All posts by Zachary

Theatre

Who are you America? – Modern Monologues

The Internet is amazing.  We all know that.  In one of my recent meanderings, I came across a series of 50 monologues commissioned by Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland. Being a recent transplant, Kwame Kwei-Armah, along with his team, asked the question “Who are you America?”

I was happy to see that Greg Allen of the Neo-Futurists was selected as one of the 50 leading playwrights. His piece is a lovely dance through the connected, tangental consciousness of the American fabric.

I have since watched dozens of others. Some hit very well and resonate strongly, others seem to fall flat. Obviously, this project is not immune from subjectivity. Regardless, a very fascinating study in writing, directing, acting, filming, and editing.

I recommend the consumption. Here’s a link to another, titled “one evening on the #14 bus“. It was written by Christina Anderson and performed by Pascale Armand.

Who hasn’t ridden a bus and experienced a similar situation of desperation and disconnect?

Education, Resources, Theatre

Meet the New York Neo-Futurists. // Hello Neo-Futurism.

In surfing the Internet today, I came across this lovely video showcasing what is one of the more rewarding experimental theatre groups in the country, the New York chapter of the Neo-Futurists.

From time to time, TDF Stages will highlight exciting Off and Off-Off Broadway theatre companies with exclusive “getting to know you” videos. Today, we’re featuring New York Neo-Futurists, who create 30 plays a week and want you to join in the creative explosion. This video features interviews with nine (!) current Neo-Futurists.

The company’s signature show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes, runs almost every weekend of the year.

I have not seen the New York Neo-Futurists in person, but I have consumed numerous official and bootleg recordings of their shows online. I have, however, enjoyed several shows of the Neo-Futurists located in Chicago. In the continuing appeal and expansion of this theatrical vocabulary, a San Francisco chapter opened late last year. I cannot wait to start seeing some theatre from the compnay.

The theatrical aesthetic of Neo-Futurism is informed by the original Futurists, who describe their intentions in the violent language contained within the Futurists Synthetic Theatre written by f.t. marinetti, emilio settimelli, bruno corra.  The Neo-Futurists, however, abstain from fascism.

A few quotes pulled from the manifesto:

Synthetic. That is, very brief. To compress into a few minutes, into a few words and gestures, innumerable situations, sensibilities, ideas, sensations, facts, and symbols. The writers who wanted to renew the theatre (Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Andreyev, Claudel, Shaw) never thought of arriving at a true synthesis, of freeing themselves from a technique that involves prolixity, meticulous analysis, drawn-out preparation.
==

1. It’s stupid to write one hundred pages where one would do, only because the audience through habit and infantile instinct wants to see character in a play result from a series of events, wants to fool itself into thinking that the character really exists in order to admire the beauties of Art, meanwhile refusing to acknowledge any art if the author limits himself to sketching out a few of the character’s traits.
==

3. It’s stupid to pander to the primitivism of the crowd, which, in the last analysis, wants to see the bad guy lose and the good guy win.
==

7. It’s stupid to allow one’s talent to be burdened with the weight of a technique that anyone (even imbeciles) can acquire by study, practice, and patience.

Greg Allen, who started the Chicago company in 1988, has some wonderful essays about the subject on his and the neofuturists.org web sites.

If you are in Chicago, New York, or San Francisco, take a risk of rolling the dice and see a show.  There’s always something for everyone on the menu.

Education, Tricks

Thank You Synthtopia. Audio is aurally levitating.

Saw this article on Synthtopia.  People who love audio already knew of its power.  Behold!

Three-Dimensional Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation (2013,2014-)

Yoichi Ochiai (The University of Tokyo)
Takayuki Hoshi (Nagoya Institute of Technology)
Jun Rekimoto (The University of Tokyo / Sony CSL)

A pop song for science.

UPDATE: Apparently, this is quite a growing interest

The most fascinating tid bit thus far has been the history, via patents, of this type of research. As stated by the lovely compiler from reddit, heyheythroemaway, “patents are like karmadecay for science gifs.”  Does anyone have an easy way to look up these patents?  A WordPress plugin?

  • Barmatz, Martin B., System for controlled acoustic rotation of objects U. S. Patent 4393706, July 1983.
  • Lee, Mark C., Acoustic suspension system U.S. Patent 4402221, September 1983.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Granett, Dan, Lee, Mark C., “Vibrating-chamber levitation systems” U. S. Patent 4549435, October 1985.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Allen, James L., Granett, Dan, Gravity enhanced acoustic levitation method and apparatus. U.S. Patent 4520656, une 1985.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Allen, James L., “Single mode levitation and translation.” U.S. Patent 4736815, April 1988.
  • Peterson, Stephen C., Brimhall, Owen D., McLaughlin, Thomas J., Baker, Charles D., Sparks, Sam L., “Methods and apparatus for moving and separating materials exhibiting different physical properties”. U.S. Patent 4759775, July 1988.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Garrett, Steven L., Stabilization and oscillation of an acoustically levitated object. U. S. Patent 4773266, September 1988.
  • Danley, Thomas J., Rey, Charles A., “Horn loaded transducer for acoustic levitation” U.S. Patent 4841495, June 20, 1989.
  • Ohkawa, Tihiro , “Acoustically fluidized bed of fine particles”. U.S. Patent 4948497, August 1990.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Aveni, Glenn, Putterman, Seth, Rudnick, Joseph, “Acoustic positioning and orientation prediction”. U.S. Patent 4964303, October 1990.
  • Danley, Thomas J., Merkley, Dennis R., Rey, Charles A., Naperville, IL. “Method and apparatus for acoustic levitation”. U.S. Patent 5036944, August 1991.
  • Rey, Charles A., Merkley, Dennis R. “Aero-acoustic levitation device and method” U.S. Patent 5096017, March 1992.
  • Ohkawa, Tihiro, “Plasma processing apparatus for controlling plasma constituents using neutral and plasma sound waves”. U.S. Patent 5350454, September 1994.
  • Leung, Emily W., Man, Kin F., “Plasma heating for containerless and microgravity materials processing”. U.S. Patent 5374801, December 1994.
  • Nuscheler, Reinhard, Wessner, Hans, “Closed loop control apparatus with frequency filters for controlling an air gap width in electromagnetic levitation systems”. U.S. Patent 5387851, February 1995.
  • Goforth, Robert R., Ohkawa, Tihiro. “Acoustic barrier separator”. U.S. Patent 5419877, May 1995.
  • Guign , Jacques Y., Barmatz, Martin B., Jackson, Henry W., Koptenko, Sergei V., “Acoustic beam levitation”. U.S. Patent 5500493, March 1996.