New Original Works Festival
July 23-August 8, 2009 Eight New Works by multifmedia artists.


PROGRAM ONE premiered on July 23rd to a sold out audience.

This group of three pieces continues throughout the weekend. Over the next 2 weeks 5 additional pieces will be performed.

ABACUS from Early Morning Opera, a Los Angeles based artlab which has exhibited original performance and film works at The Whitney Museum, Symphony Space, The Venice, Italy Architectural Biennale, and REDCAT among others. The piece was reminiscent of Al Gore’s INCONVENIENT TRUTH style of presentation.


ABACUS, features a solo performer interacting with 4 screens of projected video, and a chorus of choreographed steadicams to explore R. Buckminster Fuller’s vision of a Geoscope, a data visualization device that could almost perfectly model the future. Starting with an example of light and color theory he takes the audience on an exploration of how we look at our world and often misunderstand it. Lars’s argument is that our world view is centuries old and no longer represents the true nature of man’s place in the universe or even here on planet earth. Borders which made sense in earlier times are artificial constructs that now provide no benefit and great harm to people as a species. We have gone from a society based on scarcity to one based on abundance but have little understanding of the ramifications. By manipulating images , sounds and performance he is able to keep the audience involved while conveying these complex concepts.

Lars Jan is a director and media artist who performed and trained with the Bunraku company in Kyoto. He taught as an artist in residence at Kabul University, Afghanistan. He will be directing The Lunacy Commission at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City this November.



Bahu-Beti-Biwi is Sheetal Gandhi’s performance piece includes powerful dance, beautiful vocalization and music. Sheetal plays a Daughter-in-law, Daughter and Wife wrapping North Indian music traditions and family characters into a contemporary tour de force. In a short 20-30 minute piece with a bare stage using only her garments, white feathers and orange chalk dust she is able to convey multi-generational social, sexual, and cultural struggles in an emotionally touching and convincing manner. There is true humor, pathos, sacrifice and longing in these characters and Sheetal is convincing in all of them. Gandhi’s solo and group work has been presented in theaters and festivals around the country and world. She creates work that blurs cultural and disciplinary boundaries while promoting intercultural understanding through artistic excellence.



The Ayana Hampton Show was the final piece and relied more on the style of a Flip Wilson parody with backing by a rock band. Ayana is a vibrant performer and her song stylings range from raunchy to reverent. She testifies to the obsessions that fuel her iconic ambition, from Michelle Obama’s coiffure and mannerisms to her take on celebrity obsession including Acute Diana Ross Disorder. She earned her MFA in Acting from Cal Arts and her BA from Smith College. She has worked with national and international renowned directors Richard Foreman and Robert Cantarella.



I can’t wait for PROGRAM 2 and 3 which runs from July 30-August 1st and August 6-8.

The Global Film Village: New Original Works Festival at the REDCAT by Marla Lewin
http://www.fest21.com/en/blog/marlalewingfv/the_global_film_village_new_...