ABOUT THE COMPANY | CONVERSATIONS WITH SAMUEL R. DELANY


////////////////////////////////////////

SIMULATED CITIES / SIMULATED SYSTEMS
Part 2.

Bellona, Destroyer of Cities
after Samuel R. Delany’s science-fiction masterpiece 'Dhalgren,'
Adapted and Directed by Jay Scheib

RECENT AND UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
1-10 April 2010, The Kitchen, (New York)
17, 18, 19 March 2011, Maison des Arts / Créteil (Paris)
13, 14, 15 May 2011, Institute of Contemporary Art, (Boston)

Featuring Performances by Sarita Choudhury, Caleb Hammond, Mikéah Ernest Jennings, Jon Morris, Ayesha Ngaujah, Tanya Selvaratnam, and Natalie Thomas, Scenic Design by Peter Ksander; Costumes by Oana Botez-Ban; Sound Design by Anouschka Trocker and Catherine McCurry; Lighting by Peter Ksander and Miranda Hardy; Video design by Jay Scheib and Josh Higgason, Photography and additional video by Carrie Mae Weems; Operation of LIve Video Mix: Seaghan McKay, Assistant Director: Laine Rettmer, Stage Manager: Susan Wilson

Assistant Set Design: Abigail Collins, Assistant Lighting Design: Austin R. Smith, Assistant Costume Design: Enver Chakartash, Wardrobe Assistant: Daonne Huff

Producer: Tanya Selvaratnam; Tour Producer: ArKtype/Thomas O. Kriegsmann; Director/Adapter: Jay Scheib

Worldwide Tour Representation: Thomas O. Kriegsmann, President
ArKtype, P.O. Box 1948; New York, NY 10027
www.arktype.org; \ tommy@arktype.org; \ +1.917.386.5468

////////////////////////////////////////

Mixing multimedia with deadpan-cool (and very sexy) actors, Scheib is forging new ways of seeing drama. - Time Out New York, “The Best New York Theater Directors,” March 2009

In Bellona, Destroyer of Cities, there has been a cataclysmic event but no one is really sure how it started. An entire city that once held millions of inhabitants now numbers in the thousands. Two moons have appeared in the sky and the sun looms larger than life, and for some unknown reason, a single nuclear family struggling to hold on explodes—and takes the whole place wih it. Or was this just another poem by the Kid? scratched into the pages of a crumbling notebook.

You may ask me what place the city of Bellona holds in the minds of those who have never been here. The miracle of order has run out and I am left in an unmiraculous place where anything may happen. What use does any of us have for two moons? Objects are lost in doublelight. What makes it terrible is that in this timeless city, in this spaceless preserve any slippage can occur. Sometimes it seems as if these walls on pivots are controlled by subterranean machines, so that, after one passes, they might suddenly swing to face another direction. Parting at this corner, joining at that one, like a great maze -- forever adjustable, therefore unlearnable." from Dhalgren

////////////////////////////////////////

Beginning with year of a developmental residencies and work-in-progress presentations at The Kitchen, The Prelude Festival, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Performing Garage, and The Mozarteum Institute for Acting and Directing (in Salzburg, Austria), Bellona, Destroyer of Cities premiered in April 2010 where it played two sold-out weeks at The Kitchen in New York. Most recently, Bellona was presented at the Exit Festival 2011, Maison des Arts, Creteil, (Paris) France.

////////////////////////////////////////

Lead support provided by The Kitchen; Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. Makeup Provided by M.A.C.

Additional support provided by Anonymous; Winsome Brown & Claude Arpels; Elaine Chen; Merry Conway; Lisa Cortes; Sandi DuBowski; the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund; Shari Frilot & Roya Rastegar; Jennifer Gibbs & Luis Castro; Agnes Gund; Catherine Gund; Mitch Hurley; Leila W. Kinney; Marty & Valerie Levenstein; Edward McKeaney; Shira Milikowsky; Walter Mosley; Charles Rice-Gonzalez; Therese Selvaratnam; Lucy Sexton; Audry & Alex Weintrob; Jed Weintrob; Kim Whitener; Soon-Young Yoon & Rick Smith; and Alex Zafiris.

Special Thanks: Everyone at the ICA especially David Henry, John Andress, Colette Randall, Maggie Moore and the technical team; Matthew Lyons, Debra Singer, and everyone at The Kitchen (NY); Didier Fusilier, Gilles Bouckaert, and everyone at Maison des Arts; The Wooster Group; Alexandra Rosenberg; Nicole Birmann Bloom; Philippa Wehle; William Nadylam, Kaneza Schaal, April Sweeney; Janet Sonenberg, Leila W. Kinney, Philip Khoury, Deborah Fitzgerald and the faculty, staff and students of Music and Theater Arts at MIT; the Mozarteum in Salzburg Austria; the many people who gave feedback along the way; and most of all, Samuel R. Delany.

Contact Jay Scheib: jayscheib@jayscheib.com

 

Production Fotos from Bellona Destroyer of Cities at the Kitchen
< Hi-Res Images available here >
<Foto Key / Credits Here>


Downloads
Selected Press (pdf)
Selected Works_Portfolio (pdf)
Scheib_CV (pdf)
Scheib_Portraits by Naomi White (jpg)

 

Press Images
(fotokeys are in the directory)
Bellona, Destroyer of Cities
A House in Bali
Puntila und Sein Knecht Matti
Untitled Mars (This Title May Change)
Addicted to Bad Ideas

 

Tech Riders
Tech Rider_HouseinBali (pdf)
Tech Rider_Bellona (pdf)
Tech Rider_Untitled Mars (pdf)
Tech Rider_This Place is a Desert (pdf)

SPONSORSHIP

LEAD SPONSORS OF BELLONA, DESTROYER OF CITIES
The Kitchen with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States; The Experimental Television Center’s Presentation Funds, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts; The Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office of the Associate Provost and School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS
Very special thanks to the following individual contributors: Anonymous, Winsome Brown & Claude Arpels, Elaine Chen, Merry Conway, Lisa Cortes, Shari Frilot & Roya Rastegar, Jennifer Gibbs & Luis Castro, Sandi DuBowski, Agnes Gund, Catherine Gund, Mitch Hurley, Leila Kinney, Marty & Valerie Levenstein, Edward McKeaney, Shira Milikowsky, Walter Mosley, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Therese Selvaratnam, Lucy Sexton, Audry & Alex Weintrob, Jed Weintrob, Kim Whitener, Soon-Young Yoon & Rick Smith and Alex Zafiris.

We greatly appreciate the support of all the individuals and institutions listed above. Donors are listed in alphabetical order and not separated by amounts. Please consider contributing to the productions of Jay Scheib. Your name will be added to the list above or you may choose to remain anonymous.

Jay Scheib, jayscheib@jayscheib.com, 1.917.612.2137