Silent Rave @ Union Square

This Friday, October 17 at Union Square there will be what's called a "Silent Rave." Bring your mp3 player, your favorite music for dancing, show up at approximately 6:30, and dance. There's no synchronization, no organization, just a moving mass of bodies enjoying and moving to music.

If you've got Facebook, here's a link to the event.

The original Silent Rave was orchestrated exclusively via Facebook, so they haven't made any other official page with information on it. Even if you abstain from social networking, all the info you really need is above.

New York Times Article

Ruck me? Ruck you!*

Today kicks off Rugby Week for All the World's a Stage.

First up, tonight at 8pm in Goddard 203:

MURDERBALL (2005)
Directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, MURDERBALL is a documentary about paraplegics who play full-contact rugby in Mad Max-style wheelchairs - overcoming unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. It received the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance film festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

On Thursday (10/16) at 8pm in Goddard 203:

WITH YOU! (2006)
Directed by Yaniv Dabach, WITH YOU! is a documentary that follows New York's first gay rugby team, the Gotham Knights RFC, as it strive to gain points and respect against the established old time straight rugby clubs. It is the story of how a group of gay men from all walks of life come together and face their personal challenges to become a family of athletes.

Dabach will be on-hand to discuss the documentary (which has played at LGBT film festivals in NYC, San Francisco, London, Philadelphia, and Tel Aviv) with us.

On Saturday (10/18), we'll travel to Randall's Island to watch the Gotham Knights RFC take on the Hudson Valley Rebels RFC in their last home game of the season. Be ready to go in the lobby of Goddard at NOON. Why? Because SATURDAY'S A RUGBY DAY!

For more information on rugby, check out RUGBY 101.

If you want to read about my first year on the Gotham Knights, check out this article from the Village Voice.


*Law 16b in Rugby Union: "As soon as at least two players, one from each side, are in physical contact together with the ball on the ground, a ruck has formed."

After the Fall

The Kitchen presents a new four-channel video installation by the New York-based artist Alix Pearlstein. Titled After the Fall, this new project explores the psychological, emotional, and social underpinnings of human relationships and group dynamics, tapping into the essential nature of power and competition.

Analogous to Pearlstein’s earlier work that operates in a realm between the theatrical and the cinematic, After The Fall reveals multiple perspectives on a confrontation between two sets of actors/characters through four simultaneous, circling long takes, staged within the context of the black box theater. Akin to a modern day parable, After the Fall captures dramas of passion and intimacy, trust and betrayal, dependency and vulnerability that are described through minimally scripted and loosely choreographed actions and reflect conflicts between characters over issues of access, territory, and dominance.

As the final event in our progression exploring the performing self, ATWAS will head to The Kitchen this Saturday (October 5) at 4pm to check this piece out.

The Great Mp3 Experiment 5

Improv Everywhere, a troupe that does large-scale pranks around the city of New York, is looking for participants for The Great Mp3 Experiment 5, which will take place this Saturday at 3:15pm on Governor's Island. All you need to take part is a red, yellow, or green t-shirt, and umbrella or an uninflated balloon, and an Mp3 player. Check the link for details

Anyone interested in going?

The Class Project

Joe Salvatore, from the Program in Educational Theatre, is seeking participants for a research project that he is conducting on class and socioeconomic status.

He is inviting participants to take part in an interview theater project to learn more about how people living and/or working in New York City feel about class and socioeconomic status. As the principal investigator, he will be working with a team of nine student researcher/actors to create the work. Following the interview process, they will create a performance script from the interviews transcripts, and "The Class Project" will be presented as a theatre piece in the fall mainstage slot for the Program in Educational Theatre at the Steinhardt School. The dates will be October 24-November 2, 2008.

There is a flyer with information outside the fifth floor office. Please contact Professor Salvatore at 212.998.5266 or at js1655@nyu.edu if you have any questions.

Circus Amok

For those who went to Circus Amok, what did everyone think? 

Personally, I thought it was a bit unfair that in the introduction they talked about how John McCain winning the presidency would be scary and everyone should vote against him, but didn't (as far as I could detect) support this with the rest of the show. When they talked about things like historical racial discrimination, I felt as though they were still trying to criticize the current Republican party, but it wasn't really connected. I suppose it was just supposed to be an attack on the status quo in general, but, again, I thought they should've mentioned why McCain/Palin is the status quo. 

Anyway, that's just me! How about you?

Performance Weekend: 9/19 - 9/21

Next weekend, stream members will have a choice of THREE shows to attend:

The Passion Project
September 19 @ 9pm

Arias with a Twist
September 20 @ Midnight

In Conflict
September 21 @ 4pm

Everyone should plan on seeing one of these shows. Check the links and decide which one you want to see. I'll be passing out sign-up lists in class. Those who are not in the Goddard WTE classes should contact me directly by Monday afternoon.