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WPS1 Art Radio is the Internet station of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA affiliate, featuring an MP3 stream of music, talk, and historical recordings and a free on-demand archive of over 1200 programs.
The Hotel Savant and Performance Space 122 and Art Radio WPS1.org present The Archery Contest, a radio play written and directed by John Jahnke. Soundscape by Kristin Worrall. Sound Installation by Andrew Schneider. Setting by Peter Ksander.
Setting: A cemetery.
(By) the rectory near a gate.
(Which leads to) the stream in an orchard.
Time: None.
Characters:
The Reverend Kendrick: Richard Toth
Mercy, his wife: Hillary Spector
Orpha, a girl: Carey Urban
Dory, a boy: Ryan Colwell
The Sexton Hawthorn, their Guardian: Ryan Justesen
This abstract sex comedy follows the amoral exploits of five players
trapped somewhere between the churchly rules of the past and the
anarchic chaos of the future.
Set amidst the death and headstones of a decaying cemetery, The Archery
Contest follows a Reverend and his wife in their pursuit of a young girl
and boy in a competition to claim them as secondary spouses. The
contest's challenge, and the fate of each player, can only be met when
new liaisons are formed, old lovers are scorned, and restrictive
inhibitions are severed forever. Encouraged by the children's guardian,
the amorous chase reaches its climax during the celebration of a
decadent and ritualistic summer festivity.
A studio recording of Part 1 debuts here online at Art Radio WPS1.org
beginning November 1, 2007. Part 2 will be recorded live in performance
at PS122 before making its online debut, and Part 3 will appear in 2008,
following The Hotel Savant's premiere of Antonin Artaud's The Cenci, at
The Ohio Theatre, which opens February 6, 2008.
The Archery Contest is an ongoing multi/media theater project whose goal
is to embrace modern technology, especially the internet, as of means
disseminating theatrical content to a larger audience.
This event at Cake Shop was to celebrate the publication of two books by and about Kathy Acker: Lust for Life: On the Writings of Kathy Acker (published by Verso) and Bodies of Work (published by Serpent's Tail). The reading was introduced by Amy Scholder (U.S. Publisher of Verso, and co-editor of Lust_). Other readers, in order of appearance:
Avital Ronell, chair of the German department at New York University
On March 31, 2006 Max Blagg read to an overflown crowd at CBGB Lounge, (some of whom seemed to be drinking rather than listening, in true CBGB style), a selection of vintage and new poems, following a screening of Pat Ivers' and Emily Armstrong's amazing video compilation, Nightclubbing, live performances from 1979-81 by various artists including Dead Boys, Bad Brains, The Voidoids, John Cale, and Blagg, which was shown as part of the Downtown: NYC 1974-84 show produced by NYU at Grey Art Gallery and the Fales Library (January-March 2006). Poet/artist/activist Blagg is also co-host with Glenn O-Brien of the WPS1 program Bald Ego Online. (26 minutes)
Emily XYZ and Meyers Bartlett present this performance affair taking place the first Wednesday of the month at Bowery Poetry Club. The show features performances by the hosts of the evening, Emily XYZ and Meyers Batlett, and readers Edwin Torres and Max Blagg. Emily XYZ and Meyers Bartlett perform various selections from their new book/CD combo release The Emily XYZ Songbook. For more on Blagg (Bald Ego Online with Glenn O'Brien) and Torres (Live Nude Radio Theater) visit their WPS1 shows in our archives.
This classy evening of fiction and poetry readings by a stellar lineup of writers was actually a fundraiser staged by Downtown for Democracy, a liberal, political action committee dedicated to mobilizing the New York creative community to use its influence in support of
progressive candidates. WPS1 does not take political sides or advocate specific candidates. But the readings were so good, and the
occasion so historic, we felt you should hear what some of the writers among us have to say.
Part 1 features Salman Rushdie, Jennifer Egan, Paul Auster, Lou Reed, Susan Sontag, Jonathan Franzen and Dave Eggers, with introductions by Jonathan Safran Foer. Recorded at the Cooper Union, New York, March 25, 2004.
Part 2 is an evening of readings recorded in April at the Cooper Union in New York, with Wendy Wasserstein, Joyce Carol Oates, Gary Indiana and more.
Oh say can you see? The stars! They came down - Downtown for Democracy, that is. ("D4D" is the choice political action group of the arts.) The acclaimed playwright Lisa Kron ("Well," "2.5 Minute Ride," "101 Humiliating Stories"), also a great comedienne, organized this September 21, 2004 benefit at the Cooper Union's historic Great Hall in New York. With fellow emcee, Lucy Sexton (wearing nothing but stiletto heels and a big red peace sign on her pupic), she introduces this stellar evening of story, song and dance. Here are selected highlights from an evening that will always be a winner, no matter what happens on November 2.
In Order of Appearance:
Lisa Kron (with Richard Move channeling Martha Graham)
Lucy Sexton
Terre Roche
Lynne Cheney Players (Maggie Moore, Carmelita Tropicana, Saidah Arrika Ekulona)
Will Power
Lou Reed
Laurie Anderson
Bill T. Jones
Fence, the nonprofit journal and book publisher, curates an evening of idiosyncratic and challenging readings by four poets; Geraldine Kim, Laura Sims, Aaron Kunin and Forrest Gander. Rachael Dorsey of The Kitchen introduces the evening's host, Fence founding editor and publisher Rebecca Wolff. Recorded for WPS1 on October 18, 2005 at The Kitchen Center for video, music, dance, performance, film and literature in New York. (72 minutes)
The team presents their own, inimitable version of "War of the Worlds" with vampish Jackie Christmas favorites, the Dueling Bankheads (Clark Render and David Ilku), vocal legend Deborah Harry, Method great Hattie Hathaway, special appearances by Alba Clemente and DJ Jeannie Hopper, and of course the great Empress Chi Chi herself. This very special holiday edition includes musical selections by International Chrysis, Kiki & Herb, Blondie and the club land holiday classic, "Frosty The Cokewhore," performed by the Dueling Bankheads.
The Civilians, one of downtown New York's most acclaimed new theater companies, develops original projects based in the creative investigation of actual experience. Using methods that combine documentary and artistic practices, the company creates engaging shows that illuminate the interplay between the personal and larger social phenomena. This performance was recorded at WPS1's Clocktower gallery space on May 16, 2005.
Both documentary and musical cabaret, Gone Missing was created by the company based on interviews with real people. The piece is directed by Steven Cosson with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman and additional text by Peter Morris. Performed by six actors who play over 30 characters, Gone Missing uses actual stories of lost and found things that tread the line between fact and fiction and celebrate the extraordinary in the every day. Most of the stories follow the thread of a lost thing such as mundane objects that have become invested with great importance--a ring, an Agnes B. scarf, a sock doll named Sniffle. Other losses are more unexpected like a sudden inability to remember words, or a husband's head left in the sidewalk garbage.
THE CIVILIANS PRESENT GONE MISSING
Created by the Company
Written and Directed by Steven Cosson
Music and lyrics by Michael Friedman
"Interview with Dr. Palinurus" by Peter Morris
Sound design by Ken Travis
Based on interviews with actual persons in and around New York City
Performers:
Maria Dizzia
Michael Esper
Trey Lyford
Jennifer R. Morris
Brian Sgambati
Alison Weller
Andy Boroson, piano
Richard Huntley, drums
Ernest Adzentoivich, bass
SONGS
Gone Missing - Company
The Only Thing Missing Is You - Alison Weller
La Bodega - Michael Esper and Company
Hide & Seek - Maria Dizzia
I Gave It Away - Maria Dizzia, Jennifer R. Morris, Alison Weller
Ich Traumt Du Kamst An Mich - Brian Sgambati
Lost Horizon - Trey Lyford
Etch a Sketch - Jennifer Morris and Company
Stars - Company
Gone Missing was developed with the participation of contributing writer Winter Miller; performers Damian Baldet,
Quincy Bernstine and Matthew Francis, assistant directors Isaac Butler and Jonathan Spector; choreographer Philip
Horvitz; Anne Kauffman and Kris Kukul. Voices of Teri and Dr. Palinurus: Nina Hellman, T. Ryder Smith.
Teri's Theme composed by Andy Boroson.
A product of the high period of FM underground radio of the 60s and 70s, Barb Stanek produced an irreverent must-hear free form show on Chicago's WJPC. This set, from her personal stash and rescued from an old audio cassette, would never have passed FCC mustard. It is explicit, politically incorrect, and full of nastiness and it displays her acid humor and brilliant editorial touch. A real show. With Marianne Faithful, Nichols & May, Paul Simon, Mose Allison, and others. (43 minutes)
Song for New York: What Women Do While Men Sit Knitting, a site-specific work from Mabou Mines. This recording was made during a preview at The Poetry Project at St. Marks Church on March 28, 2007.
At the heart of the performance are five poems - one for each of the five boroughs that make up New York City - written by five female poets, each with a deep connection to a specific borough. The poems morphed into song lyrics and were set to music by Grammy winner Lisa Gutkin.
Anselm Berrigan is Artistic Director for The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, now in its 41st season, furnishing encouragement and resources to poets, writers, artists and performers whose work is experimental, innovative, pertinent and offers fresh aesthetic, cultural, philosophical and political approaches to contemporary society.
