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Thu, Sep 26, 2013
The month of October will see the Wex bring unforgettable events by an acclaimed theater ensemble, a notable playwright, and a boundary-eschewing multimedia artist, all representing the best work by independent US theater-makers today. First up: Wex favorites Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Young Jean Lee will delight audiences with humorous, insightful, and heartfelt musical pieces, while Miwa Matreyek will captivate with a work that merges animated cinematic vistas and live theater.
Nature Theater’s work will be staged at the Lincoln Theatre, 769 E. Long St.; Young Jean Lee and Miwa Matreyek will take the stage in the center’s Performance Space, 1871 N. High St.
Nature Theater of Oklahoma Life and Times—Episode 1 Fri, Oct 4 | 7:30 PM Sat, Oct 5 | 7:30 PM $21 general public, $18 members, $11 students
Vanguard theater ensemble Nature Theater of Oklahoma, based in New York City, returns with the first installment of the multipart cycle Life and Times, called a “masterpiece...poetic and ridiculous and obvious and logical all at once.” by the New Yorker. Based on the directive “tell me your life story,” posed to company member Kristin Worrall, this inventive staging of her verbatim remembrances traces her life up to age 8. Her humor-laced tale reveals remarkable powers of recall and serves as a gateway to a dramatic arena much larger in scope than one person’s story. Each episode of Life and Times earns its own distinctive staging; the Obie-winning Episode 1, coproduced by the Wexner Center, is performed as music theater with movement, with the text rendered completely in song.
Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company WE'RE GONNA DIE Fri, Oct 11 | 8 PM Sat, Oct 12 | 8 PM $18 general public, $16 members, $10 students
Provocative playwright Young Jean Lee takes the stage with her indie rock band Future Wife in a life-affirming show about the one thing we all have in common: we’re gonna die. Lee delivers touching and witty insights through her original songs and a series of poignant and hilarious monologues dealing with family, human failure, sickness, aging, and death. Lee further confronts the looming prospect of mortality on a personal level: stepping out of her comfort zone as a playwright and director by forcing herself to perform onstage. The Obie Award-winning WE'RE GONNA DIE is presented in the intimate Performance Space, set up cabaret-style with wine and beer service. Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company is the recipient of the Wexner Center Artist Residency Award in performing arts for 2013–14. Along with these performances, the award supports the company’s final development work on Lee’s next play, STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, and its premiere at the Wexner Center in early April.
Miwa Matreyek This World Made Itself and Myth and Infrastructure Thu, Oct 31 | 8 PM Fri, Nov 1 | 8 PM Sat, Nov 2 | 2 & 8 PM
Los Angeles-based multimedia performance artist Miwa Matreyek visits for the world premiere of her latest solo work, This World Made Itself. Matreyek’s kaleidoscopic exploration of animated cinematic vistas and intricate shadow play is sophisticated yet full of childlike wonder. The performance unfolds as a panorama referencing both natural science and dream-like fantasy as it explores the history of the earth. Matreyek will also perform her previous piece Myth and Infrastructure, which traverses seascapes, cityscapes, and domestic spaces to conjure nuanced scenes of light and shadow
Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2013–14 performing arts season is generously provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Young Jean Lee’s residency and related events are made possible through the support of the Wexner Center Artist Residency Award program and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Life and Times—Episode 1 is a production of Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Burgtheater Wien in coproduction with Internationales Sommerfestival Hamburg, Kaaitheater Brussel, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Internationale Keuze Festival Rotterdamse Schouwburg, and the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University. With support from The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.
This presentation of Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Life and Times—Episode 1 was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support was provided from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The presentations of Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Life and Times—Episode 1 and Miwa Matreyek’s This World Made Itself are also made possible in part by support from the National Performance Network (NPN) Performance Residency Program. For more information: www.npnweb.org.
Accommodations provided by The Blackwell Inn.
The Wexner Center receives general operating support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. Generous support is also provided by the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members.
