Circus Amok's show "NY: Ground Under II," performed in 1995 in diverse NYC parks and other public spaces, revolves around political, social and economic issues at play in New York City, while posing a critique of the disconnect between the needs of the diverse, multitudinous population vis-à-vis oppressive governmental policies impacting the city. The performance includes a "short history of NY," highlighting the geopolitical diversity of the city, along with scenes alluding to controversial budget cuts, public transportation campaigns, and much more. Satirical takes on Republican political figures like Newt Gingrich (58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives), George Pataki (53rd Governor of New York), and Rudy Giuliani (Mayor of NYC, 1994-2001) place the piece in the context of contemporary issues affecting citizens, exposing controversial policies while educating and entertaining the audience in a joyful extravaganza of acrobatic artistry, satiric skill, and good old-fashioned circus fun. Video footage was shot in Tompkins Square Park.
NY Ground Under II (1995)
Photo/Foto: Circus Amok
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Video:
Video in HIDVL
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Title:
NY Ground Under II
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Holdings:
program, video (HIDVL)
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Duration:
01:26:06
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Language:
English
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Date:
June 1995
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Location:
various parks, New York City
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Type-Format:
performance
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Cast:
Circus Amok Cast and Band
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Credits:
Circus Amok
HIDVL: All Interviews (in alphabetical order)
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Interview with Aaron Pollard and Stephen Lawson (2007)
Interview with Aaron Pollard and Stephen Lawson of 2boys.tv, conducted by Ramón Rivera-Servera as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography 2boys.tv is is a transdisciplinary duo from Montreal composed by Stephen Lawson and Aaron Pollard (also notoriously known in some circles as alter egos Gigi L’Amour and Pipi Douleur). They have created a wide repertoire of epic multimedia cabaret works, performances, videos, and installations.
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Alan Michelson (2005)
Shortly after the opening of his show, Revealing the Absent Indian, part of the New Tribes New York series at the National Museum of the American Indian, Alan Michelson talks about the exhibit, which is a retrospective of his work. Much of his art has been informed by the fact that his was adopted out (Native people were adopted out in alarming rates in the 1940's through the 1970's) and only met his Mohawk family later in life. Michelson frames this issue within the larger subject of Native displacement. Another theme of his work is the landscape, which the artist uses to challenge the notions of supremacy and superiority. One of the pieces Alan concentrates on, Two Row II, is a video installation which references the Two Row Wampum Belt that symbolizes the agreement under which the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee (the Six nations confederacy which Mohawk are a part of) welcomed the…
See more: AICH: Interviews
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Interview with Alanis King (2008)
In November 2008, The Public Theater in New York City was proud to present a festival of extraordinary theater from today's Native artists. In its second year, the festival featured: three free readings of new works by Native playwrights Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and Eric Gansworth followed by post-show discussions; a discussion with Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and a panel of Native artists on Politics and Performance that was open to the general public; a series of seven Field Discussions designed to convene artists and create an open forum to address and discuss issues facing Native Theater today; and a concert in Joe's Pub by Native and African-American singer Martha Redbone. This video, Interview with Alanis King, supplements the 2008 festival records, as a part of an interview series conducted by Tom Pearson. Alanis King (Odawa Nation). Her playwriting credits include: 'Bye Bye Beneshe,' 'Song of Hiawatha: An Anishnaabec…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Alejandro Meitin (2009)
Interview with Alejandro Meitin, conducted by Marcela Fuentes, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Alejandro Meitin talks his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements Meitin's keynote Artistic Initiatives in Community Organizing, and their Metaphorical and Juridical-Social Dimension, presented in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Alejandro Meitin is an artist, lawyer, environmental activist, and co-founder of the art collective Ala Plástica (1991), which is based in La Plata, Argentina. Since 1994 he has been a member of Arte Litoral, an independent network of artists, critics, curators, and scholars interested in new ways of thinking about…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Álvaro Villalobos (2009)
Interview with Alvaro Villalobos, conducted by Antonio Prieto Stambaugh, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Alvaro Villalobos talks about his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements his participation in a round table on Urban Interventions, presented in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Álvaro Villalobos is a Colombian artist living in Mexico. He received his Masters degree in Visual Arts and his PhD in Latin American Studies from UNAM. He graduated from the School of Arts at ASAB in Bogotá. His work consists primarily of performances, photographs, videos and installations that link social and political…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Ana & Débora Correa (2007)
Interview with Ana and Débora Correa of the Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, conducted by Katherine Nigh as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title "CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender." Peru's most important theater collective, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani has been working since 1971 at the forefront of theatrical experimentation, political performance, and collective creation. "Yuyachkani" is a Quechua word that means "I am thinking, I am remembering"; under this name, the theater group has devoted itself to the collective exploration of embodied social memory, particularly in relation to questions of ethnicity, violence, and memory in Peru. The group is comprised of seven actors (Augusto Casafranca, Amiel Cayo, Ana Correa, Débora Correa, Rebeca Ralli, Teresa Ralli, and…
See more: Yuyachkani: Interviews
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Interview with Ana Correa (2001)
In this interview, Ana Correa recounts her beginnings with the group, where she found dialogue and openness to create theater. Yuyachkani’s piece ‘Allpa Rayku’ marks the group’s quest for Peruvian deep traditions and the Andean world, as well as Correa’s own identity and connections with her own indigenous roots. Traveling throughout Peru, the group found diverse sources of inspiration for the ‘cholificación’ of their proposal – an aesthetic and political project that encompassed Peruvian local spheres within larger global concerns. The group’s members’ training, and their deep investigation and experience as actors, is intertwined with a self-reflection as a group. Their performances provide a space for marginalized civilians to speak and to be heard, and present the violence suffered by the country in the crossfire between terrorist group ‘Sendero Luminoso’ and the Peruvian Government and Army. The country was devastated by this violence, and sunk in an internal void and…
See more: Yuyachkani: Interviews
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Interview with Ana Correa (2002)
Interview with Ana Correa, active member of Peru's Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, conducted by Michelle Zubiate during the 3rd Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in July of 2002 in Lima, Peru under the title "Globalization, Migration and the Public Sphere." Peru's most important theater collective, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani has been working since 1971 at the forefront of theatrical experimentation, political performance, and collective creation. "Yuyachkani" is a Quechua word that means "I am thinking, I am remembering"; under this name, the theater group has devoted itself to the collective exploration of embodied social memory, particularly in relation to questions of ethnicity, violence, and memory in Peru. The group is comprised of seven actors (Augusto Casafranca, Amiel Cayo, Ana Correa, Débora Correa, Rebeca Ralli, Teresa Ralli, and Julián Vargas), a technical designer (Fidel Melquíades), and an artistic director (Miguel Rubio), who have made a commitment to collective…
See more: Yuyachkani: Interviews
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Interview with Anabelle Contreras Castro: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Anabelle Contreras Castro, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Anabelle Contreras Castro did her undergraduate work in Anthropology at the University of Costa Rica and went on to complete her MA and PhD in Latin American Studies at the Freie Universitaet Berlin. She has participated as a guest researcher at the Freie Universitaet…
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Interview with André Lepecki: What is Performance Studies? (2002)
Interview with André Lepecki, conducted by Diana Taylor, director and founder of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. André Lepecki is a curator, dramaturg, writer, and co-creator based in New York City. Currently he is Associate Professor in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University where he teaches courses on critical theory, continental philosophy, performance studies, dance studies, and experimental…
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Interview with Ann Pellegrini: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Ann Pellegrini, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Ann Pellegrini is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Performance Studies at New York University. Her teaching and research interests are related to Queer theory; religion in American public life; religion and sexuality; psychoanalysis and culture; religion, performance, and community formation; cultures of childhood; feminist…
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Interview with Antanas Mockus (2005)
In this interview, conducted by Doris Sommer at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentro (Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2005), Mockus plays a game with his interviewer: in a symbolic performance of 'social bonds,' they are linked to each other with string and must figure out how to disentangle themselves through movement (no cutting or untying), as they discuss civic culture and the ways conflict can be resolved through the plurality of art.. Biography A Colombian mathematician, philosopher and politician, Antanas Mockus left his post as vice-chancellor of Colombian National University in Bogotá in 1993, and proceeded to preside over Bogotá as mayor for two eventful terms. His surprising and often humorous initiatives tended to involve grand gestures, often including local artists or personal appearances by the mayor himself - taking a shower in a commercial about conserving water, or walking the streets dressed in spandex and a cape as Supercitizen. Mockus hired…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Antonio Prieto Stambaugh: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Antonio Prieto Stambaugh, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Antonio Prieto Stambaugh is a Mexican researcher and professor, focused on issues of performance, contemporary theatre, gender and queer studies. He is currently a full time professor at the Theatre Department of the Veracruzana University, and has previously been visiting lecturer at Stanford Univesity,…
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Interview with Barbara Browning: What is Performance Studies? (2002)
Interview with Barbara Browning, conducted by Diana Taylor, director and founder of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Barbara Browning is Associate Professor in the Performance Studies Department at New York University, where she previously was Chair. She received her Bachelor’s, Masters and Doctoral degrees in Comparative Literature from Yale University. In 1983 she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship for the study…
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Interview with Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett: What is Performance Studies? (2001)
Interview with Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, where she is also Affiliated Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. She is the author of Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage (University of California Press 1998), a key book for understanding techniques of…
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Interview with Beth Lopes: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Beth Lopes, conducted by Marcos Steuernagel, Special Collections Fellow at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Beth Lopes is artistic director, researcher and professor at the graduate and postgraduate studies in Performing Arts, University of São Paulo. She has developed research and texts related to the creative process of the actor, drama and spectacle, on the following issues: incorporation, action,…
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Interview with Beatriz Camargo (1999)
Interview with Colombian actress, director, playwright and founder of Teatro Itinerante del Sol, Beatriz Camargo, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. A former member of the Grupo de Teatro La Candelaria (Bogotá, Colombia, directed by Santiago García), Camargo founded her theater ensemble in 1982; originally based in Bogota, the Teatro Itinerante del Sol later moved to the rural village of Villa de Leyva in search of a connection with nature and the development of a creative space for their work. In this interview, Beatriz discusses her artistic trajectory; in terms of the Teatro Itinerante del Sol, Camargo talks about the centrality of myths, dreams, rituals, and masks in their theater work. Defined by the artist as "biodrama," her theater pieces are conceived as explorations on myth and collective memory. Camargo also comments on how her theater projects, through the interplay between the mythical and the historical, address political issues…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Beverly Singer (2005)
In this interview, conducted at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentro, Singer talks about her documentary work as a search for the practices and values that have survived through all the changes in indigenous life and are still in place keeping them connected to one another in a community. She also researches and documents the coping mechanisms that are being put in place by indigenous people to find their place in the world. Biography Beverly Singer is a Native American of Tewa and Navajo heritage from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose video productions explore the subject of cultural revitalizing in Native American communities. She is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Native American Studies and former director of the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies at the University of New Mexico. She has previously worked in New York City as public programs specialist with…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Catherine Cole: What is Performance Studies? (2013)
Interview with Catherine Cole, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Catherine M. Cole is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Performing South Africa’s Truth Commission: Stages of Transition (2010) and Ghana’s Concert Party Theatre (2001). Cole has co-edited…
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Interview with Charo Francés (1987)
Interview with Spanish actress and Malayerba founding member María del Rosario "Charo" Francés, in the context of their play La Fanesca performed at the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro (FIT) de Cádiz, held in Spain in 1987. In this interview, Charo talks about the origins and creative process of La Fanesca, as well as the history of the Malayerba theater group. The actress also comments on the reception of the play by Latin American audiences and on the experience of performing this play in Europe in the context of the Festival. Francés discusses issues of collective creation and political and artistic investigation at the Malayerba, as well as the role migration and exile have played in the life of the group, both as a concrete life experience for the actors and as a topic for their interventions in Ecuadorian theater and society. The actress illustrates these topics through her impressions of…
See more: Malayerba: Interviews
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Interview with Chris Eyre (2006)
In this interview, filmmaker Chris Eyre (www.chriseyre.org) talks the reasons why he went into filmmaking, his early years as a filmmaker at NYU, and the influence he felt this educational foundation had on his work. Chris also reminisces about his early career, at a time when independent film was still a force in the media world, and the burgeoning Native film community that sprung up during this period. The discussion leads to Eyre's landmark film Smoke Signals and the direction the success of the film took him personally and professionally. The success of this film lead the artist to a feeling of greater responsibility to represent and to gain knowledge about other tribes since he became an involuntary spokesperson for Native people. As a filmmaker at the beginning of his career, interviewer Andrew McLean (Inupik) directed several questions to Eyre about negotiating the film world as a minority producer. Chris…
See more: AICH: Interviews
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Interview with Coco Fusco (2007)
Interview with Coco Fusco, conducted by Jill Lane as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Coco Fusco is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist, writer and Director of Intermedia Initiatives at Parsons The New School for Design. She has performed, lectured, exhibited and curated around the world since 1988. She is a recipient of a 2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Fusco's performances and videos have been presented in two Whitney Biennials (2008 and 1993), the Sydney Biennale, The Johannesburg Biennial, The Kwangju Biennale, The Shanghai Biennale, InSite O5, Mercosul, Transmediale, The London International Theatre Festival, VideoBrasil and Performa05. Her works have also been shown at the…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Comadre Araña (2009)
Interview with Comadre Araña, conducted by Michael Birenbaum Quintero, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, the group Comadre Araña talks about how its particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements Comadre Araña's concert, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography In Comadre Araña, the traditional music of Colombia's Pacific region meets jazz, rock, pop and electronic music. Three female voices intermingle with the rhythm of the bombo, marimba, cununo and guasá, along with electronic instruments such as the Indian sitar, the tiple guitar of the Colombian Andes, loops, samplers and all the resources of live electronic music. Members:…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Dancing Earth (2005)
Dancing Earth is an array of indigenous dance artists who work as a collective under the leadership of Rulan Tangen, striving to embody a unique essence of Indigenous identity and perspective by creation and renewal of artistic and cultural movement rituals. 'Ancient and futuristic, our dances are an elemental language of bone and blood memory in motion. We cultivate our individual artistry on behalf of empowerment of all peoples, and create bridges for art and humanity, tradition and experimentation. Through movement, we gather with respect, inspiration and innovation. We create our works with Indigenous collaborators in the fields of music, mask making, photography, costume, light design, architecture, poetry and storytelling.' In this interview, conducted by Tina Majkowski at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentro (Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2005), choreographer Rulan Tangen is joined by musician/dancer/painter Quetzal Guerrero (Cambiva, Yacqui, Ahumeche), dancer/photographer Anthony Ch-Wl-Tas Collins (Salt River Pima, Seneca, Osage), and dancer/actor/painter…
See more: Dancing Earth: Interviews
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Interview with Daniel David Moses (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Daniel David Moses, conducted by Jennifer Podemski as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Playwright, poet, essayist, and teacher, Daniel David Moses is a Delaware from the Six Nations lands in southern Ontario, Canada. He holds an Honors B. A. in General Fine Arts from York University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. His plays include his first, 'Coyote City,' a nominee for the 1991 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama, 'The Indian Medicine Shows' and 'Brebeuf's Ghost.'…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Danny Hoch (2007)
Interview with Danny Hoch, conducted by Jill Lane as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender. Danny Hoch is an actor, playwright and director. He is also the founder of the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival, a senior fellow at the Vera List Center For Art & Politics, and he sits on the board of Theatre Communications Group, United States.
See more: Danny Hoch: Interviews
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Interview with Daphne Brooks: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Daphne Brooks, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Daphne A. Brooks is professor of English and African-American Studies at Princeton University where she teaches courses on African-American literature and culture, performance studies, critical gender studies, and popular music culture. She is the author of two books: Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race…
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Interview with Darrell Dennis (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Darrell Dennis, conducted by Elizabeth Richards as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Darrell is a first nations writer from the Shuswap Nation in the interior of British Columbia. Darrell is a produced playwright and an award-winning writer for television. His script 'Moccasin Flats' was accepted into the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. The short film was later transformed into a television series which Darrell also wrote for. As an actor, Darrell is best known for his roles in such television series as 'Northwood' and…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with David Lozano (2010)
Interview with David Lozano, conducted by Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, Associate Director of Arts & Media at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In this interview, David Lozano discusses the role of the body in the intertwining dynamics between arts and politics. Lozano’s performance work explores the relational links between bodies, proposing powerful ways for evidencing and undoing embodied constructions of gender and citizenship. Considering performance as a site for surprise, and for the non-controlled, his work ‘Marca y ego: Oficios para el cuerpo’ offers a reflection upon how bodies are marked as ‘abjected,’ and how those bodies’ textures are a surface that transmits meaning. Although the body is a vulnerable territory, it also can function as a means to subvert preconceptions about the body, within the body, and from the body.David Lozano is a visual artist with a specialization in painting. He has a Masters degree in Visual and Fine…
See more: Additional Interviews
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Interview with David Pleasant (2005)
In this interview, conducted by Tavia Nyong'o at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentro titled Performing "Heritage": Contemporary Indigenous and Community-Based Practices in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 2005), David talks about how he began playing percussion, demonstrates the rhythms he uses in his work, and how these shape daily Gullah life. These African-American beats include polyrhythm, call & response, pitched hand claps, syncopation, improvisation, concurrent percussion, and others that exist in much of American popular music. He also discusses Language of the Soul, the show he had performed at the Encuentro a few days before the interview. Biography David Pleasant is a musical stylist who was raised in the Gullah/Geechee culture of Georgia (Sapelo Island, Darien/McIntosh County and Savannah). His work is driven by the wealth of African retention in Gullah culture, particularly juba, hand jive, pattin', rhappin' and shout, which have played a major role in the development of David's…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Denise Stoklos (2002)
Interview with Denise Stoklos, conducted by Eleonora Fabião during the 3rd Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in July of 2002 in Lima, Peru under the title Globalization, Migration and the Public Sphere. Biography Denise Stoklos is a Brazilian playwright, director and actress, who has, over the past thirty years, created a body of theatrical works called Essential Theatre which deals with the energy of body, voice, and intuition under a mind of historical reference: Mary Stuart (1987), Un-Medea (1989), Casa (1990), 500 YearsA Fax from Denise Stoklos to Christopher Columbus (1992), Civil Disobedience (1997), and I Do, I Undo, I Redo: Lousie Bourgeoise (2000) among others. Each is a solo play, performed in repertoire in different idioms. Stoklos has won a number of prestigious national and international awards, including many for best actress in Brazil and a Guggenheim in the U.S. She performs in Portuguese,…
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Interview with Diamela Eltit (2007)
Interview with Diamela Eltit, conducted by Carmen Oquendo-Villar as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Diamela Eltit is a distinguished Chilean performance artist, novelist and cultural critic. Winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous other awards and appointments, Eltit was a member of the acclaimed Colectivo de Acciones de Arte (CADA), a Chilean activist group of artists who used performance to challenge Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. She has been an important cultural presence during the years of the post-dictatorship through her participation in journals such as the Revista de Crítica Cultural. Both as an artist and a critic, Eltit's work constitutes an important contribution to feminist theory…
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Diamela Eltit: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Diamela Eltit, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Diamela Eltit is a distinguished Chilean performance artist, novelist and cultural critic. Winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous other awards and appointments, Eltit was a member of the acclaimed Colectivo de Acciones de Arte (CADA), a Chilean activist group of artists who used performance…
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Interview with Diana Raznovich (2009)
Interview with Diana Raznovich, conducted by Mila Aponte-González, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Diana Raznovich talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements Diana Raznovich's and Margarita Borja’s performance La Deuda, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Diana Raznovich is an Argentinean playwright with a long trajectory and national and international recognition. She is also a cartoonist, and has produced numerous performances and installations with her cartoons. She has been exiled in Spain since 1975.
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Diana Taylor: What is Performance Studies? (2002)
Interview with Diana Taylor, conducted by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Diana Taylor is University Professor in the Department of Performance Studies and in the Spanish Department at New York University, and also Founding Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. She is the author of Theatre of Crisis: Drama and Politics in Latin America (Kentucky University Press 1991), which won the Best Book…
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Interview with Diane Glancy (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Diane Glancy, conducted by Sheila Tousey as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Diane Glancy (Cherokee) is a professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she has taught Native American Literature and Creative Writing. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Glancy has published two books of plays, 'American Gypsy' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), and 'War Cries' (Holy Cow! 1998). A group of shorter plays, 'The Sum of Winter,' and an introduction to factional theater appear online at www.alexanderstreet.com.…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Drew Hayden Taylor (2005)
Drew Hayden Taylor (www.drewhaydentaylor.com) is an Ojibwa author, humorist and playwright from Curve Lake Reserve Ontario, Canada. In this interview, Taylor talks about his use of humor, the way he feels about using Native issues in his work, and they way his work is received in different communities. He also addresses writing from an Aboriginal perspective for a broader non-Native audience. By analyzing the use of Native humor in his pieces, he breaks down the universal language of his plays. Within the larger context of Aboriginal Theater, Drew looks at the development of his works as an offshoot of the work of people such as Thompson Highway and feels that he is able to go beyond the early works in this area that are primarily dark and depressing. Finally, Taylor rhapsodizes about the future of Native Theater and the translation of the classics such as Chekhov into Aboriginal settings.
See more: AICH: Interviews
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Interview with Drew Hayden Taylor (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Drew Hayden Taylor, conducted by Kennetch Charlette as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Drew Hayden Taylor has done everything from performing stand up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to lecturing on the films of Sherman Alexie at the British Museum in England. He is an award winning playwright (with over 70 productions of his work), documentary film maker, script writer, journalist and essayist. With 18 books to his credit, Drew also enjoys writing a humor column for five Canadian newspapers.…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Edward Wemytewa (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Edward Wemytewa, conducted by Terry Gomez as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Edward Wemytewa is a former Zuni Tribal Councilman, and his connection to his Zuni cultural heritage is through art and language. He is the founding director of Idiwanan An Chawe, a storytelling theater. A playwright, performer, and visual artist, Edward's prize-winning paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in museums in Arizona and New Mexico. Terry Gomez is from the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. She is a published and produced playwright, published…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Ema Villanueva & Eduardo Flores (2001)
In this interview, Ema Villanueva and Eduardo Flores discuss their artistic collaboration and their participation in projects focused on social justice. They highlight the relationship between the social, the political, and the body through the arts. They offer their perspective on their trajectory, and their collaborative work techniques. They also discuss the students strike at the UNAM (Universidad Autónoma de México) in 2000. As a response, they performed a walk to memorialize the more than one thousand students imprisoned by military forces in a space that should remain autonomous and free of violence. EDEMA is a collaboration between Ema Villanueva and Eduardo Flores. Ema Villanueva (1975, Mexico City) is a visual and performance artist who performs in the streets as well as in established cultural spaces of Mexico. She has participated in several round tables and conferences in art schools around Mexico City. Her work has been reviewed in major…
See more: Additional Interviews
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Interview with Enrique Buenaventura (1999)
Interview with renowned Colombian theater director, theorist and playwright Enrique Buenaventura, founder of the Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC), conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this extensive interview, Buenaventura discusses key topics germane to his artistic work, narrating his first experiences in theater and literature, the influences and lessons of his many travels (especially to France and throughout Latin America), his personal and professional relationship with theater director Jacqueline Vidal, and the history and situation of Colombian theater, and its culture in general, in the context of the country's economic crisis, issues of censorship, and political struggle. A prolific playwright and theater director, Buenaventura discusses his most influential contribution to Latin American experimental theater, "creación colectiva" (collective creation); he also comments on the trajectory of the TEC, one of the most important Latin American theater groups, founded by Enrique in 1954. In a dialogue with interviewer Martinez and…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Eric Gansworth (2008)
In November 2008, The Public Theater in New York City was proud to present a festival of extraordinary theater from today's Native artists. In its second year, the festival featured: three free readings of new works by Native playwrights Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and Eric Gansworth followed by post-show discussions; a discussion with Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and a panel of Native artists on Politics and Performance that was open to the general public; a series of seven Field Discussions designed to convene artists and create an open forum to address and discuss issues facing Native Theater today; and a concert in Joe's Pub by Native and African-American singer Martha Redbone. This video, Interview with Eric Gansworth, supplements the 2008 festival records, as a part of an interview series conducted by Tom Pearson.Eric Gansworth (Onondaga) is a professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College in Buffalo, New…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Fabio Salvatti: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Fabio Salvatti, conducted by Marcos Steuernagel, Special Collections Fellow at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Fabio Salvatti is Assistant Professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil, in the Program of Performing Arts. His research interests are focused on political activism and its relationship with theatricality. His investigation on activist pranks explores the political potential embedded in everyday…
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Interview with Federico Zukerfeld and Loreto Garín (2007)
Interview with Federico Zukerfeld and Loreto Garín of the Grupo Etcétera, conducted by Marcela Fuentes as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography The Argentinean Grupo Etcétera has created the Internacional errorista. In their own words, Errorism was born from an error: In times of censorship, we see ourselves subjected to force our language, to take metaphors to their maximum limit, to say without naming. Not being able to use the words (T)errorism or (T)errorist due to their symbolic weight and the danger that this represents, we escape into wordplay. Thats how Errorism was born: in error.
See more: Interviews
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Interview with George Lewis (2007)
Interview with George Lewis, conducted by Sarah Townsend as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography George E. Lewis is an improviser-trombonist, composer, and computer/installation artist. He is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University. His book, Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press.
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Giuseppe Campuzano (2009)
Interview with Giuseppe Campuzano, conducted by Marcela Fuentes, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Giuseppe Campuzano talks about his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements his performance Museo Travesti, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Giuseppe Campuzano is a researcher and artist. Since 2003, he has been working on the Transvestite Museum project, an exploration of the realities of transvestism, a staging of its aesthetics, and a confrontation between its forms of knowledge and official discourses.
See more: Interviews
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Interview with God - Jesusa Rodríguez (2010)
A revealing interview with God conducted by Marcial Godoy-Anativia, Associate Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.
See more: Jesusa Rodriguez: Interviews
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Interview with Guillermo Gómez-Peña (2007)
Interview with Guillermo Gómez-Peña of La Pocha Nostra, conducted by Roberto Gutiérrez Varea as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title "CORPOLÍTICAS / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender." Guillermo Gómez-Peña is a performance artist/writer and artistic director of La Pocha Nostra . His pioneering work explores cross-cultural issues, immigration, the politics of language, "extreme culture" and new technologies.
See more: Pocha Nostra: Interviews
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Interview with Hanay Geiogamah (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Hanay Geiogamah, conducted by Graydon Wetzler as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. A member of the Kiowa-Delaware Tribes from Oklahoma, Hanay Geiogamah is a professor of theater in the School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Mr. Geiogamah is also the director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center and for the past ten years has served as principal investigator for Project HOOP, the national initiative to promote development of Native American theater and performing…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Helios Fernández (1999)
Interview with renowned Spanish-born Colombian actor Helios Fernández, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Fernández talks about his experiences as an actor for theater and TV. A former member of Colombian theater ensemble Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC) for 25 years, Helios discusses the trajectory of the group, the evolution of its dramaturgy, the development of the technique of ‘creación colectiva’ (collective creation), and the role of TEC’s director Enrique Buenaventura in the realm of Latin American theater theory and practice. Among the many influences that have shaped the artistic endeavors of TEC, Fernández points to the importance of Brechtian theories, as well as the strong cross-pollination between their work and that of Chicano theater, primordially the works by Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino. The actor then poses an assessment on the scope and limits of political theater, and contrasts it historically, thematically, and administratively…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Holly Hughes: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Holly Hughes, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Holly Hughes is an internationally acclaimed performance artist with a flair for telling outrageous stories of everyday lesbian life, touching off controversy and challenging complacency at every turn. Her combination of poetic imagery and political satire has earned her wide attention and placed her work…
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Interview with Ileana Dieguez (2009)
Interview with Ileana Diéguez, conducted by Mila Aponte-González, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. This 10-day event brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. In this interview, Ileana Diéguez talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. Biography Ileana Dieguez's book Escenarios liminales (Liminal Stages/Scenarios) is one of the most important publications in Latin America addressing the region's performance practices of recent years. Diéguez’s work discusses theatre and performance art in Peru, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, analyzing performances that not only break with stage conventions, but that point to new ways of engaging politics.
See more: Interviews
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Interview with Jack Halberstam (2014)
Jack Halberstam is Visiting Professor of Gender Studies and English at Columbia University. Halberstam is the author of five books including: Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (Duke UP, 1995), Female Masculinity (Duke UP, 1998), In A Queer Time and Place (NYU Press, 2005), The Queer Art of Failure (Duke UP, 2011) and Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal (Beacon Press, 2012) and has written articles that have appeared in numerous journals, magazines and collections. Halberstam has co-edited a number of anthologies including Posthuman Bodies with Ira Livingston (Indiana University Press, 1995) and a special issue of Social Text with Jose Munoz and David Eng titled “What’s Queer About Queer Studies Now?” Jack is a popular speaker and gives lectures around the country and internationally every year. Lecture topics include: queer failure, sex and media, subcultures, visual culture, gender variance, popular film, animation. Halberstam…
See more: Additional Interviews
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Interview with Jacqueline Vidal (1999)
Interview with theater practitioner Jacqueline Vidal, director of renowned theater ensemble Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC), conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Jaqueline talks about her passage from her native France to Colombia with her husband (TEC's founder Enrique Buenaventura), her life as a theater artist, her collaborative process with Buenaventura, and the influences of her international and Colombian experiences in shaping her unique directing style. Collective creation is discussed, paying special attention to considerations of space, the dialogue between the dramatic text and the actors, and the presence of myths in theater plays; Vidal has always felt passionate for the spatial, non-verbal communication between people and how these elements shape a theater capable of making the everyday shake, rendering the invisible visible, and opening a space for imagination, for the possibility of living in an alternative, organic world in a time where fragmentation permeates social…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Javier Sarna: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Javier Serna, conducted by Marcial Godoy, associate director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Javier Serna is Research Professor of Theater Studies and Cultural Practices in the Theater Department at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon. His publications include The Theater At The End of Modernity In Encyclopedia of Monterrey (Grijalbo), section editor of the 'Republic of Theater’ in…
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Interview with Jennifer Miller (2006)
Interview with performance artist Jennifer Miller, director of New York's troupe Circus Amok, conducted by Mila Aponte-González for the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In this interview, Miller talks about the origins, adventures and exploits of Circus Amok, commenting on the troupe's training, the politics and aesthetics of street performance, their experiences as political and queer performers in and for New York City communities, some recurrent topics in their work, and how their aesthetic influences and creative methods juggle between performance and politics in a collaborative atmosphere. Circus Amok is a New York City based circus-theater company whose mission is to provide free public art addressing contemporary issues of social justice to the people of New York City. Directed and founded by Miller, the group has been together since 1989 bringing its funny, queer, caustic and sexy, political one-ring spectacles to diverse neighborhoods throughout the city. Over the years…
See more: Circus Amok: Interviews
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Interview with Jennifer Podemski (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Jennifer Podemski, conducted by Daniel David Moses as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Jennifer Podemski (Ojibway/Israeli) is an actor/writer/producer born and raised in Toronto. Most recognized for her roles in Bruce McDonald's 'Dance Me Outside,' CBC's 'The Rez,' 'Riverdale' and 'Degrassi: The Next Generation,' Jennifer has been able to maintain a career as an actor for the past 20 years. She is the co-founder of Big Soul Productions (1999–2003) and most recently Redcloud Studio's Inc., an independent film and television production company. She…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Jesse Cooday (2005)
In this interview, conducted by the Hemispheric Institute's Native curator Raquel Chapa, Native American artist Jesse Cooday (Tinglit) talks about his work in both the American Indian Community House (AICH) gallery -- where he has assisted the gallery director -- and its performing arts department, as well as his work during the late 80's, his activism in Alaska, and his work as a photographer. Cooday also reminisces about the many prominent Native artists that have come through the AICH. This interview complements the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library project's American Indian Community House collection. It is also featured on-line in the Hemispheric Institute's web cuaderno titled Native Performance in New York City at the American Indian Community House.
See more: AICH: Interviews
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Interview with Jesús Martín Barbero: What Is Performance Studies? (2002)
Interview with Jesús Martín Barbero, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Jesús Martín Barbero is a semiologist, anthropologist, philosopher, and specialist in communication and media who has produced important theoretical work on the topic of postmodernity in Latin America. His contributions include his analysis of culture as a web of mediations, the semiological study of…
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Interview with Julieta Paredes (2010)
Interview with Julieta Paredes, conducted by Marcial Godoy-Anativia, Associate Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In this interview, Julieta Paredes underlines the centrality of a communal spirit in her work, stating that when she speaks, her voice is a resonance of the voice of her ‘compañeras.’ She questions Western notions of what ‘performance’ is, claiming that the ‘Pachamama’ (Mother Earth) has taught her and her people a cultural performance or ‘performance del pueblo.’ She also points out that the use of the term ‘performance’ might tend to highlight an aesthetic or artistic practice, which can imply a depoliticization of the contents transmitted through actions. Paredes explains how she envisions indigenous people’s communal work, working together from their bodies and sexualities, building what she calls ‘communal feminism.’ Thus, from the particularities of traditional indigenous communities, an active political participation in the public sphere can be set in motion.…
See more: Mujeres Creando Comunidad: Interviews
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Interview with Jesusa Rodríguez and Liliana Felipe (2001)
Excerpt Clara: Queríamos que nos hablaran de su formación artística, de su familia, de cuándo empezaron a pensar en el arte... Jesusa: Yo era muy tímida, muy tímida, entonces me dijeron que era “autista” pero yo en esa época no sabía lo que era “autista” y entendí “artista”, y entonces me dediqué al teatro por error. Liliana: Bueno yo, vengo de familia de verduleros, y por el lado de mi mamá, ceramistas. Me acuerdo mucho que mis abuelos cantaban, pero de ahí a que haya algún compositor o músico, no. A los 7 años me preguntaron que quería hacer, dije que estudiar el piano, no sé si yo sabía bien qué era un piano, pero me mandaron a estudiar piano. A los 9 años conocí a una maestra extraordinaria de piano, y empecé a ser una buena pianista a aquella edad. O por lo menos una buena estudianta de…
See more: Jesusa Rodriguez: Interviews
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Interview with Jesusa Rodríguez: On art and activism (2010)
Interview with Jesusa Rodríguez, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In this interview, Jesusa Rodríguez talks about the relationship between her experience in theater and cabaret, and her political commitment as an activist. She considers that cabaret provides improvisation as a training tool to exercise negotiation and risk. Also, the immediate response of the audience transforms the artist into a medium that conveys what the public feels and thinks; in this sense, cabaret is a space both to become aware of the current political situation and to foresee what could be upcoming, which engenders a more participative audience. Jesusa Rodríguez and her Resistencia Creativa movement organized a massive ‘plantón’ (sit-in) in Mexico City’s Zócalo (main square) to protest against the controversial results of the Presidential Elections in 2006. She brought together different groups and art expressions from a wide range of Mexican…
See more: Jesusa Rodriguez: Interviews
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Interview with Jesusa Rodríguez: On Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2010)
Interview with Jesusa Rodríguez, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In this interview, Jesusa Rodríguez talks about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and her poem ‘Primero Sueño’ (‘First Dream’), a baroque work of art that condenses the genius of the 17th-century Mexican nun. She is linked through memory, history, and feminist statements with her contemporary counterpart, Jesusa Rodríguez, who memorized the almost 1,000 verses of the poem as a part of a creative process that allowed her not only to develop a profound interpretation of its contents, but also a fully bodily internalization experience. This intense relationship with the poem helped her to survive in the everyday world, to strengthen her political struggle, and to fight oblivion. For Jesusa Rodríguez, Sor Juana’s poetry is both a-temporal and contemporary, and a source of inspiration and wisdom to keep working on acts of…
See more: Jesusa Rodriguez: Interviews
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Interview with Jill Lane: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Jill Lane, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Jill Lane is Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University, where she teaches courses on performance in the Americas, in relation to the histories of colonialism, neocolonialism, and globalization. She graduated in Comparative Literature at Brown University, and later obtained her Master…
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Interview with João Gabriel Teixeira: What is Performance Studies? (2012)
Interview with João Gabriel Teixeira, conducted by Marcos Steuernagel, Special Collections Fellow at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. João Gabriel Lima Cruz Teixeira graduated in Social Sciences at Universidade Federal da Bahia (1968); he also holds a Master in Interamerican Studies from the University of Miami (1970), and a Doctorate in Sociology from the University of Sussex (1984). He is currently…
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Interview with Jorge Vargas (1999)
Interview with theater director and founder of street theater ensemble Teatro Taller de Colombia, Jorge Vargas, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Vargas comments on his life in theater, his collaboration with theater director Mario Matallana, and their founding of Teatro Taller (www.teatrotallerdecolombia.com) in Bogota, Colombia. An ensemble rooted in popular theater, street theater, and circus, the project of Teatro Taller has been nourished by Vargas' and Matallana's many travels across the world, their participation in international theater festivals, and their collaboration with theater ensembles in Europe, Latin America and the US; their direct contact with Chicano theater has been particularly influential in Teatro Taller's consolidation of its own theatrical language. Committed to the exploration and dissemination of street theater in Colombia and abroad, Teatro Taller has developed international projects of artistic collaboration, such as the Escuela Internacional de Teatro Callejero y Circo ('International Street Theater…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with José Muñoz: What is Performance Studies? (2002)
Interview with José Muñoz, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. José Esteban Muñoz is Chair of the Department of Performance Studies at New York University. He is an American theorist in the fields of Performance Studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. He received his undergraduate education at Sarah Lawrence College and…
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Interview with Joseph Roach: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Joseph Roach, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Joseph Roach is Sterling Professor of Theatre and English and Director of the Theater Studies Program at Yale University. Professor Roach has chaired the Department of Performing Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, the Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre at Northwestern University, and the Department…
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Interview with Joy Harjo (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Joy Harjo, conducted by Elizabeth Theobald Richards as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Joy Harjo is an internationally known poet, performer, writer and musician. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She received her B.A. from the University of New Mexico in creative writing, and her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. She has published seven books of acclaimed poetry, including such well known titles as 'She Had Some Horses,' and 'The Woman Who Fell From the Sky.' She has won numerous…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Kay Turner: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Kay Turner, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Kay Turner holds a PhD in folklore and anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her areas of specialization are women's performed folklore (especially in the arenas of oral narrative, folk religion, and material culture) and feminist and lesbian/gay/queer interpretations of folklore and popular…
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Interview with Kennetch Charlette (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Kennetch Charlette, conducted by Drew Hayden Taylor as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Kennetch Charlette (Cree) is from Sandy Bay Saskatchewan, Canada. He is of the Cree Nation. Kennetch has been working for many years as an actor and director. He is the Founding Artistic Director of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company (SNTC). Recent credits include the many shows at SNTC and also directing Drew Hayden Taylor's 'In World Created by a Drunken God' at the Persephone Theatre in Sakatchewan and Taylor's 'Buzz…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Larry La Fountain-Stokes (2009)
Interview with Larry La Fountain-Stokes, conducted by Antonio Prieto Stambaugh, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Larry La Fountain-Stokes talks about his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements his participation in a round table on Citizenship and its Frontiers: Multiculturalism, Interculturality, and Migration, presented in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes specializes in Latina/o studies; Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caribbean studies; women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; lesbian, gay, and queer studies; and theater and performance. He received his BA from Harvard College (1991) and his MA and PhD from Columbia University (1999).
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Interview with Laura Levin: What is Performance Studies? (2013)
Interview with Laura Levin, conducted Mark Matusoff. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around thequestion 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Laura Levin is a performance theorist whose research focuses on contemporary theatre and performance art, performing gender and sexuality, site-specific and urban performance, and intermediality in performance. She is Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Theatre Review and has edited a number of collections: an issue of Theatre Research in Canada on Space and Subjectivity in Performance; a CTR issue…
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Interview with Laura Shamas (2008)
In November 2008, The Public Theater in New York City was proud to present a festival of extraordinary theater from today's Native artists. In its second year, the festival featured: three free readings of new works by Native playwrights Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and Eric Gansworth followed by post-show discussions; a discussion with Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and a panel of Native artists on Politics and Performance that was open to the general public; a series of seven Field Discussions designed to convene artists and create an open forum to address and discuss issues facing Native Theater today; and a concert in Joe's Pub by Native and African-American singer Martha Redbone. This video, Interview with Laura Shamas, supplements the 2008 festival records, as a part of an interview series conducted by Tom Pearson. Laura Shamas' (Chickasaw) work has been read/developed/presented at many theaters, including Native Voices at the Autry,…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Leda Martins: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Leda Martins, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Leda Martins is a poet and a Professor of Dramatic Arts and Literature at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and in the Graduate Arts program at FALE/UFMG. She completed a Post-Doctorate in Performance Theories at New York University in 2000. Leda Martins also holds a…
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Interview with Liliana Angulo (2009)
Interview with Liliana Angulo, conducted by Mila Aponte-González, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Liliana Angulo talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements her video installation Négritude, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Visual artist Liliana Angulo graduated from the National University in Bogotá, Colombia with a specialization in sculpture. In her work with different media she explores racial identity and Afro-Colombian culture, among other themes. In addition to national expositions in Colombia such as “International Encounter MDE07—Contemporary Artistic Practices,” “Journey Without a Map: Afro Representations in Contemporary Colombian Art,” and…
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Interview with Lisímaco Núñez (1999)
Interview with Colombian actor and member of the theater ensemble Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC) Lisímaco Núñez, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Núñez talks about his artistic trajectory and his experiences working as a member of TEC. The actor discusses the aesthetic idiosyncrasies of the group, their acting techniques, the choices of dramatic texts, the exploration of elements seemingly external to the theater realm (martial arts, etc.), and some of the theoretical and artistic influences shaping the work of the group. Lisímaco also talks about the interplay between arts and politics, discussing theater as a possible alternative space for social expression. Collective creation is discussed, as well as the points of contact and divergence between the TEC and other renowned Colombian theater groups (like La Candelaria, directed by Santiago García). The artist extends his analysis of the connections between theater groups to the influences and…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw (2007)
Interview with Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw of Split Britches, conducted by Sarah Townsend as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title "CORPOLÍTICAS / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender." Split Britches was founded in 1981 at the WOW Café in New York, United States. The group is part of Staging Human Rights, where they work in prisons in Rio de Janeiro and England. They are also associate artists on the Clod Ensembles performing medicine project.
See more: Split Britches: Interviews
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Interview with Lucy Bolaños (1999)
Interview with Lucy Bolaños, theater director and founder of Colombian all-women's theater ensemble La Máscara, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Bolaños talks about her life in theater, her participation as a member of the Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC), and her foundation of La Máscara in 1972 as an ensemble committed to the exploration and denunciation of women's issues in Colombia. Under the rubric of "the personal is political," La Máscara aspires to be a tool for historical change through social engagement; in this line, Bolaños and her ensemble work with marginalized populations (women, youth), give workshops, teach, and collectively create plays addressing issues of sexuality, domestic violence, homophobia, machismo, political violence, etc. Collaboration is a key strategy throughout their artistic trajectory, having worked with other renowned women in Colombian theater (such as Patricia Ariza and Jacqueline Vidal) and with the international network of women…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Luis Pazos and Héctor Puppo (2007)
Interview with Luis Pazos and Héctor Puppo of the Grupo Escombros, conducted by Marcela Fuentes as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Grupo Escombros emerged in 1988 in La Plata, Argentina as a collective dedicated to street/public art. It was a time of full-blown hyperinflation, where everything seemed to be collapsing, democracy included. The artists asked themselves, "What will be left of our country?" Their answer was, “Los escombros” [the rubble]. That is how their group got its name. Most of their performances take place in open spaces; they are created for and by the people of La Plata; they always reflect current socio-political realities, and they…
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Interview with Luisa Calcumil (2005)
In this interview, conducted by Diana Taylor at the Hemispheric Institutes 5th Encuentro titled Performing 'Heritage': Community Indigenous and Community-Based Practices in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 2005, Luisa begins by introducing herself in Mapudungún (her indigenous language), saying, 'I am a person of the land, the land down south that our dear ancestors called Cold Swamp but is now known as General Roca With the protection of the Great Mother of the Sky, the Great Father of the Sky, the Young Woman and the Young Man of the Sky I have been able to arrive here today.' She tells the story of her difficult childhood and how she came to the world of theater. She also discusses her solo performance, Es bueno mirarse en la propia sombra (Its Good to See Ourselves in Our Own Shadow), which she presented at the Encuentro. Through her work, she wishes to transmit the…
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Interview with Luz Ángela Londoño (1999)
Interview with Luz Ángela Londoño, assistant director of the Festival al Aire Puro ('Open Air Festival'), conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. Londoño discusses her trajectory in theater administration and production, which includes backstage work with renowned theater groups such as Teatro Taller de Colombia and Teatro Libre de Bogotá; this discussion is framed in the broader context of the history and future of contemporary Colombian theater, its political, pedagogical and commercial aspects, and the role of women in its production. Luz Ángela also comments on the distinctive expressive traits, aesthetic resources, mechanisms for communication and conditions of possibility of street theater, and comments on the international street theater festival 'al Aire Puro', organized in Bogota by the Colombian theater group Teatro Taller de Colombia (www.teatrotallerdecolombia.com), where well-known theater troupes form all over the world gather to perform, workshop and share their street theater skills under the slogan 'El…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with María Galindo (2007)
Interview with María Galindo of Mujeres Creando, conducted by Diana Taylor as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography María Galindo is co-founder of Mujeres Creando, an anarchist-feminist group created in 1992 in La Paz, Bolivia, that performs creative actions on the streets, produces videos, has its own newspaper and publishes books of poetry, feminist theory and sexuality, among other things. It is comprised of women of different cultural, social, and ethereal origins, and approaches creativity as an instrument of resistance and social participation.
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Interview with Marcos Malafaia (2005)
Interview with Marcos Malafaia, one of the directors of Brazilian puppet theater company Giramundo, conducted by Marcos Alexandre in the context of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics 5th Encuentro, Performing Heritage, celebrated in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in March of 2005. In this interview Malafaia discusses the origins and history of the group, their construction and manipulation techniques, and the influences and genres at play in Giramundos ongoing research, creation, performance and pedagogy. The artist also discusses the points of contact between arts and politics in the process of performing Brazilian heritage, paying special attention to four renowned plays by Giramundo: Tiradentes, O Guarani, Os Orixás, and Cobra Norato. Finally, Malafai comments on Giramundos latest spectacle, Pinocchio, an adaptation of Carlo Collodis text to puppet theater. Biography Created in 1970 by Brazilian artists Álvaro Apocalypse, Terezinha Veloso and Maria do Carmo Vivacqua Martins (Madu), Giramundo Teatro de Bonecos (www.giramundo.org)…
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Interview with Mapa Teatro (2011)
Interview with Rolf Abderhalden and Heidi Abderhalden, founders and directors of Mapa Teatro, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is focused on the production, organization, theoretical conceptualization, and the experience of the project ‘Witness to the Ruins,’ created by Mapa Teatro in collaboration with former inhabitants of the neighborhood Santa Inés del Cartucho, Bogotá. The conversation discusses the notion of ‘archive’ propelled by this project, which has become a mobile memory for the city. Mapa Teatro’s work subverts and questions the inflexible coherence that an archive usually imposes to memory. During the gentrification process of Bogotá, El Cartucho’s human side was forgotten under the idea of urban progress; Mapa Teatro’s work intends to recover the memories of the citizens evicted from their neighborhood, emphasizing the role of the body as the space where remembering and forgetting become a present experience.…
See more: Mapa Teatro: Interviews
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Interview with Marianela Boán (2001)
Interview with Marianela Boán, conducted by Shanna Lorenz during the 2nd Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2001 in Monterrey, Mexico under the title Memory, Atrocity and Resistance. Marianela Boán is an internationally known choreographer, recognized as one of the most important artists of contemporary Cuban dance and a leader of the Hispanic American dance vanguard. Within the laboratory of her Havana-based company DanzAbierta, Boán evolved a performance methodology called Contaminated Dance, which brings together voice, emotion, posture, gesture, image, language, etc. into a collage structure based in choreography. Boán speaks of her creative process as being "inseparable from the social-cultural process lived by the Cuban artistic vanguard of the 1980s and 90s." She continued to evolve Contaminated Dance with a second company BoanDanz Action, created while completing a Masters Degree in Dance and New Media at Temple University in Philadelphia, US. Boán…
See more: Marianela Boán: Interviews
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Interview with Marie Clements (2008)
In November 2008, The Public Theater in New York City was proud to present a festival of extraordinary theater from today's Native artists. In its second year, the festival featured: three free readings of new works by Native playwrights Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and Eric Gansworth followed by post-show discussions; a discussion with Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and a panel of Native artists on Politics and Performance that was open to the general public; a series of seven Field Discussions designed to convene artists and create an open forum to address and discuss issues facing Native Theater today; and a concert in Joe's Pub by Native and African-American singer Martha Redbone. This video, Interview with Marie Clements, supplements the 2008 festival records, as a part of an interview series conducted by Tom Pearson. Marie Clements (Metis/Dene) is an award-winning performer, playwright, director, screenwriter, producer, and founding artistic director of…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Mario Matallana (1999)
Interview with theater director and founder of street theater ensemble Teatro Taller de Colombia, Mario Matallana, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Matallana talks about the strong experiential, aesthetic and political ties between his theater work and Chicano theater, especially in relation to the work of Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino. Issues of Latino and Latin American identity and solidarity are discussed, as well as the limits and possibilities of political theater as a tool for aesthetic exploration and social intervention. Mario also comments on the aesthetic coordinates of street theater, characterizing the work in Teatro Taller as one devoted to the creation of a 'text of images' through choreography of movement; he considers this type of performance to be political, but with a different language, one that broadens the theater audience and addresses current sociopolitical issues in new expressive ways. As a big discipline…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Martha Redbone (2008)
In November 2008, The Public Theater in New York City was proud to present a festival of extraordinary theater from today's Native artists. In its second year, the festival featured: three free readings of new works by Native playwrights Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and Eric Gansworth followed by post-show discussions; a discussion with Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and a panel of Native artists on Politics and Performance that was open to the general public; a series of seven Field Discussions designed to convene artists and create an open forum to address and discuss issues facing Native Theater today; and a concert in Joe's Pub by Native and African-American singer Martha Redbone. This video, Interview with Martha Redbone, supplements the 2008 festival records, as a part of an interview series conducted by Tom Pearson. Martha Redbone (Choctaw/Shawnee/Cherokee/Blackfeet) is a leading voice in both soul and contemporary Native music. She has…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Megaron Txucarramãe (2005)
Interview with Megaron Txucarramãe, conducted at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentro titled Performing Heritage: Contemporary Indigenous and Community-Based Practices which took place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 2005. In this interview he talks about Kaiapó cultural practices and traditions, as well as their current situation in contemporary Brazilian geopolitics. He also comments on his people's participation in the Encuentro, where Megaron also delivered a keynote address titled The Indigenous Question in Brazil. Biography Megaron Txucarramãe, (leader of the Mebêngôkre/Kaiapó) is one of the most important native leaders in Brazil, with outstanding performance on behalf of his people, Mekragnotire, and of other Brazilian native people. Working at Funai, he acted in Contact Fronts of the Ikpeng and Panará People. In 1984 he took part in the setting of the land boundaries of the Native Land Kapôt - Jarina and, in 1992/1993, of the Native Land Mekragnotire. He was a FUNAI supervisor…
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Interview with Michael John Garcés (2009)
Interview with Michael John Garcés, conducted by Mila Aponte-González, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Garcés talks about his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements Garcés's teach in Community Theater: A Conversation about Methodologies, presented in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Michael John Garcés is the Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles. His credits as a director and playwright include The Humana Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Yale Repertory Theater, The Cultural Center of the Philippines, New York Theatre Workshop, The Guthrie Theater, The Walker Arts Center, A Contemporary Theater, Ensemble…
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Interview with Michelle Matlock (2007)
Interview with Michelle Matlock, conducted by Jill Lane as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Michelle Matlock is a native of Washington State, United States. She graduated from the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City. She began developing her debut solo show The Mammy Project in 2001.
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Interview with Miguel Rubio: Creación colectiva (2012)
In this interview, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Miguel Rubio talks about creación colectiva (collective creation) in Latin America. He points out that creación colectiva is not a theater method, but an attitude that emerged from the stage as a rebellion against the socio-political crises that devastated the continent in the late 60s and early 70s. Rubio gives details about key encounters between Latin American theater directors like Santiago García and Enrique Buenaventura, and how this influenced in Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani’s artistic work. He also explains the role that European artists and thinkers like Bertolt Brecht and Eugenio Barba played in the development of new aesthetic and political proposals in Latin American theater. Rubio notes that, in present times, theater is an interdisciplinary experience, where the spectator also has a prominent, active role. Miguel Rubio Zapata is a director, theater researcher,…
See more: Yuyachkani: Interviews
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Interview with Miguel Rubio: Crisis de representación (2012)
Miguel Rubio Zapata is a director, theater researcher, and founding member of Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani. His most recent directions include: Con-cierto Olvido (2010); El último ensayo (2008); Sin Título-técnica mixta (2004); Hecho en Perú-Vitrinas para un Museo de la Memoria (2001). He is also author of Raíces y semillas: Maestros y caminos del teatro en América Latina (2011), Notas sobre el teatro (2001) and El cuerpo ausente (2008). In this interview, by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Miguel Rubio talks about the crisis of representation related to the atrocities inflicted by political violence during the internal armed conflict in Peru (1980-2000). Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani worked closely with the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The TRC organized the public hearings where the testimonies of the survivors revealed the extremes of violence performed by terrorist groups and the State alike. The group then asked: what…
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Interview with Miriam Álvarez and Lorena Cañuqueo (2007)
Interview with Interview with Miriam Álvarez & Lorena Cañuqueo of the Proyecto de Teatro Mapuche, conducted by Julieta Infantino as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Miriam Álvarez and Lorena Cañuqueo are a part of the Proyecto de Teatro Mapuche is a political theater project founded in 2001, framed within the general contemporary Mapuche movement in Bariloche, Río Negro province, Argentina. Pewma is based on a particular type of dream--the pewma--which has the power of transmitting messages to its dreamer. The memory of the Mapuche people, heavy with the traumatic experience of genocide, is performed in the present through this dream.
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Interview with Miriam Gomes (2007)
Interview with Miriam Gomes, conducted by Claudia Briones as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Miriam Gomes belongs to the Cape Verdean community, an African-descended community that has been in Argentina for over a hundred years. She takes part in different organizations for the defense and diffusion of African cultural values and is the Vice President of the Cape Verde Society in Argentina.
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Interview with Moysés Zúñiga Santiago (2010)
In this interview, conducted by Marcial Godoy-Anativia, associate director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Moysés Zúñiga Santiago talks about his photo exhibit presented in NYC in 2010. His photos portrayed the conflict in Mitzitón, located near to San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Zúñiga explains the political and religious confrontation, as well as the presence of the Zapatismo in this zone. He also speaks about the role of the photojournalist, which must aim for social denounce – given the silence of the mainstream media – in spite of the danger that it involves. Finally, he discusses recent events in Mexican history, and he comments how his recent visit to New York City provoked reflections about life in the streets, and the social, linguistic, and racial contrasts that he noticed. A native of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Moysés Zuñiga Santiago began his study of science and technology…
See more: Additional Interviews
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Interview with Nao Bustamante (2002)
Interview with Nao Bustamante conducted by José Muñoz during the 3rd Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in July of 2002 in Lima, Peru under the title "Globalization, Migration and the Public Sphere." Nao Bustamante is an internationally known performance art pioneer originating from the San Joaquin Valley of California. Her work encompasses performance art, installation, video, pop music and experimental rips in time. Using the body as a source of image, narrative and emotion, her performances communicate on the level of subconscious language, taking the spectator on a bizarre journey, with haunting images, cracking stereotypes by embodying them. Bustamante's work has been presented, among other sites at, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts, and the Kiasma Museum of Helsinki. She has performed in Galleries, Museums, Universities and underground sites throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada,…
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Interview with Pamyua (2005)
In this interview, conducted by Andrew McLean at the Hemispheric Institute 5th Encuentro (Belo Horizonte, 2005), Pamyua's four founding members (Stephen Blanchett, Phillip Blanchett, Ossie Kairaiuak and Karina Moeller) talk about their backgrounds, the origins of the band, and the ways their music blends traditional Yup'ik songs with African-American musical influences such as gospel, R&B, jazz and funk to create a unique new Native style. They speak of their experience as urban natives and their relationship to their roots, a relationship that for them has entailed a delicate process of cultural negotiation between different traditions and generations. Among other things, they discuss how they are viewed by the Yup'ik elders, what problems are facing their communities and how they are called upon as new culture bearers to revitalize Yup'ik identity among the youth.
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Interview with Pancho López: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
In this interview, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Pancho López talks about his beginnings and his experience in the field of performance art in Mexico. He describes the composition of his performances, and the metaphorical suggestions that they entail. He also discusses the reactions of the audience with regards his performances in public spaces, highlighting the fact that quotidian life is more complex than any performance. Pancho López is a Mexican performance artist interested in every day life and how it connects with performance. He works at Museo Universitario del Chopo where he organized the Performagia International Performance Art Festival, and he is also director of Eject international videoperformance art festival presented since 2006 at Ex Teresa arte Actual. He has participated in shows and performance art festivals in Colombia, Chile, Canada, Uruguay, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, China, Spain, Portugal, Cuba and…
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Interview with Patricia Ariza (1999)
Interview with Patricia Ariza, theater director, playwright and founder of renowned Colombian theater ensemble Teatro La Candelaria (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.co), conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. "Creación colectiva" (collective creation), political theater, feminism, and current Colombian socio-political and cultural issues are some of the topics covered by Ariza. The artist talks about her role in the creation and trajectory of La Candelaria as well as the joint effort of this ensemble and the Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC) to create the Corporación Colombiana de Teatro as a mechanism to facilitate a theoretical and practical forum for the discussion, organization, and support of Colombian theater. Furthermore, Patricia comments on her activist and artistic work with marginalized sectors of the Colombian population (women, indigenous people, immigrants, prisoners, etc.), developing interdisciplinary artistic projects designed to empower these communities, exploring the possibilities of collective creation in order to elicit social change. Ariza also discusses the…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Patrick Anderson: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Patrick Anderson, conducted by Marcial Godoy-Anativia, associate director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Patrick Anderson is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego, where he is also affiliated with the Critical Gender Studies Program and the Ethnic Studies Department. Anderson graduated from the School of Communication of Northwestern University with a…
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Interview with Randy Reinholz (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Randy Reinholz, conducted by Yvette Nolan as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Randy Reinholz, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is co-creator and artistic director of Native Voices. He has directed close to fifty plays across the US and Canada. Reinholz was the director and executive producer of Urban Tattoo and the critically acclaimed Equity productions of 'Jump Kiss,' 'The Buz'Gem Blues,' and 'Please Do Not Touch the Indians' and was the executive producer of the 2005 world premiere of…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Rebecca Schneider: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Rebecca Schneider, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Rebecca Schneider is Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University. She teaches performance studies, theater studies, and theories of intermedia. She is the author of The Explicit Body in Performance (Routledge 1997) and Performing Remains: Art and War in…
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Interview with Regina José Galindo (2010)
Interview with Regina José Galindo, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Regina Galindo talks about the difference of being an artist or an activist during the years of violence in Guatemala -- she reflects upon the risks involved in the artist’s work, finally stating that, in fact, any Guatemalan is at risk in their quotidian lives. According with her clear, rational vision of art, activism is something different and more involved; for her, the role of the artist is to create artwork, which might not have a direct impact in social change, but can promote a new dialogue among citizens. Galindo strongly states that she does not think that she is changing the world; however, the fact that she is not involved in a radical change does not mean that she is not working for a better society. Therefore, she proposes a…
See more: Additional Interviews
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Interview with Reverend Billy and Savitri D (2007)
Interview with Reverend Billy (William Talen) and Savitri D. of the Church of Stop Shopping, conducted by Jill Lane as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Reverend Billy and Savitri D. are performers based in New York, United States. The couple directs the Church of Stop Shopping, a radical performance community that uses the styles of fundamentalist televangelism and works within the tradition of The Civil Rights Movement, The Liberation priesthood of Latin America and ACT-UP.
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Interview with Richard Schechner: What is Performance Studies? (2001)
Interview with Richard Schechner, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Richard Schechner is a theater director, performance theorist and university professor known for being one of the founders of the academic discipline of Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Professor Schechner combines his work in anthropology with innovative approaches to…
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Interview with Roberto Gutiérrez Varea and Violeta Luna (2007)
Interview with Roberto Gutiérrez Varea and Violeta Luna of Secos y Mojados, conducted by Sarah Townsend as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biographies Secos y Mojados is a Latino performance collective co-founded by Violeta Luna (Mexico), Víctor Cartagena (El Salvador), David Molina (Argelia/El Salvador) and its director, Roberto G. Varea (Argentina). The collective is based in San Francisco, California (USA). Roberto Varea (director) was born in Argentina and lives in San Francisco, California, United States, since 1992. His work focuses on issues of performance and its relationship to state violence and resistance movements. Violeta Luna is an actress and a performance artist. She obtained her graduate degree…
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Interview with Rocío Boliver (2009)
Interview with Rocío Boliver, conducted by Antonio Prieto Stambaugh, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Rocío Boliver talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements her performance Sonata para pepáfono y voz, Opus 140, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Rocío Boliver, La Congelada de Uva, has been active in the art world since 1992. She began her career as a performer in 1992 with a reading of her porno-erotic texts, focusing her critique on the repression of women.
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Interview with Rosa Luisa Márquez (2006)
Rosa Luisa Márquez (www.marquezmartorell.org) is a Puerto Rican theater artist and pedagogue. Founding member of the theater group Anamú in 1971, she holds a master's degree from New York University and a Doctorate from Michigan State University; she specializes in contemporary theater. Rosa Luisa started her teaching career at the Theater department of the University of Puerto Rico in 1978. She developed the current curriculum of Drama Activities, which she teaches in her workshops at schools, prisons, rehab centers, women's shelters, nursing homes and community centers. Her directing projects include "Romeo(s) y Julieta(s)," "Historias para ser Contadas," "La Leyenda del Cemí," "Procesión," "Waiting for Godot," "Jardín de Pulpos", "Absurdos en Soledad," "El León y la Joya," among others. In conjunction with Puerto Rican visual artist Antonio Martorell, she created the concept of Itinerant Performers (1987-1990) resulting in twelve productions. Published books include "Brincos y saltos: el juego como disciplina…
See more: Rosa Luisa Márquez: Interviews
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Interview with Rosemary Richmond (2005)
Rosemary Richmond (Akwesasne Mohawk of the Bear Clan) is a third-generation member of New York City's American Indian Community. She has worked for the American Indian Community House (AICH) since 1975, and has been its Executive Director since 1987. Under her leadership, AICH has grown from a loose consortium of groups and individuals into a multi-faceted social support and cultural center. In this interview, Richmond talks about the history of the AICH and the services the organization provides for the Native community in New York City. This interview also complements the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library project's American Indian Community House Collection. It is also featured on-line in the Hemispheric Institute's web cuaderno titled Native Performance in New York City at the American Indian Community House.
See more: AICH: Interviews
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Interview with Rossana Reguillo (2011)
Interview with Rossana Reguillo, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In this interview, Professor Reguillo speaks about how fear, interplaying with other emotions like anger and hope, is structurally used by different governments to shape politics of passions. She maps recent historical events to analyze how state authorities control fears and hopes of citizens all over the Americas. She also analyzes the conflict between the Mexican government and the ‘narco’ criminal culture as the site where politics of passions strongly emerge. For her, these convulse relationships function as machines that produce uncertainties - the basis for political emotions. Examples such as the events of September 11 illustrate how fear and anger are attributed to certain subjects, who become the ‘monsters’ to be punished. Toward the end of the interview, Professor Reguillo speaks about current civil society movements of resistance, such as Occupy…
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Interview with Rossana Reguillo: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Rossana Reguillo, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Rossana Reguillo Cruz is a research professor in the Department of Sociocultural Studies at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, ITESO in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she coordinates the program of research in Sociocultural Studies. Her current areas of study include youth and urban culture,…
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Interview with Rulan Tangen & Leland Chapin (2007)
Interview with Rulan Tangen (Dancing Earth) and Leland Chapin (Los Colores Studio), conducted by Jennifer Cayer as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender (http://hemi.nyu.edu/eng/seminar/2007/index.html). Rulan Tangen is a lifelong dance artist living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. She is the director and choreographer of the internationally acclaimed Dancing Earth Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations (www.dancingearth.org). Leland Chapin (http://www.myspace.com/coloresstudio) is a bilingual visual artist and art instructor living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. He holds a bachelors degree in Fine Art and a masters degree in Teaching Visual Art. He is also an alumnus of Teach for America, 2001-2003.
See more: Dancing Earth: Interviews
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Interview with Santiago García (1999)
Three-session interview with Santiago García, theater director, theorist, playwright, and founder of renowned Colombian theater ensemble Teatro La Candelaria (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.co), conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this extensive interview, García discusses key topics germane to his artistic work, narrating his first experiences in theater, the artistic trajectory of La Candelaria (founded in 1966, and still one of the most important theater groups in Latin America), and his personal take on popular theater, collective creation, the influence of Brechtian theories in his artistic work, the role of the director in collaborative artistic collectives, and the state of the scenic arts in Colombia in the context of economic and political crisis. Santiago also comments on the influences and points of contact between Latin American and Latino theaters based on his personal experiences traveling and working with different theater groups, including Chicano theater ensemble El Teatro Campesino; under the rubric of…
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Santiago García (2009)
Interview with Santiago García, conducted by Mila Aponte-González, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Santiago García talks about his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements Teatro La Candelaria's performance A título personal, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Santiago García is a renowned Colombian actor, playwright, theater director, and educator born in 1928. He has been the director of Teatro La Candelaria since 1966 when it was founded by a group of independent artists and intellectuals. Engaged in an ongoing exploration of national folklore, events, and characters, much of their repertoire was created…
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Interview with Sayuri Guzmán (2007)
Interview with Sayuri Guzmán, conducted by Maja Horn as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender Biography Sayuri Guzmán is an artist, arts critic and teacher in the Dominican Republic. She studied fashion design at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) and has a B.A. in Art History and Criticism. Guzmán currently organizes the International Festival of Performance and Action Art "perforMar: espacio de convergencia" in the Dominican Republic.
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Interview with Sheila Tousey (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Sheila Tousey, conducted by Diane Glancy as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Sheila Tousey (Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee) has acted in many productions in NYC and regional theaters across the U.S. Some of the directors she has worked with include Joann Akalaitis, Joe Chaiken, Linda Chapman, Kennetch Charlette, Liviu Ciulei, David Esbjornson, Hanay Geiogamah (American Indian Dance Theater), Muriel Miguel, Lisa Peterson, Elizabeth Theobald Richards, Sam Shepard, Tony Taccone, Paul Walker and Robert Woodruff. Sheila, along with Maria Vail and in collaboration with Sam…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Soledad Falabella: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Soledad Falabella, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Soledad Falabella Luco (Universidad de Chile, Universidad Diego Portales) received her Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from UC Berkeley in 2001. She is the director of ESE:O, a Non-profit Organization that promotes collaborative writing projects, in order to strengthen communities’ local and global participation.…
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Interview with Soni Moreno (2006)
In this interview, Soni Moreno (Mayan/Apache/Yaqui) reflects on her earlier years as a performer, arriving in New York City, and finding the American Indian Community House(AICH). During this time she also met her singing partner, Pura Fe (Tuscarora), and started the group Ulali (www.ulali.com). She reminisces about all the performances she has seen and participated in during her years at the AICH, including prestigious performers such as jazz musician Jim Pepper (Kaw) and rock star Robbie Robbertson (Mohawk). She talks about the different projects that have taken place at the AICH, ranging from comedy to drama to dance in the gallery and in the Circle. Soni has taken part in several collaborations over the years, and recalls working on the Vagina Monologues and the L Word soundtrack with Matou, the Moari Native American group with which she is currently performing.
See more: AICH: Interviews
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Interview with Stella Giaquinto & Nora Mouriño (2007)
Interview with Stella Giaquinto and Nora Mouriño of the Grupo de Teatro Catalinas Sur, conducted by Julieta Infantino as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title "CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender." The Grupo de Teatro Catalinas Sur (www.catalinasur.com.ar) is a popular theater group (a hundred performers--orchestra--big puppets) from the neighborhood of La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Interview with Steve Elm (2005)
Trained at London's Rose Bruford College, Steve Elm (Oneida) has appeared as an actor in film, television and on the stage. Elm has worked as a playwright and director with London's Common Body Theatre, University of Manchester (England), the American Indian Community House (AICH) Youth Theatre Project, and was a founding member of Chuka Lokoli Native Theatre Ensemble in New York City. He has also worked as an actor with the Only Make Believe company in New York City and as an actor/teacher with CUNY's Creative Arts Team. In this interview, conducted by the Hemispheric Institute's Native curator Raquel Chapa, Elm focuses on his past work and his struggle to fight stereotyping in Native theater. This interview also complements the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library project's American Indian Community House (AICH) Collection. It is also featured on-line in the Hemispheric Institute's web cuaderno titled Native Performance in New York City…
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Interview with Sue-Ellen Case: What is Performance Studies? (2010)
Interview with Sue-Ellen Case, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinatesof both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Sue-Ellen Case is Distinguished Professor in the School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Director of the Center for Performance Studies. A past editor of Theatre Journal, ProfessorSue-Ellen Case has published widely in the fields of German theatre, feminism…
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Interview with Suely Rolnik (2009)
Interview with Suely Rolnik, conducted by Pablo Costa, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Suely Rolnik talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements her keynote Furor de arquivo, presented in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Suely Rolnik has degrees in Sociology and Philosophy from the Université Paris VIII and a degree in Psychology from the Université Paris VII. She teaches at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo and is a visiting professor in the Program of Independent Studies at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MacBa) and the Official Master's program…
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Interview with Susana Cook (2007)
Interview with Susana Cook, conducted by Mila Aponte-González as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title "CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender." Susana Cook (www.susanacook.com) is an Argentinean-born, New York-based political theater worker. Since 1991, she presented more than 16 original shows in NY. During the 1980s, she presented her pieces at the Centro Parakultural in Buenos Aires.
See more: Susana Cook: Interviews
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Interview with Tania Bruguera (2009)
Interview with Tania Bruguera, conducted by José Muñoz, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Tania Bruguera talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements Bruguera's performance Untitled (Bogotá, 2009), showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Tania Bruguera is a political artist who works primarily in behavior art (arte de conducta). Her work explores the role of the audience in performances and the relationship between ethics and desire. Bruguera is interested in creating political situations through her work. She has exhibited and performed at Documenta, Vienna Biennials, and museums such as the Tate…
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Interview with Tavia Nyong'o: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Tavia Nyong'o, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Tavia Nyong'o is Associate Professor in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University. He graduated in Social Studies at Wesleyan University, and later obtained his Doctoral degree in American Studies at Yale University. Professor Nyong’o is a cultural historian with a focus on…
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Interview with Teddy Cruz (2009)
Interview with Teddy Cruz, conducted by Diana Taylor, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Teddy Cruz talks about his take on how his particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. This interview complements his participation in a round table on Architecture, Geography, and Visuality, presented in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Biography Teddy Cruz is an Associate Professor in Public Culture and Urbanism in the Visual Arts Department at University of California. He has been recognized for his urban research of the Tijuana-San Diego border, and for his work on housing and its relationship to an urban policy more inclusive of social and…
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Interview with Teresa Hernández (2006)
Teresa Hernández is a Puerto Rican stage artist. Since 1987 she has written, directed and performed contemporary theater and dance, both in Puerto Rico's commercial and experimental art scenes. Along with choreographer Viveca Vázquez, she directs and administers the Taller de Otra Cosa, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to the development and production of experimental dance and performance projects. As a solo artist, she produces her work since 1991 through her organization "Producciones Teresa, no Inc." She also offers workshops, talks and performance demonstrations for high school and college students. Teresa's creative projects are characterized by a consistent eschewing of traditional artistic categories. Theater, dance, performance, dramatic text, movement, costumes, video and everyday objects are juxtaposed and confronted, placed in a liminal space where notions of precariousness are explored and celebrated. Teresa's characters explore and expose the anxieties of everyday life in Puerto Rican society, transversally investigating issues of gender,…
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Interview with Teresa Ralli (2000)
Interview with Teresa Ralli, founding member of Grupo Cultural Yuyahckani, conducted by Diana Taylor in the context of the first Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2000. Ralli discusses the role of women in Yuyachkani in the context of issues of politics and gender in Peru. Topics covered include women's role in society, the difficulty of making a living as professional female theater practitioners, and how the women artists' work with Yuyachkani provides them with a space for self-reflection about these roles and also the space to play with/challenge them. For the artist, theater has been a space for personal growth, aesthetic exploration, and social intervention. Teresa talks about the interplay between Yuyachkani's workshops with Peruvian women (dealing with issues of sensibility, bodily awareness, and memory), their theater performances, and their political activism in Peru, both in terms of the…
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Interview with Terry Gomez (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Terry Gomez, conducted by Edward Wemytewa as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. Terry Gomez is from the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. She is a published and produced playwright, published writer, theater director, actor and painter. Her play 'Inter-tribal' was produced as a staged reading at The Public Theater in New York City and published in the anthology 'Plays by Women of Color.' Other plays produced in various New Mexico venues include 'Inter-tribal,' 'Reunion,' 'The Antigone,' 'A Day at the Night Hawk,' 'Carbon Black,'…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Tomás Ybarra-Frausto (2002)
Interview with Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, conducted by Sean Cook for the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (www.hemisphericinstitute.org). Formally the Associate Director for Creativity and Culture at the Rockefeller Foundation, Tomás Ybarra-Frausto's work with the division included the Humanities Residency Fellowship Program, Museum Program, US-Mexico Fund for Culture, and La Red Latino Americana de Productores Culturales. Prior to his work at the Foundation, Tomás was a tenured professor at Stanford University in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. As a leading historian and theorist in the field of Chicano Studies, he has written extensively on the subject and has been instrumental in defining the canons of Chicano art. Tomás has served as chair of the Board of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and chair of the Smithsonian Council. In 1999, he was awarded the Henry Medal by the Smithsonian Institution. He received a Ph.D. in Spanish in 1979 and an…
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Interview with Tracy Davis: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with Tracy Davis, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Tracy C. Davis is a specialist in performance theory, theatre historiography, and research methodology. She holds a Doctoral degree in Theatre Studies from the University of Warwick and she is currently Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama at Northwestern University and President…
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Interview with Vicky Hernández (1999)
Interview with Colombian actress Vicky Hernández, conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this interview, Hernández narrates her experiences as a theater actress with renowned theater ensembles such as La Candelaria, Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC), Teatro Popular de Bogotá (TPB), and the Teatro Nacional, as well as her trajectory as an actress for TV and film. In the light of the political climate and economic crisis of late 20th-century Colombia, the artist poses a commentary on how cultural policies are played out in Colombian theater, TV, and cinema industries. Comparing and contrasting the different aspects and techniques of acting in these realms, Vicky discusses the importance of the actor's training and education, stressing it as an urgent need to strengthen the artistic métier in her country.
See more: Colombian Theaters Interview Series
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Interview with Vicky Takamine (2005)
In this interview, conducted at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentrom Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2005, Takamine talks about how hula dance has served as a tool for transmission of native Hawaiian traditions, as a mode of resistance against colonialism, and as a site for the discussion of issues of intangible cultural heritage. Biography Vicky Holt Takamine is the founder and kumu hula (master teacher) of Pua Ali'i 'Ilima, a school of traditional Hawaiian dance. In addition, she teaches hula at UH Mānoa and Leeward Community College. She graduated through the 'ūniki rituals of hula from Maiki Aiu Lake. Vicky received her BA and MA in Dance Ethnology from the University of Hawai'i. She is well respected throughout the Hawaiian community for her cultural expertise and advocacy work on behalf of Hawaiians, their cultural traditions, and the protection and preservation of the cultural and natural resources of Hawai'i. In 1997, Vicky coordinated…
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Interview with Vicky Holt Takamine and Jamaica Osorio (2009)
Interview with Vicky Holt Takamine and Jamaica Osorio, conducted by Diana Taylor, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Vicky Holt Takamine and Jamaica Osorio talk about their take on how their particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. Part of the interview incorporates an impromptu spoken word moment by Osorio. This interview complements the performance Hula as Resistance, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. Vicky Holt Takamine is the founder and kumu hula (master teacher) of Pua Ali'i 'Ilima, a school of traditional Hawaiian dance. In addition, she teaches hula at UH Manoa and Leeward Community College. She graduated through the 'uniki…
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Interview with Victoria Kneubuhl (2008)
In November 2008, The Public Theater in New York City was proud to present a festival of extraordinary theater from today's Native artists.In its second year, the festival featured: three free readings of new works by Native playwrights Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and Eric Gansworth followed by post-show discussions; a discussion with Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and a panel of Native artists on Politics and Performance that was open to the general public; a series of seven Field Discussions designed to convene artists and create an open forum to address and discuss issues facing Native Theater today; and a concert in Joe's Pub by Native and African-American singer Martha Redbone. This video, Interview with Victoria Kneubuhl, supplements the 2008 festival records, as a part of an interview series conducted by Tom Pearson.Victoria Nakani Kneubuhl (Native Hawaiian/Samoan) is a Honolulu playwright and author. Her many plays have been performed in…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Viveca Vázquez (2007)
Interview with Viveca Vázquez, conducted by Beliza Torres as a part of the 6th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the title CORPOLÍTICAS en las Américas: Formaciones de Raza, Clase y Género / Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender.
See more: Viveca Vázquez: Interviews
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Interview with Vivian Martínez Tabares (2009)
Interview with Vivian Martínez Tabares, conducted by Mila Aponte-González, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. This 10-day event brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship. In this interview, Vivian Martínez Tabares talks about her take on how her particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. Biography Vivian Martínez Tabares is a Cuban critic, researcher, editor, and professor, whose work has been compiled in critical anthologies, and she has collaborated in specialized publications in the Americas and Europe. She directs the journal on Latin American Theatre Conjunto, and has recently published a compilation of her reviews in Pensar el teatro en voz alta (To Think on Theatre Aloud). She is presently Cultural Attaché…
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Interview with W. B. Worthen: What is Performance Studies? (2007)
Interview with W. B. Worthen, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. W. B. Worthen is Alice Brady Pels Professor in the Arts, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Barnard College, Columbia University. He is the author of several books, including The Idea of the Actor (Princeton University Press 1984), Modern Drama…
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Interview with William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with William S. Yellow Robe, Jr., conducted by Hanay Geiogamah as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series. William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. has been writing plays for over thirty years. He is a member of Assiniboine/Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Indian reservation, located in Northeastern Montana. He is the first Assiniboine playwright to receive the 'First Book Award for Drama,' a Princess Grace Fellowship-Award (Theater fellowship), a Jerome Fellowship, a New England Theater Conference Award for Excellence. Yellow Robe's full-length play, 'Grandchildren of Buffalo…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Yvette Nolan (2007)
In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Yvette Nolan, conducted by Randy Reinholz as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series.Yvette Nolan (Algonquin from Kitiganzibi) is a playwright, dramaturg, and director. Her plays include 'Annie Mae's Movement,' 'BLADE,' 'Job's Wife,' 'Video,' the libretto 'Hilda Blake' and the radio play 'Owen.' Directing credits include 'The Triple Truth,' 'The Only Good Indian...' (Turtle Gals), 'Tales of an Urban Indian,' 'The Unnatural and Accidental Women,' 'Annie Mae's Movement' (Native Earth). As a dramaturg, she works across Canada, most recently as the Festival Dramaturg for Saskatchewan…
See more: Native Theater Festival Interview Series
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Interview with Yuyachkani-Memory of the Theater (2001)
Synopsis: Interview with Ana Correa and Teresa Ralli, members of Peruvian theater ensemble Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, conducted by sociologist and Dean of the Universidad Católica's School of Communication Arts and Sciences, Luis Peirano, for Peru's TV Channel 7 show 'Memoria del Teatro.' In this interview, conducted in the context of the celebration of the International Women's Day, Peirano, Correa and Ralli discuss the role of women in Peruvian theater. Topics covered include women's role in society, the difficulty of making a living as professional female theater practitioners, and how the women artists' work with Yuyachkani provides them with a space for self-reflection about these roles, a creative realm where to play with and challenge them. For Ralli and Correa, theater has been a space for personal growth, aesthetic exploration, and social intervention.The artists discuss the interplay between their workshops with Peruvian women (dealing with issues of sensibility, bodily awareness, and…
See more: Yuyachkani: Interviews
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Interview with Zeca Ligiéro: What is Performance Studies? (2011)
Interview with Zeca Ligiéro, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Zeca Ligiéro has a bachelor degree from the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (1972), MA in Performance Studies, New York University (1988), Ph.D. in Performance Studies - New York University (1997. He is currently Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio…