calls 837 Venice Blvd  "funny, shocking and moving"

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In 837 Venice Boulevard director and choreographer Faye Driscoll revisits her childhood while examining the construct of identity and how we blame the world for our problems.  The act of looking to her childhood for answers became a metaphor for the human compulsion to place blame -- whether with parents, lovers, society, or ourselves.  This dance theater piece uses text and song generated in collaboration with the three performers, who throughout the work manipulate each other like puppets, poking fun at how we are all constantly telegraphing who we are, based on who we think other people perceive us to be.  Using physical manipulation and humor, 837 Venice Boulevard paints the lonesome emotional landscape of a neglected kid left to her own fantasies and fears, while exploring universal themes of identity, blame, and how exhausting it is to have to "be somebody" all the time.
View a video preview of the show.   flash video: Venice clip 2	"No to prettiness, no to glamour, no to glistening muscular limbs. Yes to intensity, yes to body heat, yes to wildness, freedom and in your face defiance. Faye Driscoll has produced a giddy anarchism." -- Dance Magazine
Faye Driscoll, hailed as "1 of 25 to watch out for in 2008" by Dance Magazine, choreographs rigorous dance works that edge into performance art and theater.  She takes gesture and spasm to new levels of physicality in her raw, under-the-skin and often hysterical work.  Faye grew up in Venice Beach, CA where she began creating spontaneous performances events for her family and whenever music inspired her.  In 2007, Driscoll created Wow Mom, Wow through a DNA presents commission from Dance New Amsterdam where it premiered to sold out houses and later was invited to the famous Michigan Womyn's Festival.  She also choreographed Church, a play by Young Jean Lee, which premiered at PS 122 and played the Under The Radar Festival at the Public Theater.  Her other works include: Eyes, Eyes, Eyes (2006 Hotfest at Dixon Place on a shared bill with Dynasty Handbag), Cold Blooded Old Time (2005 BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, ODC San Francisco and currently in the touring repertory of the Same Planet Different World Company in Chicago).  Her video works include: Lez Side Story (made in collaboration with Hedia Maron, screened all over the US and at Documenta in Germany), Loneliness (screened at the Movement Research Festival), and Intimate Stranger (screened at PS122 in the Catch series).
	Driscoll was a member of Doug Varone and Dancers 2000-2003 creating important roles in repertory, teaching and touring internationally to Russia and Switzerland.  She performed in the early works of Yasmeen Godder touring with her to Prague and Belgrade.  She has also performed with David Neumann and assisted him on his project with Mikhail Baryshnikov The Common Foreign Language of the Red-Haired People.  Most recently, Driscoll played the leader of a coven of dancing vampires in The Theater of the Two Headed Calf's Room For Cream at La Mama ETC.  Driscoll has been selected to be a resident artist in the Djerassi Resident Artists Program 2009, she is a member of the HERE Artists Residency Program 2007-2009 and is an Artist Advisor at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange (where she was an Artist-in-Residence 2005-2007).  Driscoll also studied dance at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and at New York University's Tisch School for the Arts where she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts.

NOW EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND

EXTENDED THRU DEC 31ST, TICKETS AVAILABLE THRU NOV 30th

Get Up-close and Personal with Joey Arias at the Arias with a Twist Blog

Read why Basil Twist is part of The New York 40 They've ruled the city-and told us why this city rules.    Read Ben Brantley's Rave Review Two national treasures unleash their epic imaginations to conjure a modern and intimate fantasy. Twist's signature magic envelopes Arias' legendary voice, transporting us to unpredictable worlds, channeling ecstatic desires, lavish nightmares and bizarre premonitions in a bejeweled cabinet of curiosities that could only be found in one of downtown's last enclaves for bohemian New York style.

A special performance created for the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, marking Arias' homecoming after a triumphant six-year run in Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity, and the 10th Anniversary of our Dream Music Puppetry Program. (Playfully intended for mature audiences, not for children.)   PLEASE NOTE: Due to the intimate nature of the performance, there will be absolutely no late seating. A limited number of partial view $20 Rush Tickets will be available at the box office 30 minutes before each performance. Limit one per person.

Read Joey Arias's Bio 

Visit Basil Twist's Website

The political blog and theatre company NERO FIDDLED returns, with the final chapter in the trilogy which began with Burning Bush:  A Faith-Based Musical and continued with Moral Value Meal.  Against the backdrop of this historic 2008 presidential election, an exuberant cast paints a musical and comedic portrait of the American political scene – a satire so sharp that within a few months of the show, Bush and Cheney will have no choice but to leave office. Life After Bush is a musical we can believe in.

JOIN US ON ELECTION NIGHT! Spend this historic night with the best political team in live theatre. On November 4, starting at 6:00 pm, NERO FIDDLED and the Life After Bush company will provide realtime election coverage, live on stage. Results on the electoral map; speeches on live TV; reports from correspondents across the country; live blogging stations; guest commentators and performers; and much more. Click here to buy special election night tickets.

Book and songs by Noah Diamond and Amanda Sisk; musical direction and arrangements by DJ Thacker; lighting design by Christopher Brown; sound design by Matt Tennie; production manager Blair Lampe; produced and directed by Noah Diamond and Amanda Sisk.Starring: Tarik Davis, Noah Diamond, Brian Louis Hoffman*, Sadrina Johnson*, Kim Moscaritolo, Avi Phillips, Amanda Sisk (*appears courtesy of Actors Equity)

www.lifeafterbush.net 

Drama of Works presents
THE 7TH ANNUAL CARNIVAL OF SAMHAIN

What a perfect time for extending the Halloween holiday? On November 6th through the 8th, Drama of Works will do it again (returning to the event's home - HERE), either adding to the horror from election day or continuing the party! We'll spook, stun, scare and possibly titillate the pants off you regardless with Halloween-inspired puppet pieces, dance, magic, burlesque, comedy and live music.

PUPPETS: just in time for that certain 11/4 event - Puppet State Players take us to "Mothra Memorial Junior High" for a special Halloween class election, hosts Drama of Works present their new rendition of Poe's "The Black Cat" told with a devilish hand puppet and overhead magic, Z. Lindsey Briggs – the smash hit of Samhain '05 - shows a new spooky piece, Evolve Company bring you a new mystical black light show "Becoming", Marta Mozelle MacRostie has a marionette piece that would make Thing proud; plus we'll be screening the award-winning Canadian puppet film "Dead Boyfriends" and the new stop-motion film "Charon" from London native Chiara Ambrosio.

DANCE, BURLESQUE, COMEDY & MORE: Pinchbottom Burlesque brings you "The Mummy's Curves" with Nasty Canasta (*not 11/8) as the innocent beauty and Jonny Porkpie as spare parts, arial artist Amy Chen will perform a death-defying dance swinging from the rafters, magician Will Randall will seriously freak you out, plus the comedic stylings of Puppet Junction bring you big comedy in an even-bigger costume (last year's costume, "The Claw," won BEST COSTUME in the gigantic Greenwich Halloween Parade).

PLUS: your host Bone Daddy (Jonny Clockworks) dazzles the audience for the sixth year in a row with accordion, song and puppets; students from Parsons School of Design's illustration department work with Drama of Works to create a unique puppet exhibit based on their readings of the horror classic "Frankenstein."

"One of the companies at the center of [the new puppetry renaissance] is DRAMA OF WORKS, a Brooklyn-based collective… Within New York's puppetry community, it is clearly a significant presence. During the [fifth] Carnival of Samhain, the Master of Ceremonies took pains to point to [Gretchen] Van Lente as she swept the floor between acts, identifying her as the Artistic Director of Drama of Works, as if everyone in the audience should consider that a fact of some significance. She apologized for the delay and explained that she didn't want the next act to slip and fall. This exchange seems representative of the puppetry community at the beginning of the twenty-first century. They are each other biggest fans and most vigorous promoters… If the transitions are awkward we trust that whatever comes next will be worth the wait."  

Samhain illustration by David Michael Friend.