This is what has happened in the past
The less we talk:
A meditation on group singing
TimeOut New York:
"pitch-perfect. . . clever, quietly enjoyable. . . this is a
chance to watch an already impressive director as
he modulates into a higher key."
New York Times: “An ever-shifting tableau of impressive choreography"
Created in 2009 at The Ontological Theater
American
folk songs are exploded and foreign languages are butchered as Hoi
Polloi trains its sights on choral singing in America. A
25-person choir is at the center of The less we talk
-- an exploration of group singing that combines the singing of choral
staples such as "Shenandoah" with the awkward moments between songs in
which the members of the choir try desperately to prolong the harmony
so easily won in song. Romances blossom and founder, territory is
disputed, and a musical utopia is ardently sought in this radical
re-imagining of how we, as Americans, come together and how we fall
apart.
Check out clips from the show here.
***
Dysphoria
by Alec Duffy
Created in 2007
Performed at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, NYC
Dysphoria follows
five members of a religious sect as they prepare to carry out the
utopian vision of their late founder. Inspired by the controversial
history of the Shambhala Buddhist community, this drama depicts
characters forced to reconsider their faith, their sexual mores and
their future together as they build a new community.
Check out our video promo here. (from l to r) Nisi
Sturgis, Amy Laird Webb, David Frank,
Masayasu Nakanishi and Marshall York
The New York Times on Dysphoria:
"The idea that human beings are perfectible is
probably as old as the human race. But where are all those primitive
feelings of anger, lust and revenge supposed to go? And do gods, gurus
and self-control really work? In his satiric parable Dysphoria, Alec
Duffy paints a picture on the wall of humanity’s cave, and it isn’t
pretty." Read the full review here.
NYTheatre.com on Dysphoria:
"Alec
Duffy's new theatre piece Dysphoria is a remarkable work of theatrical
imagination. . . It's both entertaining and intellectually
invigorating." Read the full review here.
(from l to r) Marshall York, Nisi Sturgis, David Frank and Masayasu Nakanishi
***
Suzan-Lori Parks in Gardens
In conjunction with the Public Theater's 365 Days/365 Plays Festival,
Hoi Polloi presented seven short plays of Suzan-Lori Parks' in
community gardens in the West Bronx, Jamaica Queens and East Harlem, as
well as at the Public Theater in the summer of 2007.
(from l to r) LeeAnet Noble, Lora Chio, Marshall York, Nikaury Rodriguez and Erwin Thomas at Diamante Community Garden in East Harlem
The Top Ten People of the Millennium
Sing Their Favorite Schubert Lieder
by Alec Duffy
"Uncommonly entertaining" - The New York Times
Read the full review here.
"It's as rich, full, and intoxicating an experience as a theatre-lover could hope for.” - NYTheatre.com
An
absurd, hilarious and dark look at the forces that have shaped the last
1000 years. Combining the visceral and the hysterically heady, The Top Ten People. . .
explodes the last millennium, leaving a stage littered with the
detritus of colonialism, empiricism and the loss of innocence;
Einstein, Marx, Galileo and others gather in a salon-like setting,
where they argue over timeless themes of truth and beauty and sing the
beguiling songs of Schubert.
The Top Ten People. . . was
presented in 2005 at the Bank Street Theatre in New York and at the
Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and was was published in the volume,
Plays and Playwrights 2006, edited by Martin Denton.
