Prelude ’05

FESTIVAL PASS: Guarantees entrance to 4 events plus party.

To confirm your event selections you MUST email mestc@gc.cuny.edu with your top 4 choices. First come first served. Seats will be confirmed by email.

New York City audiences have the rare opportunity to sample the city’s most distinctive and adventurous contemporary theatre in one location over just four days during the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center’s Prelude ’05 at the CUNY Graduate Center. The event features 20 short performances, readings, and open rehearsals with a focus on works in progress for the upcoming 2005-06 season and beyond.

An annual mini-festival and symposium, Prelude enables audiences to experience the in-progress work of the city’s most exciting, unconventional theatre, with all performances followed by talkbacks with artists. Events are held in the Martin E. Segal Theatre or Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall at The Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street).

FESTIVAL PASS: $20 guarantees one seat per person for four performances, plus PRELUDE ’05 Saturday Night Club Concert.

Opening Panel Discussion
Wednesday, September 28, 6:30 p.m.
Segal Theatre
“NYC Theatre within a Global Context”: leading artistic directors, companies, and members of the theatre community pose and discuss questions of how contemporary American work is perceived outside the U.S., and what gets produced. Speakers will include Vallejo Gantner (P.S. 122), Eric Dyer (Radiohole), and Paul Lazar (Big Dance Theater).

Followed by a reception at 8 p.m.
PRELUDE to the PRELUDE
Music by Cynthia Hopkins
Cynthia Hopkins (of the band Gloria Deluxe) plays songs from recent and upcoming projects. www.gloriadeluxe.com

Thursday, September 29

Sheila Callaghan
Sheila Callaghan presents excerpts of her latest play, Dead City, a loose adaptation of Joyce’s Ulysses, which will receive a performance at New Georges in spring 2006. www.sheilacallaghan.com
2 p.m., Segal Theatre

Anne Washburn
Anne Washburn presents a staged excerpt from her newest play, I Have Loved Strangers, inspired by the book of Jeremiah.
4 p.m., Segal Theatre

Lisa D’Amour
Writer/director Lisa D’Amour presents an excerpt of a new solo performed by Todd D’Amour that imagines a present day Stanley Kowalski haunted by Blanche, Brando, and the very big screen. With video by Tara Webb.
6 p.m., Elebash Recital Hall

Pavol Liska
Pavol Liska and the Nature Theater of Oklahoma present Poetics, an excerpt from a work in progress inspired by the Aristotle text.
8 p.m., Segal Theatre

Big Art Group
Stretching the boundaries of film and theatre, Big Art Group, led by Caden Manson, gives an informal presentation of, and discusses, its latest work.
www.bigartgroup.org
8 p.m., Elebash Recital Hall

Friday, September 30

Erin Courtney
Erin Courtney presents a staged reading of her newest play, Quiver and Twitch, directed by Sarah Benson.
12 p.m., Segal Theatre

The National Theater of the United States of America (NTUSA)
The National Theater of the United States of America presents excerpted readings and presentations from its newest work, exploring the lore and mythology of the ancient knight and crusader — Abacus Black. www.ntusa.org
2 p.m., Segal Theatre

Madelyn Kent
Writer/director Madelyn Kent presents a staged reading of her play Peninsula.
4 p.m., Segal Theatre

Division 13 Productions
Under the artistic direction of Joanna Settle, D13 offers a living draft of Erik Ehn’s 16670 (Maximillian Mary Kolbe) through an open rehearsal. www.division13.org
6 p.m., Segal Theatre

The Builders Association
Marianne Weems leads a hyper-lecture about the use of contemporary technology in the company’s past and future work, including the upcoming Super Vision.
www.thebuildersassociation.org
6 p.m., Elebash Recital Hall

Elevator Repair Service
Elevator Repair Service presents in-process rehearsal sketches, with Susie Sokol, for a new piece in development. www.elevator.org
8 p.m., Segal Theatre

John Jesurun
John Jesurun presents a staged reading of excerpts from his new piece, The Woman Who Loved Too Much, featuring Black-Eyed Susan.
8 p.m., Elebash Recital Hall

Saturday, October 1

Ayodele Casel
Ayodele Casel gives a studio presentation of her tap quartet, The Diary of a Tap Dancer, set to open in Washington D.C. in spring ’06. www.ayodelecasel.com
12 p.m., Segal Theatre

Young Jean Lee
Young Jean Lee presents a staged excerpt from her new show, Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven.
2 p.m., Segal Theatre

Jay Scheib
Jay Scheib gives a studio presentation of his latest work, This Place is a Desert, based on Antonioni’s Red Desert, using live and prepared video stream and a high-speed camera. www.jayscheib.com
4 p.m., Segal Theatre

Richard Maxwell / NYC Players
Richard Maxwell presents an informal discussion about his past and upcoming work. www.nycplayers.org
6 p.m., Segal Theatre

Mac Wellman
Hayley Finn directs a staged reading of Mac Wellman’s newest play, Bellagio; or Of All Things Made of Metal; or When Grandpapa Had Daddy Shot.
www.macwellman.com
6 p.m., Elebash Recital Hall

Radiohole / P.S. 122
Radiohole will present rehearsal experiments from its upcoming work, A Fiery Flying Roll or Dick, Dick, Dick, opening at P.S. 122 in April ’06. www.radiohole.com www.ps122.org
8 p.m., Segal Theatre

Big Dance Theater
Big Dance Theater present a sneak preview of dances for their newest work based on the mid-century Japanese novelist Masuji Ibuse. Discussion will follow.
www.bigdancetheater.org
8p.m., Elebash Recital Hall

Tasja Keetman Exhibition
Recognized for the physical energy with which she shapes her work, Prelude ’05 photographer Tasja Keetman brings a special exhibition of her latest work.
www.xoproject.com/tk.html
Throughout PRELUDE’O5 in the Martin E. Segal Theater Center exhibition space

PRELUDE ’05 Saturday Night Club Concert
10 p.m., Saturday October 1, secret location, to be announced, included in PRELUDE’05 Festival Pass.

Appropriate For Ages: 16 and up