Ok Radio

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to American choreographer and world-famous Frankfurt-er, William Forsythe, about diet and exercise – both physical and mental. (We enjoyed this conversation so much that we took a coffee break and came back for more. Be sure to join us next time for Pt. 2!)

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to Martine Dennewald, former curator of the Salzburg Festival’s Young Directors Project, now programmer and interim co-Artistic Director of the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt, about navigating the different contexts and constituencies in which art is presented and represented.  We also try to talk about the work of our mutual friend, Niels Ewerbeck (Director of Mousonturm), who tragically died just a few weeks ago.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to performance and video artists Mette van der Sijs and Liesbeth Gritter (who together make up the Dutch company Kassys) about unbalancing acts and comfort zones.  What does Kassys hope to learn by taking a one year sabbatical from theater where they make no work, but instead develop new and different talents, such as farming olives in Portugal (Liesbeth) and undertaking in Holland (Mette)?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to internationally respected choreographer, dancer and theater-maker Faustin Linyekula, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, about local and global, national and international.  When we travel, how much of our local context and content do we inadvertently carry along with us?  Can we ever really check all our baggage at the airport?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to French choreographer and conceptual artist Jérôme Bel about virtuosity, disability, pleasure, and permission.  

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to New York avant-garde writer and director Richard Foreman about film, television, theater, radio and – above all – resistance. 

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to French director/playwright Pascal Rambert (also artistic director of Théâtre de Gennevilliers in Paris) about the aversion most theater people have to talk after a show.  Why are we so averse to the social situation we have created with our performances?  Do we cheat ourselves of an actual exchange of ideas?  Or does the society we live in today so completely surround us with commentary (facebook, twitter, et. al.) that we retreat instinctually in search of the increasingly rare space for contemplation? 

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to artist/director Michael Laub about his ongoing work on the Portrait Series, a project which has taken him from the Vienna Burgtheater to Istanbul, and most recently landed him in Cambodia.  We discuss the intersections of performance and person – exhibitionism and narcissism, vulnerability and testimony.  What are the motivations of “real” people (and even actors) to take the stage?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to performing arts curator Matthieu Goeury from Vooruit (Ghent) about hugging, participation, social practice, and idealism.  Once you identify idealism as an artistic and humanitarian goal, how do you feed it – in the face of failure, inertia, real financial limtiation, etc.?  We talk in particular about the current centennial re-imagining of the art center Vooruit, which was created 100 years ago by the Socialist party, and was devoted to the betterment and education of workers and their families.  What kind of possible future do we imagine for this space today, and can we reconnect in any way with the original ambition and idealism of its mission?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to American dancer/choreographer Eleanor Bauer about dance, theater, tanztheater, performance art, Broadway show and all the many contexts and categories in between - up to and including her recent nomination for a Bessie award in the complicated and controversial category of “Outstanding Production of a work not technically considered dance but happening in and influencing dance in New York” 

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to actor Frank Vercruyssen, member of the Belgian performance group STAN, about actors, directors, and groups working (collaboratively or not) in the theater.  Who originates?  Who is in charge?  And how is the work that’s made the result of the personal attributes (and defects) of the people who make it?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to actress Marleen Scholten, a member of the Dutch performance group Wunderbaum, about character, story, transformation, and play.  We also discuss the recent cuts in arts funding in The Netherlands, and come up with a few modest American proposals to help raise some extra cash.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to internationally respected artist/choreographer Meg Stuart about improvisation, inspiration, structure, abstraction and strategies for working.  If we were to go off in the woods on a vision quest somewhere and learn something from each other – what would that look like?  (And when will we find the time to do it?)

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to Serbian actress Masha Dakic about acting, isolation, irrelevance, and audiences – both local and global. As an actor, can you make work that has an immediacy and relevance that can compete with the immediacy of real circumstances people struggle with in their daily lives at this moment?  And what does Meryl Streep have to do with it?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to Anja Suša, co-curator (with founder Jovan Ćirilov) of the BITEF Festival in Belgrade, about striking a balance in the ever-changing social, political and cultural environment of southeastern Europe.  What strategies has she employed as a curator to keep this historically forward and avant-garde festival going inside a country where the reigning minister of culture Bratislav Petković, recently announced that “art has to be patriotic” and that Serbia must “insist on the traditional values of our nation”?

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to world-renowned Italian (and American! – from Kansas!) theater artist Romeo Castellucci about religion, moral imperative, spectatorship, time, and play.  A show in which we dare to ask the question “Romeo Castellucci, if you got fired from theater, what would you do with your life?”

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to composer and director Heiner Goebbels, currently curator of the music and arts festival Ruhrtriennale, about their mutual interest in recorded audio -- plus extreme experimental art strategies such as being lazy, watching bad television, and leaving the room in order to stay as open as possible to unexpected chance opportunities.

In their first OK Radio podcast after Pavol’s sudden hospitalization in Hamburg, Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to director and curator Matthias von Hartz, (outgoing director of the Internationale Sommerfestival Kampnagel in Hamburg, and new director of Foreign Affairs Festival in Berlin) about strategies for how to keep going and keep working in the wake of personal crisis.  Can and should we create a space in our life for something other than our work to take precedence? 

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to artist/performer/entertainer? and fellow American abroad, Davis Freeman, director of Random Scream, about his life and work in Brussels, Belgium.  How did he get there and why does he stay?  And what impact has his relocation to Europe had on his artistic practice?  (Among other things…)

Nature Theater of Oklahoma talks to Florian Malzacher, dramaturg, former critic, and current curator of Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, Austria about his interest in art and political practice, particularly in the context of recent demonstrations and reactions to social crisis of artists in New York, Egypt, Tunisia, Japan, and Moscow. (Also other diverse topics such as: what constitutes an engaged artistic and curatorial practice?  How do we reconcile the material and immaterial –the ephemeral and non-commercial aspect of performance with the money it costs to produce it?  What is the impact of global audience and travel on the work?, etc. etc...)