beauty in Music and Theater, proving that life is still beautiful.

Tickets are now on sale at the National Operetta Theatre "Ion Dacian" and online (www.opereta.ro), the sites www.eventim.ro and www.vandbilete.ro . For more information or to obtain press credentials, please contact us at the address madalina.matei @ opereta.ro or the number of phone 021/314.11.87.

Broadway's Jose Llana, Angel Desai, Orville Mendoza, Joan Almedilla, Ali Ewoldt headline "A Medley of Sondheim" concert in an international festival in Europe

2011-11-10T23:21:00.001-05:00

The National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian”
and Randy Gener

Present

“A Medley of Sondheim“ — a special concert tribute performance

Featuring Broadway star performers
Joan Almedilla, Ali Ewoldt,

Angel Desai, Jose Llana and Orville Mendoza

19.00, Tuesday, 17th of November 2011
at the Metropolis Theater

within the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful”

4th edition

Bucharest, Romania

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — An impressive all-Filipino ensemble of Broadway stars are traveling to Romania to perform A Medley of Sondheim, a concert of Stephen Sondheim’s iconic musical numbers, presented within the framework of the 4th edition of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful.”

Performing 7 p.m. Thursday November 17th at the Metropolis Theater in Bucharest, this sexy Sondheim concert celebration puts forward the award-winning musical talents of

Joan Almedilla (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables);
Angel Desai (Sondheim’s Company);
Ali Ewoldt (Les Miserables, West Side Story);
Jose Llana (The King & I, Spelling Bee, The Flower Drum Song, Wonderland); and
Orville Mendoza (Pacific Overtures, Sondheim‘s Road Show).

Jose Llana serves as the director of A Medley of Sondheim.

Randy Gener, an internationally renowned editor, critic and artist, serves as the show’s American producer.

With Albin Konopka serving as musical director, A Medley of Sondheim includes songs from such legendary Sondheim musicals such as Anyone Can Whistle, Company, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, among others.

Continuing the success gained during their 2010 international collaboration, the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian” has partnered again with Randy Gener to produce and present A Medley of Sondheim, which will represent the USA in Eastern Europe this fall.

This international musical festival is unique in Romania, organized by the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian,” a public cultural institution funded by that country’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. This fourth edition of the festival takes place November 10 to 20, 2011 in several locations in Bucharest. The diversified program includes musicals, operetta performances; ballets; concerts of international artists like The Tiger Lillies, Emma Shaplin (France), Richard Galliano (Italy), Ornella Vanoni (Italy); workshops for children; book launches; exhibitions and conferences, performed and presented by Romanian and foreign artists from more than 10 countries around the world.

In 2008 (the first edition), and now, perhaps more than ever, the International Festival of the Musical Performing Arts aims to offer the public a series of shows and events under the sign of Beauty in Music and Theater, proving that life is still beautiful.

Tickets are now on sale at the National Operetta Theatre "Ion Dacian" and online (www.opereta.ro), the sites www.eventim.ro and www.vandbilete.ro . For more information or to obtain press credentials, please contact us at the address madalina.matei @ opereta.ro or the number of phone 021/314.11.87.

Biographies

JOAN ALMEDILLA has performed the leading role of Kim in the Broadway musical Miss Saigon. She played Fantine in the National tour of the Broadway musical Les Miserables and as Soul Girl/Mary Magdalene in the National Broadway tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. She performed the role of Imelda Marcos in David Byrne and DJ Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love at Carnegie Hall. She will appear in the feature film Commencement in 2012. www.joanalmedilla.com.

ALI EWOLDT just returned from a year on the road as Maria in the National Tour of the Broadway musical West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), directed by David Saint and Arthur Laurents. She made her Broadway debut in the 2006 revival of Les Miserables in the role of Cosette. Her other credits include Les Miserables (National Tour, Cosette), West Side Story (Maria, Pittsbirgh CLO, Joey McKneely’s international tour), Disney's Aladdin (Jasmine), and workshops of the musical version of the film Giant (written and composed by Michael John LaChiusa).
ANGEL DESAI recently completed the world premiere of Phaedra Backwards at the McCarter Theater. She played Marta in the 2007 Tony Award ®-winning Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company. Off-Broadway credits include The Tempest, opposite Mandy Patinkin, and The Winter's Tale with David Strathairn, both at CSC; Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, Ma-Yi, Public/NYSF, and MCC. Her recent TV credits include "The Good Wife," and recurring roles on "The Event," "Dollhouse," "Kings," and all three "Law and Order"'s. She holds an MFA in Acting from NYU.

ALBIN KONOPKA has enjoyed a long and successful international career. Besides his credits on numerous Broadway shows, he has performed in over 24 countries on 6 continents. He has worked as a producer, composer, musical director/supervisor, vocal and dance arranger and orchestrator. He has written two musicals: Ambra (in Italian) and She Schtups To Conquer. He is fluent in 5 languages and has a Masters from the Juilliard School of Music.

JOSE LLANA most recently appeared on Broadway as El Gato in Frank Wildhorn’s Wonderland. Other Broadway: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling as Chip Tolentino (dir. James Lapine, Drama Desk Award), Wang Ta in Flower Drum Song (dir. Bobby Longbottom), Angel in the Broadway musical Rent (dir. Michael Grief), and Lun Tha in the 1996 Revival of The King and I opposite Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy. Off-Broadway: Adam in Falling For Eve at The York Theatre, Gabey in the musical On the Town (dir. George C. Wolfe, Delacorte Theater in Central Park) and Adam Guettel’s Saturn Returns (dir. Tina Landau, Public Theater). This is Jose's second consecutive participation in the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts "Life is Beautiful!" in Bucharest. www.josellana.com

ORVILLE MENDOZA is thrilled to be back in Bucharest having performed in 2008 at the Odeon Theater and the Sibiu International Theatre Festival with Ma-Yi Theatre Company’s production of The Romance of Magno Rubio. A professional actor in the U.S. for over 15 years, Orville has performed everything from Shakespeare to Chekhov to Rodgers & Hammerstein to Sondheim. He has appeared on Broadway and many Off-Broadway theatres in New York. He had the great honor of being in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim’s newest musical, Road Show, which premiered at The Public Theatre in NYC and recently had a successful run at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory this year.

RANDY GENER is the Nathan Award winning editor, writer, critic and artist based in New York City. He is the author of the plays Love Seats for Virginia Woolf, Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool, and other theatre works. His visual-art installation, in the garden of One World, recently debuted at LaMaMa La Galleria in New York. Widely acclaimed in the U.S. press as “an internationalist, a champion of cultural exchange and dialogue“ (New York Daily News) and as "unequaled among his contemporaries" (American Theatre magazine and Theatre Communications Group), Gener has received grants from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Ford Foundation/Institute for International Education for his advocacy of U.S. performing arts in Eastern Europe. Gener's website is theaterofOneWorld.org.

Randy Gener produces "A Medley of Sondheim" concert and "Sondheim and After" listening party for Romania's International Music Festival

2011-11-10T14:34:00.000-05:00

The National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian”

Presents

“A Medley of Sondheim“ — a special concert tribute performance

Featuring Broadway star performers Joan Almedilla, Ali Ewoldt,

Angel Desai, Jose Llana and Orville Mendoza

and

“Sondheim and After” — a listening party & lecture by Randy Gener

Tuesday, 17th of November 2011

within the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts

“Life is Beautiful”

4th edition

Bucharest, Romania

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — Continuing the success gained in 2010 of the international collaboration between New York producer Randy Gener and the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian”, Romania celebrates Broadway composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim with a special concert performance, entitled A Medley of Sondheim, and a conference, entitled Sondheim And After: A Listening Party on America’s Greatest Living Composer, within the framework of the 4th edition of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful” in Bucharest.

This festival is unique in Romania, organized by the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian,” a public cultural institution funded by that country’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The fourth edition of the festival takes place November 10 to 20, 2011 in several locations in Bucharest. The diversified program includes musicals, operetta performances; ballets; concerts of international artists like The Tiger Lillies, Emma Shaplin (France), Richard Galliano (Italy), Ornella Vanoni (Italy); workshops for children; book launches; exhibitions and conferences, performed and presented by Romanian and foreign artists from more than 10 countries around the world.

“A MEDLEY OF SONDHEIM” — A CONCERT TRIBUTE PERFORMANCE:
Performing 7PM on November 17th at the Metropolis Theater in Bucharest, A Medley of Sondheim is a concert tribute performance devoted to iconic musicals of Stephen Sondheim. This sexy Sondheim celebration features an impressive cast of Broadway’s top musical talents and Sondheim specialists, all of whom have made their marks on Broadway in leading roles:
Joan Almedilla (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables);
Angel Desai (Sondheim’s Company);
Ali Ewoldt (Les Miserables, West Side Story);
Jose Llana (The King & I, Spelling Bee, The Flower Drum Song, Wonderland); and
Orville Mendoza (Pacific Overtures, Sondheim's Road Show, The Romance of Magno Rubio in Romania).

With Jose Llana serving as director, this ensemble of five Broadway stars will perform a repertoire that includes songs from Sondheim’s iconic musicals such as Anyone Can Whistle, Company, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Road Show, among others.

Specially produced by Randy Gener for the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts, A Medley of Sondheim is a Broadway showcase based on (and independent from) an original idea for a gala concert by director Victor Lirio at the prestigious Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York.

“SONDHEIM AND AFTER” — A LISTENING PARTY AND CONFERENCE:
Sondheim considers himself “a playwright in song.” How he arrived at this unique description is the subject of Sondheim And After: A Listening Party on America’s Greatest Living Composer, which will take place on the 17th of November 2011 at 4 p.m. at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest. The conference is an intimate forum and listening party organized by Randy Gener, the renowned American editor, theater critic and artist.

Taking Sondheim’s own comments and music as a starting point, and joined by Broadway talents and Sondheim specialists from A Medley of Sondheim, Gener pulls aside the curtain on Sondheim’s creative universe to reveal the many influences that have established Sondheim as one of the greatest dramatic composers of the twentieth century. Gener will discuss also Sondheim’s impact on current developments of the musical performance genre within American and European cultural contexts.

“Sondheim styles himself as the maverick king of Broadway, the rebel genius who didn’t just write classic songs,” Gener states. “He fashioned modernist scores that took advantage of dissonance and urban angst about love, sex, family and marriage to challenge the mind, not soothe it. As Sondheim himself philosophizes, ’If you think of a theatre lyric as a short story, as I do, then every line has the weight of a paragraph.’ It is for this reason that Sondheim’s creative journey strives to reach the heights of a total dramaturgy within musical structures. For Sondheim, the art of writing smart lyrics rhymes with his restless search for dramatic and narrative truths.”

Beginning with ARTE (American Romanian Theatre Exchange) Program between Odeon Theatre of Bucharest and Lark Play Development Center of New York, Gener has collaborated numerous times with leading Romanian artists, prominent critics and theater professionals to build and promote mutual understanding and connections among artists, arts organizations and public communities in the U.S. and Romania.

In 2007, Gener led and presented “New Waves in Romanian Theatre,” featuring directors Radu Afrim and Gabor Tompa at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York.
Gener wrote the introduction to roMANIA after 2000 (Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Press), the first-ever book anthology of new Romanian drama published in the USA.
In 2008, Gener co-produced (with Alina Moldovan, Odeon Theatre and Ma-Yi Theatre Company of New York) the European premiere of the Obie Award-winning The Romance of Magno Rubio at Odeon Theatre and Sibiu International Theatre Festival.
In 2009, Gener served as Series Editor of Saviana Stanescu: New York Plays, a play collection published by NoPassport Press. In 2010, Gener presented a conference, “Musical Theatre in the U.S.A.,” featuring Broadway performer Jose Llana and Broadway musical composer Michael John LaChiusa, as part of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful!”

Gener and Michael John LaChiusa (right) with Romanian operetta stars in Bucharest

In the spirit of a promise made in 2008 (the first edition), and now, perhaps more than ever, the International Festival of the Musical Performing Arts aims to offer the public a series of shows and events under the sign of Beauty in Music and Theater, proving that life is still beautiful.

Tickets are now on sale at the National Operetta Theatre "Ion Dacian" and online (www.opereta.ro), the sites www.eventim.ro and www.vandbilete.ro . For more information or to obtain press credentials, please contact us at the address madalina.matei @ opereta.ro or the number of phone 021/314.11.87.

The National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian”
One of the major goals of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful” is to contribute to the international cultural scene and to promote the Romanian culture and the musical performing arts from Romania abroad. Given the European Union integration, the National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian” has initiated a series of projects and partnerships in order to open its gates to European dialogue and cultural cooperation, promoting diversity and multiculturalism as well as the free circulation of artists and creation.

The artistic strategy of the festival consists of attracting valuable artists, perfecting and motivating the artists within the institution by choosing a repertoire that enhances their value, and artistically meeting the standards and requests of the international cultural markets in the field, given the Operetta’s major responsibility as an unique institution at a national level. The programs and projects that the Operetta develop, their diversity and heterogeneity are meant to transform an institution that has the responsibility to the only Romanian to the ambassador for this delicate and valuable field of artistic action, in an active participant on both national and international cultural scenes. The promotion of contemporary creation, of interdisciplinary modes and multiculturalism, of the free movement of values and promotion of eternal human values — these are the main directions of the festival’s artistic strategy.

Biographies

JOAN ALMEDILLA has performed the leading role of Kim in the Broadway musical Miss Saigon. She played Fantine in the National tour of the Broadway musical Les Miserables and as Soul Girl/Mary Magdalene in the National Broadway tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. She performed the role of Imelda Marcos in David Byrne and DJ Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love at Carnegie Hall. She will appear in the feature film Commencement in 2012. www.joanalmedilla.com.

ALI EWOLDT just returned from a year on the road as Maria in the National Tour of the Broadway musical West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), directed by David Saint and Arthur Laurents. She made her Broadway debut in the 2006 revival of Les Miserables in the role of Cosette. Her other credits include Les Miserables (National Tour, Cosette), West Side Story (Maria, Pittsbirgh CLO, Joey McKneely’s international tour), Disney's Aladdin (Jasmine), Encore! (Tokyo DisneySea), The King and I (Tuptim), The Fantasticks (Luisa), and workshops of the musical version of the film Giant (written and composed by Michael John LaChiusa).

ANGEL DESAI recently completed the world premiere of Phaedra Backwards at the McCarter Theater. She played Marta in the 2007 Tony Award ®-winning Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company. Off-Broadway credits include The Tempest, opposite Mandy Patinkin, and The Winter's Tale with David Strathairn, both at CSC; Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, Ma-Yi, Public/NYSF, and MCC. Regional theater includes Cincinnati Playhouse, Yale Repertory, Long Wharf, and Arena Stage. Her recent TV credits include "The Good Wife," and recurring roles on "The Event," "Dollhouse," "Kings," and all three "Law and Order"'s. She holds an MFA in Acting from NYU.

ALBIN KONOPKA has enjoyed a long and successful international career. Besides his credits on numerous Broadway shows, he has performed in over 24 countries on 6 continents. He has worked as a producer, composer, musical director/supervisor, vocal and dance arranger and orchestrator. He has written two musicals: Ambra (in Italian) and She Schtups To Conquer. He is fluent in 5 languages and has a Masters from the Juilliard School of Music.

JOSE LLANA most recently appeared on Broadway as El Gato in Frank Wildhorn’s Wonderland. Other Broadway: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling as Chip Tolentino (dir. James Lapine, Drama Desk Award), Wang Ta in Flower Drum Song (dir. Bobby Longbottom), Angel in the Broadway musical Rent (dir. Michael Grief), and Lun Tha in the 1996 Revival of The King and I opposite Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy. Off-Broadway: Adam in Falling For Eve at The York Theatre, Gabey in the musical On the Town (dir. George C. Wolfe, Delacorte Theater in Central Park) and Adam Guettel’s Saturn Returns (dir. Tina Landau, Public Theater). This is Jose's second consecutive participation in the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts "Life is Beautiful!" in Bucharest. www.josellana.com

ORVILLE MENDOZA is thrilled to be back in Bucharest having performed in 2008 at the Odeon Theater and the Sibiu International Theatre Festival with Ma-Yi Theatre Company’s production of The Romance of Magno Rubio. A professional actor in the U.S. for over 15 years, Orville has performed everything from Shakespeare to Chekhov to Rodgers & Hammerstein to Sondheim. He has appeared on Broadway and many Off-Broadway theatres in New York. He had the great honor of being in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim’s newest musical, Road Show, which premiered at The Public Theatre in NYC and recently had a successful run at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory this year.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He has written the music and lyrics for Passion (1994), Assassins (1991), Into the Woods (1987), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sweeney Todd (1979), Pacific Overtures (1976), The Frogs (1974), A Little Night Music (1973), Follies (1971; revised in London, 1987), Company (1970), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), and Saturday Night (1954; first production in London, 1997; New York, 2000), as well as lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). For films, he has composed the scores of Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981) as well as songs for Dick Tracy (1990), for which he won an Academy Award. He has won Tony Awards for Best Score for a Musical for Passion, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Follies, and Company. On September 15, 2010, in honor of his 80th birthday, the Henry Miller's Theatre was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

RANDY GENER is the Nathan Award winning editor, writer, critic and artist based in New York City. He is the author of the plays Love Seats for Virginia Woolf, Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool, and other theatre works. His visual-art installation, in the garden of One World, recently debuted at LaMaMa La Galleria in New York. Widely acclaimed in the U.S. press as “an internationalist, a champion of cultural exchange and dialogue“ (New York Daily News) and as "unequaled among his contemporaries" (American Theatre magazine and Theatre Communications Group), Gener is the Broadway editor and theater critic of The New York Theatre Wire, which he co-founded in 1995. He is the U.S. editor of Critical Stages, a web journal on world theater, recently launched by the International Association of Theatre Critics, a UNESCO organization. For his editorial work and critical essays as the senior editor and contributing writer of American Theatre magazine, Gener has received, among many others, the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, the highest award for dramatic criticism in the USA and one of the most distinguished awards in the American theatre; the 2010 Deadline Club Award for Best Arts Reporting awarded by the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists “for shedding light of the government censorship and repression of artists"; a Trust for Mutual Understanding grant; and was named NLGJA Journalist of the Year 2010. Gener's website is theaterofOneWorld.org.

Samuel L. Jackson joins Randy Gener's Broadway Panel "Anatomy of a Breakout" on Nov. 13th with David Henry Hwang, Kenny Leon, and others

2011-11-08T01:29:00.001-05:00

THE DRAMA DESK and THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY THEATRE PROGRAM

ANNOUNCE A FALL 2011 PANEL DISCUSSION,

“ANATOMY OF A BREAKOUT”

TO BE HELD AT FORDHAM’S LINCOLN CENTER CAMPUS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, FROM 6:30 PM TO 8:00 PM

Panelists Include

Douglas Carter Beane, Lewis Flinn, David Henry Hwang, David Ives,

Samuel L. Jackson, Dan Knechtges, Kenny Leon, Jennifer Lim, and Leigh Silverman

New York, NY, October 26, 2011 -- The Drama Desk and the Fordham University Theatre Program will present a special panel discussion at 6:30 PM on Sunday, November 13th, titled “Anatomy of a Breakout,” reflecting the remarkable trend of breakthrough productions and breakout performances on the New York stage.

The panelists include (in alphabetical order): Douglas Carter Beane (book writer, LYSISTRATA JONES), Lewis Flinn (composer/lyricist, LYSISTRATA JONES), David Henry Hwang (playwright, CHINGLISH), David Ives (playwright, VENUS IN FUR), Samuel L. Jackson (actor, THE MOUNTAINTOP), Dan Knechtges (director/choreographer, LYSISTRATA JONES), Kenny Leon (director, THE MOUNTAINTOP and STICK FLY), Jennifer Lim (actor, CHINGLISH), and Leigh Silverman (director, CHINGLISH).

This special panel discussion will be moderated by Randy Gener, the George Jean Nathan Award winning editor/critic.

It will be held at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus (Pope Auditorium, 113 W. 60th Street, corner of Columbus Avenue). The backdrop will be Matthew Maguire’s production of “The Marriage of Figaro” by Pierre Beaumarchais, which performs Nov 9-11 and Nov 17-19 at 8:00 PM.

A surprising bulk of the Fall 2011 New York theater season consists of new plays and new musicals that have received great critical acclaim, major awards and successful productions at major venues across the country prior to their emergence on Broadway. To wit:

CHINGLISH, the new comedy by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang, is making its Broadway premiere, starring Jennifer Lim and directed by Leigh Silverman, following its run at the Goodman Theatre of Chicago;
David Ives’s comedy VENUS IN FUR had a critically acclaimed life Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company prior to its Broadway premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club;
THE MOUNTAINTOP, directed by Kenny Leon, written by Katori Hall and starring Samuel L. Jackson, was awarded the coveted 2010 Olivier Award for Best Play after it received critical acclaim in a three-week premiere at Theatre 503 in June 2009, followed by a West End transfer in London;
Lydia R. Diamond’s STICK FLY, staged by Leon, was developed in a co-production last year between Huntington Theatre Company in Boston and Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The play had its world premiere at Chicago’s Congo Square Theatre Company in 2006 and was performed at theatres including McCarter Theatre in 2007 and Matrix Theatre Company in L.A. in 2009.
LYSISTRATA JONES opened to rave reviews in a Transport Group production at the Gym at Judson in Greenwich Village; this critically acclaimed musical comedy show will transfer to Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre in December.

Ticket prices:

General Admission: $20

Drama Desk members and their Guests: $15

Fordham Faculty, Alumni, Staff: $10

Students* & Senior Citizens: $5 (*from any school with valid ID)

Reservations are requested.

Send RSVPs (first and last name, plus number of tickets) to DramaDeskRSVP@gmail.com

The Fordham University Theatre Program (www.fordham.edu/theatre) is highly regarded as one of the most outstanding B.A. theatre training programs in the country. The program combines the intimacy of a small conservatory with an exceptional liberal arts education and the rich resources and opportunities available in the world capital of the performing arts. Located at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), in the heart of New York City and within walking distance of the Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre districts, the Fordham University Theatre Program is chaired by two-time Obie Award-winner Matthew Maguire. Students study acting, directing, playwriting, and design and production with a faculty of leading New York City theatre professionals. The faculty is devoted to helping young theatre artists develop their individual skills in an intimate and personal atmosphere. In June 2011, Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington, a Fordham alumnus of 1977, made a $2 million gift to endow the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre and a $250,000 gift to establish the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship for an undergraduate student studying theatre at Fordham. Tony Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, has joined the Fordham faculty as the University’s first Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre.

The Drama Desk (www.dramadesk.org) is an organization of professional theater writers, editors, critics and columnists who cover all areas of professional theater in the greater New York area, including Broadway, Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway and not-for-profit theaters. The organization was founded in 1949 to explore key issues of the theater community. Each year the Drama Desk produces a series of panel discussions to explore areas of concern and then to educate the public about these matters. Guest panelists have included theater reporters, editors and critics as well as working actors, directors, producers, composers, lyricists, authors and producers. The Drama Desk is unique in that Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway shows compete in the same categories for its annual Drama Desk Awards which were first given in 1955.

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Press Contact for the Drama Desk:

Les Schecter (LS Communications)

Tel: 917/854-3286 Lester.Schecter@gmail.com

NoPassport Press throws book launch party & salon for U.S. playwright Carson Kreitzer, hosted by Randy Gener

2011-11-02T13:48:00.004-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 02, 2011

NOPASSPORT PRESS

ANNOUNCES

A BOOK LAUNCH PARTY & SALON

TO CELEBRATE THE PUBLICATION OF

CARSON KREITZER'S NEW PLAY COLLECTION

"SELF DEFENSE and other plays"

TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 3 at NEW DRAMATISTS FROM 4PM to 6:30PM

Randy Gener will host and moderate

NEW YORK CITY: NoPassport Press and its "Theatre & Performance Play Texts" Series is proud to announce the publication of a new play collection "SELF DEFENSE and other plays."

This volume collects for the first time four astonishing, rigorous, heartbreaking plays from acclaimed US playwright Carson Kreitzer. It contains SELF DEFENSE, THE LOVE SONG OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, 1:23, AND SLITHER.

To celebrate this event, Kreitzer will read selections from her work at a NoPassport Press Book Launch Party & Salon, which will take place on November 3, 2011 at New Dramatists (424 West 44th Street, NYC) from 4 PM-6:30 PM. RSVP to 212-757-6960

Billed as a Pen & Swill event at New Dramatists, this Book Launch Party & Salon will also celebrate playwright Chiori Miyagawa's upcoming collection "America Dreaming and other plays," as well as the ongoing work of NoPassport. In addition to Kreitzer's reading, this warm and convivial gathering will feature short readings by NoPassport Press authors Susana Cook, Kia Corthron, Migdalia Cruz, Christine Evans, Linda Faigo-Hall, Catherine Filloux, David Greenspan, Matthew Maguire, Chiori Miyagawa, Saviana Stanescu, and Caridad Svich. The event will be moderated by Randy Gener, a Series Editor of NoPassport Press.

As with all No Passport Press titles, Kreitzer's play collection "SELF DEFENSE and other plays" is now available from No Passport Press and as Print on Demand, as well as on Amazon.com and on Lulu.com.

With a preface by eminent theatre director Mark Wing-Davey and an introduction by dramaturg and scholar Mead K. Hunter, both of which contextualize Kreitzer's body of work, "SELF DEFENSE and other plays" is a collection that is destined to have undeniable impact on the field of American theatre.

To buy the book, visit www.nopassport.org or www.lulu.com/product/paperback/self-defense-and-other-plays/16040901

Carson Kreitzer

Carson Kreitzer's plays include "The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer," "SELF DEFENSE or death of some salesmen," "1:23," "Flesh and the Desert," "The Slow Drag (New York and London)," "Freakshow," "Slither," "Dead Wait," and "Take My Breath Away," featured in BAM's 1997 Next Wave Festival. "Behind the Eye," her new play about surrealist muse and WWII combat photographer Lee Miller, premiered at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in April 2011, directed by Mark Wing-Davey.

Her plays have been produced or developed by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Public Theater, The Royal Court Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Perishable Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Mabou Mines, Frank Theatre, the Actors Gang, and Next Theatre, among others. Grants: NEA New Play Development Program, NYFA, NYSCA, TCG, Jerome and McKnight Foundations, Loewe Award in Music-Theatre, and the first Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship at the Lark Play Development Center. BA: Yale University. MFA: Michener Center for Writers, UT Austin.

Ms. Kreitzer is a resident playwright at New Dramatists; an associated artist with Clubbed Thumb and New Georges; and a member of The Workhaus Collective, The Playwrights’ Center, and the Dramatists Guild.

Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould have been commissioned by Yale Rep and New Dramatists as part of New Dramatists’s Full Stage USA program. They are working on a musical called Lempicka, about the art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka

More information at www.carsonkreitzer.com

NOPASSPORT
NoPassport is a Pan-American theatre alliance & press devoted to live, virtual and print action, advocacy and change toward the fostering of cross-cultural diversity in the arts with an emphasis on the embrace of the hemispheric spirit in US Latina/o and Latin-American theatre-making.

NoPassport Press’ "Dreaming the Americas Series" and its "Theatre & Performance PlayTexts Series" promotes new writing for the stage, texts on theory and practice and theatrical translations.

Series Editors: Randy Gener, Jorge Huerta, Mead K. Hunter, Otis Ramsey Zoe, Stephen Squibb, Caridad Svich

Advisory Board: Daniel Banks, Amparo Garcia-Crow, Maria M. Delgado, Elana Greenfield, Christina Marin, Antonio Ocampo Guzman, Sarah Cameron Sunde, Saviana Stanescu, Tamara Underiner, Patricia Ybarra

NoPassport is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of [Caridad Svich & NoPassport] may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. For online donations go directly to https://www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623.

All No Passport Press books available for purchase here: www.nopassport.org/

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Randy Gener represents US media in German Embassy's first German and American Media Dialogue Nov. 6 and 7 in Washington, D.C.

2011-10-27T01:02:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Randy Gener is representing the U.S. media in the first-ever German and American Media Dialogue, organized by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, D.C.

The Media Dialogue is part of a series of D.C. events, taking place on the weekend of November 6 and 7., and is organized in cooperation with the Studio Theater and the Goethe-Institut in D.C.

To RSVP, visit the official website of German Missions in the United States at
http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__events/Wash/2011/11/07__MediaDialogue.html

Or, contact Goethe-Institut, 812 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC
RSVP: 202-289-1200 ext 162 orrsvp@washington.goethe.org
Devoted to contemporary theate, the event begins with the press premiere of The Golden Dragon by German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig at the Studio Theater on Sunday, November 6. Schimmelpfennig will be in attendance.

The Media Dialogue, which takes place at the Goethe-Institut, on Monday November 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., consists of a public discussion among German and American theater critics.

The discussion will address current trends in contemporary theater in Germany and in the U.S. It will also launch a sustained dialogue among theater critics between the two countries.

The Media Dialogue will be taped and made available electronically over the Internet. It is planned to provide simultaneous translation for the event. The German critics who are confirmed to participate are Peter Kümmel, theater critic for the newspaper Die Zeit, and Peter Michalzik, journalist and theater critic for the newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.

The Golden Dragon takes place in the cramped kitchen of an Asian restaurant, where four cooks pull the tooth of a young Chinese co-worker. "His tooth," adds the play's description in the Studio Theater website, "ends up in the Thai soup of a flight attendant—who overhears the fight of a young couple who live above the restaurant, whose fighting disturbs the shopkeeper of the dry goods store next door to the restaurant, who is more connected to the young Chinese man than anyone suspects. A kaleidoscopic look at a globalized world, this play by one of Germany’s most innovative and adventurous writers unfolds in brief and fierce comic scenes. Five actors cross age, race, and gender to play 15 characters in this vicious, poetic, and surprisingly moving investigation of how intertwined our lives really are."

Directed by Serge Seiden, the U.S. premiere of The Golden Dragon features Deb Booth's set design, Michael Giannitti's lighting design, Helen Huang's costume design, and Evan Rogers's sound design. The cast includes Sarah Marshall, Joseph Anthony Foronda, Amir Darvish, KK Moggie and Chris Myers. The play runs November 2 – December 11, 2011. Studio Theatre is located at 1501 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20005. Phone: (202) 332-3300. V/TTY: 202-667-8436. Email: studio@studiotheatre.org.

Roland Schimmelpfennig is Germany’s most produced playwright. His plays have been translated into over 20 languages and performed in 40 countries. His plays include Hier und Jetzt (Here and Now), Die Frau von früher (The Woman from the Past), Vorher/Nachher (Before/Afterwards), Die arabische Nacht (The Arabian Night), Push up 1-3, Peggy Pickit sieht das Gesicht Gottes (Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God), and Der goldene Drache (The Golden Dragon).His writing has won most of the prestigious prizes in Germany, including the 1997 Else-Lasker-Schüler-Preis for Fisch um Fisch (Fish for Fish), the Nestroy Prize for best young author in 2002, and the Nestroy Prize for the best play for Besuch bei dem Vater (Visit at the Father) in 2009. The Golden Dragon was awarded the Mühlheimer Dramatists Award and was chosen as Theater Heute’s Play of the Year. In 2010, Schimmelpfennig received the highest playwriting award in Germany, the Else-Lasker-Schüler-Prize, to honor his body of work.

Known for his surprising juxtapositions of lyricism and violence, as well as his breadth of storytelling techniques, Schimmelpfennig’s work shares recurrent themes of alienation and connection, desire and regret, along with the peculiar ways his language unfolds. Marked by a direct and almost clipped diction, his language can be both brutal and near-mythic by turns. His characters are frequently isolated from one another, but share a set of images and experiences that suggest a connection they rarely recognize, even when they’re literally sharing dreams.

London production of The Golden Dragon

David Tushingham, who has translated many of Schimmelpfennig’s work into English (including The Golden Dragon), links his language and thematic interests: “His work is always functioning on different levels at the same time. Structurally, you’ll have elements of a fairy tale and elements that are more realistic. But his language combines elements of contemporary life in a way that is quite elegant, both humorous and surprisingly serious at the same time.”

Both the German American Media Dialogue and the Studio Theatre production of The Golden Dragon are also part of Zeitgeist DC Contemporary Literature Series, a program dedicated to fostering cross-cultural experiences by bringing to the Washington, D.C. community the most interesting, serious-minded literary artists speaking about pressing contemporary issues.

Randy Gener and Flemish director Ivo van Hove talk "Movies and Theater" at Brooklyn Academy of Music

2011-10-15T11:56:00.000-04:00

BROOKLYN: Randy Gener joins the internationally acclaimed Flemish director Ivo van Hove — whose work Cate Blanchett describes as "stunning, with a capital 'S' " — in a BAMtalk entitled "Movies and Theater." The conversation takes places Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 6:00 pm at BAM Rose Cinemas.

Gener's hour-long BAMtalk with Ivo van Hove is a featured event of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's U.S. premiere of Cries and Whispers by Ingmar Bergman.

Part of the 2011 BAM Next Wave Festival, Cries and Whispers performs October 25—29, 2011 at 7:30pm at BAM Harvey Theater.

Ivo van Hove

Performed in Dutch with English titles, Ivo van Hove's Cries and Whispers is a stage adaptation of the classic 1972 film by the late Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. "To be able to work with Bergman’s complex evocation of human suffering and compassion is both a challenge and an honor,” van Hove says.

Performed by the members of Toneelgroep Amsterdam, where Van Hove is the artistic director, this production was made possible with the cooperation of Auteursrechtenbureau ALMO, in association with Josef Weinberger Ltd, London and the Ingmar Bergman Foundation. Toneelgroep Amsterdam's Cries and Whispers was first performed at the Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival 2009.

Nathan Award–winning editor and writer Randy Gener visited Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm to attend the Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival. He was the first American critic to see and write about van Hove's production.

Here is an excerpt from Gener's critical essay on the work and career of Ivo van Hove, "A Passion for Extremes" — it was the cover story of the November 2009 edition of American Theatre magazine:

In his book Images: My Life in Film, Ingmar Bergman wrote: "All my films can be thought of in terms of black and white, except for Cries and Whispers. In the screenplay, I say that I have thought of the color red as the interior of the soul." Thanks to a close collaboration with the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Bergman saturated his emotionally charged 1972 film about the rapier masochism of sisterhood and family life with a striking color palette made almost exclusively of crimson, black and white (which the Swedish filmmaker associated with the themes of blood, religion and sexual repression).

A bleak yet hypnotic portrayal of pain and suffering, Cries and Whispers takes place inside a tomb-like manor house at the turn of the century. Structured as a gliding series of memories, flashbacks, devastating confrontations and fleshy close-ups that fade out into deep reds, Bergman's story compels us to observe the frustrated lives and emotional horrors of four women. Agnes, a virginal spinster, is dying of cancer of the womb. Her two unhappily married sisters have come to attend her in her final agony. Callously, they watch and wait, along with Anna, a reliable maid, during the last two days of Agnes's life.

In van Hove, Bergman finds a perfect appositive. Turning away from the strong valences invoked by red, van Hove's Agnes slathers thick impastos of Yves Klein blue (or IKB, as it is known in art circles) on the glass partitions and white canvases that effortlessly slide in and out of Versweyvald's layered, open-space set—a sleek coalescence of video workshop, kitchen, living room and austere bedroom.

Based on a few lines of description in Bergman's script ("She has vague artistic ambitions—dabbling in painting..." and "Agnes's painting is generously colorful and somewhat romantic. Her main subject is flowers"), van Hove re-conceives Agnes as a performance artist whose obsession with her video diaries substitutes for the human affection and sense of community she so desperately hungers for.

ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers | Photograph by Chris Nietvelt and Jan Versweyveld

Van Hove's Cries and Whispers fuses uninhibited acting, chic-sterile stage design, contemporary attired, loud pop/hard-rock music and live-video footage to create an installation-style atmosphere. Except for replicating a sculptural pose of a dying Agnes that suggests a Pieta, van Hove's misc-en-scene does not imitate Bergman's softer film style. Van Hove's urgent production theatricalizes the jumbled phases of a mourning process. It moves and feels like a 19th-century allegory in a 21st-century hybrid-art form.

And van Hove's version of Cries and Whispers is more heart-wrenching when it departs from Ingmar Bergman."

Here is a promotional video of Cries and Whispers on the BAM website.

The Nathan Award–winning Randy Gener replaces MacArthur genius and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, whose name was originally advertised in the BAM Next Wave Festival brochure. ###

ARTIST TALK: "MOVIES AND THEATER"
Ivo van Hove with Randy Gener

Part of the 2011 BAM Next Wave Festival

Ivo van Hove's staging of Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers

Wed., Oct. 26, 2011 at 6pm

BAM Rose Cinemas
1 hr.
$10; $5 for Friends of BAM

U.S. Premiere
CRIES AND WHISPERS

Part of the 2011 BAM Next Wave Festival

Oct. 25–29, 2011 at 7:30pm

U.S. Premiere

By Ingmar Bergman
Toneelgroep Amsterdam
Directed by Ivon van Hove

In Dutch with English titles
Scenography by Jan Versweyveld
Dramaturgy by Peter van Kraaij
Video design by Tal Yarden
Costume design by Wojciech Dziedzic
Sound design by Roeland Fernhout

A description of Cries and Whispers from the BAM press release:

In a sterile grey room, an artist lies dying. Her video diaries flicker on screens, offering consoling images of an ersatz immortality as her estranged sisters hover about, removed. Not a word has been uttered and already director Ivo van Hove (Opening Night, 2008 Next Wave) has transported us to a collective soul bound by the most tenuous compassion. On a stage transfigured by grief, gripping performances from Dutch repertory company Toneelgroep Amsterdam drive this modern adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s unflinching 1972 film about the will to live and the astounding human capacity for empathy amid the debris of damaged life.

BAM Harvey Theater

Run time: 1hr 45min
Season tickets start at $17.50
Full price tickets start at $25

Toneelgroep Amsterdam / deSingel Antwerpen / Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival 2009

Randy Gener leads "Advancing the Creativity of the Artist" panel in a two-day Africa arts symposium at Columbia University

2011-10-11T04:28:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK CITY: Randy Gener will serve as moderator and facilitator at a two-day symposium, Dialogues Across Culture: A Model for Building Enduring Partnerships, presented by MAPP International Productions and the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium at Columbia University in New York City.

In the second day of the symposium (October 29), Gener will lead a public conversation, "Advancing the Creativity of the Artist," featuring Faustin Linyekula, artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ralph Lemon, New York City–based artist. The conversation will take place at the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University, located at 606 West 122nd Street in New York City.

Dialogues Across Culture takes a step back to reflect on international cultural exchanges between the United States and Africa. Organized in partnership with the Museum for African Art, The Center for African Education at Teachers College and the Institute of African Studies, this free symposium will take place Friday, October 28 (7pm-9pm) and Saturday, October 29 (11am-4pm) at Columbia University.

Faustin Linyekula and Papy Ebotani

Dialogues Across Culture: A Model for Building Enduring Partnerships is designed to open up conversations around international cultural exchange; to share lessons learned through case studies; to introduce projects and artists with whom the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium has partnered; and to promote and build understanding and connections between artists, organizations and public communities in the United States and on the African continent.

The activities of the symposium include informal performances by choreographers Faustin Linyekula from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Maria Helena Pinto from Mozambique. There will be presentations and discussions with members of the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium, MAPP, the Museum of African Art and Columbia University faculty.

Faustin Linyekula

Faustin Linyekula is a Congolese dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance. His works are structured along the lines of the dance form Ndombolo and its associated music and address "the legacy of war, terror, fear and the collapse of the economy for himself, his family and his friends." Linyekula has been part of a think tank with other African artists and intellectuals around the creation of an arts center near Cape Town, South Africa. The think tank resulted in the creation of the Africa Centre. Based in Kisangani, Linyekula heads the Studios Kabako whose local artistic initiatives embrace the fields of dance, theatre, music and video.

Ralph Lemon

Ralph Lemon is artistic director of Cross Performance, a company dedicated to the creation of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary performance and presentations. Lemon's projects expand the definition of choreography by crossing and stretching the boundaries between Western, post-modern dance and other art forms and culture. In 2005, Lemon concluded The Geography Trilogy, a decade-long international research and performance project that spanned three continents as it explored race, history and memory. In 2010, Lemon curated I Get Lost, a performance and discussion series for Danspace Project, NYC.

Dialogues Across Culture has been generously supported by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Culture.

A SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Performance by Faustin Linyekula and Maria Helena Pinto

Friday, October 28, 2011 (7:00pm - 9:00pm)
Location: Milbank Chapel, Teachers College
Enter on 120th Street midway between Broadway and Amsterdam
Reception to follow
Free and open to the public; ID required
RSVP here: http://dialoguesacrossculture102811.eventbrite.com

Plenary session, interviews with artists, project presentations,

discussions and focused conversations

Saturday, October 29 (11am to 4pm)

Date: Saturday, October 29, 2011 Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location: The Institute of African Studies, Columbia University, 606 West 122nd Street
Free and open to the public; ID required
RSVP here: http://dialoguesacrossculture102911.eventbrite.com

Investing in Curatorial Research
Dana Elmquist, Producer of Theater Programs at the Museum for African Art (NY)
Lisa Binder, Visual Art Curator, the Museum for African Art (NY)
Ken Foster, Executive Director, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco)

Advancing the Creativity of the Artist
Faustin Linyekula, Artist (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Ralph Lemon, Artist (NY)
Randy Gener, Critical Stages (NY)

Connecting Artists and Communities
Maria Helena Pinto, Artist (Mozambique)
Laura Faure, Director, Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, ME)

Building and Sharing Knowledge
Zoe Strother, Professor of African Art at Columbia University (NY)
Ann-Marie Bouttiaux, Royal Museum for Central Africa (Brussels)
Joan Frosch, Director, World Arts Culture at University of Florida (Gainesville)

Admission for both days is free. Reservations required.

For more information, contact Cathy Zimmerman at MAPP International Productions, 646-602-9390 or cathy@mappinternational.org.

To RSVP for the event, visit http://dialoguesacrossculture102811.eventbrite.com

*****

The Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium is a landmark program founded in 2004 to initiate, develop and sustain a dynamic exchange of arts and ideas between artists, arts organizations and public communities throughout the U.S. and the African continent. The Consortium is dedicated to working with African artists who are interpreting contemporary life through diverse modes of performance, with programs rooted in experiential opportunities that nurture conversation and exchange and allow organic connections to evolve. Co-founded by MAPP International Productions and nine partner organizations, the Consortium has connected thousands of U.S. citizens-in 31 cities in 21 states-to 52 African artists from 15 different countries through performances and participatory activities.

MAPP International Productions is a nonprofit producing organization dedicated to developing functional and sustainable environments for artists to create, premiere and tour ambitious and compelling performing arts projects. MAPP provides support and opportunities for challenging artistic voices to be fully heard and engaged by bringing together arts, humanities and public dialogue. Envisioning artists as agents of change, MAPP advocates for vital artistic exchange across cultures and borders through sustained and evolving partnerships between artists, arts organizers, educational institutions, cultural organizations and public communities. Since 1994, MAPP has produced 30 acclaimed multidisciplinary projects, created and performed by nearly 300 artists; produced over 60 multi-city tours of U.S. artists and artists from 22 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean, taking productions and engagement activities to audiences in 42 U.S. states; and founded and led networks for international exchange with artists in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe.

The Museum for African Art - a major center for African art and culture - has, since opening to the public in 1984, organized more than sixty exhibitions and produced engaging publications of the highest scholarly merit. Together, these and a broad range of public programs have illuminated Africa's rich artistic traditions and cultures. Today, as it prepares to move into its new home on Fifth Avenue at 110th Street in Manhattan, the Museum is expanding its agenda of exhibitions and educational activities.

The Institute of African Studies (IAS) is Columbia University's central forum and resource for African-centered academic research, program development, curriculum administration, student advisement, and local, national, and international dialogue and action on Africa. Founded in 1959, the IAS prepares generations of Africa practitioners for careers in development, diplomacy, business, governance, journalism, law, human rights, academic research, and teaching.

The Center for African Education promotes research and teaching about education, broadly defined, in Africa and the African Diaspora. Its central aim is to create a community of students, faculty, and staff with common interests and commitments to the fields of Education and African Studies through interdisciplinary study and discussion across Teachers College and Columbia University. The Center also promotes linkages with African universities by hosting visiting scholars, policy makers, practitioners, and activists who present different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives; and provides a forum for students to discuss their research and interests with African scholars, Africanist faculty, and colleagues at conferences, public lectures, and seminars

Randy Gener serves as U.S. jury member for MESS Sarajevo International Festival

2011-09-29T04:07:00.000-04:00

SARAJEVO: Randy Gener will serve as the U.S. juror of an international jury of leading artists, top editors and prominent critics of the 51st edition of the MESS Sarajevo International Theater Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the oldest international theatre festival in the Balkans.

Poster of 2011 MESS Sarajevo

This festival is produced by the National Theatre of Sarajevo, famously known as the Bosnian theater where Susan Sontag staged a production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in the midst of the Siege of Sarajevo in 1993. Sontag's production drew so much attention to the city's plight that many Bosnians believe it helped end the war. A square outside Sarajevo's national theater is dedicated to the U.S. writer and activist who died in 2004.

This year's MESS Sarajevo International Theater Festival takes place from September 30, 2010 until October 9, 2011, presenting 32 performances from all over the world in six festival categories.

Established in 1960 by Jurislav Korenic as the Festival of Small and Experimental Stages, MESS was one of the best theatre events promoting modern theatre expression in the former Yugoslavia. "MESS" stands for Small Experimental Stage.

Today, MESS (Međunarodni teatarski festival Mess) is the most significant annual celebration of theatre art in South-East Europe and takes place in Sarajevo in the second part of October. MESS also organises MEMORY MODUL, a project aiming to investigate the way artists deal with the experience of genocide and destruction.

Click here if you want to download the entire 2011 program.

At a press conference in Sarajevo, it was announced that MESS Sarajevo will award Golden Laurel Wreaths Award for theatrical contribution to Catherine Cube, former prima ballerina of the Sarajevo National Theatre (the first non-theater artist to be recognized for lifetime achievement) and to Zarko Mijatovic, champion of the Bosnian National Theatre in Zenica. In addition, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade will receive a Golden Laurel Wreath given to arts institutions.

In addition to Gener, the main festival jury consists of Bosnian actress Goradana Boban, Mexico theater critic Fernando de Ita, director/scenographer from Turkey Nurul Tuncer, U.K. critic Ian Herbert, and editor of Croatian Radio Bujan Munjin.

Here is a promotional video created for the 2010 MESS Sarajevo edition:

Background and History:

Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is also known as the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This country is located on the Balkan peninsula, which allows beautiful views, access to water sports and secluded mountainous resorts.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is bound by Croatia to the north, northwest and west — and by Montenegro and Serbia to the southeast, east and northeast. The Adriatic Sea attracts a good deal of tourists to this country's coast, especially the area near Neum.

MESS Sarajevo – International Theater Festival presents the world's top productions (usually numbering 50 shows) in a variety of artistic disciplines, from several continents each year.

Puls (Netherlands), staged by Jolika Sudermann, presented at MESS Sarajevo 2010 | Photography by Vedad Divović

For almost two weeks each October, the festival becomes a venue for artists to exhibit their art forms and have the opportunity to work with other young artists in order to explore and nourish artistic creation.

Life With an Idiot by Ukranian director Andriey Zholdak (Romania), presented at MESS Sarajevo 2010

MESS Sarajevo festival aims to present works that integrate creative efforts of contemporary dancers and composers alike. By gathering these artists together and sharing their talents with Sarajevo's community of arts patrons, the festival feels it is making a contribution to the city's evolution.

"This is a festival with a poignantly international character, which helps us defeat ourselves and our environment, that carries the remnants of hard times," says Sarajevo Mayor Alija Behmen.

In fact, MESS Sarajevo had resisted during the seige of Sarajevo, without interrupting its efforts and even staging some historically significant plays, as well as the first film festival entitled "After the End of the World." As a result, MESS Sarajevo has gained a cult status.

In a 2010 address at the National Theatre, Čedo Kisić, one of the initiators and founders of MESS Sarajevo, recalled the words of Ivo Andrić, a Yugoslav novelist, short-story writer and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize. During the festival's earliest day, Andrić was flying from Sarajevo to attend the Nobel Prize Award ceremony in Stockholm.

Kisić remembered: "Reminiscing about the last time he was in Sarajevo, Andrić told me, 'I am pleased that Sarajevo is the host of a festival which has a future and manifold significance.'"

Since its establishment in March 1960 — throughout the days of siege and until today — MESS Sarajevo has remained a cultural and a historical phenomenon. The most important goal of the festival is to promote and advance the cultural particularity of the region, which includes openness to different ideas, views and artists from East and West, North and South.

The artistic director of MESS Sarajevo is Dino Mustafić.

All the plays performing in MESS Sarajevo - International Theater Festival will be subtitled in Bosnia and English. ###

Want to know more about Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Watch this YouTube video tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the informative website Discover Bosnia:

##

Randy Gener's essay on state of U.S. theater published in "The World of Theatre" editions in Bangladesh and Paris, with book launch in China

2011-09-16T13:14:00.000-04:00

XIAMEN, CHINA; DHAKA, BANGLADESH; and PARIS, FRANCE: The Paris-based International Theatre Institute (ITI) – the world's largest organization for the performing arts – is holding its 33rd world congress at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Centre in Xiamen, China, from Sept. 19 to 24, 2011. Held under the auspices of UNESCO, the congress will have a strong education and artistic focus, as well as offer a sumptuous showcase of xiqu, the generic term for Chinese music theatre.

The French edition, edited by Nicole LeClerq

On this occasion, ITI will celebrate the book launch of the newest edition of The World of Theatre, an account of the world's theatre seasons 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, for which I contributed a critical essay that sums up and evaluates the state of U.S. theatre from coast to coast. The period which my essay considers coincides with dramatic unraveling of the Aught Decade, which resulted in a worldwide economic recession, and a political transition that brought about the rise of an African-American as the 44th president of the United States.

The 2011 edition of The World of Theatre is a major biennial ITI publication that contains articles by ITI national centers and provides a vast panorama of theatre productions and recent developments in each country over the past two theater season. The U.S. Center of the ITI invited me to publish an essay on USA theater, summarizing the 2007-2010 seasons.

Ramendu Majumdar

The book will be published in English, French and Arabic languages. Published for the ITI by the Bangladesh Centre of ITI, the English edition of The World of Theatre is edited by Ramendu Majumdar and Mofidul Hoque. (For orders contact: ITI General Secretariat at info@iti-worldwide.org or +33 (0)1 45 68 48 80. The cost is 20€.) A leading figure of Bangladesh theatre, Ramendu Majumdar is the general secretary of the Bangladesh Center of the ITI and is its current president. He is also vice president of ITI (Worldwide).

The French edition, Le Monde du Théâtre, is edited by Nicole Leclerq. A collaboration by Laurence Pieropan and Laurent Rossion, the French version is available through Peter Lang Editions (ISBN 978-90-5201-729-7 br., www.peterlang.com) at a cost of 39.50€.

Here are the opening words of my essay on the state of U.S. theatre in The World of Theatre:

We had had enough. We had endured eight years of a lame-brained president. We were worse off then than we were after the rubble of the 9/11 attacks had cleared. Our country, both domestically and abroad, took such pounding, so many hard body blows, that our minds reeled at the question: How could the first years of the 21st century have come to such naught?

Intriguingly, the two theatrical seasons in consideration here coincided with two extraordinary events in U.S. history. The 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons marked the dramatic unraveling of the so-called Aught Decade, which resulted in a worldwide economic recession. Those two seasons, moreover, spanned a major political transition in the White House that began with a closely fought contest for a viable Democratic candidate, set off an intense and wrenching reevaluation of core American values, then concluded with the rise of a seemingly mesmerizing and path-breaking African American as our country’s 44th president.

The so-called Nought Decade—or the Noughties (to borrow a theatre critic’s 1904 appellation for the “00s” of the previous century)—left the vast majority of Americans weary and worried, feeling bruised and disillusioned. With a right-wing president at the helm, our list of grievances were large and embarrassing: fighting two wars in the Middle East that dragged on and couldn’t be won, two financial meltdowns at each end of the decade, a free-market economy that slid from happy-go-lucky to the brink of collapse, a wave of Wall Street frauds highlighted by Enron and WorldCom, the cardiac arrest of the newspaper and book publishing industries while the bumper-crop promise of new media failing to legitimately catch on, an endless proliferation of political sex scandals, the self-destruction of Detroit’s automobile industry, a housing-industry bubble that got double-whammied by the shrinkage of household income and excessive borrowing, the alarming rise of unemployment, plus (don’t hold your breath) grave environmental problems sparking scientific calls-for-action and public concern that for complex reasons did not inspire world leaders to work together and craft a workable global strategy of green living and ecological protection.

It was a sordid decade. Looking back, Time magazine shrieked, “The Decade from Hell.” In the theater, we openly asked, “Have we entered a new Depression not seen since the Great One of the 1930s?” Exact statistics for 2009 might not have been available as of this writing, and so the full impact of the economic recession will not be completely known until perhaps in late 2010, and yet there was no question that the economic recession took a devastating toll on the nation’s arts and culture industry, especially symphony orchestras, museums (many of which faced auction blocks and closures), and nonprofit theatres (a species that is historically undercapitalized and financially vulnerable). Particularly in the states of Wisconsin, Idaho, Illinois, Minneapolis and Massachusetts, many small- and midsized theatre companies across the country laid off their employees, eliminated educational and audience-development programs, cut short their seasons, ceased operations entirely, or, facing severe cash crunches, embarked on emergency measures (such as “Save Our Theaters” campaigns using Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking media) to cover production expenses and pay critical debts.

A majority of larger nonprofit theatres, by nature of the annual season subscriptions being sold in advance to audience members, narrowly staved off financial hardship during the 2008–2009 season and began to brace for the full brunt of the economic downturn to potentially hit during the 2009–2010 season. Although Broadway remained as star-studded as ever (partly due to a Local One stagehand strike in the fall of 2007, the first one in the union’s history, which pushed back preparations for Broadway openings, as well as a Writers Guild of America strike in November 2007, which hit mainly the movie and TV industries—both of which freed some famous names to pursue stage work), by January 2009 an unprecedented number of commercial productions (Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, Boeing-Boeing, 13, Grease, Spamalot, Gypsy and Spring Awakening), many of which had had long runs, immediately shuttered. A couple of Broadway favorites (the satirical puppet musical Avenue Q and the Alfred Hitchcock whodunit The 39 Steps) downsized and decamped to smaller, less expensive digs. Such Off-Broadway-to-Broadway transfers in the same season have not been seen in the commercial theatre since at least the early 1980s.

Criticism and arts journalism were dealt with the severest blow. In many cities, including Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco, newspaper cutbacks and closures resulted in painful job losses, layoffs and buyouts of arts critics and reporters. Chain owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times filed for bankruptcy; the Seattle Post-Intelligencer went online-only, while the Christian Science Monitor and Detroit Free Press started printing fewer editions and morphed their content into cyberspace; the New York Times, Boston Globe and San Francisco Chronicle went through several rounds of staff reductions and deep cost-cutting. A triumvirate of artistic leaders in California published a letter to their hometown paper, the Los Angeles Times, decrying the elimination of critical voices and defending the importance of public critics in the civic and cultural life of the city. “If we let these voices slowly and quietly disappear, the consequences are simple and inevitable,” the letter stated. “Fewer people will know about the productions, fewer people will purchase tickets, and, eventually, fewer theatres will exist.”

The performing arts had gotten shafted—stuck with the lousy end of the stick. After 20 years of the Bushes and the Clintons, angry American voters wanted sweeping change with Obama—the promise of a break with the unhappy past or of a new style of politics or, perhaps, a novel racial transcendence. But exactly what kind of change could be realized after the November 2008 presidential elections?

Why hold an ITI world congress in China?

According to an ITI press release, this is the first time an ITI world congress takes place in China, and the choice of Xiamen as host city was no accident. Xiamen, China's main port in the 19th century for exporting tea, was also one of the original Special Economic Zones set up in 1980 to attract foreign investment.

In September, this historically international city, aspiring to become a cultural destination of world renown, already committed to music theatre and dance, will shine the spotlight on the larger field of the performing arts, opening its doors to over 300 congress delegates from 70 countries, including a 92-year old renowned actor from Romania, as well as 500 participants from different parts of China.

The congress will be formally declared open by Zhao Shi, general secretary of China Federation of Literary and Art Circle, and Ramendu Majumdar, president of ITI Worldwide, in the presence of the mayor of Xiamen city, the director of the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and prominent Chinese leaders.

Among the delegates journeying to Xiamen from afar is Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah and member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, who will be receiving an ITI Medal for his outstanding contribution to the global performing arts sector as the main benefactor of ITI. This prestigious medal is awarded to exceptional artists and patrons of the arts to recognise the critical role they play in shaping the international performing arts scene through their creativity, generosity and vision.

Tobias Biancone

Says Tobias Biancone, director general of ITI General Secretariat, “As a non-governmental organization with centers and cooperating members in more than 100 countries, ITI has a vast network of performing arts practitioners. However, many of them from developing countries, especially in Africa and South America, are struggling for survival. It is only through the deep generosity of supporters like Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi, that we are able to ensure that less fortunate nations do not end up being under-represented at significant events like the world congress."

In addition veteran Chinese artiste, Shang Changrong, will be honored as the new World Theatre Ambassador of ITI.

The theme of this congress is “Empowering the performing arts: A journey to xiqu,” a term often erroneously equated only with Beijing Opera. In fact, Beijing Opera is but one of xiqu’s over 300 forms, which the journey to Xiamen aims to showcase to the international delegates. Reflecting on this theme of strengthening the performing arts by increasing awareness and raising public support on a larger scale, ITI is intent on using the congress to challenge preconceptions and better acquaint performing artists and aficionados around the world with the full spectrum of the organization’s work, goals and aspirations.

ITI will also be taking the opportunity to invite representatives from the respective Ministries of Arts Culture in neighbouring countries with a view to opening new centres in the region, and engaging them in a discussion on how to strengthen performing arts training and exchanges regionally and globally.

The International Theatre Institute ITI was founded in 1948 by theatre and dance experts and UNESCO. The NGO advances UNESCO’s goals of mutual understanding and peace and advocates the protection and promotion of cultural expressions, regardless of age, gender, creed or ethnicity. It works to these ends internationally and nationally in the areas of arts education, international exchange and collaboration, and youth training.

Since 2008, the ITI has been undergoing a rigorous process of modernization, revitalising the organization and reclaiming its role as the most important international performing arts network. It has attracted new members ranging from Puerto Rico to Qatar and Australia, and launched new initiatives including the ITI World Member Card.

Logo of ITI

For more information on ITI, please visit the ITI website: www.iti-worldwide.org.

For more information on the congress, please refer to the ITI World Congress website: www.iti-congress.org.

Randy Gener Lectures in the U.S., Asia and Europe

2011-08-23T01:05:00.009-04:00

In the past year and a half, I have had the pleasure to speak and lecture on a number of subjects in Asia, Europe and the United States. Frequently I am invited to speak as a panelist or moderator of a panel discussion. I have helped organize and moderate conferences, symposiums and world congresses. In one case, I was the featured guest on an hour-long televised cable show.

The themes run the gamut. I have addressed issues and controversies relating U.S. arts and culture. I've lectured on American musicals in an international festival of European operetta. I've tackled new currents in theater and democracy in the international sphere. A favorite speech of mine concerns the impact of new technology on narrative design. I've given workshops on writing and criticism. I presented a proposal at a governmental working session and gathering whose purpose was to suggest to the Philippine government ways by which arts and culture can respond to issues of migration and development.

The gig I have always found most satisfying is to give a multimedia lecture on a theme, such as "Secret History of the American Theater" or "Storytelling By Digital Design" (lectures I have frequently given), because this format allows me to sustain and develop the ideas to what frequently amounts as a study course in itself, and the interaction with the audiences tend to be intimate and intense.

Being interviewed by ABS-CBN reporter at the Nathan Awards ceremony

Whether live or on television, speaking is very much worth it, because it is part of sharing knowledge and expertise. The venues that have invited me typically break down to three types:

Colleges and universities:

Martin E. Segal Theatre Center-Graduate Center, CUNY
City University of New York
Montclair State University
University of South Carolina
Brooklyn College;

International festivals and arts events in Asia, Europe and the U.S.:

Sibiu International Theatre Festival
Extraordinary Congress of the IATC in Seoul, South Korea
Prague Quadrennial
William Inge Theatre Festival
Humana Festival of New American Plays
New York International Fringe Festival;

U.S. corporations, U.S. nonprofit institutions, and foreign cultural institutes:

Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Hallmark Inc.
Dramatists Guild of America
New Dramatists
Odeon Theatre of Bucharest
Romanian Cultural Institute-New York
Long Wharf Theatre Company
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre
The Public Theater
La MaMa E.T.C.
UNITER, the Romanian Writers Union.

In the interest of summing up an extraordinary year, I've listed below my itinerary of talks from 2010 to 2011. The schedule, presented in reverse chronological order, starts with the daily gallery talks in Prague and looks back to a memorable trip to India, where I moderated a discussion that was simultaneously translated to me, because half of the papers were delivered in a number of regional Indian languages. (I still keep in contact with the Gujarati people I've met in India and hope to visit them again someday.) I also listed any press coverage each speaking engagement might have generated.

If you are interested in engaging me in a lecture, a panel discussion or a presentation, please don't hesitate to contact me.

RECENT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

--> Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space / Prague National Gallery Talks: "From the Edge," the USITT-USA National Exhibition
June 2011 / USITT, Arts Institute-Theatre Institute of Czech Republic, and Veletzrini Palace / Prague, Czech Republic

Nancy Keystone, Justin Townsend and Randy Gener give a gallery talk at USA national pavilion in Prague

Host, Moderator and Curatorial Advisor
Led, with “From the Edge” artistic director Susan Tsu,“a series of gallery talks with renowned U.S. designers at USITT-USA national exhibition, “From the Edge,“ during the 2011 Prague Quadrennial.

The USITT-USA national exhibition celebrates the vital new designs mirroring the socio-political issues consuming American performance makers today. Innovative new works stretch existing definitions of theater and performance while seminal founders and long-standing ensembles are recognized for their far-reaching contributions to the profession. The USA curators have gathered work that we feel is uniquely American yet largely new to the world stage.

Press coverage:
Maricar CP Hampton, "Writing, theater, and always the two shall meet" in The FilAm.
Susan Isorena-Arcega, "Eyeing the Golden Triga" in The Philippine Star.

--> Swedish Theatre Biennial
May 2011 / Swedish Theatre Union and Swedish Institute / Stockholm and Gavle, Sweden

Lecturer / “Global Sweden: Swedish Theatre in the World“
In a seminar that gathers a number of international critics from around the world, Gener delivers a lecture that focuses on instances and productions of Swedish theater in the U.S. He also surveys the evolution of contemporary Swedish drama, dance, circus and performing arts.

Moderator / “Theatre and Democracy: Voices From the Theaters in the World“
Led a seminar featuring Vanessa Cook, artistic leader of the Market Theatre Lab of South Africa; Jessica Kaahwa, an actress and writer from Uganda who gave the message of the World Theatre Day 2011; Ambroise Mbia, an actor and director who heads the Cameroon Center of the International Theatre Institute; and Alexander Kryzhanivskyi of the New Drama Theatre on Pechersk in the Ukraine.

Press coverage:
"Drama critic lectures assembly of masters" in Philippine News.
Cecilia Djurberg, "Kopta kritiker pa natet," an interview in Sveriges Radio (Swedish radio).

--> Actors Equity Association: "Limitless Casting: Could the Best Man for the Part Be a Woman?"
March 2011 / Actors’s Equity Association / New York

Panelist
In an age when men in drag are commonplace, why are women playing male roles so rare? The Women‘s Committee of Actor Equity‘s Eastern Equal Employment Committee hosted a panel discussion on gender-neutral casting, asking the question “Could the best man for the part be a woman?” Moderated by Gael Schaefer. Other panelists were Deborah Weight Houston (Kings Country Shakespeare Company), Richard Schechter (NYU), Rebecca Patterson (Queen’s Company), Joanne Zipay (Judith Shakespeare Company), Terry Berliner (Director).

Press coverage:

Frank Nestor, "It's a Drag for Women" in Backstage.

--> Dreaming the Americas: Global Change in Performance
February 2011 / Nuyorican Poets Cafe and NoPassport / New York

NoPassport 2011 Conference | Photo by Joe Luis Cedillo

Moderator with Otis Ramsey-Zoe / “NoPassport Press Salon: Writing as Metamorphoses“
A conversation about the global voice in the age of globalization with writers who have newly available play collections: Migdalia Cruz, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Kia Corthron, Linda Faigao-Hall, Catherine Filloux, Carson Kreitzer and Ruth Margraff.

--> Being Harold Pinter: Under the Radar Festival Post-Performance Discussion with Belarus Free Theater
January 2011 / The Public Theater and La MaMa E.T.C. / New York

Moderator
Belarus Free Theatre is an underground theatre group that began during the second term of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as an artistic means of resisting Belarusian government pressure and censorship. The discussion focused on the current repressive political system in which the Free Theatre conducts its rehearsals and performances secretly in small private apartments, due to security reasons as well as the risk of persecution and imprisonment.

Press coverage:

"The Struggle for a Free Theater | Or 'Long Live Belarus' " in Critical Stages, The IATC Webjournal.

--> Commission on Filipinos Overseas Conference: "Vision 2020: Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development"
December 2010 / Commission on Filipinos Overseas / Manila, Philippines

Randy Gener on "Solutions of Culture and Education"

Speaker / “Solutions of Culture and Education: Concerning Second Generation Filipinos Rooted in Philippine Culture”
Delivered a presentation outlining “solutions that address the culture of migration; keep overseas Filipinos rooted in Filipino culture, and promote education reform given the perspective that whether we like it or not, Filipinos would become global citizens and that the entire globe will be a mobile one.”

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas is an agency of the Philippine government under the Office of the President which was established on June 16, 1980 through the enactmed on Republic Act 79.

Press coverage:

Lilac L. Cana, "Singing for President Noynoy and His Friends" in Philippine Reporter.
"American Theatre's Randy Gener Receives Presidential Award" in Filipinas Magazine.
"American Theatre's Randy Gener Conferred Presidential Award" in Pinoy Global Online News.
"President Aquino Bestows Randy Gener Title 'Legacy of Filipino Nation'" in ArtAct Magazine.

--> International Festival for Musical Performing Arts
November 2010 / National Operetta Theatre “Ion Dacian“ / Bucharest, Romania

Randy Gener and Michael John LaChiusa at National Operetta Theatre in Bucharest, Romania

Organizer and Moderator / “Musical Theatre in the U.S.A.: From Page to Stage”
Led a conference on American musical theater at the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts, a one-of-kind event in Romania. The conference discussed the elements of what makes a great musical and offers Romanian audiences a glimpse beyond the proscenium into the creative worlds of musical theater writing and musical performance.

Organized a delegation of American musical theater artists composed of composer/lyricist/librettist Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again and The Wild Party) and singer/performer/recording artist Jose Llana (Wonderland and Flower Drum Song).

Press coverage:

Gabriela Lupu, "Musicaluri despre papanasi si carnati" in Romania Libera.
Constantina-Gabriela Moateru and Sora Mihaela Eliza, "Life is Beautiful!" in Radio Romania Cultural.
Maria Zarnescu, "Musical Life Is Beautiful" in Critical Stages, The IATC WebJournal.
Calin Angheluta, "Festivalul International al Artelor Spectacolului Muzical 'Viata e frumoasa'" in Agentia AmosNews.

--> Stepping Out of Bounds: New Play Development from an International and National Perspective
October 2010 / Lark Play Development Center / New York, NY

Panelist
Participated in an informal roundtable discussion with 8 playwrights of the Lark Play Development Center, along with artistic producers and international artists Katja Heiminga, Kate Loewald, Amy Mueller and Janice Poon. Moderated by Lisa Rothe.

--> Perspectives on Criticism
August 2010 / DC Theatre Scene and Woolly Mammoth Theatre / Washington, D.C.

Guest Speaker
Led a seminar and workshop given to 20 online critics and regular reviewers of DC Theatre Scene, Washington‘s liveliest theater website. How does/can/should a critic weight the value of powerful description with that of subjective candor? Is there poetry to be found in creativity? Or are the best reviews the most overtly/strongly opinionated.

--> IATC World Congress: "Re-Defining Femininity in Today's Theater"
June 2010 / International Association of Theater Critics (IATC) and Armenian Center of the International Theatre Institute / Yerevan, Armenia

IATC Thalia Prize winner Richard Schechner and Randy Gener at IATC World Congress in Armenia

Organizer and Moderator with Margareta Sorenson (Sweden) and Jean-Pierre Han (France)
Organized and moderated a world congress of scholars and theater critics from France, Canada, Quebec, India, Korea, Japan, Lithuania, Greece, Iran, Hungary, Latvia and the USA, each one offering fresh perspectives on the roles of memory, politcs, gender, class, race and family. The concept of femininity seeks in today‘s theater its own place, language, identity and expression. In the 21st century, it has reemerged as a creative issue. Can we characterize and explain the various phenomena of this 21st century concept of femininity?

Speaker / On Women and War: Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined”
Delivered a paper on Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-winning play, published in Critical Stages, The IATC Web journal.

--> How Are Playwrights Relevant in Today's World?
May 2010 / Smith & Kraus Publishers and Drama Book Shop / NYC

Panelist
Smith & Kraus, publisher of essential books for the theater community brings together some of America’s leading playwrights and writers. Other panelists were playwright Theresa Rebeck, author Alexis Greene, Hunter College theater department chair Jonathan Kalb, and Yale Drama School and American Repertory Theater founder Robert Brustein.

--> Koltés in America: The International Koltés Symposium
April 2010 / Alliances Française d’Atlanta and 7Stages Theatre / Atlanta, GA

Moderator / “The International Koltés Symposium“
Five artists and scholars present their work on Bernard-Marie Koltés followed by a discussion and q&a. Featured were Koltes director Jean de Pangé, Koltés director Philip Boulay, University of Metz linguist Andre Petitjean, Koltés translator Maria Delgado, Witness Relocation artistic director Dan Safer.

Press coverage:

"In Atlanta, Krumping to the Future of the Koltés Project" in TCG Circle.
"Koltés in Atlanta," American Theatre.
"The Koltés Mystique" in American Theatre.

--> CUNY-TV Live Taping of "Conversations with William Hoffman"
March 2010 / The Journalism, Communication, Theatre Department of Lehman College / Bronx, NY

Featured TV Guest
An hour-long televised series of discussions “with major theater and musical figures of our times” broadcast regularly on CUNY-TV, Channel 75. Our conversation aired in two parts in spring 2011.

--> International Conference of the Indian Society for Theatre Research
January 2010 / Indian Society for Theatre Research, International Federation for Theatre Research and Post Graduate Department of Hindi at Sardar Patel University / Gujarat, India

At Sardar Patel University in Gujarat, India

Moderator / “Indian Theatre: Regional, National and International Perspectives”
Moderated two seminars focusing on contemporary Indian theatre from regional, national and perspectives. The conference also addressed the diverse and multiple nature of Indian theater criticism, its present position, and its required and essential new directions.

Lecturer / “Storytelling By Digital Design: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create Theatre”
The idea that hyper-mediated practices challenge the authority normally vested in a text is a long-accepted avant-garde trope. But this notion is merely grist in contemporary theatre where rapid developments in animation, video game and computer technologies have profoundly affected the domain of narrative, story architecture and performance design.

Randy Gener Publishes in the Iranian City of Tehran

2011-08-18T12:10:00.005-04:00

TEHRAN, IRAN: Randy Gener's essay, "Reorientalism," about the emergence of a new category of Middle East-American drama in the U.S., has been published in a new anthology of critical essays and scholarly articles as part of an annual festival held in the Iranian capital city of Tehran.

Released in three languages (English, Persian and French), the book, entitled "About the Phenomenon of Theatre," was published by Namayesh, a state subsidized theater magazine in Iran. It was compiled by Nasrollah Ghaderi, in cooperation with Katayoon Hussein zadeh and Ali Najafi.

"About the Phenomenon of Theatre" was officially released in February 2011 during the 29th edition of the Fajr International Theatre Festival where a majority of the awards went to Iran, Germany, Italy and Estonia. The book was then distributed during the 2011 edition of the Europe Theatre Prize, which took place in St. Petersburg in Russia.

In an interview with the Iran Book News Agency, Katayoon Hussein zadeh describes the anthology's main thrust: "Most of the articles are about documentary theatre, political theatre, the formation of political theatre and its process. Every writer has presented his work according to the art in his country. The article's analytic information is incredible. Such a kind of book was not released in Iran so far."

Moreover she said that distributing the book during the awarding ceremonies of the European Theater Prize (Premio Europa) in St. Petersburg was an opportunity for an international audience to appreciate the high-quality of critical essays being published in Iran today.

The book is divided into English and French sections. The English section included such essays as:

"Idioms of South Asian Theater" by Abhi Subedi;
"At the Crossroads" by Andrzej Zurowski, about Polish theater;
"The theatre and economics, the British experience" by John Elsom;
"Chinese women's liberation road on the stage" by Dr. Zhu Ning;
"Enchanted by the BRAVE festival" by Kalina Stefanova of Bulgaria;
"Slovenian drama as the globalization's litmus test" by Kristof Jacek kozak;
"The importance of being obedient" by the Finnish critic Matti Linnavuori;
"Where is the emerging point in today's Swedish performing arts" by Margareta Sorenson;
"The Barbican international theatre event in London" by Maria Shevtsova
"The national theatre of Scotland, a theatre without walls" by Mark Brown
"Theatre of revolution-history, theatre, document and life" by Petr Christov of the Czech Republic;
"Two Lithuanian Hamlets: The metaphysics of ice and mirrors" by Ramune Marcinkeviciute;
"Reorientalism," a critical essay about the emergence of Arab-American theater voices, by Randy Gener of the USA;
"Who will be the king or directors' merciless fight for power against playwright in the European theatre" by Sanja Nikcevic of Croatia;
"National critics and the postmodern world: bridging the gap" by Savas Patsalidis of Greece;
"The community sensitive theatre maker" by Tamas Jaszay;
"Contemporary performance or whatever happened to the performative revolution" by Tomaz Toporisic;
"The burden of existence" by Tomasz Milkowski of Poland;
"The critical reception of Eastern/ Central European theater in Korea since 1989 by Yun-Cheol Kim of South Korea; and
"European theatre 2000-2010" by Ian Herbert of the U.K.

Gener's essay, "Reorientalism," greatly expands on an initial report he had written in 2010 about San Francisco's ReOrient Festival at Theatre Artaud in San Francisco, organized by Golden Thread Productions. At the time of this festival, President Barack Obama gave an Afghanistan war speech at West Point that left many Americans feeling deja vu all over again. "I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan," the president said. The rest of Obama's speech suggested that U.S. interests, its means and its responsibilities are finite in Afghanistan, but they do exist. As Obama put it, "We simply can't afford to ignore the price of these wars."

Using Obama's history-in-the-making war speech, "Reorientalism" offers a critical context on the emergence of a new genre of Middle Eastern-American drama in the U.S. and surveys in more comprehensive depth the new voices, ensembles and theater companies that have represented that specific immigrant community. (A shorter version of this essay had appeared in the March 2010 issue of American Theatre magazine.)

During this year's event, the Fajr International Theatre Festival presented about 153 performances by Iranian and 3 international ensembles. Iranian performers put on stage some 137 works from different cities including Mashhad, Karaj, Kermanshah, Varamin, Sanandaj, Isfahan, Tabriz, Lahijan, Sari and Yazd.

Groups from Italy, the Czech Republic, Russia, Switzerland, China, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Greece, Poland and Estonia also participated in the festival. The 2011 Fajr International Theater Festival was held from February 5 to 20 in the Iranian provinces of Alborz, Tehran, Gilan, Golestan and North Khorasan.

Iran holds international Fajr film, theater, music and visual arts festivals on a yearly basis to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Randy Gener Appointed Editor-in-Chief of Prague Quadrennial Newspaper

2011-05-29T19:27:00.011-04:00

Gener will also host daily gallery talks at USA National Exhibition entry to Prague Quadrennial, the “Olympics of Theater Design,” June 16–26

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, 6.1.2011 — Randy Gener, the Nathan Award–winning editor, writer and drama critic, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Prague Quadrennial Newspaper in the Czech Republic.

Gener returns to Prague, having served in June 2007 as Editor and Columnist of Prague Quadrennial Today as well as Scenofest Team Leader of the press/publication project of the Prague Quadrennial‘s educational events, known as Scenofest, organized in joint cooperation with OISTAT, the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians. In 2007, with the generous support of the Ford Foundation/Institute of International Education, Gener also presented two lecture presentations on narrative design and contemporary currents in U.S. theater design.

Under construction: PQ's Intersection architecture. Photo by Miroslav Halada

A broadsheet, the Prague Quadrennial Newspaper will take a lively, irreverent, pop-culture approach to covering PQ events. Published in English and Czech languages, the daily paper will be distributed throughout the city center of Prague for the 11-day duration of the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. One of the world’s largest theater events held every four years since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial will take place from June 16 to 26, 2011.

“The PQ is the planet’s largest competitive exposition of contemporary stage design and theater architecture,” states Randy Gener in “All the World’s a Pavilion” (American Theatre, September 2007). “PQ is to the Czech Republic what the Venice Biennale is to Italy — a global tapas where everyone who cares about the stage flocks to look, sample and judge the state of new theater from around the world.”

In addition to producing and editing a daily paper, Gener will co-host a series of gallery talks with renowned U.S. designers at the USA National exhibition, From the Edge. The talks will be held daily at 4:00 pm at Veletzrini Palace, Prague’s national gallery. From the Edge’s gallery talks will showcase, among others, SITI Company’s BobRauschenbergAmerica; The Civilians’ This Beautiful City; Ping Chong & Company’s Cocktail and Inside Out; 3-Legged Dog’s Fire Island; Goodman Theatre of Chicago’s Desire Under the Elms; Second Stage’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity; Pig Iron Theatre Company’s Love Unpunished; Nancy Keystone and Justin Townsend’s productions of Apollo and Suzan-Lori Parks’s The America Play.

Curated by the costume designer and Carnegie Mellon University professor Susan Tsu for the USITT, the United States association of design, production and technology professionals in the entertainment industry, From the Edge will be the 10th time the USA is represented at the Prague Quadrennial where it will compete with a record number of 62 countries for the Golden Triga and other medals. The USA will also participate in the Architecture competition, the Student Section competition and the Extreme Costume exhibition.

Under construction: PQ's Intersection architecture. Photo by Miroslav Halada

Randy Gener is a New York City–based writer, editor, curator and drama critic. His nonfiction writing, journalism and art criticism have appeared in The New York Times, Expressen, Norwegian Shakespeare and Theatre Magazine, Mumbia Theatre Guide, The International Herald Tribune, The Star Ledger, The Village Voice, The Daily News, Time Out New York, New York magazine, Gannett Newspapers, Korean Theatre Journal and other publications in Europe, Asia and the United States. A major contributor to the encyclopedia Cambridge Guide to the American Theater, as well as scholarly books and play anthologies, Gener is Section Editor of Critical Stages, the web journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics, a UNESCO-affiliated organization founded in Paris in 1956.

In 2010, Gener won two travel media awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association for excellence in travel writing, the SPJ Deadline Club Award for Best Arts Reporting from the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (“for shedding light on government censorship and repression of artists”); and Journalist of the Year 2010 from the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. Gener is the 2009 recipient of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism — the highest U.S. award for dramatic criticism and one of the most distinguished awards in the American theater — for his essays in American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group. Gener was conferred a 2010 Pamana ng Pilipino Presidential Award by His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Philippines (the title translates as “Legacy of the Filipino Nation”).

Krétakör's Apology of the Escapologist. Photo by Péter Francsikai

The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is organized and funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and realized by Prague’s Arts and Theatre Institute.

Under the auspices of the President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus, the Mayor of the City of Prague Bohuslav Svoboda and the Mayor of Prague 7 Marek Ječmének.

With the support of the Culture Program of the European Union. Supported by UNESCO, Trust for Mutual Understanding, the City of Prague, Czech-German Fund For The Future.

Press contact for media:

Nathalie Frank

International Public Relations

Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space

June 16 – 26, 2011

Celetná 17 | 110 00 Prague 1

Czech Republic
Tel. +420 224 809 102
Fax +420 224 809 225

Cell. +420 774 255 867
E nathalie.frank@pq.cz

Links to PQ communication channels:

www.pq.cz

for press: www.pq.cz/en/pres.html

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pq2011

Twitter: www.twitter.com/pq2011

Intersection: http://www.pq.cz/en/intersections.html

FOR EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS:

WHAT IS THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL?

The world’s largest performance design event, the 12^th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is a presentation of contemporary work in a variety of performance design disciplines and genres, including costume, stage, light, sound design, and theatre architecture for dance, opera, drama, site specific, multi-media performances, and performance art.

Coming to Prague will also allow visitors to discover a unique outdoor performing exhibition, Intersection: Intimacy & Spectacle, presenting thirty internationally acclaimed artists, including Romeo Castellucci, Anna Viebrock, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Nathaniel Mellors, and Josef Nadj. Additionally, a large number of projects will take place in public spaces throughout the city — a unique occasion to discover Prague through the eyes of the world’s contemporary arts.

Visitors will also be able to explore various disciplines essential to the performing arts thanks to projects focused on lighting and sound design, architecture, and costumes, as well as talks with personalities such as Arata Isozaki, Es Devlin, Eiko Ishioka, Richard Sennett, Alan Read, and many more.

Romeo Castellucci's Persona. Picture composed by Romeo Castellucci.

Participating countries in the International Competitive Exhibition Argentina // Armenia // Australia // Austria // Belarus // Belgium // Brazil // Bulgaria // Canada // Chile // China // Colombia // Croatia // Cuba // Cyprus // Czech Republic // Denmark // Estonia // Finland // France // Georgia // Germany // Greece // Hong Kong // Hungary // Iceland // India // Israel // Italy // Japan // Kazakhstan // Republic of Korea // Latvia // Lebanon // Lithuania // Macedonia // Mongolia // Mexico // Netherlands // New Zealand // Nigeria // Norway // Peru // Philippines // Poland // Portugal // Republic of South Africa // Romania // Russia // Serbia // Singapore // Slovakia // Slovenia // Spain // Sweden // Switzerland // Taiwan // Turkey // United Kingdom // Uruguay // USA // Venezuela

Participating artists in the Intersection project Romeo Castellucci / Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio // Josef Nadj // Anna Viebrock / Till Exit // Nathaniel Mellors // Ana Borralho & João Galante // Markus Schinwald // Mareunrol’s // Brett Bailey // Hooman Sharifi // Ilya and Emilia Kabakov // Monika Pormale // Hans Rosenström // Josef Bolf // Guerra de la Paz // Monika Pormale // Terike Haapoja // Egon Tobiáš // Elevator Repair Service // Ioana Mona Popovici & Simon Vincenzi // Ulla von Brandenburg // Caroline Evans & Hansjorg Schmidt // Bohdan Holomíček & Eva Hrubá // Abbey Theatre // Harun Farocki // Dace Džeriņa // Paul Divjak // Dejan Kaludjerović // Kateřina Fojtíková // Tomáš Svoboda // Stage Code & La grande bande // Handa Gote // Jan Lepšík // Alice Nellis // Árpád Schilling / Krétakör // Claudia Bosse / theatercombinat

WHAT IS FROM THE EDGE?

USITT–USA National Exhibit website: 2011exhibit.usitt.org/pq2011

Pat Oleszko's Betty Boob on the beach

From the Edge, the exhibition representing the US at the 12^th Prague Quadrennial, celebrates vital new designs mirroring the socio-political issues consuming American performance makers today, such as issues of identity, healing, and obsessions with death and loss after 9/11 and hurricane Katrina; the pull of conscience that is inevitable when engaged in war; the politics of eating, tensions relative to race and gender; anxieties about technology… thus featuring the work of 36 design collaborations, both self-reflective and self-critical in nature.

The US will also compete within the Architecture Section of the Prague Quadrennial with an exhibit From Sea to Sea, presenting hundreds of spaces for the performing arts that have been constructed in the US since 2006, from the traditional regional performance center, concert hall, community store theatre, primary school theatres, and ad hoc outdoor venues to experimental performance spaces. The US will also participate in the Student Section with Emerge, a project showcasing the work of over 250 American student designers from 47 colleges and universities, and including a participatory portion inviting viewers to see the exhibit evolving while the students will be creating. As part of the Extreme Costume competitive exhibition, costumes by Pat Oleszko, Constance Hoffman, and Achim Freyer will be on display.

In the past U.S. exhibitors have often received some of the PQ’s most prestigious awards. The US exhibit won the Golden Triga in 1987, the Silver and the Golden Medal in the Thematic Section in 1991 and in 1995, and a Special Honorary Diploma in 2003.