Play Journal’s Sally Oswald curates with Jennifer Tsuei:

EXPERIMENTAL TEXT FESTIVAL
Presented by the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator
May 10-13, 2007

Six jewel-like performances created by artists from Poetry, Theater, Dance,
Film, and Visual Art. Each project features a graphically dynamic, unusually
notated, and formally rebellious text that calls for new approaches to
staging and performance.

Featuring new work from Bronwen Bitetti, Karinne Keithley, Rachelle Knowles,
Tan Lin, Johanna Linsley, Ruth Margraff, and Jason Szalla. Lighting by
Jeanette Yew. Curated by Sally Oswald and Jennifer Tsuei.

Thursday, May 10: 7pm
Friday, May 11: 8pm
Saturday, May 12: 7pm
Sunday, May 13: 7pm (with post-show reception)

All shows performed every night. Run time is 90 minutes.
Tickets are $10. Reservations recommended.
To purchase in advance, visit www.ontological.com or call 212-352-3101.

Performances at the Ontological Theater, upstairs at St. Mark’s Church.
131 East 10th Street at 2nd Ave. 4/5/6 to Union
Square. 6 to Astor Place. L to 3rd Ave or 1st Ave.

More about the plays after the jump… (in alphabetical order)
CASTING OFF by Bronwen Bitetti directed by Jeremy Wilhelm
Three collage images function as play texts in this piece exploring
degenerative disease and the liminal space between life and death.

DO NOT DO THIS EVER AGAIN by Karinne Keithley
A video adaptation of a freestanding operetta from Do Not Do This Ever
Again. The operetta materializes Marie Antoinette and Esme the Cat in Maine,
as they wander about nothingness and listen to the deer sing.

CONVERSATIONS FOR YOU AND ME by Rachelle Knowles with text by Jenny Levison
Visual artist Knowles knocks experiment off its pedestal with playwright
Levison in a page-based response to the festival’s mission.

DISCO EATS ITSELF by Tan Lin with Flash design by Danielle Aubert
A text transforms into a disco, with its seamless flow of all-night,
4-to-the-floor grooves. Poet Tan Lin conjures a theatrical synaesthesia as
a disco video track plays against live performers and an animated text.

LEARNING SKILLS PROGRAM by Johanna Linsley directed by Katrina Bugaj
Learning Skills Program provides a gently insistent overview of one current
approach to Particular Algebra. Objectives include: lightly drifting from
categorized levels of abstraction, observing mathematical operators and
intuiting concrete solutions. All levels welcome.

OVER THE GARDEN WALL by Ruth Margraff directed by Brooke O’Harra
A drawing-room theatrical version with the whole of the stage business built
right in, or high art for amateurs. Guaranteed performable by any amateur
anywhere. No rehearsal necessary.

COPY 8852 by Jason Szalla
Copy 8852 is an alcohol fueled, candy flavored transcribed,
circum-conversation about River Phoenix, Pop Culture, and Contemporary Art.
Anonymity will be the new celebrity. Now and then in the Viper Room a museum
can be found . . .