Two Theater Groups Explore Everyday Events with Wit

February brings two unconventional young theater groups to the Wexner Center: Nature Theater of Oklahoma February 6–10, and the return of Lone Twin, February 21–23.

NATURE THEATER OF OKLAHOMA

Now riding a wave of critical buzz, young performance group Nature Theater of Oklahoma (actually from New York) will come to the Wexner Center February 6–10 with two different productions. Using creative stagecraft to transform ready-made materials, dialogue, and actions into revelatory theater, the group has been called “smart, witty, highly physical, and eager to twist notions of theatricality” (Village Voice). Taking its name from a passage in Franz Kafka’s Amerika, Nature Theater of Oklahoma is directed by the husband and wife team of Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper. Click here for a feature on the group in the New York Times. A ticket package is available for both shows (see calendar box, below).

The first show, Poetics: a ballet brut—to be performed February 6–8 in the center’s Black Box on Mershon Stage—is a wryly constructed dance piece delightfully unhampered by its performers’ complete lack of formal training. It takes a vast assortment of common gestures and movements to hilarious new heights. As it unfolds, Poetics expands from casual encounters to a delightfully skewed dance of life of grand proportions. Male and female volunteers are needed to perform briefly in Poetics: a ballet brut. No experience is necessary; details are here.

In No Dice, to be staged February 9–10 in the Wexner Center Performance Space, the audience will come for the show and stay for the free ham sandwiches. An epic of the everyday, it’s a 31⁄2-hour show (including intermission with concessions) using text drawn from more than 100 hours of telephone conversations the company had with family and friends. With the show set largely in an office space with cubicles, the actors filter seemingly mundane exchanges through the conventions of amateur dinner theater. The New York Times wrote in December, “You leave blissful and sated, yet wanting more,” calling the show a “tour de force.” Click here for the review in the Times.

While here, the group will work with students from Ohio State’s departments of dance and theater. For more on Nature Theater, visit www.oktheater.org.

CALENDAR INFORMATION: Nature Theater of Oklahoma (actually from New York) brings two unconventional theater shows that explore the gestures and dialogue of the everyday to the Wexner Center. Poetics: a ballet brut (run time just over an hour) will be performed February 6–8 in the Black Box on Mershon Stage. No Dice (run time about 31⁄2 hours, including intermission) follows February 9–10 in the Wexner Center’s Performance Space. Tickets are $16 for the general public, $13 for members, and $10 for students. See both shows and save ($28/$22/$16 for both shows). Call 292-3535 or visit www.ticketmaster.com or www.wexarts.org.

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the National Performance Network’s Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. For more information: www.npnweb.org.

LONE TWIN

British duo Lone Twin, which performed at the Wex in 2004, returns with a new show Nine Years from February 21 to 23 at 8 pm, following a European tour. Gregg Whelan and Gary Winters create lovably loopy narratives of their travels and travails using text, actions, and recorded video imagery. This charming show documents the nine years they’ve worked and toured the world together, weaving together random encounters with strangers, seemingly happenstance events, and extraordinary moments that pull at the heartstrings. BBC.co.uk summarized: “...their journeys seem[ed] to sew a bright thread through the everyday fabric of life in all kinds of places, underlining the strange magic of the everyday.” Visit www.lonetwin.com for more information about past and current projects.

While in town, the duo will meet with students from OSU’s department of theater to discuss their performance style and experiences.

CALENDAR INFORMATION for Lone Twin Considered a travelers’ memoir for the theater, Nine Years will be performed by British duo Thursday–Saturday, February 21–23 at 8 pm in the Wexner Center’s Performance Space, 1871 N. High St. Tickets are $16 for the general public, $13 for members and $10 for students. Call 292-3535 or visit www.ticketmaster.com or wexarts.org.

PERFORMING ARTS SEASON SUPPORT Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2007–08 performing arts season is generously provided by Huntington Bank, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Columbus Foundation.

Significant contributions are also made by Morgan Stanley and Nationwide Foundation.

Additional season funding is provided by the Ohio Arts Council, the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation, and Wexner Center members.

Preferred accommodations: The Blackwell Inn.