NEW YORK, NY, January 15, 2008 - LaMaMa E.T.C. and the Talking Band present IMMINENCE written and directed by Paul Zimet, with electronic music by Peter Gordon and acoustic music by Ellen Maddow, Friday, February 15 March 2, 2008 at the LaMaMa Annex (74 East 4th St.) Previews begin Friday, February 15, 2008 with an official opening on Sunday February 17, 2008. The cast features William Badgett, David Brooks, Kim Gambino, Lula Graves, Kristine Lee, Ellen Maddow, Greg Manley, Steven Rattazzi, Tina Shepard, and the Tony Award nominated Amelia Campbell.
IMMINENCE follows three generations of a family in an exploration of time, and how it shapes our lives from the smallest human instant to the massive geotectonic cycles of the earth.Following the death of her mother, Simone takes her twenty year old daughter, on a cross-country car trip to visit her parents' first home in Coney Island.The narrative shifts between the past and present, not only through the generations of Simone's family, but also through the much longer scale of geological time.Fleeting moments of human interaction an awkward wedding, a deathbed vigil, an unlikely romance between the family doctor and an eccentric friend - cross paths with the slow, relentless time of the earth itself.
Through the prism of theater, dance, video, electronic and acoustic music, time slows, stops, bends and unravels. Kit Fitzgerald's blend of live and recorded video, in conjunction with Peter Gordon's electronic, amplified music capture the range and might of the inexorable forces of nature. The intimacy of human time is captured in the live acoustic music of Ellen Maddow and the choreography of Hilary Easton.
Paul Zimet is the Artistic Director of the Talking Band.Music-theater works that he has written and directed include: Belize, The Parrot, Star Messengers, Bitterroot, Party Time, Black Milk Quartet, These works have premiered in New York City at La MaMa, E.T.C., The Flea Theater, and PS 122, and have toured in the United States, Italy, Canada, Chile, and Moscow. Paul received a 2003 Village Voice OBIE Award for his direction of The Talking Band production of Painted Snake in a Painted Chair, and also three OBIE Awards for his work with the Open Theater and the Winter Project, both directed by Joseph Chaikin.
Peter Gordon's work is noted for its original blend of lyricism, wit and drama. Gordon first gained attention in the late 1970s with the Love of Life Orchestra one of the first "downtown" composer-driven ensembles, frequently featured at La Mama. Working with electronics as well as instruments and voice, Gordon has composed for numerous theater and performance works, earning him the Obie Award and the Bessie Award. Works with the Talking Band include Party
Time, Bitterroot and The Necklace. Other past projects include scores for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Company, Alvin Ailey, Donald Byrd, Mario Martone and Richard Foreman; the opera The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin (with Lawrence Sacharow and Constance Congdon, at La MaMa); the opera The Society Architect Ponders the Golden Gate Bridge with Lawrence Weiner, Berlin/Oper Bonn); and he created orchestrations for Michael Tilson Thomas' Thomashefsky Project at Zankel Hall. Gordon's work for film and television can be heard in Joe Versus the Volcano, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Desparate Housewives and Déja Vu.
Ellen Maddow is a founding member of the Talking Band, and has composed for and performed in most of its works.Works that she has written include, Delicious Rivers, Painted Snake In A Painted Chair- for which she received a 2003 OBIE Award- Tilt, Brown Dog is Dead, and Fern and Rose.Ellen has also written the text and music for five pieces about the avant-garde housewife, Betty Suffer.She has written the scores for Belize, Star Messengers, Black Milk, The Plumber's Helper, New Cities(all produced by The Talking Band), The Parrot (co-produced with The Flea Theatre) 1969 Terminal 1996(directed by Joseph Chaikin) and Home/Wire Walking for Risa Jaraslow and Dancers. She was a member of the Open Theater and has performed with Otrabanda Company.Ellen received the 1999 Frederick Loewe Award in Musical Theater (along with librettist, Paul Zimet).
Kit Fitzgerald is an artist/director working in video and new media. Her works include live performance, video art, animation, dramatic film and documentaries. They are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and have been exhibited twice in the Whitney Biennale. Her live performances have premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Hetmusiktheater (Amsterdam) and LaMaMa E.T.C. Her collaborations have included the Talking Band (Party Time); composers Peter Gordon, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Max Roach, Poet Seiku Sundiata; and choreographers Donald Byrd, Bill T. Jones, and Bebe Miller. Her dramatic work, The Deadman produced by the North Netherlands Theater, won 2nd prize at the Riccione Film, Theatre and Television Festival. Her hi-definition video Painted Melodies won 1st prize at the Electronic Cinema Festival in Montreaux, and was shown in the New York and Tokyo Film Festivals.
Hilary Easton, a native New Yorker, has had her choreography presented since 1992 at venues including American Dance Festival, The Danspace Project at St. Mark¹s Church, Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, The Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe, Women and Their Work, The University of Texas, Bennington College, Central Park Summerstage, The Yard, and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. Ms. Easton has taught at colleges and universities including Princeton University, Connecticut College, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and the University of Montana. She holds an MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Design for IMMINENCE is by the OBIE Award winning team of Nic Ularu (Sets), Carol Mullins (Lights) and Kiki Smith (Costumes).
Performances of IMMINENCE are Wed-Sun at 7:30 and Sun at 2:30. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased by calling 212.475.7710 at www.lamama.org or at the box office prior to each performance.
The production runs until March 2.
This production is made possible with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the JP MorganChase Regrant Fund, a project of A.R.T./NY.This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
