Panel Talk|A Conversation Between Linked Dance Theater and Five Elements Theater on Experimental and Immersive Theatre, the Process, and Its Challenges
CONVERSAZIONE, as an art community and artist collective, is excited to have Linked Dance Theater and Five Elements Theater joined an Art Salon and Panel Discussion on creative moments of experimental and immersive theatre making.
Guest Speaker:
Edward Mylechreest
Production Manager of Linked Dance Theater
Linked premiered their first professional show Gone in NYC in March of 2014 and is now run by Co — Artistic Directors Jordan Chlapecka and Kendra Slack. Linked Dance Theatre is a collaborative company that builds work using multiple mediums to immerse people in stories with a true narrative. To date, Linked Dance Theatre has self-produced 11 full length productions and has been granted space residencies at New York institutions such as The Lilac Preservation Project, Coney Island USA, and The Center at West Park.
Linked Dance Theatre premiered their eleventh production, Remembrance, an immersive theatre work which unfolds the story of Margaret — a senior lady living with Alzheimer’s Disease — through the encounters and experiences at her 65-year-old birthday party.
Premiered on Governors Island, this work created an immersive experience inside one of the historic houses there. By exploring the rooms of Margaret’s home with the invitation to her house, the audience gradually recognized that the different arrangements and the use of the space represented a different part of Margaret’s memory, where pieces of memories found scattered, disintegrated, and eventually discarded into oblivion. Audience members will be able to explore the house during this intimate, immersive, theatrical performance, while they gained a glimpse of Margret’s daily life in response to Alzheimer’s Disease. This immersive production presented by Linked Dance Theatre unfolds the subtle yet nuanced story of the living experiences from the perspective as an aging individual through intimate whilst immersive theatre experience, revealing concerns for the discussion around a disease that is all too common but is not being addressed. By intertwining moments of dance and movements with spontaneous storytelling, Linked Dance Theatre recreates situations and encounters through immersive theatre, which captures the nuanced yet hidden moments of our living experience.
Shiyu Li
Executive Artistic Director of Five Element Theater
Alexis Cruz
Production Manager of Five Element Theater
Founded in Brooklyn, New York, Five Elements Theater is dedicated to exploring ways to communicate with multicultural audiences and is committed to introducing today’s youth to all facets of modern theater.With the focuses on cultural and identity issues, Five Element Theater hopes to broaden the boundaries of social and political issues that can be discussed by redefining the theater and creating new theater works.
As the co-founder and Executive Artistic Director of the Five Elements Theater, ShiYu Li has directed youth musical “ The Ballad Of MuLan” and dance performance “ The Elements”. As Actor, Shiyu Li performed in various Off-Broadway and Indie theater productions.She toured as a part of the cast of “Shame or the Doomsday Machine” which was directed by Crystal Field of the Theater for the New City. She has acted in an original dramatic Off-Broadway musical, WarLovers, at Theater Row. She has also played a frustrated artist in the beloved long-running satire, A Sketch of New York, at the Producer’s Club Theater. ShiYu performed with, Sutter Street Theater’s Spring 2016 production of Legally Blonde directed by Clark Houston Lewis. She also participated in a production of The Wizard of Oz, in which she played the iconic role of Dorothy. She got her MFA in Acting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and BFA at the China Conservatory of Music.
Conversazione is pleased to host an Art Salon and Panel Discussion that engages meaningful conversations between creative theatre practitioners.
Time:
November 23rd, 2:00–4:30PM
Location：
Alchemical Studios
(Studio A)
104 West 14th Street
New York, NY 10011
To RSVP, please visit:
The conversation will be in English, while the open Q&A will be bilingual, depending on the public’s needs. During the conversation, issues on experimental theatre-making, the shifted role of the spectatorship, and the various approaches and responses to the challenges of immersive, experimental, site-specific theater will be open for discussion. Conversations will invite guest speakers, Edward Mylechreest, the Production Manager of Linked Dance Theater, Shiyu Li, the Executive Artistic Director of Five Element Theater, and Alexis Cruz, the Production Manager of Five Element Theater to share their perspectives on different approaches to narrations, storytelling techniques, audience engagement, and the use of stage design/costume/props/sound, and many more. We will open up the conversation to the audience, and it’s the time for the exciting Q&A session for people’s better understanding of the practice and production of each theatre company.
This talk welcomes designers, curators, performers, multidisciplinary artists, and art school students interested in creating experimental works, and people with creative minds.
Host:
Conversazione is a community and artist cooperative that focuses on “the social values of art.” We believe artists (creators) are playing more roles — participating in life, intervening in our living reality, promoting development, experimenting, initiating change, or expanding the influence of art through emerging and innovative forms. We hope to build communities through continuous questioning, in-depth research, and promotion of dialogue at different levels, which discovers the possibilities of change in practical creation.
Conversazione is dedicated to cross-disciplinary conversations and innovative works related to performance, moving images, space, and urban conditions, initiated by emerging Chinese artists. Conversazione has been an energetic art community with impactful connections to scholars, curators, designers, and artists pursuing educations and careers in the creative fields in the U.S, Europe, Mainland China, and many more.
