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V I D E O   I N S T A L L A T I O N

Video still by Nora Ligorano/Marshall Reese

August 27 - September 3 (closed Sunday) 12-6pm
Opening Reception: August 27 (Fri) 5-7pm

The Kitchen Art Gallery presents two video screenings reflecting on media, language and power. Offered in conjunction with the Imagine Festival, this program aims to raise consciousness on simple acts of citizenship (like voting) as important and necessary engagements in political action. Voter registration materials will be available in the space. With the slide show, Lineup: The Unofficial Portraits, New York-based artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese examine public trust and its too frequent abuse and betrayal by political figures. Before You Don't Vote...—a documentary video by media artist/journalist Larry Litt—features fast-paced, cross-cut interviews with over fifty politically involved American writers, artists and activists commenting on democracy's past, present and future.

This event is part of the Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues & Ideas, a citywide cultural festival, Aug 28 - Sept 2, designed to inspire, instigate and support civic engagement through the arts. www.imagine04.org

T H E A T E R

photo credit: Richard Termine

September 9-11 (Thu-Sat), 14-18 (Tue-Sat) 8pm
$20

Dead Puppet Talk conjures a hypnotic world where puppet performers silently act out scenes from a "play within the play" as actors wryly speculate on the puppets' raison d'être. This "talking opera" marks Roman Paska's return to New York after four years as Director of the International Institute of Puppetry (Charleville-Mézières, France), the world's foremost center for puppet theater. Developed at the 2004 Sundance Theatre Laboratory at White Oak, it features the director's signature blend of elegant puppets inspired by anatomical dolls and artists' mannequins, film interludes, and a score of electro-acoustically altered blues and traditional music mixed live at each performance.

The Kitchen's presentation of Dead Puppet Talk is made possible with generous support from the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater.

O P E N   K I T C H E N   [ F A M I L Y   E V E N T ]

photo credit: Dae-Seung Seo

September 18 (Sat) 2-5pm Free
Rain or Shine
Location: 19th Street (between 10th & 11th Avenues)
Hotline: 212-255-5793 x10

Come kick off our fall season with the annual Kitchen Neighborhood Street Fair—an eclectic mix of outdoor shows, surprise acts by street performers, interactive artists' booths and the best in local cuisine. Main stage highlights include Slavic brass band Zlatne Uste's toe-tapping tunes; West African/American group Mamma Tongue's soulful harmonies; Jollyship the Whiz-Bang's band of brigands, braggards, and musical maritime puppets; and veteran storyteller Abike Jotayo's fusion of historical stories and African folk-tales. Hosting the afternoon is the "Bemused Blonde of Performance Art" (The New York Times) Julie Atlas Muz in a rare daytime appearance.

P U P P E T R Y   /   D A N C E

photo credit: Margaret Ryon

September 23-25 (Thu-Sat) 8pm
September 25 (Sat) 2pm
$20/$10 under 18
Lunch break performance: September 24 (Fri) 12pm $10

Director/designer: Amy Trompetter
Choreographic director: David Neumann
Lead actor: TBA
Performers: Trudi Cohen, Christopher Green, Sophia Holman, Ricardo Muniz, Jessica Valadez

Papier maché puppets of all sizes, a chorus of puppeteers and dancers, a fiery "hell mouth" and a miraculous deus ex machina set the stage for this delightful piece by master puppeteer/director Amy Trompetter and Bessie award-winning choreographer David Neumann. The collaborative team illuminates Oscar Wilde's fairytale The Happy Prince, in which a weeping statue, so large only a portion of it can be seen at one time, longs to give his jewels to the suffering poor. Trompetter's production of The Barber of Seville, revived with Neumann at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2003, was critically acclaimed as "the best sort of rethinking of the basic opera repertory now taking place" (The New York Times).

The Kitchen's presentation of The Happy Prince is made possible with generous support from the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater.

V I D E O   /   D A N C E

September 18-October 30

D A N C E   /   M U S I C

photo credit: Water Courses (2003) Photo: Paula Court

Program 1: New Work for Ensemble
September 29-October 2 (Wed-Sat) 8pm

Program 2: Hemispheres
October 6-9 (Wed-Sat) 8pm
$20

Choreography: Molissa Fenley
Music: John Bischoff, Joy Harjo, Bun-Ching Lam (Program 1), Anthony Davis (Program 2)
Music performed live by Anthony Davis and Kitchen House Blend (Program 2)
Dancers: Ashley Brunning, Tessa Chandler, Molissa Fenley, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Cassie Mey, Paz Tanjuaquio
Costumes: Rei Kawakubo and Ralph Rucci

Molissa Fenley and Dancers joins forces with composer Anthony Davis and The Kitchen's ten-piece House Blend band to restage the critically acclaimed Hemispheres (Program 2), last seen in its entirety at its 1983 BAM premiere. Propelled by Davis's Bessie-winning score, the seductive churning of the dance packs a percussive punch that is hard to resist. The two-week run also features new work for ensemble (Program 1): the world premiere of Lava Field with music by John Bischoff, Kuro Shio set to a score by Bun-Ching Lam, and Water Courses, a dance of swirling eddies banked by poet Joy Harjo's taped vocal composition.

Dance programs at The Kitchen are sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

The Kitchen House Blend band appears live with a generous grant from the American Music Center's Live Music for Dance Program.

O P E N   K I T C H E N   [ W O R K S H O P ]

photo credit: Sarah East Johnson

October 4 -December 13 (Mondays, except October 11)
4:45-5:45pm (ages 5-14) $160
6-7:45pm (adults) $200

Instructors: LAVA veterans Diana Greiner and Natalie Agee

Now celebrating its 10th season, LAVA LAB offers kids and adults an exciting combination of acrobatics and circus technique. This 10-week workshop, blending vigor and creativity, challenges its participants to build physical strength, coordination and flexibility. Instruction includes trapeze, tumbling, and human pyramids. Fly by and jump right in!

Some scholarships are available. For more information: 212-255-5793 x10

October 12 (Tue) 7pm
$10

This evening celebrates Archipelago Books—a young literary press determined to increase awareness of world literature by injecting exceptional translations into the American bloodstream. The program features readings from upcoming publications by translators Bill Johnston (Witold Gombrowicz's Bacacay), Richard Sieburth (Georg Büchner's Lenz), and Richard Zenith (Joaoao Cabral de Melo Neto's Education by Stone: Selected Poems), as well as readings by translators Jody Gladding (Jean Giono's The Serpent of Stars) and David Hinton (Meng Hao-jan's The Mountain Poems and his own epic map-poem, Fossil Sky). John Thompson will accompany Hinton's presentation on ch'in, the Chinese silk-string zither.

Check out other programs from the Necessary Translations series on November 23 (Mexico City: A Quick Guided Tour) and December 7 (New Voices from a Literary Landmark: New Directions Press). A series pass for all three events is only $25.

Literature programs at The Kitchen are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

D A N C E  /  T H E A T E R

Photo of in/side out by Jo Teschner

October 13-16 (Wed-Sat) 8pm
$20

Choreography: Isabel Gotzkowsky

There is nothing timid about Isabel Gotzkowskys dances (She) is not afraid to be theatrically assertive (The New York Times). Artistic Director Isabel Gotzkowsky joins forces with visual artist Vincent Inconiglios to create an as yet untitled new dance theater work. The artists will make use of the art of collage literally and conceptually to reflect the way we often experience a particular time and place in life. Also included in the program are revivals of two company favorites: in/side out, a piece for seven dancers, is set to a score by Mike Skinner, with set design by Eugene Tsai, video installation by Noah Khoshbin and costumes by designer Helena Fredrikkson; Crossroads was created for six dancers in September, 2001 during a 4-week company residency at The Yard in Chilmark, MA and includes original music composed by Brian Aumueller, with set design by Kurt Ossenfort and costumes by Dawn Marcoccia.

Sublets are productions independent from Kitchen programming.

O N E - D A Y   F E S T I V A L

October 16 (Sat) 11am-11pm

Join Chelsea's arts organizations, galleries, shops and restaurants to celebrate the rich cultural landscape of the neighborhood. The day features special events, discounts for performance tickets and local restaurants and shops. Call 212-691-6500 x 259 or visit www.fallforchelsea.com.

Fall for Chelsea is produced by the Chelsea Cultural Partnership, including Atlantic Theater Company, Chelsea Art Museum, Dance Theater Workshop, Electronic Arts Intermix, Eyebeam, The High Line, International Print Center, Joyce Theater, The Kitchen, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Rubin Museum of Art, and TADA.

O P E N   K I T C H E N   [ F A M I L Y   E V E N T ]

photo credit: Bilen Mesfin

October 16 (Sat) 2pm
$10/20% off for family of 4 or more
20% for Fall for Chelsea Participants

Choreography:Adia Tamar Whitaker
Musical direction: Guy de Chalus, Sekou Gibson

Explore the powerful and healing tradition of Haitian dance, music and vodou, and its connection to the roots of hip-hop culture. With an energetic and compelling mix of dance, singing, drumming and video, The Ase (pronounced Ah-shay) Dance Theatre Collective illuminates the parallels between Haiti's struggle for independence and hip hop as a creative outlet for young people of color to fight racism and oppression. The audience learns about folklore in the African Diaspora through call and response, movement and rhythm.

Open Kitchen Programs are made possible with generous support from Annette C. Merle-Smith.

D A N C E  /  T H E A T E R

photo credit: Kata Molnar

October 20-23 (Wed-Sat) 8pm
$20
Lunch break performance: October 22 (Fri) 12pm $10

Director/choreographer: Gábor Goda
Performers/collaborators: Tamás Bakó, Gábor Goda, Bea Gold, Erzsi Kiss, Péter Lipka
Music: Erzsi Kiss
Costume design: Kriszta Remete
Lighting design: Gábor Kocsis
Production assistant: Àgnes Varanyi

Hungary's foremost performance group Artus brings its exciting fusion of dance, conceptual theater and visual arts to The Kitchen with Cain's Hat. In this fiercely intelligent and physical work, a hat conceals or protects depending on who's wearing it. The piece tackles the biblical stories of Moses and Cain, featuring dancers precariously moving on poles and mapping out a world steeped in power struggles and masked identities. A Critic's Hit Parade (The Stage, UK), Cain's Hat was awarded Best Performance at the 2001 Hungarian Pan Art Festival and short-listed for the Total Theatre Award at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Dance programs at The Kitchen are sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

M U S I C

photo credit: Lori Eanes

October 28-30 (Thu-Sat) 8pm
$15

Written, composed and performed by Pamela Z
Video: Jeanne Finley and John Muse
Lighting/Set design: Elaine Buckholtz

"A sound sculptor, a sonic explorer, an aural architect" (San Jose Mercury News). For her first evening-length multimedia performance in New York, Pamela Z explores the sonic, cultural and artistic worlds of the voice with warmth and humor. Known for her extended vocal technique, the Bay-area artist triggers samples using light sensors and the BodySynth^TM gesture controller, and performs "virtual duets" with surprise guests appearing in large-scale video projections. An electrifying, polyphonic one-woman opera mixing stories and arias with a chorus of real and synthetic voices.

Pamela Z's Voci is co-sponsored by the Interpretations Series, produced by the World Music Institute and Thomas Buckner. It is a project of the Creative Capital Foundation, and has received support from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Music programs at The Kitchen are made possible with generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the Virgil Thomson Foundation.

D A N C E

photo credit: Nobutaka Sato

November 3-6 (Wed-Sat) 8pm
$20
Lunch break performance: November 5 (Fri) 12pm $10

Choreography: Mikuni Yanaihara
Video: Keisuke Takahashi
Music: Yuki Kato
Costume designer: Mitsushi Yanaihara
Lighting designer: Kai Takinoiri

The Tokyo-based interdisciplinary art collective Nibroll draws equally from the talents of its choreographer, composer, videographer, lighting and fashion designers to produce spectacular, multi-layered works rooted in Japan's raging cultural contradictions. For the American premiere of Dry Flower, spiky dance phrasing rife with abrupt humiliations and collapsing partnerships share the stage with animated projections of drifting petals and stampeding gazelles—"A dazzling Cubist attack, where [the company] dissects time, space and direction and lays it all bare for the audience to pick and choose" (Post-Gazette, Pittsburg).

Dance programs at The Kitchen are sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

November 13 (Sat) 2pm
$10/20% off for families of four or more

How would you feel if your language did not officially exist? After 500 years of struggle, Mexico has finally recognized its 60 indigenous languages, many of which do not have a written form. In this "concert for barely official languages and seduced electromagnetic waves," composer and ethno-musicologist Tareke Ortiz records and mixes these ancient languages with electronic and digital sounds of today to celebrate their power and permanence in contemporary culture. Bring a cell phone, portable radio or videogame and add to the mix of video documentaries, Afro-Mexican rhythms, and a live 20-person chorus!

Open Kitchen Programs are made possible with generous support from Annette C. Merle-Smith.

M U S I C

photo credit: Joe McPhee:© Mephisto, Geraldine Celerier: Minerva Hernandez Trejo, Elliott Sharp: Andreas Sterzing

November 19 & 20 (Fri & Sat) 8pm
$15
Lunch break performance: November 19 (Fri) 12pm $10

Marlene Rice (violin), Nioka Workman (cello), J.D. Parran (woodwinds), Rudresh Mahanthappa (woodwinds), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), Russ Johnson (trumpet), Jim Pugliese (percussion), Tony Lewis (drums), Kevin Ray (bass), and Kathleen Supové (piano)

For its 10th installment, Kitchen House Blend continues its ongoing series of world premieres by composers on the cutting edge of musical experimentation. On the program are Mexican/French guitarist and vocalist Géraldine Célérier, critically acclaimed for her "hypnotic voice and acrobatics on strings and lips" (Ciclo Mas Jazz, Mexico); Joe McPhee, a multi-instrumentalist and free-jazz innovator since the mid-60s, whose "magical take on avant-garde sax remains one of the wonders of the scene" (Time Out New York); and experimental guitarist Elliott Sharp, who has been hailed as "the definitive Downtown New York musician2 (BBCi Music). Since its inception in March 2000, this 21st century experimental ensemble boasts nearly 30 commissions, ranging from contemporary classical and avant jazz to world music and electronica and mapping a vivid landscape of today's most creative musical minds.

Géraldine Célérier is appearing as a part of Mexico Now.Kitchen House Blend is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Music programs at The Kitchen are made possible with generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the Virgil Thomson Foundation.

Alma Guillermoprieto. Photo credit: Gregory Allen

November 23 (Tue) 7pm
$10

For its second installment this season, NECESSARY TRANSLATIONS focuses on Mexico City and its writers, with a special appearance by Alma Guillermoprieto. The award-winning journalist speaks about growing up, living in and reporting on the hemisphere's most teeming megalopolis. Mexico City: A Quick Guided Tour also celebrates the publication of The Mexico City Reader (University of Wisconsin Press), edited by Rubén Gallo. Curated by Esther Allen, Chair of the PEN Translation Committee, NECESSARY TRANSLATIONS is a three-part literature series devoted to bringing world literature into the foray of American culture.

Literature programs at The Kitchen are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Mexico Now, a citywide festival of contemporary Mexican arts and culture, will present the work of over 100 Mexican artists at 26 of New York City's leading arts venues in November 2004. Mexico Now is a project of Arts International, the nation's only nonprofit organization solely devoted to international arts exchange.
www.mexiconowfestival.org

D A N C E

photo credit: Tere O'Connor: Frozen Mommy
perfromers L to R: Hilary Clark, Heather Olso

December 2-4 (Thu-Sat), 8-11 (Wed-Sat) 8pm
December 4 (Sat) 2pm
$20

Choreography: Tere O'Connor
Lighting Design: Brian MacDevitt
Music: James Baker

After the critically acclaimed Hi Everybody (1999), Bessie Award-winning choreographer Tere O’Connor returns to The Kitchen with the world premiere of Frozen Mommy, a powerfully expressive work that documents the elusive nature of thought and memory. After years of experimenting with elements such as text, acting and film, O’Connor moves towards a more abstract and poetic choreographic vision. Stripped bare of any theatrical spectacle or hidden narrative, Frozen Mommy sets greatly disparate movement elements into close proximity to create meaning, similar to the way the mind organizes thoughts. O’Connor’s incredibly versatile performers lead the viewer on an elliptical journey which transforms the present terrors of the world into a desperate, and at times humorous, outcry. An original musical score by O’Connor and longtime collaborator James Baker incorporates the dancers’ voices into a spare choral soundscape, while Brian Mac Devitt’s lighting design brings a willfully barren and artful design to the work.

Dance programs at The Kitchen are sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Alexander Kluge. Photo credit: Digne M. Marcovicz

December 7 (Tue) 7pm
$10

An extraordinary gathering of authors and translators from New Directions Press—longtime proponent of literature in translation—read from their latest work. The program features readings by German writer/filmmaker Alexander Kluge (The Devil's Blind Spot: Tales from the New Century); Paul Auster (French poet Stéphane Mallarmé's A Tomb for Anatole); Liz Werner (Chilean poet Nicanor Parra's Antipoems), and Eliot Weinberger, editor of The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, featuring translations by W.C. Williams and Ezra Pound. Surprise guests will also read from Robert Bolaño's Distant Star and W.G. Sebald's Unrecounted.

Literature programs at The Kitchen are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

photo credit: Richard Sylvarnes

December 11 (Sat) 2pm
$10/20% off for families of four or more

Contestants: David Neumann, Lynn Mancinelli, Coco Killingsworth
Host: Treva Offutt

Whose move is it anyway? In this non-competitive game show, kids have the chance to shape the dance. After a group warm-up and contestant showcase, audience members suggest settings and sounds for the improv experts to perform live on the spot. All suggestions are welcome! So how would a rooster dance on the moon? Come find out!

Open Kitchen Programs are made possible with generous support from Annette C. Merle-Smith.

D A N C E

photo credit: Morgan Thorson by Usry Alleyne

December 17-18 (Fri & Sat) 8pm $12

The Kitchen's longest running program, Dance In Progress features four emerging choreographers exploring new territory in dance. The evening performances are a culmination of a two-month laboratory, during which the artists share information, receive feedback and create work.

Dance programs at The Kitchen are sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

N E W   M E D I A

video by Silvia Gruner

November 9-December 18
Opening: November 9 (Tue) 6-8pm Gallery Talk: November 20 (Sat) 3pm Free

Co-curators: Tania Blanich (National Video Sources, NY), Betti-Sue Hertz (San Diego Museum of Art, CA), Christina Yang (The Kitchen)

By Christina Yang, Curator of Media Arts, The Kitchen

Dialogo envisions Mexico as an international contemporary art locale layered with regional histories and longtime global intersections. Presented in conjunction with the Mexico Now festival, this new media exhibition features Away from You (2001) by Silvia Gruner, one of the most recognized artists living in Mexico, and Tijuana-based Julio Orozco's multi-channel video, Love Letters (2004), conceived as an optical intruder and auricular witness to women's personal stories. A more intimate screening area includes single-channel video works by indigenous Mexican media makers selected from the Mexican Media Arts Fellowships program.

Media Programs at The Kitchen are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Mexico Now, a citywide festival of contemporary Mexican arts and culture, will present the work of over 100 Mexican artists at 26 of New York City's leading arts venues in November 2004. Mexico Now is a project of Arts International, the nation's only nonprofit organization solely devoted to international arts exchange.
www.mexiconowfestival.org