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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Savage Beauty

Marty Rea and Aisling O'Sullivan. Photo: Aaron Monaghan
By Brian Scott Lipton

I was recently in a restaurant where a baby shower was taking place, the young mother-to-be beaming at the center of a table festooned with balloons proclaiming “It’s a Girl.” I was tempted to ask her if she’d ever gone to the theater.

Obviously, many mothers and daughters have long and happy relationships. It’s just that you don’t see them that often on the stage. In fact, many of the 20th century’s greatest playwrights have shone their spotlight all too brightly on this most complex and difficult of familial situations. Take Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, where the self-sufficient Amanda Wingfield gets repeatedly frustrated with her handicapped, painfully shy daughter Laura (“Oh! I felt so weak I could barely keep on my feet! I had to sit down while they got me a glass of water! Fifty dollars’ tuition, all of our plans—my hopes and ambitions for you—just gone up the spout, just gone up the spout like that.”) to Marsha Norman’s devastating “’Night Mother,” where mom Thelma faces, not always effectively or politely, the possibility of depressed daughter Jessie committing suicide.

More recently, we’ve witnessed Tracy Letts’ devastating August Osage County, during which eldest daughter Barbara finally loses her patience after one of her drug-addicted mother Violet’s nastiest outbursts, tackling her to the ground and loudly announcing what she erroneously believes is a now-permanent shift in their power dynamic. (“You don’t get it: I’m in charge now!”)

And then there’s perhaps the most toxic of all mother-daughter relationships—the one between elderly Mag Folan and her 40-year-old spinster daughter Maureen in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a Druid production at the BAM Harvey Theater from January 11 to February 5.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Give the .gif of BAM!


via GIPHY

2016 has been an exhausting year for all of us, but we still have hope. Here's to you, our audiences, for remaining so inquisitive, engaged, and adventurous through it all. To express our appreciation, we looked to some of our favorite moments from BAM's history for new ways to keep our season bright.

Using GIPHY, spread the spirit and send these festive .gifs to friends and loved ones via Facebook, Twitter, or text. Happy holidays, and cheers to 2017!

Friday, December 9, 2016

Watery Magic Onstage


Lothar Odinius and Olga Peretyatko in The Nightingale and Other Short Fables. Photo: Jack Vartoogian

By David Hsieh

L’Amour de Loin, the first opera by a female composer presented on the Metropolitan Opera stage in over a century, will be shown at BAM Rose Cinemas this Saturday (Dec 10) as part of the Met: Live in HD series. The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with librettist Amin Maalouf, drew from a 14th-century troubadour legend as a source. It tells of two lovers pining for each other across the vast ocean, which in this Robert Lepage production is embodied by 28,000 LED lights.

In a New York Times interview, Lepage explained why he went for the illusion of water: “Water is like doing a show with young children and animals and insects. It will do what it wants, and you don’t have any control over it.”

We at BAM know that Lepage speaks from experience, because this recognized theater wizard and BAM Iconic Artist (coming back this Spring!) has put real water on our stage before. That was The Nightingale and Other Short Fables (2011 Winer/Spring Season), an opera production consisting of several short Stravinsky music theater pieces. For The Nightingale, a fairy tale set in ancient China, Lepage adopted a Vietnamese water puppetry tradition with performers immersed in a pool of 12,000 gallons of water. The custom-made water tank was sunk in the orchestra pit. What the audience saw was a luminescent surface where small boats glided by, a puppet fisherman hauled in his nets, and birds darted above it—an experience that The Wall Street Journal called “spell-binding.”

Thursday, December 8, 2016

In Context: Amplified




The Dublin Guitar Quartet and composer Michael Gordon redefine what the guitar can be as an ensemble instrument. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #Amplified.

In Context: CITIZEN





Choreographer Reggie Wilson returns to BAM with a brand new work inspired by African-American figures throughout history who chose not to leave their home country in spite of pervasive racism. CITIZEN is a dense and timely work, so to give you greater insight into the production, we’ve compiled resources below. Start with Wilson’s introduction, reading list, and our BAMblog piece for context, then explore the other links for a more in-depth experience. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #ReggieWilson.

Holiday Party Tips from Mrs. Stahlbaum

Photo: Julieta Cervantes
Struggling to kindle that seasonal spark? Desperate to spice up your hum-drum holiday? Never fear, Mrs. Stahlbaum is here with enough flair and Christmas-tree flocking to transform any celebration. Study her stampede of tips, tricks, and treats, then see the party-master herself at work in Mark Morris Dance Group's The Hard Nut, coming to the Howard Gilman Opera House December 10—18!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

CITIZEN—A Note from Reggie Wilson

Choreographer Reggie Wilson (Moses(es), 2013 Next Wave; The Good Dance - dakar/brooklyn, 2009 Next Wave) returns to BAM next week with CITIZEN—a brand new work inspired by African-American figures throughout history who chose not to leave their home country in spite of pervasive racism. A note from Wilson follows.



I am excited to return to the BAM Next Wave Festival with a new dance.

It’s amazing how life and current events change the perception and meaning of artwork. I began researching CITIZEN in spring 2014 during a visit to Paris. I was intrigued by a portrait of Jean Baptiste Belley. Who was this man? Who painted the portrait and why? Who was able to commission a full-figure portrait of a black man in 1797? Who decided to continue to save this portrait during the political upheavals? How was it determined that this painting should be housed at Versailles (the only image of a black person in the entire collection—a self proclaimed bastion of French heroes). Why was this painting not on public display? Why are there so few paintings of black folks in “history” who aren’t enslaved, wild, or caricatured?

In Context: The Hard Nut

Photo: Julieta Cervantes




Mark Morris Dance Group’s beloved reimagining of The Nutcracker—a lavish, gender-bent love letter that playfully preserves the warm spirit of an essential holiday tradition—returns to BAM for the holidays. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #TheHardNut.

Friday, December 2, 2016

In Context: Brent Green & Sam Green: Live Cinema


A showcase of work by animator Brent Green and documentarian Sam Green, this live video event features foley sound by artist Kate Ryan, live narration by the filmmakers, and music by Brendan Canty (Fugazi), James Canty (Nation of Ulysses), and others. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BrentGreenSamGreen.

In Context: The Winter’s Tale


Director Declan Donnellan and Cheek by Jowl take up Shakespeare’s most fundamental questions in this fiercely contemporary staging of the Bard’s late masterpiece of wit and wisdom. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #TheWintersTale.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Two Greens, Unrelated

Photo: Gayle Laird
Known separately for singular performances combining cinema with live musical accompaniment and narration, self-taught animator Brent Green and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green (unrelated) make their Next Wave debuts with a collaborative program, Brent Green and Sam Green: Live Cinema, at the BAM Fisher, Dec 7—10. Foley sound artist Kate Ryan and a band comprising Brendan Canty (Fugazi), James Canty (Nation of Ulysses), and Becky Foon (Silver Mt. Zion) perform live alongside the cinematic proceedings: flickering stop-motion forays into the Southern Gothic from Brent, engrossing documentaries about provincial dreamers and doers from Sam. The result is a unique live art experience that fuses the energy and immediacy of a rock show with cinema’s immersive storytelling capabilities.

Adriana Leshko: Could you each briefly describe the work of the other?

Sam Green: I always come back to the word “protean” in describing Brent’s work. His live cinema work is so powerful and odd. He narrates but he’s really just singing his pieces. Brent is one of those artists who is channeling something: his work isn’t calculated or premeditated. He’s tapping into some weird rural Pennsylvania thing that goes back to his family. Brent and I take turns narrating short films in this piece, and I’m both intimidated and proud to follow him.

Brent Green: One thing I really love about Sam’s work is his insatiable curiosity. His journalistic background [Sam has a master’s degree in journalism from University of California Berkeley, where he studied documentary with acclaimed filmmaker Marlon Riggs] drives him deep down rabbit holes, where he encounters... new rabbit holes. And dives into those. I was at his studio a couple weeks ago, and he showed me an entire file of watermarked pictures—he was enamored with the watermark. He cares about things no one else cares about. Until he tells you about them and makes you care about them, too.

Monday, November 28, 2016

CITIZEN—Being and Belonging

Raja Kelly. Photo courtesy Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel
By Christian Barclay

In 1936 Josephine Baker, then already a major star in Europe, returned to America to star in the Ziegfield Follies. The production featured choreography by George Balanchine, music by Vernon Duke, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. In spite of the marquee names, the show was a flop. Many critics specifically attacked Baker’s performance, labeling her “a Negro wench,” incapable of portraying a woman of sophistication and power. Disgusted and disheartened, Baker renounced her American citizenship and moved to France. She wouldn’t perform in the US again for over a decade.

CITIZEN, the newest work from Reggie Wilson and the Fist & Heel Performance Group, was inspired by the challenges that Baker and other black artists and activists faced in America––and the reasons why some ultimately chose to leave. The piece is predicated on the concept of belonging, and asks the questions “What does it mean to belong?” and “What does it mean to not want to belong?”

In Context: 50 Song Memoir


Stephin Merritt and his seven-member band celebrate his 50th birthday with two distinct programs of new songs, one for every year of his melodious existence. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #50SongMemoir.

In Context: A Gun Show

Sō Percussion’s gives the Second Amendment a soundtrack in this affecting foray into America’s fraught relationship with guns, directed by Obie-winning director Ain Gordon. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #AGunShow.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Colson Whitehead on The Underground Railroad



On September 26, author Colson Whitehead came to BAM to discuss his most recent novel, The Underground Railroad, a sweeping narrative of pre-Civil War slavery that rockets from past to present through one woman’s escape from the horrors of bondage.

Whitehead read an excerpt from the novel, which just won the National Book Award for fiction, and discussed how he came to write the book, his research process, its resonance today, and more with Lisa Lucas, president of the National Book Foundation.

Listen to the full talk below:




The Colson Whitehead talk was part of our Unbound literary series, presented in partnership with Greenlight Bookstore.

In Context: On the Road



Choreographer Zvi Gotheiner and his company retrace Jack Kerouac’s most infamous route in this evening-length work, a synthesis of sensuous movement, original music, and kaleidoscopic video footage. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #ZviDance.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

In Context: The Tree of Life








More than 100 musicians and singers from the Wordless Music Orchestra perform live accompaniment to a special screening of Terrence Malick’s 2011 masterpiece starring Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #TheTreeofLife.

Monday, November 14, 2016

In Context: Thank You for Coming: Play


Brooklyn-based choreographer Faye Driscoll makes her BAM debut with the second work in her Thank You For Coming trilogy, exploring the fractured nature of language. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #FayeDriscoll.

In Context: Memory Rings



Phantom Limb Company chronicles 5,000 years of environmental change in this series of surreal wordless vignettes, a phantasmagoric mix of puppetry, music, and macabre fairy tales. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #MemoryRings.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Reflecting on Guns, part of A Gun Show




As part of Sō Percussion’s A Gun Show (Nov 30—Dec 3), a percussive exploration of our nation’s obsession with guns, BAM is partnering with StoryCorps to create a platform for you to share your experiences with guns. 
 
Please follow these simple instructions to share your story:

1. Create an account on StoryCorps.me from your desktop computer.

2. Join the BAM community Reflecting on Guns, part of A Gun Show at BAM. You can only do this from your desktop computer.

3. Download the StoryCorps.me app to your phone.

4. Prepare for your recording! You can record either a solo reflection or an interview. In either case, make sure to do a short introduction with your name(s), location, and some context.

5. Use the following prompts to guide your conversation:
  • Describe your first memory of guns.
  • Have you ever held a gun? If not, have you ever wanted to?
  • How does gun use impact your day-to-day life in the United States?
NOTE: while you can record up to 45 minutes, recordings can also be as short as a minute.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

In Context: Rules Of The Game

Choreographer Jonah Bokaer and visual artist Daniel Arsham celebrate a decade of collaboration in this evening of three works featuring an original score by Pharrell Williams. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #RulesOfTheGame.

Monday, November 7, 2016

In Context: Plexus


French physical theater maverick Aurélien Bory takes Japanese dancer Kaori Ito, entangled in a dense field of 5,000 black nylon wires, as both muse and instrument. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #AurelienBory.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

A Gun Show—Weaponized Instruments


Photo: Stephanie Berger
By Christian Barclay

An abstract exploration of a visceral issue, Sō Percussion’s A Gun Show (Harvey Theater, Nov 30—Dec 3) uses music, text, and movement to explore America’s relationship with guns. The collective’s signature use of unconventional percussive objects––in this case, a decommissioned Russian army rifle––enrich the compositions and reflect the ensemble’s sonic associations with American gun culture, ranging from militaristic rhythms to mournful blues.

After the jump, Sō Percussion’s Adam Sliwinski discusses the catalyst for the show and the complexities of exploring a multi-faceted issue through music.

Monday, October 31, 2016

In Context: Pavement





Renowned dancer-choreographer Kyle Abraham makes his BAM debut with a work inspired by, among other things, the 1991 hip-hop classic Boyz N the Hood, W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk, and Abraham’s childhood growing up in the Pittsburgh Hill District. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #KyleAbraham.

In Context: Kings of War


Three Shakespeare kings enter the fluorescent-lit corridors of the present in Ivo van Hove’s clever merging of the plays Henry V, Henry VI Parts I, II & III, and Richard III. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #KingsofWar.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

A Forest of Threads—Plexus, Director's Note

French physical theater maverick Aurélien Bory (Sans Objet, 2012 Next Wave) Japanese dancer and choreographer Kaori Ito as both muse and instrument in Plexus, coming to the BAM Harvey Theater Nov 9—13. A note from Bory follows.

Kaori Ito. Photo: Aurélien Bory
Once again my aim was to depict the portrait of a woman, not in the ways of a painter, a photographer or a writer, all very superior in the matter, but I brought body and space into play as the sole focal lens. And dance as the first perspective.

Conceiving Kaori Ito’s portrait through the means of the stage has been a whole process. The scenic device was not a concept we started with. Its design has resulted from a long research period, after several weeks of rehearsal.

On the first days, among other ideas and trials, I had a life-sized puppet made; it was a very realistic scale model of Kaori. “Here is your dance teacher,” I told her. Kaori spent many hours observing and mimicking its movements. From this creation model, I kept only the strings and unfurled them into the whole space. The marionette remained in Kaori’s body.

In Context: A Star Has Burnt My Eye



Howard Fishman’s new play tells the recently uncovered story of Connie Converse, a polymathic songwriter in the 1950s who vanished without an audience or album to her name but left behind a treasure trove of groundbreaking home recordings. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #AStarHasBurnt.

Friday, October 21, 2016

In Context: Request Concert






A middle-aged, middle-class woman (Polish actress Danuta Stenka) goes about her well-worn evening ritual in Franz Xaver Kroetz’s devastating, wordless 1971 experiment in hyper-realism. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #RequestConcert.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Memory Rings—A Giving Tree

Photo: Sierra Urich
By Robert Jackson Wood

The world’s oldest tree is a 5,062-year-old Bristlecone Pine located somewhere—only scientists know exactly where—in California’s White Mountains. The world’s oldest account of deforestation is perhaps in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a 4,100-year-old tale of a man who, among other things, levels acres of cedar trees on his quest for fame.

If the tree could talk, then, it wouldn't tell stories about the good old days. But it might complain about how much worse things had gotten. How to understand exactly what has changed?

It's just one of the questions obliquely posed by Memory Rings (coming to the BAM Harvey Theater, Nov 17—20), the newest work from Phantom Limb Company, led by Erik Sanko and Jessica Grindstaff.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Rules Of The Game—Playing Together Nicely

Rules Of The Game. Photo: Sharon Bradford
Rules Of The Game, a new collaboration between Jonah Bokaer, Daniel Arsham, and Pharrell Williams, is on a program with RECESS (2010) and Why Patterns (2011) at the Howard Gilman Opera House from Nov 10—12. Bokaer answered some questions about ROTG.

Susan Yung: How much of Pirandello’s story/text is present in Rules Of The Game?

Jonah Bokaer: The work is actually loosely inspired by the original text from Pirandello. At the beginning of this creation, I gave each of my collaborators a Pirandello text as a point of departure for Rules Of The Game (also the name of another Pirandello play-within-a-play), which is the play within Six Characters in Search of an Author.

Friday, October 14, 2016

In Context: Rememberer



Architecture doubles as instrument in this compelling collage of offbeat pop songs and live construction from the band Open House, inspired by Henry Miller’s novella The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #Rememberer.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

In Context: Letter to a Man



Mikhail Baryshnikov steps inside the splintered psyche of Vaslav Nijinsky in director Robert Wilson’s staging of the iconic Russian dancer’s diaries recording his schizophrenia. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #LettertoaMan.

In Context: Vortex Temporum



Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker returns with a dance meditation on late French composer Gérard Grisey’s spectral 1996 masterpiece. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #VortexTemporum.

Monday, October 10, 2016

In Context: Monchichi



Polyglot performance duo Wang Ramirez (Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez) employ their signature dance-theater aesthetic in this riveting duet, part of the Brooklyn-Paris Exchange. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #WangRamirez.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Playing with Theater

Photo: Géraldine Aresteanu
by Yoann Bourgeois

Minuit (“Midnight”) is a theater show designed by a circus artist. This is an important
distinction; the show plays with the very notion of theater as a concept and as a
physical space.

The show reinvents itself according to the particularities of each theater, with the stage
stripped down to reveal the technical rigging behind it, as if the stage itself is the set. “Playing with the theater” is therefore true in the most literal sense. The emptiness of the space brings the ensuing acts into sharp relief as objects accumulate and pile atop one another on stage. We are left at the blurred boundary between performance and creation. The stage becomes a climbing frame whose composition is part of the show.

The idea of “playing” bridges the entirety of my work. It’s the starting point for my creative process, finding out how to play together. I use the word “play” in the widest sense possible. I like its mechanical definition in French: the space between two objects that allows them to move.

On a deeper level, the idea of play has led me to explore, construct, and deconstruct the physical forces that act upon us—in particular the concept of “non-action,” a balancing of forces whereby a performer reacts to the forces upon them without initiating movement themselves. There is powerful dynamism in that struggle.

What these ideas have in common is that they render a suspension point perceptible. For a juggler, the suspension point is that brief moment when an object thrown in the air arrives at the summit of its arc before it falls. That’s what I’m looking for: the absolute present of that moment. It’s the ideal place—the peak before the fall, that moment of weightlessness, the moment when everything is possible.

Minuit, part of the Brooklyn-Paris Exchange, plays the BAM Fisher through Saturday, October 8. The show is currently at capacity, but standby tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis before each performance.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

A Man of Letters

Mikhail Baryshnikov. Photo: Lucie Jansch
“I am one of Nijinsky’s voices,” Mikhail Baryshnikov commented to a French publication about Robert Wilson’s new one-man-show Letter to a Man, at the BAM Harvey October 15—30. The one-hour play is based on the diaries of dancer and choreographer Vaclav Nijinsky who, despite a short career, left a deep and lasting mark on 20th-century dance. (He created two landmark works of ballet modernism, L’Après-midi d’un Faune and Le Sacre du Printemps.) The fact that Nijinsky’s dancing was never captured on film and that much of his own choreography was lost to time adds to his mystique. Tragically, he went insane at the age of 29 and spent the rest of his life in and out of sanatoriums. The voices Baryshnikov refers to are the disordered identities that collide in his diaries.

Reimagining the Majestic Theater

“I can take an empty space and call it a bare stage.
A man walks across this empty space whilst someone
else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for
an act of theatre to be engaged.”
— PETER BROOK
Interior of the Majestic (now the BAM Harvey Theater) circa 1987.

Monday, October 3, 2016

In Context: Minuit


Acrobat Yoann Bourgeois and his dazzling collaborators capture the body’s ineffable moment of weightlessness while in motion in this series of vaudevillian vignettes. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BourgeoisMinuit.

In Context: Neither







Celebrated choreographer and painter Shen Wei (Park Avenue Armory, 2011; 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony) makes his much-anticipated BAM debut with this danced realization of Morton Feldman’s 1977 anti-opera for orchestra and soprano. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #ShenWei.

Monday, September 26, 2016

On Truth (and Lies) in Suicide, Continued

Geneviève Mnich in Savannah Bay. Photo: Rebecca Greenfield
By Nora Tjossem

In November of last year, BAM gathered a packed audience in the Fishman Space for one of the most intimidating titles we’ve presented: On Truth (and Lies) in Suicide. On the white-walled set of Savannah Bay (a Marguerite Duras play performed by Paris’ Théâtre de l’Atelier as part of the 2015 Next Wave Festival) three scholars and writers intimately acquainted with matters of mental health gathered to discuss one of the most taboo subjects in contemporary America. The conversation ranged from the deeply personal to the widely philosophical, providing a much-needed space to talk both critically and empathetically about suicide and mental health.

This month, in honor of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, we at BAM would like to extend the conversation beyond our talk, joining a movement across the country to open up dialogue surrounding suicide. In the audio linked below, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison and author Andrew Solomon speak openly about their personal experiences with mental health issues alongside philosopher Simon Critchley. Their frankness sets an example for talking about the difficult subject of suicide and demonstrates how crucial these conversations are.



Suicidal thoughts can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or background. If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately.

In Context: Battlefield



Director Peter Brook returns with this tale of reconciliation in the wake of war, a breathtaking distillation of the central story of The Mahabharata, the ancient Sanskrit poem Brook first staged at the BAM Harvey Theater in 1987. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BattlefieldBAM.

In Context: Songs of Lear


Poland’s Teatr Piesn Kozla (Song of the Goat Theater) make their BAM debut with this breathtaking song cycle, transforming Shakespeare’s classic into a feverish deluge of polyphonic sound. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #SongsofLear.

Friday, September 23, 2016

In Context: The Hunger





Composer Donnacha Dennehy’s opera about the Great Famine of 1845—52 brings together new music and old Irish songs, featuring ensemble Alarm Will Sound, folk singer Iarla Ó Lionáird, and soprano Katherine Manley. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #TheHungerOpera.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

The Bessies Return to BAM on Oct 18!

Pam Tanowitz's Heaven on One's Head.
Photo: Christopher Duggan
After 25 years, the Bessie Awards return to BAM this fall! The ceremony celebrating the New York Dance and Performance Awards, named in honor of legendary teacher and dance advocate Bessie Schönberg, takes place in the Howard Gilman Opera House on Tuesday, Oct 18 at 7:30pm.

What are now known simply as the Bessies were founded in 1983 by David White, then executive director/producer of Dance Theater Workshop, and originator of the short, densely-packed award citations that encapsulate each artist or show’s essential qualities. More importantly, White established the basic structure for nominating and selecting recipients. While it has evolved over the years, most notably since Lucy Sexton became producer in 2010 (and subsequently executive director), the ultimate process remains true—to honor outstanding creative work in the field.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The Mahabharata: A Summary

Poet and sociologist Carole Satyamurti has spent most of her life working as a professor at the Tavistock Clinic in London, occasionally publishing her own volumes of poetry. Then in 2015, she published Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling, an elegantly accessible English language rendition of the Indian epic told in 900 pages of blank verse (that’s three times as long as Paradise Lost). Below, peruse Satyamurti's introduction to better prepare for Brook’s latest directorial masterpiece, Battlefieldcoming to the BAM Harvey Theater Sep 28–Oct 9.


Love, loss, heroism, envy, loyalty, humor, spiritual aspiration, ethical and political dilemmas—the Mahabharata, the great epic poem of ancient India, brings to life all these timeless human experiences, and more. The central story concerns a royal warrior dynasty, and the bitter rivalry between two sets of cousins: the five Pandava brothers and the hundred Kaurava brothers. The eldest Pandava, Yudhishthira, is the legitimate heir to the kingdom, but Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, disputes his entitlement, and seeks repeatedly to eliminate his cousins. The Pandavas have a great ally: Krishna, who is an incarnation of the god, Vishnu. The Pandavas are themselves descended from gods, owing to a boon bestowed on their mother, Kunti.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

In Context: Remains


Choreographer John Jasperse mines his legacy and lineage for this danced rumination on our existence in time, featuring a score by composer John King. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #JohnJasperse.

In Context: The Undertaking



Two actors investigate the twilight between being and non-being in this new work by acclaimed Brooklyn theater company The Civilians, part of the Brooklyn-Paris Exchange. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #The Undertaking.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

In Context: monumental









Canadian dance troupe the Holy Body Tattoo joins forces with post-rock legend Godspeed You! Black Emperor to offer monumental—a searing indictment of the daily grind coming to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Sep 16 & 17. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #monumentalBAM.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

In Context: portrait of myself as my father


Brooklyn-based choreographer nora chipaumire performs a visceral exploration of African masculinity in portrait of myself as my father, coming to the BAM Fisher September 14–17. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #norachipaumire.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

In Context: Phaedra(s)


Isabelle Huppert is the incestuous queen Phaedra in this carnal triptych combining multiple versions of the salacious Greek legend, coming to the 2016 BAM Next Wave Festival Sep 13—18. Context is everything, so get even closer to the show with this curated selection of related articles, sounds and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #Phaedras.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

#WSxBAM: Bridge Over Mud

The writer-operated, Bushwick-based library Wendy’s Subway comes to BAM this fall for Next Wave Art, offering audiences the chance to read, write, and engage with selections from its extensive collection of historical and contemporary print publications. The Wendy's Subway Reading Room will include works on theater, dance, performance theory, and contemporary poetics and showcase titles curated by Next Wave artists performing in the BAM Fisher building, rotated monthly.


Below, peruse an annotated reading list from Verdensteatret—the creators of Bridge Over Mud, a new work of object theater coming to the BAM Fisher Sep 7—10. Then, visit the Wendy's Subway Reading Room and dive into any of the titles on their "Selected Reading" list.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

In Context: the loser


A downcast piano student recounts a life lived in the shadows of a famous friend in David Lang’s the loser, coming to the 2016 BAM Next Wave Festival Sep 7—11. Context is everything, so get even closer to the show with this curated selection of related articles, sounds and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #theloserBAM.

In Context: Bridge Over Mud


DIY Norwegian art collective Verdensteatret transform the Fishman Space in Bridge Over Mud, coming to the 2016 BAM Next Wave Festival Sep 7—11. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #BridgeOverMud.

Friday, August 26, 2016

BAM Online Study Guides: A Partnership with
The Frederick Loewe Foundation


This past school year, with the support of The Frederick Loewe FoundationBAM Education launched BAM Online Study Guides, a new resource designed to deepen our engagement with the 15,000 students who attend our school-time performances and screenings each year. Developed with guidance from New York City teachers of all grade levels, BAM’s Online Study Guides empower students to make profound connections between BAM’s artistic work—including Next Wave, Winter/Spring, BAMkids, and cinematic presentations—and what they learn in the classroom. They incorporate BAM’s unparalleled artistic resources, from video clips to step-by-step enrichment activities that link themes and content with academic goals in literature, history, social studies, reading, writing, public speaking, and more.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

From Olympics to Neither

Neither. Photo: Stephanie Berger
By David Hsieh 

In 2002, just two years after Shen Wei founded Shen Wei Dance Arts, Anna Kisselgoff wrote in The New York Times: “If there is something to write home about in the dance world, it is the startlingly imaginative work of the Chinese-born choreographer Shen Wei.”

The verdict was prescient. As a dancer and choreographer, Shen Wei has performed on the world’s greatest stages and museums, including one of the biggest—the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, when he choreographed the segment called “Scroll” for the opening ceremony. With a single “qin” (an ancient Chinese plucked string instrument) providing the lean, spare music, a dozen dancers moved on a giant sheet of cotton paper laid at the center of Beijing National Stadium “Bird’s Nest.” As they spun and twisted, their paint-soaked sleeves marked the paper—mysterious until the end, when a giant Chinese landscape emerged.

Friday, August 12, 2016

Tragedy, Power, and Catharsis: Ivo van Hove's Theatrical Humanism

Ivo van Hove's Kings of War. Photo: Jan Versweyveld
By Christian Barclay

For director Ivo van Hove, 2015-16 was a banner theater season. He made his Broadway debut in late 2015 with a hyper-minimalist staging of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, cementing his status as one of contemporary theater’s most distinctive directorial voices. New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley wrote: “This must be what Greek tragedy once felt like, when people went to the theater in search of catharsis.” Van Hove soon followed with Lazarus, at New York Theater Workshop, a collaboration with Irish playwright Enda Walsh and David Bowie, and The Crucible, also a hit on Broadway, with an ensemble cast including Saoirse Ronan and Ben Whishaw. Call it a coincidence of good timing; the Belgian director was now suddenly a formidable presence in the theater capturing the notice of even the most casual theatergoers.