The Brick Presents: "Sonntags wird gelogen Or We Only Lie On Sundays"
A dark humor Tanztheater piece featuring pseudo-historical characters, choral song and pedestrian movement with text in German and English. This campaign is dedicated to covering artist fees.
Featuring Ali Andre Ali, Leonie Bell, Olivia Bernábe, Caroline Burkhart, Sarah Finn, Marcella Murray & Tzena Nicole
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On a random Montag in time: Mama waits for her long-lost husband to return from war and has rendered everything else invisible, including her daughter Gilly. A flock of mothers search for their daughter, Hanna; maternal chaos raves included. A strange chorus sings apologies to those wronged by Capitalism & a former employee is on the hunt for the long-longed-for adoptive (adult) child who will save her from geriatric isolation. In this dark humor Tanztheater landscape, matriarchal lineages converge and convene with mistranslations, misunderstandings, mundane anecdotes, and your weird neighbor. Cacophonies of choral song and pedestrian movement; performed in German, English, & Denglish.
Don't forget your LOCAL GRANDMA!
Sonntags wird gelogen Or We Only Lie On Sundays is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.
On a basic, personal level, this piece is a continued exploration of the aesthetics and content I have long been drawn to in my artistic practice: bilingual, tragicomic, highly physical performances with an absurdist hue in which pseudo-historical characters traverse non-linear narratives, the mundane romances the epic, and loneliness & miscommunication cohabitate with humor & mirth.
This piece is also part of a larger theatrical experiment: is it possible to create a multilingual live experience thatfeels inviting and accessible to its entire audience on a personal and communal level?
As someone who grew up in a bilingual and bicultural household in Berlin, I am very interested in how the use of hybrid languages and the humor and pitfalls of faulty translation in performance can allow the audience and performers to co-author and inhabit a new collective space of connection and intimacy that does not rely solely on linguistic understanding.
Lastly, this piece is part of along-standing desire of mine to contribute and hold space for the possibility of meaningful cultural exchange through live and virtual performance. By creating a multilingual piece that will also be live streamed for our online audiences, we hope, in our own microscopic way, to contribute positively to community- and conversation-building between different local arts communities (like long-distance penpals, but for theater!). ✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺ ✺ A B O U T T H E M O N E Y ✺
This is a year of many firsts for LOCAL GRANDMA!
LOCAL GRANDMA received theirfirst grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council this year.
Thank you BAC and DCLA!
The grant we received will cover 40% of our artist fees.
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This is ourfirst crowdfunding campaign!
It is specifically meant to cover the remaining 60% of our artist fees.
We are hoping to raise $5,500 total.
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This is LOCAL GRANDMA’s first multi-weekend in-person production.
LOCAL GRANDMA was created in May 2020. Due to the last 19 months, most of LG's work has been fully online and so it is with great excitement that we embark upon this process!
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Additional costs such as rental space, materials and set & props consultation costs will be covered by the box office income.
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FUN FACT: A L L D O N A T I O N S made to this campaign are T A X - D E D U C T I B L E !
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✺ A B O U T Y O U R I M P A C T ✺
Another note from Leonie:
By donating any amount, small or large, to this project, you are positively impacting our lives in a real & tangible way:
1. You are helping me pay my artists an equitable hourly way of $20/hour.
As LOCAL GRANDMA mounts their first fully produced work, it is imperative to me that the artists I am working with receiveasequitable payment for their work as possible. Because LOCAL GRANDMA is quite young and does not have consistent funding at this point, we are asking for your help.
2. You are helping our artists contribute to their communities well-being
By contributing to our artists monthly income in November and December (extra expensive months), you are investing in these artists and increasing their ability to pursue their own artistic practice, which in return allows them to contribute more actively to the arts communities they partake in, both local & abroad. This, in return, helps foster community well-being.
3. You are supporting Leonie and LOCAL GRANDMA's future
You are helping me pay our artists at a level that is currentlynot financially feasible for LOCAL GRANDMA as a newly formed theater company. You are setting LOCAL GRANDMA up for future success by helping me offer decent pay for high-quality work (the footage of which will serve as a stepping stone for future LG grant applications & collaborations).
Any amount will help us thrive both in and outside the theater! Thank you!
