STAGE

2017

Three performers walk forward wearing various oversized masks (one a geometric diamond, the other two curvy, feathery, and fantastic). Photo by Maria Baranova.

Four performers lunging to the side, looking out performatively, and holding each other in groups of two on a stage. Photo by Maria Baranova.

Two performers face each other while the stage crew removes a backdrop in front of them. Photo by Maria Baranova.

Two performers embrace, while another looks out from the corner of his eye. Photo by Maria Baranova.

Four performers walk out from the wings onto a proscenium stage. In the orchestra, a percussionist and flutist play. Photos by Derek Fowles.

The shadows of four performers standing together are cast on the back wall of a stage in a large spotlight. Photo by Brian Rogers.

“It is enough to make us stop in our tracks and reconsider everything we have been led to believe about theater.”

— Hilary Tanabe, Culturebot, “Entering the Fifth Dimension: Yanira Castro’s STAGE”

STAGE, a visual and aural fantasia with live music, explored the role of theatrical devices in forming and defining what an audience sees through a choreography of performer and stage machinations. A rotating cast of four performers delved into their personal dance histories, creating a mashup of modern dance techniques.

STAGE was commissioned by Abrons Arts Center’s Playhouse.

Team

Director, Choreographer: Yanira Castro

Collaborators & Performers: Kyle Bukhari, Simon Courchel, Leslie Cuyjet, devynn emory, Iréne Hultman, Luke Miller, Sai Somboon, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Pamela Vail, Tara Aisha Willis, Darrin Wright

Installation/Lighting Designer: Kathy Couch

Costume Designer: Miodrag Guberinic

Dramaturg: Susan Mar Landau

Composer/Programmer/Interaction Designer: Stephan Moore

Musicians: Stephan Moore, Scott Smallwood, Suzanne Thorpe

Stage Managers: Reilly Horan

Tech Crew: Kris Bergbom, Natalie Davery

Marketing Assistant: Tara Sheena

Premiere

Abrons Art Center Playhouse, New York, NY, September 14–23, 2017

Presentations

Amherst College, Amherst, MA, January 31–February 1, 2020

Press

Hilary Tanabe for Culturebot, “Entering the Fifth Dimension”

Martha Sherman for her blog, Dance View Times, “In Dialogue with a canary torsi,” Part 1 and Part 2

Funding

The creation of STAGE was made possible, in part, by a generous commission from Abrons Art Center.

CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR was also made possible with the support of a grant from The Jerome Foundation, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, and Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR was also made possible by our generous Kickstarter donors.

The development of CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR was made possible, in part, by Yanira Castro’s participation in Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Dance Development program, and the work was developed as part of the Extended Life Dance Development program, made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. STAGE was created with support from the Abrons Arts Center through the Abrons AIRspace Residency Program.

Video

Works