On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, West Virginia encountered; what they described as a large winged man with glowing red eyes. This would be the first of many sightings of the creature that would be dubbed the “Mothman” by local papers, and ushered in a year of terror for the small town. A year that would not only be marked by several sightings of the creature, but a rash of other strange occurrences of aerial phenomena, strange noises, prophetic visions, bizarre phone calls, disappearances, and the convergence of shadowy figures in black suits and hats on the community.

Based on the actual eyewitness accounts,  The Unitards weave a tale of fear, confusion, paranoia and sadness along with dark humor. A sensory experience of music, light, sound and puppetry. A theater experience much like the story itself; strange, disorienting and beautiful. Audiences are thrust into a black and white world, in a time long past, in a town you've never heard of where something extraordinary happened.

“A show that oozed of creative and experimental unfolding...An experience worthy of David Lynch cinema.” -Maria P. Heger, Lofot-Tidende  

New York ensemble thingNY and Phoenix-based Orange Theatre are devising a new work of music-theatre centering around memory and maps, a surreal book of coordinates, click bait, tangents, and a fresh take on the classic American road trip. In January 2016, the groups met in Orange Theatre's art space to create a radio play, and this summer their collaboration continues as a two-week residency on Governors Island.

Orange Theatre is a contemporary performance project comprised of artists Stephen Christensen, Katrina Donaldson, Joya Scott, and Matthew Watkins. Since 2010, they have created twelve original works examining toxic masculinity and gender performance, suburbia, violence, and empire. Recently, they have focused on creating visually-driven performances with live music and film, set within large-scale architectural installations. They run a 2000 square foot independent arts space in downtown Phoenix, AZ where they produce most of their work. orangetheatre.org

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Mon., Aug. 14, 2017
3:00pm

Open rehearsal and
work-in-progress showing

408B Colonels Row
Governors Island
New York, NY
​
website

FREE + Open to public. 

Co-created by Stephen Christiansen, Katrina Donaldson, Matthew Watkins, Paul Pinto, 
Erin Rogers, Joya Scott, Jeffrey Young

In celebration of thingNY’s 10th anniversary, the theatrically-charged new music collective is collaborating with the Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center technical audio team to present a multi-channel sound and visual installation on the theme thingNY: 10 years in the (music) making, featuring a combination of lo-fi and hi-fi speakers in an immersive, interactive environment of sensory under- and overload.

In the style of thingNY's first experimental opera, ADDDDDDDDD, the installation simulates our activity-saturated daily life. Hours upon hours of thingNY performances, studio recordings, rehearsal audio, downtime, life deliberations, and one-offs over a ten-year span, come alive within an interactive environment, where sonic fabric is manipulated by public participants through their exploration within the space. Woven interactive textures are intermittently clean-slated by a series of new, original electronic compositions by members of the ensemble.

Varying from state-of-the-art speakers to teddy bears bleeding sound through their bellies, the over-saturation of multiple senses is inescapable amongst the piles of group memorabilia and a decade of lovable junk. Welcome to our home.

The installation will be housed in the Harvestworks studio room. An opening reception will take place on Friday, July 21st at 7pm. The reception is FREE. Admission will be FREE and open to the public on Saturday and Sunday July 22 and 23 from 4-7pm daily. All ages are welcome. The core members of thingNY will be in attendance throughout.

Support through New Music USA’s NYC New Music Impact Fund is made possible with funding from The Scherman Foundation's Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund.

Opening reception:
​Fri., Jul. 21, 2017
7:00pm
Public viewing:
Jul. 21-23
4pm-7pm
Harvestworks
596 Broadway, 6th Fl.
New York, NY

(212) 431-1130
website

FREE + Open to public. 

Co-created by Andrew Livingston, 
Erin Rogers, Dave Ruder and Jeffrey Young
With additional work by Paul Pinto and Gelsey Bell

New York City is experiencing a renaissance of contemporary opera. Artists find boundary-pushing new expressions by crossing musical genres, creating stunning visuals, and defining new narratives. Join us to explore how and why experimental theatre artists successfully revive this art form, while classical opera is struggling. Artists and producers at the forefront of the contemporary New York opera scene will present their works and discuss the radically changing landscape of the field.
Participating artists: Jecca Barry (General Manager, Beth Morrison Projects); Lisa Bielawa(Composer/Executive Producer); M. Lamar (Composer/Performer); Aaron Siegel(Composer/Producer, Experiments in Opera); Ashley Tata (Director) and thingNY (Composer/Performer collective); and Kristin Marting (Co-producer, PROTOTYPE and Artistic Director, HERE Arts Center).

Mon., Nov. 28, 2016
6:30pm
Segal Theatre
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY

212-817-1860
website

Discussion/performance
FREE + Open to public.
​First come, first served.

thingNY - "At Our Best" from This Takes Place Close By

Gelsey Bell - voice
Andrew Livingston - voice and bass
Paul Pinto - voice
Erin Rogers - voice and saxophone
Dave Ruder - voice and clarinet
Jeffrey Young - voice and violin