Small Among Infinite Stars @ JDT Lab Guild Hall 2.6.2018

Written by Matthew Minnicino

Directed by Julia Sears

Devised & Performed by Esther Artner, Sara Fay George, Andrea Goldman

Lighting Design by Erin Simpson

A triptych of interlaced interrogations of explosive, uncomfortable, radiant womanhood -- torn from the corridors of fact, the high towers of fantasy, and the endless night sky of pure fiction. 3 women. 3 stories. Inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Photos by Shashwat Gupta

Static Apnea

If you truly believe in reality, nothing is really possible. If you don’t, everything is.

A theatre piece for one audience member at a time, presenting in the long sloping space of a 40 foot shipping container. Composed with text by Julia Watt and Andrea Goldman in response to the underwater disappearance of Russian free diver Natalia Molchanova, Static Apnea investigates the myth of Orpheus and the world of free diving to explore just how deep one might be willing to go and why.

The repetition of this work several times in the hour, many times a day becomes a feat of endurance, and a deeper engagement with the questions and their answers.

"The exhibition wove a connection between body and mind, exploring pathways to overcome what seem unnatural in both professional sport and in performance art. The state of mind and the waking meditative state, repetition, trance and ritual belong to a mindfulness, which allows performers to push boundaries for both athletes and artists. Both stimulation and sensory deprivation was explored; the psychological boundaries created." Claire Ulenberg, EyeContact

Performance Arcade, Wellington, New Zealand

Deep Anatomy Exhibition, Auckland, New Zealand

Co-production with the american vicarious

Creative Team: Julia Watt, Andrea Goldman, Troy Hourie and Christopher McElroen

Photo by Christopher McElroen

In or Out / July 2016 / NYC

Does your life feel heavy? Is it one of your goals to get in touch with a brighter, higher and more spiritually connected you? Have you experienced moments of bliss, butlose them in the cacophony of everyday life?

We are a group of men and women, young and old, who have gathered together to share the lifetime pursuit of being present under the guidance of a conscious teacher.

We, The Society of Light, invite you to join us for an evening of presence and spiritual growth. Come meet our members and see if maybe this is your new home.

“For In and Out -- Above, About, Below. Tis Nothing but a Magic Shadow Show. Play’d in a Box whose Candle is the Sun. Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.” -Omar Khayyàm

In or Out is an immersive theater piece that reveals the stories from behind closed doors of a spiritual cult.

Why do people join?  

Why do they stay? 

What happens if you ever try to leave?

Download more info here / email theboxsara@gmail.com for a high definition file

A Swan Song : Voices on Climate Change

In collaboration with NoPassport, The Arctic Cycle and Theatre Without Borders, the box collective joins the Climate Change Theatre Action. On November 14th at 8pm the box collective invites you to their Fort Greene Brownstone to experience a multiplicity of artistic expressions around Climate Change in this immersive theater piece. Selected playwrights, performers, dancers, musicians and filmmakers will share different perspectives, moments, rhythms and narratives touching on the theme of Climate Change. You’ll choose your own adventure and move through the space at your pace. We’ll be featuring plays by Neil LaBute, Catherine Banks,  Chantal Bilodeau, Bryony Lavery, August Schulenburg, Dipika Guha, E.M. Lewis, Lynn Rosen, Darrah Cloud, Lisa Schlesinger, and Caridad Svich among others. Directors and performers include: Sara Fay George, Esther Artner, Andrea Goldman, Julia Watt, Sarah Kenney, Erin Daley, Michael Aurelio, Shashwat Bhushan Gupta, Sam Bruce, Aleda Bliss, Emily Wexler, Kathleen O’Neal, Dominique Brillion, Stephanie Regina, Rebecca Miller, Nicholas Corda, Lee Anne Mitchell, Jillie Mae Eddy and Sam Plattus among others. Musical performances by Calder Shilling and Luisa Muhr. And screening Julie Deffet’s new film created from Koffi Kwahulé’s “La vielle même merde.”

“There is no greater moment than now to cultivate an awareness of the earth and our affect upon it. We invite you on this journey and we hope you’ll walk away armed with a new perspective, new inspiration and new appreciation for this planet that we call home,” says Andrea Goldman, the box collective founder and co-artistic director. Join the box collective artists on this one night only event.

More about event: http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2016/02/10/climate-change-theater-action

Other links: 
http://nopassport.org/climate-change-theatre-action
www.artcop21.com 
Howlround Live Stream: http://howlround.com/tv

The Stadt Elegies

European Tour. Summer 2015.

Creative Ensemble

Developed by Sara Fay George & Monika Gossmann

Directed by Monika Gossmann

Esther Sophia Artner - The Mother

Sara Fay George - The Child

Andrea Goldman - The Lover

Robert Montana - The Artist

Dani Campos - Musical Director/Composer

Claudia “Maneka” Maharaj- Projection Artist

Julie Deffet - Cinematographer

Wild Horses invited to be part of the John Drew Theater Lab New Work Series at Guild Hall

November 18th at 7:30 pm

Visit Guild Hall for more information : http://www.guildhall.org

This story unravels like an hourglass, as flowing sand through Rilke’s fingers. He suffers the pain of loss and the ecstasy of love. In the end he is left with an empty palm, full of words.

Rainer Maria Rilke is widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense poets and his work is often described as inherently mystical. This deep level of searching begins to touch something that is so innately human it feels as if Rilke is actually writing his words from inside of you.

In his search for solitude, he finds planes of human experience that are collective. This unity through separateness is what inspired “The Stadt Elegies” and the juxtaposition of the individual in the cityscape, searching for connection among a sea of faces.

In order to find a meaningful connection with one another we must first cultivate an intimate relationship with ourselves.

Performance Details:

July 7th  Debut performance at Galleria Carte Scoperte, Milan Expo

July 8th Galleria Antonio Battaglia, Milan Expo

July 16th, 17th,  Venice for Biennale in collaboration with academia arterra at the magazzino de sale 5, fondamente delle zattere ai salon 262.

July 21st Il Castello di Sismano, Umbria 

This is the story of how I fell in love. How I died. And how I learned that everything is made of wood.  Or so begins Wild Horses, an internal meditation externalized through the voice of a young poetic soul.  Between the trash of the trailer park and the poetry, this story captures the dire grasping at a life with some beauty inside it. Original music by recognized Spanish composer and pianist, Dani Campos, takes you on an emotional journey throughout the piece.

Link to press release

Creative Ensemble:

Directed by Andrea Goldman and Sara Fay George

Musical Composition/Direction by Dani Campos

Featuring Oliver de Rohan (Boy) and Julia Watt (Girl)

Written by Andrea Goldman

Choreography by Sarah Kenney

Lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins

In order to know love, we first have to destroy any idea we have about what love is.

116 Premiere at The New Ohio Theatre April 15th 2014

Harold Bloom wrote that Shakespeare was in fact the inventor of the human. In some ways this piece is a dramatic exploration of that hypothesis. We have crafted a new story with his words, somewhat reminiscent of "Waiting for Godot" in structure, yet dealing with themes of intimacy in human relationship.

116 is the story of a man, a woman and everything in-between. Trapped in purgatory where the endless game of chess is the only distraction, they are forced to face their scars, betrayals and vulnerabilities in order to move forward.  Through a matrix of Shakespeare’s wit and words, they are both victims and predators facing six lifetimes of trauma in order to find freedom in the seventh. 

116 speaks to the basic primal need in each of us for communication, understanding, acceptance, to be heard, to be seen. In this way, the piece unites beyond borders, nationalities, and linguistics. It speaks to the human essence and lays bare the truth that what we crave in our lives is intimacy and yet we hide ourselves at every turn.

Showtimes : April 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 @ 8pm / April 20th @ 6pm

Location : The New Ohio Theatre 

154 Christopher St #1e, New York, NY 10014 (Near Christopher Street Station on 1 Train)

Tickets : $25/$20 Student

Press via Broadwayworld

Buy Tickets Here

The Harrow *in development

Be just. Repeat. Be just. Repeat. Be just.

She is a remarkable apparatus. As you can see the shape of her body corresponds to the shape of a man. The sensation on your skin is like a thousand tiny needles. From time to time something tears or breaks. Don’t worry.

The Harrow is a new inter-disciplinary experiential performance piece formed in collaboration with installation artists, writers, musicians, light designers, directors, painters and performers. Inspired by the work of Kafka, “In the Penal Colony,” the Harrow captures the breakdown of a woman from machine to human. Echoing the violence of authoritarian regime on women, the Harrow challenges the vulnerability within us.

The piece begins as the audience finds themselves trapped in a meat locker with a machine of torture. The Harrow is a relic from the old regime – a specialist in translating the crimes of the accused onto their bodies. Void of emotion, she commits acts of violence without guilt. It is only when she feels what it is to no longer be needed, that the feeling of need arises.

The bigger theme this piece elicits is one of fragmentation of self. We’ve been fragmented into pieces through the various roles in our lives both as men and women--we’ve lost the way of intimacy, we’ve strayed from the path of creativity, we’ve lost the roots of expression, and without these we are not whole.

La Cueca Premiere in New York City at the Chelsea Art Museum

Delving into themes of memory, love, and loss, La Cueca is a stark exploration of the complexities of human relationships and our unrelenting desire for forgiveness and redemption. The work opens with a couple who has been buried alive and as they struggle with their own tenuous will to survive, they also become immersed within one another. As the performance unfolds, the two lovers attempt to “unbury” themselves from the heavy guilt and pain of their tumultuous marriage, which has been burdened with infidelity, infertility and disillusionment. The work questions our innate need to unearth the past to fully rediscover one another, as well as ourselves.

Taking place in Pinochet’s tyrannical Chile (1974 – 1990), the piece delicately hovers between realism and surrealism. This organic sensibility reflects Goldman’s rebellious stance on artistic freedom from dictatorial oppression and censorship, which is metaphorically alluded to by the couple’s entombed state. The performance becomes a collaborative experience where the audience is assaulted physically, visually and auditorily once they enter the space. The intimate experience is also shared with the audience in that they are buried alongside the couple, breathing the same heady air, and submerging themselves within the palpable agony and anxiety of the two woeful lovers.

The work began as a poem that Goldman created while studying Literature at the University of Santiago in Chile. There, she immersed herself within the literary scene, including collaborations with poets, professors and writers persecuted by Pinochet’s regime. She also encountered those who were pro-Pinochet and - despite having experienced the atrocities of his administration - were supportive of the controversial dictator. La Cueca reflects upon the way in which we choose to recall both our personal and political history, particularly memories that are emotionally and physically painful. In this way, Goldman contends that we unburden ourselves from the weight of life through memories that inherently become fragmented and distorted with time and experience. The work also suggests that the turmoil between two individuals is not very different from the relationship between any governing body and its citizens. Both relationships are informed by a desire to move past this pain in order to progress and survive.

The title itself refers to La Cueca, the national folk dance of Chile. At once a seductive courting ritual, Goldman also subtly and cleverly appropriated the act as a direct reaction against Pinochet’s regime but also an indirect rebuke against any social oppression. Under Pinochet’s rule, it was common for men to be forced into the military and to have political opponents persecuted or killed. In an act of pure defiance, women continued to partake in this tradition alone and the dance eventually became a statement of mourning, loss, and perseverance. But ultimately, the work is about the collision between personal and political history, as well as a love story of a man, a woman – and a country.