MOVING RIGHT ALONG // A THEATRE DIVE INTO "BODY CONCERT (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)"

BY MATEO MORENO

If you're visited the downtown theatre scene in NYC, then you definitely know LaMama. If you aren't familiar with it, or aren't a local, LaMama is an experimental Off-Off Broadway theatre (also known as Indie Theatre) founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart. It's had various locations throughout downtown Manhattan until finally settling in on East 4th street in 1974, where it sits down. LaMama is known for producing challenging and thought provoking plays, not only in NYC but also through their touring productions around the world. A few years ago, I was able to see THE GOD PROJEKT, the first play of their 2016 season. That play featured Kevin Augustine (who co-wrote and co-directed with Edward Einhorn) playing a decades old God reflecting on unanswered prayers and his own legacy. He mixed monologues with movement and puppetry and it was sublime. His latest project, BODY CONCERT, should be billed as a "work-in-progress" but continues his work with movement and puppetry. It's one of five different productions by five different artists premiering in the "LaMama Moves! Dance Festival," playing digitally due to the ongoing pandemic.

What Augustine shares here is less of a finished, polished show and more of a peek inside his mind. A behind the scenes sneak peak at the show he's created that, due to the pandemic, has not yet been staged. It's a movement piece inspired by Butoh, a form of Japanese dance theatre, that has Augustine moving his puppets with his hands, his feet and stretches out his legs to create the imagery. The puppets (by Lone Wolf Tribe) look like they've walked out of the BODIES: THE EXHIBITION. Broken limbs, fractured legs, the move both separately and together, forming a haunting bit of strangeness. Set to a score by Mark Bruckner, we get to see BODY CONCERT in the creation mode (one that has been forming since 2014). We see the sculpting of the puppets, early sketches, rehearsing the music and bits of the choreography. Augustine is clad all in black, including an all-black mask with no spot for his eyes. He disappears completely, letting you watch the body parts come to life and sing a sort of song themselves.

Some moments seem to be "trial and error" moments, such as a test run of movement with a giant eye that is deemed "too squishy" by the end. A leg, floating in the air, dances with its arm. A small body crawls across the floor to reach its intended subject: a fractured skull. The puppets themselves are ingeniously designed and meticulously crafted with a score that truly helps bring it all to life. It's an experience that you should see to truly understand, and you still can. Tickets for the final performance, January 27th, can be found at the link below. Check it out and follow Kevin and Lone Wolf Tribe's future happenings. Augustine is truly an artist who makes magic happen on stage, even when its on the screen.

CREATED AND PERFORMED BY Kevin Augustine. CO-PRODUCED BY Lone Wolf Tribe and Les Sages Fous For ticket information: http://lamama.org/moves/