© Paula Court, courtesy of The Kitchen

Great news!  I will be returning to Maison des Arts Créteil yet again this coming November for the Festival D’Automne.

I think this makes the 4th show I’ve toured to the Festival D’Automne in Paris and I’m excited and honored to be a part of another original creation representing the best in contemporary American performance.

WORLD OF WIRES adapted by Jay Scheib, 2012 Obie winner, is set to storm the city of light November 13-17, 2012.

From the Festival D’Automne A Paris website:

World of Wires is the third part of a trilogy entitled “Simulated Cities/Simulated Systems”, created by Jay Scheib at MIT and based on a 1973 science-fiction television series directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Scheib, an author, opera composer and stage director, worked jointly with engineers and computer scientists to build a complex performance which challenges our perception of reality.

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Remember when I posted about David Michalek and his breathtaking project Portraits In Dramatic Time?

Mark Stephen Kornbluth

Well the Time has come!

On Tuesday July 5th the Lincoln Center Festival 2011 kicks off and the outdoor installation “Portraits in Dramatic Time” will be on display to the public, gracing the mammoth facade of the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

I am so excited to see this project open.  On the day of our shoot we were treated to a preview of the scene Jay Scheib, and company, put together and let me tell you…its looks incredible!

I can’t wait to feast my eyes on the work of so many amazing performers many of whom I only know from the screen, but a number of whom I feel honored to call peers whose work I’ve seen and know well from around New York.

This is an excerpt about the project from an article on the Wall Street Journal Online site.

“This series of 40 art films created by artist David Michalek is a free, public installation that will be shown nightly from 8:45 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. until July 31. Viewers can watch as many, or as few as they like, but each film depicts a dramatic scene shot in just 10 seconds and played back in hyper-slow motion, extending the length to about seven minutes.”

(Catton, Pia (2011, July 2) “Life’s Dramas in Slow Motion” Retrieved from Wall Street Journal Online)

 

Mark Stephen Kornbluth

I’m excited that the artist, David Michalek, decided to use performers who don’t hold celebrity status alongside more widely known names as participants in the project.  There are so many amazing actor/artists and showcasing opportunities of this scale don’t come around that often.  I’m absolutely chuffed that I’ll get to see my face alongside my colleagues and a number of my performance heroes on the facade of Lincoln Center.

More from the Wall Street Journal online.

“Though he did invite famous folks—including Holly Hunter, Patti LuPone, and William H. Macy—he chose them for their ability to deliver specific acting techniques. He was less interested in celebrities destined to be the next face of cosmetics mega-brands. “I wanted to make sure the actor was an actor-artist,” he said.“

An actor-artist?  That’s what I do my work for and that’s all I ask, really.  I encourage you to head over to Lincoln Center and check out this beautiful installation between July 5th-August 14th.

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For the complete article on the Wall Street Journal website click HERE

Image from www.davidmichalek.net

Exciting news!

The cast of BELLONA, Destroyer of Cities just shot with the amazing David Michalek for his new project “Portraits in Dramatic Time” to be displayed on the façade of the David H. Koch Theater, as part of the 2011 Lincoln Center Festival.

The 40-ft façade will be re-imagined as a media canvas, transforming the plaza into an outdoor museum and the building into a work of art.

The process was incredible and the images look amazing.  I can’t wait to see this project come to life.

The 2011 Lincoln Center Festival takes place from July 5th – August 14th (my birthday!).

More information about David Michalek’s work and this exciting project:

The new work from artist David Michalek is to be presented as part of the 2011 Lincoln Center Festival. The project will feature an array of glacially paced performances of theater artists and actors of all genres and nationalities. With artists featured both singly and in groups, the piece will offer a unique and secret glimpse into some of the world’s greatest performing artists. The work will strive to present viewers with an eclectic list of artists both well-known and under-recognized.

For a full breakdown of the project and more information about David Michalek and his work visit his site at www.davidmichalek.net

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Image from www.davidmichalek.net

So the run of BELLONA, Destroyer of Cities at the ICA in Boston went very well.  Now that I’m on the other side of this project in a way, I haven’t been informed of tours or productions in the near future, I can dish a little about my experience.

Over cocktails at Jay and Tanya’s beautiful home in Cambridge I was having a discussion, with an MIT Alum — studying to be an astronaut, about how I had come to meet and work with Jay Scheib.  I told her I had written Jay an email back in March of 2008 after attending a press conference for the project he was building at the time, UNTITLED MARS. We kept in contact and in July of 2009 he sent me a message inviting me to coffee to discuss a project he was developing from DHALGREN, a science fiction epic by Samuel Delaney.  The rest of the story became BELLONA, Destroyer of Cities.  Two years later and here we are.

This was my second trip to Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Art.  I was at the ICA a short 8 months ago performing with THE SHIPMENT in the same space; The Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater is a 325-seat theater on the second and third floors.  The walls are glazed in clear glass allowing a view of the harbor as the backdrop behind the stage, it’s incredible!  For a few of the performances we left the wall shades up allowing the audience to see the harbor behind the ruined city of Bellona, and some passerby on the outside to watch the actors changing backstage — 2 shows in 1!

The shows went well and the crew and staff at the ICA took very good care of us.  During our last performance, a Sunday matinee, something triggered the building’s smoke detectors and the fire alarm went off 40min into the show.  The entire building had to b evacuated and we found ourselves standing outside on the harbor, in the rain, with the audience waiting for the Fire Marshall to give us the okay to return.  This was a first for me.  It wasn’t my idea of a good time but it was actually pretty thrilling.

This is a short clip of the cast going through some notes and working into our evening warm up; this video was taken with my digital camera so pardon the quality.

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