NUYORICAN POETS CAFE and NoPassport present

NoPe - NoPassport Conference

DREAMING THE AMERICAS: UTOPIA IN PERFORMANCE

NoPassport and Nuyorican Poets Cafe present a two-day conference with the support of The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, The Internationalists, 50/50 in 2020, Conni's Avant-Garde Restaurant, and New Dramatists

Initiated and Curated by Caridad Svich

Co-curated by Daniel Banks & Daniel Gallant

Pre- Conference Event:

FEBRUARY 25, 2010 at New Dramatists, NYC from 6-8 PM

Across the Universe with NoPassport Press

Join Tanya Barfield, Oliver Mayer, John Jesurun, Mathew Maguire, Amparo Garcia-Crow, Alejandro Morales, Chiori Miyagawa and press editors Otis Ramsey-Zoe and Stephen Squibb

for a conversation & celebration of publications of their plays from NoPassport.

*Admission for this event is free.

Conference @ Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC:

Friday, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, FEBRUARY 27, 2010 11:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Registration/cover required: $25.

Pre-registration available online now at http://www.nuyorican.org/calendar.php?r=0&eid=350

Venue has limited seating. Early registration online Recommended.

For further information contact NoPassportPress@aol.com 

Join Migdalia Cruz, Erik Ehn (Brown University), Henry Godinez (Goodman Theatre), Jeff Janisheski (O’Neill Theater Institute), Lisa D'Amour, Catherine Filloux, Karen Hartman, Melanie Joseph (Foundry Theatre), Jeff McMahon, Oliver Mayer, Chiori Miyagawa, Katie Pearl, J.T. Rogers, Ian Rowlands, Alberto Sandoval, Octavio Solis, Saviana Stanescu, and a distinguished roster of established and emerging artists for the fourth annual NoPassport “Dreaming the Americas” Conference held at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City with pre-conference event at New Dramatists.

This two-day conference (and pre-conference event) will focus on a wide range of contemporary works for theatre and performance, viewing physical, metaphorical, and digital utopian spaces from a variety of formal and creative perspectives. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Erik Ehn and Henry Godinez. Special lunch event from Conni’s Avant-Garde Resturant. There will also be a book launch for the release of four new volumes from NoPassport Press from Migdalia Cruz, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Octavio Solis amd Saviana Stanescu.

Preliminary Schedule–Program is subject to radical change

FEBRUARY 26, 2010 Panels:

11:00 WELCOME/OPENING REMARKS

with DANIEL BANKS (DNAWORKS), DANIEL GALLANT (Executive Director, Nuyorican Poets Cafe), CARIDAD SVICH (Playwright; founder, NoPassport)

11:30 AM-12:50 PM APPLIED THEATRE: GENOCIDE DRAMA IN COMMUNITY 

Moderated by BIANCA BAGATOURIAN (Playwright & President of Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance) and MEGAN MONAGHAN (Dramaturg)

Panel: MARCY ARLIN (Immigrants Theater Project), STACIE CHAIKEN (Storyteller/Performer),ERIK EHN (Playwright), CHRISTINE EVANS (Playwright, to be confirmed), CATHERINE FILLOUX (Playwright), J.T. ROGERS (Playwright), KELLY STUART (Playwright)

*This is an Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance session.

1:00-1:45 PM KEYNOTE by ERIK EHN: UTOPIA IS THE SHADOW OF DISASTER

Erik Ehn is Head of Playwriting at Brown University, and former Dean of California School of the Arts.

We are in the middle of an extraordinary time, if utopia is understood to include moral diversity (heaven and hell). The ways in which we are being disregarded, forced into strange shapes, misunderstood, privileged, urged - are now (briefly) the fracture that permits growth. Making art in holy shadow in obedience to disaster.

2:00-2:45 PM LUNCH with CONNI'S AVANT-GARDE RESTAURANT

This special lunch/performance costs $10 (separate from registration and at event only).

Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant (a Village Voice Choice and Time Out New York favorite), is not a locale but a group of bold (if fictional) theatrical performers, devoted to the ongoing celebration of the work of Conni Convergence, the beloved icon of stage and screen. Hailed as “devilish dinner theatre” by The New York Daily News, these unique theatrical-culinary events mix the ingredients of fine food and drink, brash Vegas-style song and dance spectacle, and a loving sendup of avant-garde pomposity. www.avantgarderestaurant.com

3:00-5:00 PM IMMERSIVE THEATRE: SITES OF MEMORY/PRACTICE

Moderated by Tamilla Woodard and Jake Witlen

Panel: MELANIE JOSEPH (Artistic Director, The Foundry), MALLORY CATLETT (director), STEPHEN SQUIBB (C-Artistic Director, Woodshed Collective), LISA D'AMOUR (Playwright), KATIE PEARL (Director/Performer), IVAN TALIJANCIC (Artistic Director, Wax Factory), IAN ROWLANDS (Playwright; Advisor, Welsh Arts Council), MELISSA FENDELL (Founder, The Anthropologists) and more TBA *This is an Internationalists session.

5-6 PM DINNER BREAK

6 PM HENRY GODINEZ (Goodman Theatre): NEW HORIZONS FOR NEW VOICES

6:30-7:50 PM NOPASSPORT PRESS BOOK LAUNCH

Moderated by OTIS RAMSEY-ZOE

MIGDALIA CRUZ, OCTAVIO SOLIS, KAREN HARTMAN, CHIORI MIYAGAWA, SAVIANA STANESCU with ALBERTO SANDOVAL, PRISCILLA PAGE, JOHN EISNER, JEAN RANDICH, SHARON FRIEDMAN,

NoPassport Press presents excerpts from new work (read by authors) and a conversation about the global voice in the age of globalization with five writers who have newly available plays, along with scholars and theatre-makers who've written about their work.

FEBRUARY 27, 2010 PANELS:

11:00 AM: “Utopia/Dystopia & The Global South: The Networked Self in Performance"

With CARIDAD SVICH (playwright & founder, NoPassport)

a reflection on inscription, virtual spaces, the wired self and writing about and for the Global South.

11:30-12:50 AM THEATRE-MAKING AS AN ACT OF UTOPIA-MAKING: 50/50 in 2020

Jenny Greeman & Melody Brooks (New Perspectives), Julie Crosby (The Women’s Project), Susan Jonas, and more TBA

New Perspectives Theatre Company, The Women’s Project, The League of Professional Theatre Women and 50/50 in 2020 explore what it means to make art in a culture that only values capital. Is the act of creation a radical act? Can theatrical space be viewed as utopian space? The panel will investigate these theoretical questions and move toward practical solutions for reassessing the value of theatre and its makers. In particular, representatives of the newly formed 50/50 in 2020 will share their plan for achieving parity for women artists by 2020.

1:00-2:10 PM IDIOM magazine: BETWEEN ART AND THEATRE

Moderated by S.C. SQUIBB (Editor of Idiom). Panelists TBA

Idiom is an online publication of urban artistic practice. By allowing emerging artists, writers and arts professionals to report on, review, and otherwise cover overlooked or under-thought aspects of the larger creative community, Idiom offers a local, engaged counterpoint to the prevailing discourse of contemporary art. www.idiommag.com

2:15 PM JEFF McMAHON: COUNTER INDICATIONS

Counter Indications, a collaboration between writer Jeff McMahon and media designer Jacob Pinholster, is a live performance/installation examining forced confessions, the parameters of what is considered "cruel and unusual" treatment, and the role of influence in determining truth.

Jeff McMahon, Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre and Film at Arizona State University, is the recipient of 8 NEA Fellowships in Choreography. His live  works combining live speech and movement with media have been presented since 1980 at P.S. 122, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, PS 1, LACE, Cleveland Performance Art Fest., Jacob's Pillow, Highways, and numerous other venues in the U.S. and Europe.  He recently completed a writing residency at the Edward F. Albee Foundation. www.jeffmcmahonprojects.net

3-4 LUNCH BREAK

4-6 PM NEW DRAMATURGIES: ARTS AND/IN THE ACADEMY

Moderated by JEFF JANISHESKI (O'NEILL THEATRE INSTITUTE) and ELEANOR SKIMIN

Panel: ELAINE AVILA (Playwright, University of New Mexico), KATE FLEISS (Canadian Theatre Alliance), CHARLOTTE MEEHAN (Playwright, Wheaton College), LISA SCHLESINGER Playwright, Columbia College Chicago), MATTHEW MAGUIRE (Playwright, Fordham University), LINSEY BOSTWICK (Big Art Group), and more TBA

6-6:30 PM CLOSING

7:00 PM RECEPTION at venue TBA.

*

NoPassport was founded by playwright Caridad Svich in 2003. It is an unincorporated theatre alliance & press devoted to cross-cultural, Pan-American performance, theory, action, advocacy, and publication. Caridad Svich and NoPassport is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of [Caridad Svich & NoPassport] may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. www.caridadsvich.com/NoPassport

The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance strives to fulfill its mission of projecting the Armenian voice on a world stage through theater and film by offering contests for new writing, play readings and various educational programs. For more information, please see www.armeniandrama.org or www.biancabagatourian.com

The Internationalists is a collective of directors from around the world whose mission is to create a more open, sustainable and interactive global theatrical community.  We foster creative diplomacy in order to build bridges between artists and audiences of all nations.  By developing a global network of artists, we promote the creation of contemporary performance with an emphasis on cross-cultural exchange and collaboration.  www.theinternationalists.org

CARIDAD SVICH is an award-winning playwright, translator and lyricist. Her adaptation of Allende's The House of the Spirits premiered February 2009 at Repertorio Espanol in NY. She is alumna playwright of New Dramatists, founder of NoPassport, associate editor of Contemporary Theatre Review (Routledge/UK), and contributing editor of TheatreForum. Visit her at www.caridadsvich.com