PERFORMANCE FILM SERIES: HOME OF THE BRAVE
Apr
30

PERFORMANCE FILM SERIES: HOME OF THE BRAVE

Join Play House Labs and arts writer and curator Matthew Piper for a free screening of Home of the Brave, Laurie Anderson's 1986 concert film.

Home of the Brave presents a quintessential portrait of Anderson, an influential American performance and multimedia artist, at a pivotal point in her career. Filmed in New Jersey during her 1985 Mister Heartbreak tour, it showcases her signature blend of prophetic poetry, bespoke technology, and avant-pop music and visuals. An inventive, funny, and haunting document from "deep in the heart of darkest America," Home of the Brave's incendiary Reagan-era energy shines vivid light on our own. Directed by and starring Anderson and featuring William S. Burroughs, Adrian Belew, Janice Pendarvis, and others.

Free!

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SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby
May
22

SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby

A 30-minute hunt for a secret passage out of the Internet enchantments that bind us melding sound, image, and performance technologies old and new. Seats limited - get tickets here ($10-? pay what you wish).

Down into the Digital Otherworld journeys virtuosic Orpheus in search of his lost Eurydice, enchanted away by the mischievous Faery King…like a body and its soul rent in two - one party frozen outside of time in a world of illusion, the other desperate to return things to how they once were. But how to become whole again? 

Inspired by medieval retellings of the Orpheus myth and our collective internet-driven madness, Sunset weaves technologies old and new - mask performance, live video mixing, AI chatbots, electronic music, lamentations, spirit talking, automata, Victorian illusion and more - into a music-driven terrifyingly embodied work that mythologizes our relationship with technology, and how it has changed and shaped our imagination. Join The Hinterlands and video artist Renee Willoughby in the Otherworld of ones and zeroes as we wrestle our souls back from the trickster in the black box and break the spell that traps us in the algorithm.  This performance/installation runs approximately 30 minutes.

With support from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation.

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SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby
May
22

SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby

A 30-minute hunt for a secret passage out of the Internet enchantments that bind us melding sound, image, and performance technologies old and new. Seats limited - get tickets here ($10-? pay what you wish).

Down into the Digital Otherworld journeys virtuosic Orpheus in search of his lost Eurydice, enchanted away by the mischievous Faery King…like a body and its soul rent in two - one party frozen outside of time in a world of illusion, the other desperate to return things to how they once were. But how to become whole again? 

Inspired by medieval retellings of the Orpheus myth and our collective internet-driven madness, Sunset weaves technologies old and new - mask performance, live video mixing, AI chatbots, electronic music, lamentations, spirit talking, automata, Victorian illusion and more - into a music-driven terrifyingly embodied work that mythologizes our relationship with technology, and how it has changed and shaped our imagination. Join The Hinterlands and video artist Renee Willoughby in the Otherworld of ones and zeroes as we wrestle our souls back from the trickster in the black box and break the spell that traps us in the algorithm.  This performance/installation runs approximately 30 minutes.

With support from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation.

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SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby
May
23

SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby

A 30-minute hunt for a secret passage out of the Internet enchantments that bind us melding sound, image, and performance technologies old and new. Seats limited - get tickets here ($10-? pay what you wish).

Down into the Digital Otherworld journeys virtuosic Orpheus in search of his lost Eurydice, enchanted away by the mischievous Faery King…like a body and its soul rent in two - one party frozen outside of time in a world of illusion, the other desperate to return things to how they once were. But how to become whole again? 

Inspired by medieval retellings of the Orpheus myth and our collective internet-driven madness, Sunset weaves technologies old and new - mask performance, live video mixing, AI chatbots, electronic music, lamentations, spirit talking, automata, Victorian illusion and more - into a music-driven terrifyingly embodied work that mythologizes our relationship with technology, and how it has changed and shaped our imagination. Join The Hinterlands and video artist Renee Willoughby in the Otherworld of ones and zeroes as we wrestle our souls back from the trickster in the black box and break the spell that traps us in the algorithm.  This performance/installation runs approximately 30 minutes.

With support from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation.

View Event →
SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby
May
23

SUNSET: A CYBER LAMENT By The Hinterlands & Renee Willoughby

A 30-minute hunt for a secret passage out of the Internet enchantments that bind us melding sound, image, and performance technologies old and new. Seats limited - get tickets here ($10-? pay what you wish).

Down into the Digital Otherworld journeys virtuosic Orpheus in search of his lost Eurydice, enchanted away by the mischievous Faery King…like a body and its soul rent in two - one party frozen outside of time in a world of illusion, the other desperate to return things to how they once were. But how to become whole again? 

Inspired by medieval retellings of the Orpheus myth and our collective internet-driven madness, Sunset weaves technologies old and new - mask performance, live video mixing, AI chatbots, electronic music, lamentations, spirit talking, automata, Victorian illusion and more - into a music-driven terrifyingly embodied work that mythologizes our relationship with technology, and how it has changed and shaped our imagination. Join The Hinterlands and video artist Renee Willoughby in the Otherworld of ones and zeroes as we wrestle our souls back from the trickster in the black box and break the spell that traps us in the algorithm.  This performance/installation runs approximately 30 minutes.

With support from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation.

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Cui Guangli Master Class
Apr
6

Cui Guangli Master Class

Join internationally-renowned chuanju (“Sichuan opera”) artist Cui Guangli for a master class/lecture in the expressive techniques of traditional Chinese performance. Learn how the codification of “the four skills” of xiqu (“Chinese opera”) - singing, movement, recitation, and fighting - are configured and reconfigured to present a range of characters, situations, and circumstances, and how these performance strategies might be leveraged for physically-driven work in other performance styles. No performance experience necessary. Free, donations welcome!

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Malayeen.Space open hours
Mar
9

Malayeen.Space open hours

An interactive installation and exchange of memory through songs; constellations of lullabies, village lore, and battlecries shared through the diaspora. hosted by Leyya Mona Tawil

Open hours to share a song of your diaspora

—

Relax, reminisce, share a folk song.

Reflect on the journey you - and your song - took to get to Detroit. 

Your voice and music will be transformed into a “future folksong" for you to keep, and will join the Malayeen.Space community-generated archive of future folksongs. 

Free, all ages welcome.
—

Questions or want to make an appointment for you and your friends, family, or community outside of these public hours? Email info at playhouselabs dot org

This project was conceived and developed by Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with code designer Andrej Hrončo. Leyya Mona Tawil [Lime Rickey International] is an artist working with sound, dance, and hybrid forms.  Her works are built with song, sound art, folk dance, social practice, and conceptual means in an attempt for future building and community thinking. 

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen project has received support from the British Council (London), Wysing Art Center (Cambridge), Arab American National Museum (Dearborn), the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the California Arts Council. 

Photo credit: Malayeen.Space installed at Serendipity Festival 2023, Goa

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Malayeen.Space open hours
Mar
8

Malayeen.Space open hours

An interactive installation and exchange of memory through songs; constellations of lullabies, village lore, and battlecries shared through the diaspora. hosted by Leyya Mona Tawil

Open hours to share a song of your diaspora

—

Relax, reminisce, share a folk song.

Reflect on the journey you - and your song - took to get to Detroit. 

Your voice and music will be transformed into a “future folksong" for you to keep, and will join the Malayeen.Space community-generated archive of future folksongs. 

Free, all ages welcome.
—

Questions or want to make an appointment for you and your friends, family, or community outside of these public hours? Email info at playhouselabs dot org

This project was conceived and developed by Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with code designer Andrej Hrončo. Leyya Mona Tawil [Lime Rickey International] is an artist working with sound, dance, and hybrid forms.  Her works are built with song, sound art, folk dance, social practice, and conceptual means in an attempt for future building and community thinking. 

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen project has received support from the British Council (London), Wysing Art Center (Cambridge), Arab American National Museum (Dearborn), the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the California Arts Council. 

Photo credit: Malayeen.Space installed at Serendipity Festival 2023, Goa

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Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen Voices
Mar
7

Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen Voices

Join Lime Rickey International (Leyya Mona Tawil) for “Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen Voices,” a sound and dance performance that references lost lands and reimagines diaspora in a future context using selected tracks from the Malayeen.Space archive.

This work is part of Lime Rickey International’s Noise & Nation - an accumulation of transmissions that attend to migration, temporality and a post-border dream.

Free

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen project has received support from the British Council (London), Wysing Art Center (Cambridge), Arab American National Museum (Dearborn), the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the California Arts Council. 

Photo credit: Lime Rickey in performance, photo by Steve Pisano

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Malayeen.Space open hours
Mar
7

Malayeen.Space open hours

An interactive installation and exchange of memory through songs; constellations of lullabies, village lore, and battlecries shared through the diaspora. hosted by Leyya Mona Tawil

Open hours to share a song of your diaspora

—

Relax, reminisce, share a folk song.

Reflect on the journey you - and your song - took to get to Detroit. 

Your voice and music will be transformed into a “future folksong" for you to keep, and will join the Malayeen.Space community-generated archive of future folksongs. 

Free, all ages welcome.
—

Questions or want to make an appointment for you and your friends, family, or community outside of these public hours? Email info at playhouselabs dot org

This project was conceived and developed by Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with code designer Andrej Hrončo. Leyya Mona Tawil [Lime Rickey International] is an artist working with sound, dance, and hybrid forms.  Her works are built with song, sound art, folk dance, social practice, and conceptual means in an attempt for future building and community thinking. 

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen project has received support from the British Council (London), Wysing Art Center (Cambridge), Arab American National Museum (Dearborn), the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the California Arts Council. 

Photo credit: Malayeen.Space installed at Serendipity Festival 2023, Goa

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Malayeen.Space open hours
Mar
6

Malayeen.Space open hours

An interactive installation and exchange of memory through songs; constellations of lullabies, village lore, and battlecries shared through the diaspora. hosted by Leyya Mona Tawil

Open hours to share a song of your diaspora

—

Relax, reminisce, share a folk song.

Reflect on the journey you - and your song - took to get to Detroit. 

Your voice and music will be transformed into a “future folksong" for you to keep, and will join the Malayeen.Space community-generated archive of future folksongs. 

Free, all ages welcome.
—

Questions or want to make an appointment for you and your friends, family, or community outside of these public hours? Email info at playhouselabs dot org

This project was conceived and developed by Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with code designer Andrej Hrončo. Leyya Mona Tawil [Lime Rickey International] is an artist working with sound, dance, and hybrid forms.  Her works are built with song, sound art, folk dance, social practice, and conceptual means in an attempt for future building and community thinking. 

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen project has received support from the British Council (London), Wysing Art Center (Cambridge), Arab American National Museum (Dearborn), the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the California Arts Council. 

Photo credit: Malayeen.Space installed at Serendipity Festival 2023, Goa

View Event →
Malayeen.Space open hours
Mar
5

Malayeen.Space open hours

An interactive installation and exchange of memory through songs; constellations of lullabies, village lore, and battlecries shared through the diaspora. hosted by Leyya Mona Tawil

Open hours to share a song of your diaspora

—

Relax, reminisce, share a folk song.

Reflect on the journey you - and your song - took to get to Detroit. 

Your voice and music will be transformed into a “future folksong" for you to keep, and will join the Malayeen.Space community-generated archive of future folksongs. 

Free, all ages welcome.
—

Questions or want to make an appointment for you and your friends, family, or community outside of these public hours? Email info at playhouselabs dot org

This project was conceived and developed by Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with code designer Andrej Hrončo. Leyya Mona Tawil [Lime Rickey International] is an artist working with sound, dance, and hybrid forms.  Her works are built with song, sound art, folk dance, social practice, and conceptual means in an attempt for future building and community thinking. 

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Lime Rickey International’s Malayeen project has received support from the British Council (London), Wysing Art Center (Cambridge), Arab American National Museum (Dearborn), the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the California Arts Council. 

Photo credit: Malayeen.Space installed at Serendipity Festival 2023, Goa

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Performance films: Revolutionary Works double feature
Feb
22

Performance films: Revolutionary Works double feature

Join the Play House Labs team for our second installment of performance films: a double feature screening of two of the eight "model dramas" (yangbanxi) allowed on stage during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976+): "revolutionary ballet" Red Detachment of Women and "modern jingju" (Beijing opera) Raid on the White Tiger Regiment. Presented live to Richard Nixon during his first visit to Modern China in 1972, Red Detachment tells the story of peasant Wu Qinghua's liberation as she joins Hainan's all-women 2nd Independent Regiment of the Red Army; the film's gun-wielding soldiers have been referenced in media across the globe. Raid on the White Tiger Regiment uses a combination of shocking acrobatics and Maoist Thought to recount the true story of the Chinese Volunteer Army's infiltration of a U.S./South Korean army headquarters in 1953. The screening will be preceded by a discussion on the Cultural Revolution and the history and impact of "model dramas" in Chinese performance; there will be one intermission between films.

Red Detachment of Women (1972)  - 1 hr 41 min
and Raid on the White Tiger Regiment (1972) - 2 hr 4 min
Mandarin with English subtitles

Free

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CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP
Feb
13

CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP

Creating a Character - an intensive four-day workshop by Liza Bielby (Co-Director of The Hinterlands) introducing physical strategies for creating dynamic and engaging characters. Explorations start from one’s own body and move through puppetry/object storytelling, larger-than life figures, mask, and the clownesque. Drop-in IS allowed, but because everything builds you’ll want to come to all four sessions. RSVP to info at thehinterlands dot org.

Feb 13 - the clownesque + shrinking it down

Entire workshop: $0-$250 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography); Per session: $0-$65 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography)

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CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP
Feb
12

CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP

Creating a Character - an intensive four-day workshop by Liza Bielby (Co-Director of The Hinterlands) introducing physical strategies for creating dynamic and engaging characters. Explorations start from one’s own body and move through puppetry/object storytelling, larger-than life figures, mask, and the clownesque. Drop-in IS allowed, but because everything builds you’ll want to come to all four sessions. RSVP to info at thehinterlands dot org.

Feb 12 - mask + larger-than-life figures

Entire workshop: $0-$250 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography); Per session: $0-$65 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography)

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CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP
Feb
11

CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP

Creating a Character - an intensive four-day workshop by Liza Bielby (Co-Director of The Hinterlands) introducing physical strategies for creating dynamic and engaging characters. Explorations start from one’s own body and move through puppetry/object storytelling, larger-than life figures, mask, and the clownesque. Drop-in IS allowed, but because everything builds you’ll want to come to all four sessions. RSVP to info at thehinterlands dot org.

Feb 11 - monsters + beginning mask

Entire workshop: $0-$250 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography); Per session: $0-$65 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography)

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CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP
Feb
10

CREATING A CHARACTER WORKSHOP

Creating a Character - an intensive four-day workshop by Liza Bielby (Co-Director of The Hinterlands) introducing physical strategies for creating dynamic and engaging characters. Explorations start from one’s own body and move through puppetry/object storytelling, larger-than life figures, mask, and the clownesque. Drop-in IS allowed, but because everything builds you’ll want to come to all four sessions. RSVP to info at thehinterlands dot org.

Feb 10 - physical possibilities + storytelling with objects

Entire workshop: $0-$250 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography); Per session: $0-$65 (sliding scale based on economic need and geography)

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