darkmatter

Under the Radar Festival returning to Joe's Pub with Tanya Tagaq, Darkmatter & more (schedule)

Darkmatter
Darkmatter

From January 6 to 17, Joe’s Pub will host the 12th annual Under the Radar Festival, “the exciting 12-day event that tracks new theater from across the U.S. and around the world.” Among this year’s programming: Canadian throat singer, Fucked Up collaborator and 2014 Polaris Prize winner Tanya Tagaq will be performing her arresting live score to Nanook of the North on Jan 15, 16 and 17 (tickets).

There are a few “In Concert” events as part of Under the Radar Fest, including Darkmatter performing “#ItGetsBitter” from Jan 12 – 14:

In a queer apocalypse where assimilation and white supremacy reign supreme, DarkMatter imagines alternatives. This trans spoken word duo speaks from beyond the gender binary in an explosion of queer rage, nursery rhymes, and unforgettable instagrammable fashions. #ItGetsBitter is their latest collage of camp, critique, and fluorescent lipstick created in collaboration with stage director Charlotte Brathwaite.

DarkMatteris a trans South Asian performance art duo comprised of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. DarkMatter regularly performs to sold-out houses at venues such as La MaMa Experimental Theater, Nuyorican Poets Café, and the Brooklyn Museum, and was a member of The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group and presented in UTR’s INCOMING! Series.

Tickets for the Darkmatter shows are on sale now. The festival also includes Liza Paul and Bahia Watson‘s award-winning show pomme is french for apple (January 10 – 17) and Martha Redbone‘s “Bone Hill” (January 13 – 16).

Tickets for all Under the Radar shows here. Schedule and show descriptions below…

Under the Radar — 2016 Lineup

Employee of the Year
January 7-17 (Running Time: 70 minutes)
600 HIGHWAYMEN (USA)

A play with children for adults. Five young girls tell the story of J., whose house burns down, taking with it everyone and everything she has ever known. From this moment, a singular journey begins. Performed in 600 HIGHWAYMEN’s arresting theatrical style and featuring the original songs of David Cale, Employee of the Year asks what it is to find your own way through life. 600 HIGHWAYMEN is an Obie Award-winning theater company creating works by Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone. They have made six critically acclaimed works since 2009, including The Record (UTR 2014).

Escuela
January 13-17 (Running Time: 90 minutes)
Guillermo Calderón (Chile)
Chile, 1987. A group of young left-wing activists gather in a drab living room to receive paramilitary instruction aimed at overthrowing the Pinochet dictatorship. Wearing ski masks to conceal their identity from each other, they teach their respective skills: using a gun, political theory, clandestine organizational methods. With subtle humor and penetrating insight, Escuela illustrates the struggle and yearning of a generation prepared to use any means necessary to achieve justice and freedom. Writer/director Guillermo Calderón’s award-winning productions have been presented in over 25 countries. Diciembre was presented at UTR 2011, and the English-language version of his play Neva premiered at The Public in 2013. Performed in Spanish with English surtitles.

Germinal
January 6-9 (Running Time: 80 minutes)
Halory Goerger and Antoine Defoort (France/Belgium)

On an empty stage, four intrepid performers begin to construct the world from scratch. With ingenious theater magic, they gleefully invent laws of physics, philosophy, music, language, and social interaction. One of the most talked-about pieces in the international performance circuit in recent years, Germinal uses the theater as a whimsical metaphor for human civilization. Defoort and Goerger are musicians, actors, philosophers, pranksters, artists, and inventors who meld genres and upend social codes. Their mix of visual art, theater, music, and sociology marked them as rising stars at the 2013 Avignon Festival. Performed in French with English surtitles.

The Institute of Memory (TIMe)
January 8-17 (Running Time: 80 minutes)
Lars Jan / Early Morning Opera (USA)

Two men play with the past in the glow of a kinetic light sculpture signaling keystrokes from a hacked 50s typewriter. Featuring archival wire-tap transcriptions, the missives of communist spies, and MRI brain scans, The Institute of Memory (TIMe) conjures a portrait of director Lars Jan’s enigmatic father — a Cold War operative whose fascinating story prompts questions about privacy, memory, and fatherhood. Directed by Lars Jan, Early Morning Opera is a performance and art lab integrating emerging technologies, live audiences, and unclassifiable experience. EMO has presented its original works at the Whitney Museum, BAM Next Wave Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and more.

pomme is french for apple
Sunday, January 10 – Sunday, January 17

pum (n): west indian for a woman’s private parts. short for pum pum.

comprised of a series of fast-paced vignettes, pomme is french for apple features a dizzying cast of charming and outlandish characters, in settings as diverse as the caribbean, downtown toronto, southeast london, and the too-tight crotch of the pants. pomme (sounds like…) is a fresh, funny and irreverent look at womanhood in all its glory: its perils, its pleasures and all kinda madness in between.

DarkMatter: #ItGetsBitter
Tuesday, January 12 – Thursday, January 14
In a queer apocalypse where assimilation and white supremacy reign supreme, DarkMatter imagines alternatives. This trans spoken word duo speaks from beyond the gender binary in an explosion of queer rage, nursery rhymes, and unforgettable instagrammable fashions. #ItGetsBitter is their latest collage of camp, critique, and fluorescent lipstick created in collaboration with stage director Charlotte Brathwaite.

DarkMatteris a trans South Asian performance art duo comprised of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. DarkMatter regularly performs to sold-out houses at venues such as La MaMa Experimental Theater, Nuyorican Poets Café, and the Brooklyn Museum, and was a member of The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group and presented in UTR’s INCOMING! Series.

Martha Redbone: Bone Hill
Wednesday, January 13 – Saturday, January 16

Renowned blues and soul singer Martha Redbone — with her all-star band — explores her Appalachian family’s history in an epic that spans generations and a breadth of music genres, revealing a great American story that has remained untold until now. A New York Voices commission with Joe’s Pub, created in collaboration with Aaron Whitby and director Roberta Uno.

Singer-songwriter Martha Redbone’s music flows equally from her own unique, award-winning blend of Native American elements and her deep roots in Appalachian folk and Piedmont blues.

Samedi Détente
January 14-17 (Running Time: 75 minutes)
Dorothée Munyaneza / Compagnie Kadidi (France/Rwanda)

“Samedi détente was a Saturday radio program. In Rwanda, it was the main event of the week. We danced, we sang, we memorized the songs.” How do you speak about the unspeakable? Dorothée Munyaneza was 12 when blood turned Rwanda red in 1994. Twenty years later, she invents her own Samedi détente. Accompanied by Ivorian dancer Nadia Beugré and French musician Alain Mahé, she returns to the memories of her childhood with potent music, electrifying movement, and dispassionate testimony. Rwanda-born Dorothée Munyaneza is a singer, dancer, actor, and choreographer who currently lives in France. She formed Compagnie Kadidi in 2013 to develop her original work. Performed in French with English surtitles.

Now I’m Fine
January 12-17 (Running Time: 100 minutes)
Ahamefule J. Oluo (USA)

Comedian/musician/storyteller Ahamefule J. Oluo leads a team of talented musicians in a grand-scale experimental pop opera about keeping it together. Drawing from darkly funny personal stories about illness, despair, and regeneration, Now I’m Fine ranges from intimate to epic, featuring a 17-piece orchestra and a spectacular cast of performers. Ahamefule J. Oluo is a Seattle-based musician, composer, and comedian, whose storytelling was recently featured on This American Life. He co-founded the Stranger Genius, award-winning hard-jazz quartet Industrial Revelation, and has collaborated with Macklemore, Das Racist, Hey Marseilles, and many others.

The Art of Luv (Part 1): Elliot
January 8-17 (Running Time: 60 minutes)
Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble (USA)

On May 23, 2014, Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and injured 13 in a rampage motivated by his lack of success with women. Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble responds with a ritual-performance based on a cycle of found love stories — a meditation on masculinity, love and longing that confronts humanity’s common search for love as we misunderstand it. Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble creates multimedia installation-performances that explore the metaphysics and mythologies of love, desire, and courtship. ROKE was a member of The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group, and has performed at FringeArts Philadelphia, UTR’s INCOMING! Series, Gibney Dance Center, and more.

Tanya Tagaq in Concert with Nanook of the North
January 15-17 (Running Time: 70 minutes)
Tanya Tagaq (Canada)

In this live concert with film, Inuit throat singer and tour-de-force vocalist Tanya Tagaq creates a mesmerizing soundscape for the controversial 1922 silent film Nanook of the North. Along with percussionist Jean Martin and violinist Jesse Zubot, Tagaq reclaims–through explosive sound–this portrayal of an early 20th century Inuit community in Northern Quebec. Polaris Prize-winning Tanya Tagaq, known for her work with Björk and the Kronos Quartet, is a genre unto herself. Rooted in tradition, her unique vocal style also aligns with avant-garde improvisation, metal, and electronica influences.