Week two of the New Original Works 21st annual festival of locally created music, theater, dance and media adventures continues this week at REDCAT. This Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 14-16, at 8:30 p.m., a trio of explorers in their respective fields will present the results of their recent research.
In choreographer Ajani Brannum’s “Congress,” promotional materials state that “five (alleged) men” incorporate movement, text and song as they “conjure and confront patriarchy’s ghosts.” This band of sorcerers investigates the role performance plays in both “ceremony and town hall” structures.
Interacting as if it’s a conversation between an actor and her director, interdisciplinary artist Sophia Cleary reflects on our current confusions around fact and fiction. “Read the Room” places its two participants in “an unsettling, comedic and outrageous experience,” diving deep into “the tension between script and improvisation in theater and the illusion of control in performance.”
Dance/theater-maker Dulce Escobedo brings the Tijuana Dance Company into LA to uncover “Salón México” in the third part of this week’s NOW performance laboratory. The ensemble sets the stage up as a dance hall. Here, in “an intricate story of identity, power and survival,” players “carve out spaces for personal and collective expression” propelled by the energy of Tijuana’s nightlife.
—Benn Widdey, Culture Spot LA
LOCATION:
REDCAT, 631 West Second Street, LA 90012
TICKETS:
$13-$25
INFO:
https://www.redcat.org/events/2024/now/week2
Photo of Ajani Brannum by Angel Rojo