The season launches Sept. 24 with the New York premiere of Way Out West, The Sea Whispered Me, from Cupola Barber, which is described as such: "Using a multi-layered square tarp artfully manipulated to locate the performance in the sea, on the land, in the sky, and in the theater, and with inspiration from the performance duos of Laurel and Hardy and Gilbert and George." (Performances continue through Sept. 27.)
John Jahnke and Hotel Savant return to PS 122 Oct. 2 with the world premiere of The Archery Project, which is described as "a frisky and hyper-stylized sex comedy exploring marriage in America. Behind this romantic Pastoral lies a glittering and scathing indictment of the rules and regulations of marriage in America. The topical work is inspired by the struggle for sexual autonomy in a religiously constrained country, and explores the relationship between the Reverend Kendrick and his wife Mercy during an unidentified era of theological conflict." (Performances continue through Oct. 18.)
Americana Kamikakze, a multimedia world premiere from Temporary Distortion will follow. American and Japanese actors collaborate on the project that will "employ many of the common tropes found in classic Japanese ghost stories, as well as those found in the popular 'J-Horror' film genre, including the vengeful ghosts, impossible physical manipulations, elliptical storylines, creepy sound designs, equally creepy cinematography, the bizarrely happy endings and even the saccharine pop songs" (Oct. 24-Nov. 14).
PS 122 will host the New York premiere of Rabih Mroué's Who's Afraid of Representation? described as "a merging of parallel histories of Western performance art and contemporary socio-political events in Beirut" (Nov. 5-7).
Up next will be Assisted Living from Marisa Olson. "A futuristic parody of Martha Stewart's TV show focused on coping with the health & environmental challenges of living a life prolonged and polluted by technology" (Nov. 19-22). Lisa D’Amour, Katie Pearl and choreographer Emily Johnson will present the world premiere of their latest collaboration, Terrible Things. The work will incorporate sections of Pearl's life, principals from particle physics, two male wrestlers and 600 marshmallows (Dec. 4-20).
Following is the latest incarnation of Sybil Kempson and Mike Iveson's Crime or Emergency, which was presented at Soho Rep in early 2008. "Mike Iveson, with his demonic arrangements of the indigenous music of their native New Jersey, joins Kempson in a rapturous and obsessive melodrama of consciousness. Together they distill this 11-person play into a desperate and harried duet - part cabaret fiasco, part aesthetic holocaust. Their dual performance pits them in a life-or-death struggle for the right to devour the soul of the play" (Dec. 4-20).
Dance highlights include Maria Hassabi's Solo Show (Sept. 26-Oct. 4); Morgan Thorson's Heaven (Oct. 25-30); and LeeSaar The Company with Prima (Nov. 19-22).
PS 122 will also head west in September with a multi-artist evening of work from WITNESS RELOCATION, 31 Down, and LeeSaar The Company at Seattle's Bumbershoot Music and Arts festival. (Sept. 5-9).
Looking to the spring, PS 122 is planning to host the world premiere of Richard Maxwell and the New York City Players' video-work Ads (Jan. 14-31, 2010) and Radiohole's The All Girl Show to Save the World (March 6-28, 2010).
Tickets are available by phoning (212) 352-3101 or by visiting PS122.
PS 122 is located in Manhattan at 150 1st Avenue at East 9th Street.
