All of a Sudden
Photo by Al Hall
“With his mad blue Bette Davis eyes and penchant for public suffering, he is good at making a spectacle of himself, and- more to the point- he excels at making his audiences deeply uncomfortable.” — The New York Times
All of a Sudden is a new collaboration between choreographer Jack Ferver and
collaborator Joshua Lubin-Levy, based on the film (also a play) Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams about a young girl driven insane after witnessing her cousin’s murder and the doctor who attempts to help her. Set against the backdrop of the film, Ferver and Lubin-Levy build a performance at the intersection of such complex caring, loving and violent dyads (including the therapist/patient and the artist/dramaturg) exploding the moment when we are so overwhelmed we must ask for help, where reality becomes so heavy we bring in others (real or imaginary) to help shoulder the burden. For the Prelude Festival, Ferver and Lubin-Levy will present excerpts of this work-in-progress woven together with conversation around the creation of a performance through the lens of film.
Artists Involved: Created in collaboration with Joshua Lubin-Levy; set by Marc Swanson; music by Roarke Menzies; costumes by Reid Bartelme.
Lead Artists: JACK FERVER is a choreographer, writer, performer and teacher based in New York City. Ferver has been creating full-length works since 2007. He has been presented at The Kitchen (NYC), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA), PS 122 (NYC), The New Museum (NYC), The Museum of Arts and Design (NYC), Diverse Works (Houston, TX), Danspace Project (NYC), Abrons Art Center (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), and Théâtre de Vanves in France, among others. He teaches privately as well as at New York University and has set choreography at The Juilliard School.
JOSHUA LUBIN-LEVY is a scholar and performer whose work centers around theories of the archive and the labor of performance. A current doctoral candidate in Performance Studies at New York University, his focus is on the artist Jack Smith. His collaborations have been presented at Performance Space 122 (NYC), The Kitchen (NYC), New York Live Arts/Dance Theater Workshop (NYC), and Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA).
Upcoming: A residency and workshop at Bard College in 2013; premiere at Abrons Art Center in 2013.