Staff Picks No. 47
Das Ersatz: Travis Amiel, Cosimo Pori
The Brick Theater
June 6th - June 16th 2024
A "dance theater spectacle" with a ~German~ name? Sign me up. Das Ersatz, The Replacement: and, who in this town hasn't felt replaceable in a job, relationship, or friend group? Go to maybe see a tiny sliver or beefy chunk of yourself in clowns who just can't catch a break, proving maybe spiraling sideways is the new homeostasis.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia): Katy Pyle + Ballez
Chelsea Factory
May 24th - May 26th 2024
The indispensable Katy Pyle and the Ballez bring their latest queer reimagining (and first full-length live piece since 2016's ravishing, epic "Sleeping Beauty and the Beast") of the ballet canon to the Chelsea Factory, this time the 1870 "travesty ballet" Coppélia about an inventor and his life-size doll creation. Pyle's prismatic choreographic vision promises to use this scenario as a jumping off point to explore the dark side of pedagogy and the possibilities of play with an entirely trans and non-binary cast and original live score by Lavinia Eloise Bruce and Scott Killian.
Staffer: Eric Shethar
Relay: Iliana Penichet-Ramírez, Celine Abdallah, Aimee Grumbach, Renata Pereira Lima, Isa Spector, Madison Wada
PAGEANT
May 23rd - May 24th 2024
I posted a video from a hardcore show I went to last weekend and wrote that I wished postmodern dance was like the show, like a guy stage diving while another guy screams into a mic and a third guy sings wearing a hand towel under his hat. Iliana messaged me to say, "it can be. Come to my show." SO YEAH.... I'll be there on Friday, praying for punk. And I believe those prayers will be answered.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
I Was a Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs: Alicia Jo Rabins & The Camas High School Choir
The Museum of Jewish Heritage
Thursday May 23rd 2024
Over the years multidisciplinary musician and writer Alicia Jo Rabins has generated Girls in Trouble, an indie folk/art pop song cycle playfully and lyrically reflecting on the stories of the women of the Torah that spans multiple albums (most recently with 2015's "Open the Ground"). She builds on this project in her new live song cycle "I Was a Desert," performed this Thursday with support from a band and the 95 singers from the Camas High School choir.
Staffer: Eric Shethar
SYNCING INK: MASTERING THE CEREMONY: Created by NSangou Njikam
Directed by Awoye Timpo
Choreographer Adesola Osakalumi
The Apollo’s Victoria Theater
Closes July 28th 2024
Hip Hop theatre rooted in Yoruba culture? An emcee-to-be who doesn't even know if he can properly emcee in the first place? Um YES please!
Staffer: Marissa Joyce Stamps
MOLLY&NOLA: Agituhhhhh:
Roulette
Wednesday, May 29th 2024
Created and Performed by MOLLY&NOLA (Nola Sporn-Smith and Molly Ross)
Video Design by Suz Murray Sadler
Lighting Design by Masha Tsimring
Hello brunettes, it's me another brunette. These two performers feel like my freaky twins or like I am one of the freaky triplets. It's punk, its acidic, its intense, its got props. I've also never seen the MOLLY&NOLA phenom but I think this will be a proper introduction, and after seeing Nola wreak havoc in Stacy Sperlings singular horror-epic on women and motherhood, I am also slightly scared which of course I LIKE!!!!
Staffer: Lena Engelstein