Aaron Landsman

CURRENT PROJECTS

SPECIAL TONIGHT

Special Tonight is a five-character play in which three men sit in a sauna and psyche each other out, one of their girlfriends shows up outside the gym, and the four of them go to dinner at a cozy little restaurant. After working site-specifically for a number of years, I'm excited to build this new piece for a theater. Special Tonight was a finalist for the 2010 Yale Drama Series.

APPOINTMENT

Last year, I started a new project called Appointment, a series of collaborative, repeatable 12-15-minute works in offices for a one performer and one viewer at a time. Using the rituals and environment of the workplace as a departure point, Appointment takes a situation that can seem beneath examination and turns it into a cause for pleasure and surprise.

I am developing the project over the next several years, through collaborations with theater and dance companies, individual artists, and students at performance training programs. The first version, "The Advisors," took place at 2009's Prelude Festival at CUNY with collaborators Sibyl Kempson, Daniel Alexander Jones, and animator and musician Brent Green.

In March, I created a new series of Appointments at the TITAN theater school in Oslo, Norway. The pieces were performed March 5th, 2010 at the offices of SOS RASISME, while people went about their workdays. We'll be taking over an architect's office and a law firm.

Appointment is ongoing: the next installments will be at NYU in the fall of 2010, Austin Texas's FuseBox Festival in spring 2011; Berlin and Philadelphia are coming on board soon. Appointment is being archived at this blog.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Supported by a HERE Artist Residency, I just started work on a new piece that approximates a city council meeting. Inspired by photographer Paul Shambroom, and by a truly Shakespearean city council meeting I attended last year in Oregon, this piece will be about the foibles of civic engagement, the sexuality of power and the comedy of boredom. Audience members will have a chance to testify on issues of their concern, and the entire thing will be webcast. City Council Meeting is about the imperfection of democracy and the imperfection of theater. Please stay tuned. City Council Meeting was a finalist for the 2009 P73 fellowship.

PATIENT BOY

I'm developing a new, environmental theater work with director Mallory Catlett. It's about nostalgia, nihilism, idealism, punk rock, and young love. Mall burnings enuse. We're developing the work this spring and summer. Watch for details about a final production in 2011.

ERS ON TOUR

ERS, has been on the road like crazy the last year, and it don't stop. GATZ - Now through February 7 - ERS' seven-hour marathon staging of The Great Gatsby, is performing right now in Boston, at The American Repertory Theater. I'll be the hapless guy in coveralls with a bone to pick. This show has been on and off the road since 2005, and it seems to get better over time. Which is good for a seven-hour show to do. SOUND AND FURY - March 11-15 - We're going to the Adelaide Festival in Australia, with The Sound And The Fury. Will you be in Adelaide, Australia at that time? Please let me know, and I'll buy you the beverage of your choice. Everything you need to know is HERE.

RECENT PROJECTS

EUREPICA - a project with Free Theater of Belarus - March 2009

Free Theater of Belarus, a group of dissident playwrights, directors and actors I've gotten to know in Minsk (home of Europe's last dictatorship), commissioned 12 playwrights from 12 countries to create new plays around the common theme of "A changing Europe." We got together in Minsk last spring to read the first drafts, and the project premieres in March in Lund, Sweden. Free Theater has gained the attention of playwrights like Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter, both for the struggles they endure to make their work, and the lovely pieces they produce. Other countries represented in Europica include Sweden, Turkey, UK, Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Romania, Belarus, and Macedonia. Eurepica will be on tour in 2009-2010. (Read more about the project).

Read a profile of me and other theater artists working in conflict zones in BACKSTAGE

OPEN HOUSE - 24 performances in 24 living rooms - Spring 2008

READ THE PRESS * LISTEN TO A WNYC RADIO STORY ON THE SHOW * WATCH EXCERPTS ON YOUTUBE

Last year, The Foundry Theatre commissioned my newest play, Open House, which was performed in a different apartment each night. A comedy of romantic failure told in hindsight, a futuristic real estate seminar, and a neighborhood meeting about the changing city, it was my first show fully-produced in New York in five years. The piece was directed by Melanie Joseph and starrred the lovely and talented Raul Castillo, Heidi Shreck and Paul Willis.


	CURRENT PROJECTS SPECIAL TONIGHT Special Tonight is a five-character play in which three men sit in a sauna and psyche each other out, one of their girlfriends shows up outside the gym, and the four of them go to dinner at a cozy little restaurant. After working site-specifically for a number of years, I'm excited to build this new piece for a theater. Special Tonight was a finalist for the 2010 Yale Drama Series. APPOINTMENT Last year, I started a new project called Appointment, a series of collaborative, repeatable 12-15-minute works in offices for a one performer and one viewer at a time. Using the rituals and environment of the workplace as a departure point, Appointment takes a situation that can seem beneath examination and turns it into a cause for pleasure and surprise. I am developing the project over the next several years, through collaborations with theater and dance companies, individual artists, and students at performance training programs. The first version, "The Advisors," took place at 2009's Prelude Festival at CUNY with collaborators Sibyl Kempson, Daniel Alexander Jones, and animator and musician Brent Green. In March, I created a new series of Appointments at the TITAN theater school in Oslo, Norway. The pieces were performed March 5th, 2010 at the offices of SOS RASISME, while people went about their workdays. We'll be taking over an architect's office and a law firm. Appointment is ongoing: the next installments will be at NYU in the fall of 2010, Austin Texas's FuseBox Festival in spring 2011; Berlin and Philadelphia are coming on board soon. Appointment is being archived at this blog. *CITY COUNCIL MEETING* Supported by a HERE Artist Residency, I just started work on a new piece that approximates a city council meeting. Inspired by photographer Paul Shambroom, and by a truly Shakespearean city council meeting I attended last year in Oregon, this piece will be about the foibles of civic engagement, the sexuality of power and the comedy of boredom. Audience members will have a chance to testify on issues of their concern, and the entire thing will be webcast. City Council Meeting is about the imperfection of democracy and the imperfection of theater. Please stay tuned. City Council Meeting was a finalist for the 2009 P73 fellowship. *PATIENT BOY* I'm developing a new, environmental theater work with director Mallory Catlett. It's about nostalgia, nihilism, idealism, punk rock, and young love. Mall burnings enuse. We're developing the work this spring and summer. Watch for details about a final production in 2011. *ERS* *ON TOUR* ERS, has been on the road like crazy the last year, and it don't stop. GATZ - Now through February 7 - ERS' seven-hour marathon staging of The Great Gatsby, is performing right now in Boston, at The American Repertory Theater. I'll be the hapless guy in coveralls with a bone to pick. This show has been on and off the road since 2005, and it seems to get better over time. Which is good for a seven-hour show to do. SOUND AND FURY - March 11-15 - We're going to the Adelaide Festival in Australia, with The Sound And The Fury. Will you be in Adelaide, Australia at that time? Please let me know, and I'll buy you the beverage of your choice. Everything you need to know is HERE. RECENT PROJECTS EUREPICA - a project with Free Theater of Belarus - March 2009 Free Theater of Belarus, a group of dissident playwrights, directors and actors I've gotten to know in Minsk (home of Europe's last dictatorship), commissioned 12 playwrights from 12 countries to create new plays around the common theme of "A changing Europe." We got together in Minsk last spring to read the first drafts, and the project premieres in March in Lund, Sweden. Free Theater has gained the attention of playwrights like Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter, both for the struggles they endure to make their work, and the lovely pieces they produce. Other countries represented in Europica include Sweden, Turkey, UK, Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Romania, Belarus, and Macedonia. Eurepica will be on tour in 2009-2010. (Read more about the project). Read a profile of me and other theater artists working in conflict zones in BACKSTAGE OPEN HOUSE - 24 performances in 24 living rooms - Spring 2008 READ THE PRESS * LISTEN TO A WNYC RADIO STORY ON THE SHOW * WATCH EXCERPTS ON YOUTUBE Last year, The Foundry Theatre commissioned my newest play, Open House, which was performed in a different apartment each night. A comedy of romantic failure told in hindsight, a futuristic real estate seminar, and a neighborhood meeting about the changing city, it was my first show fully-produced in New York in five years. The piece was directed by Melanie Joseph and starrred the lovely and talented Raul Castillo, Heidi Shreck and Paul Willis.