FEMININE VENOM
Performed in an obscure warehouse, Feminine Venom peers into the sexy, seedy world of women’s prison. An eclectic troupe of “female prisoners” reenact, dance, and sing their way through decades of imprisoned lesbian fantasies, and hair pull after hair pull of steamy catfights.
GO TO HELL
THE NEW WORKS THEATRE MACHINE and LAMB LAYS WITH LION PRESENT “GO TO HELL,” A MULTI-MEDIA PERFORMANCE BASED ON THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE.
The New Works Theatre Machine (NWTM), in conjunction with Lamb Lays with Lion and Brolly Arts, is announcing their inaugural production “GO TO HELL,” written and directed by NWTM guest-director Jeremey Catterton.
“GO TO HELL” is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, heavily inspired by classical composers Offenbach, Monteverdi, Gluck, the Hellraiser films, and Reza Abdoh's "The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice." “GO TO HELL” features video, and live music, built from the ground up by Catterton and the members of The New Works Theatre Machine ensemble.
thenewworkstheatremachine.com
Lamb Lays with Lion Vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull
The production has two casts who cohabit the stage and simultaneously perform, which amounts to 19 actors acting their hearts out against disruption. They both casts perform director Jeremey Catterton’s adaptation of Chekov's The Seagull. The treatment of the text uses methods that Ms. Mitchell herself employed in her London production. The company is very honored to have had her permission to create the piece, which took the Theatre of Disruption to its largest experiment yet, and ultimately closes this chapter of exploration in Lamb Lays with Lion’s body of work.
The Black Arts
The Black Arts is a sincere magic show that strives against disruption led under the direction of Jeremey Catterton. This work was developed collaboratively by the ensemble and inspired by a new wave of “hard rock” magicians. Premiered at the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studion, featured in Singled Out, a festival for emerging artists, January 2010.
The Ongoing Saga of Clapperclaw (2009)
A new original production of three episodes in the tradition of LLwL's episodic theatre, that emulates tableau storytelling, radio drama, and melodramatic series, like "Twin Peaks." Inspired by the history of Minneapolis and David Lynch/Sam Raimi-like b-genre horror, our Ongoing Saga continues to be as delightful to watch as it is to make! Please check out the other great music, theatre, fine art, film, and fashion elements of this year's Clapperclaw Festival.
Lamb Lays with Lion's Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
“Lamb Lays with Lion’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is much more than a deconstruction of the classic modern-American text. It is the culmination of our latest aesthetic developments in our Theatre of Disruption.
We, as a company, have created two other performance works in the mode of the Theatre of Disruption. However, “Lamb Lays with Lion’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” is the first full-production employing our developing technique of disruption over a prolonged duration of a full three-act play.
Unlike Brecht’s Epic Theatre and employment of the Verfremdungseffekt that would engage his audience in an analytically detached “smoker’s theatre,” the work of Lamb Lays with Lion strives for an experiential-complicity with the audience. Instead of passive cigar puffing, our Theatre of Disruption aims to jolt the immediacy of the performance into an active response from the audience, where pushed to its extremes, the audience should be compelled to jump on stage and attempt to cease the events happening to the “performers;” much like Chris Burden’s audience-complicit gun shot.
We, as a company, have created two other performance works in the mode of the Theatre of Disruption. However, “Lamb Lays with Lion’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” is the first full-production employing our developing technique of disruption over a prolonged duration of a full three-act play.
Unlike Brecht’s Epic Theatre and employment of the Verfremdungseffekt that would engage his audience in an analytically detached “smoker’s theatre,” the work of Lamb Lays with Lion strives for an experiential-complicity with the audience. Instead of passive cigar puffing, our Theatre of Disruption aims to jolt the immediacy of the performance into an active response from the audience, where pushed to its extremes, the audience should be compelled to jump on stage and attempt to cease the events happening to the “performers;” much like Chris Burden’s audience-complicit gun shot.
The Little Skeleton That Could Not
Developed as a company, this intervention is designed specifically for the bar audience and away from comfortable theatrical norms. Company members will engage their audience through self-help and info-tainment to “talk about important subjects”; especially the Three A’s- Alcoholism, AIDS & Anorexia! This performance will not take for granted the audience’s passivity- in The Little Skeleton That Could Not, the performers are at the mercy of the audience, a sensibility normally reserved for stand-up comedy, rock concerts, and magic shows. Expect all of it, expect none of it.
click here for "Who are We
and How Did I Get Here" by Carl Atiya Swanson
click here for "Who are We
and How Did I Get Here" by Carl Atiya Swanson
Tenebrism
Performed in an intentionally fragile atmosphere, Lamb Lays with Lion blurs the line of performance and reality by sharing its failure with the audience. Tenebrism is inspired by the religious imagery of Renaissance painter Caravaggio, Martin Scorsesse’s "The Last Temptation of Christ," and legendary rock star Ian Curtis and his iconic post-punk band, Joy Division.
The host, Jeremey, promises the audience a show about Jesus, Joy Division, and Caravaggio. However, as Tenebrism unfolds, it becomes clear that the real performance is in witnessing just how hard it is for Jeremey and his assistant, Jayne, to get the show to “go on” at all.
Tenebrism is the result of Lamb Lays with Lion’s “Theatre of Disruption” approach to creating ensemble performance. Tenebrism is performed by Lamb Lays with Lion founding-members, Jeremey Catterton and Jayne Deis.
Click here for "Tenebrism is a Lie and a Complicit Failure" by Jeremey Catterton
Fort Wilson Riot presents: Idigaragua
Awarded: “Best Rock Opera ‘07” –Mnpls St. Paul Magazine
Conceived by local art-rock band Fort Wilson Riot and directed by Catterton, Idigaragua features dance, puppetry, film and live rock 'n' roll to fully visualize their concept album of the same title. A five-part epic, Idigaragua relates a magical tale of one man's lifetime, from the mundane to the fantastic. It speaks of intention, possibility, and choice, while all along accompanied by a mystical bird and its song, "Idigaragua . . . " "Few bands can summon the creative stamina required for a project like Idigaragua. Yet with their first full-length effort, local musicians Fort Wilson Riot have fearlessly thrown down a jewel-encrusted, multi-patterned, Technicolor gauntlet.
A nexus of dance, costume, puppetry, film, theater, concept album, and live rock 'n' roll, Idigaragua is perhaps the most ambitious and imaginative debut release in indie-rock history,"
- Christopher Matthew Jensen for City Pages.
A nexus of dance, costume, puppetry, film, theater, concept album, and live rock 'n' roll, Idigaragua is perhaps the most ambitious and imaginative debut release in indie-rock history,"
- Christopher Matthew Jensen for City Pages.
10/14
A group of actors in a remote warehouse rehearse & prepare their "groundbreaking" new work, Cap'n Faust, in preparation for their opening night the following evening. Overnight, the world changes. In the midst of a developing nuclear fall-out, the theater opens its doors to receive their audience but instead find refugees from the disaster outside. Having spent many hours preparing a production that one hopes will "change the world," how is a theater artist to react when the world changes first? 10/14 - It's safer in the theater.
Featuring members of the Lamb Lays with Lion Company, this staged reading marks the launch of a new-play development initiative for LLwL. These intensive staged readings will provide a template of physical staging and directorial engagement to future playwrights and their works-in-progress as a means to transform the process; from cerebral exercise to the visceral experience of bodies in space. We invite the audience in as a collaborator and a witness to the birth of new plays, raw words, and (until now) unspoken questions.
Written by Dan O’Neil and directed by Cameron Brainard.
Featuring members of the Lamb Lays with Lion Company, this staged reading marks the launch of a new-play development initiative for LLwL. These intensive staged readings will provide a template of physical staging and directorial engagement to future playwrights and their works-in-progress as a means to transform the process; from cerebral exercise to the visceral experience of bodies in space. We invite the audience in as a collaborator and a witness to the birth of new plays, raw words, and (until now) unspoken questions.
Written by Dan O’Neil and directed by Cameron Brainard.
Massgraves
"Massgraves…is a lot of bodies…or the end of religion... or possibly the mourning of our weak wrecked planet, as we gift it unto our children.
Massgraves is the story of how to properly put to bed everything we hold dear. It is how we say goodbye to all that was good about life and striving. The Requiem for all that we did not do, or simply the Prayer for all that we still hope to happen…which keeps us living.
Massgraves is a hiphop-beat ridden vision that peers through the art of performance to tell us the story of ourselves in a city, Nosferatu on the floor in a heap, and The Egyptian Book of the Dead in our sleep,"
--from writer/director Jeremey Catterton.
Massgraves features live original music by Kill the Vultures.
SPIT
SPIT showcases Twin Cities up-and-coming spoken word and slam poets juxtaposed with underground comedians from Acme Comedy Club and Death Comedy Jam, The Other Side Project, as well as whatever other delightful absurdities we can pull out from the dark sensibilities of the Twin Cities freshest and most original talents.
Produced by experimental performance group Lamb Lays with Lion, hosted by their very own Carl Atiya Swanson; SPIT will have appearances by:
Tru Ruts performer El Guante
MC Kristoffer Krane
Poet and Sound Artist Twin Sister
Host of Death Comedy Jam & winner of Laughing Liberally, 2008 CHRIS MADDOCK.
As Well as comedians featured at Acme Comedy Club:
TOMMY RYMAN, BROOKS ROBINSON, and Patrick Bauer
Also featuring music from HipHop DJ PSYEUDONYM of SecTor 7G.
Produced and Curated by
Jeremey Catterton & Carl Atiya Swanson
Produced by experimental performance group Lamb Lays with Lion, hosted by their very own Carl Atiya Swanson; SPIT will have appearances by:
Tru Ruts performer El Guante
MC Kristoffer Krane
Poet and Sound Artist Twin Sister
Host of Death Comedy Jam & winner of Laughing Liberally, 2008 CHRIS MADDOCK.
As Well as comedians featured at Acme Comedy Club:
TOMMY RYMAN, BROOKS ROBINSON, and Patrick Bauer
Also featuring music from HipHop DJ PSYEUDONYM of SecTor 7G.
Produced and Curated by
Jeremey Catterton & Carl Atiya Swanson
Rusalka's Umbrella Cabaret
For "Rusalka's Umbrella", the second full-length album from Minneapolis singer-songwriter Jenny Dalton, Dalton commissioned Lamb Lays with Lion to create a theatrical component for the record release show. Held at the Ritz Theatre September 6th 2008, Lamb Lays with Lion performed a cabaret based on Japanese folk tales and the Moirae- the Fates of Greek mythology. With a full company of performers, specially designed stage props and fish- and bird-puppets, the cabaret added a delicate but dynamic complement to the rhythm of Dalton's music.
Directed and designed by Carl Atiya Swanson
Concieved and developed by Carl Atiya Swanson and Company
Directed and designed by Carl Atiya Swanson
Concieved and developed by Carl Atiya Swanson and Company
