How can we make a place to live that reflects our values? Who are we as a group, anyway?
Forward-thinking, New York-based theater artist Aaron Landsman invites us to reimagine urban life outside of commerce in a performed public meeting. Considering the ways gentrification happens in the United States alongside international examples of community alternatives, the conversation will lay the foundation for his next work, Perfect City.
Presented in partnership with the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) and Abrons Arts Center as part of FIAF’s 2014 Crossing the Line festival.
Aaron Landsman is a writer, performer and teacher whose theatrical works combine formal experimentation with long-term community engagement. Fascinated by the way we perform power and by the changing faces of cities, his shows are often staged in spaces such as homes, offices, and sidewalks. Since 2004, Landsman has performed regularly with Elevator Repair Service, appearing in two acclaimed productions, Gatz and The Sound And The Fury, while also teaching at NYU and The Juilliard School. His piece City Council Meeting — made in collaboration with Mallory Catlett and Jim Findlay — was presented across the US in 2012-13. In addition to Perfect City, he is currently developing a new project called Empathy School, with filmmaker Brent Green, at EMPAC and the play Running Away From The One With The Knife, directed by Mallory Catlett at The Chocolate Factory Theater in 2015.
Image: Republic of New York © David A. Brown