Dylan Stephen Levers

Stage Directors and Choreographer's Foundation Observership with Michael Halberstam

2011-11-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

Every year, the Stage Directors and Choreographer's Foundation offers emerging stage directors the opportunity to observe master directors at work. I was lucky enough to be awarded an observership with Michael Halberstam at the Writer's Theater in Glencoe, IL. I spent the last weeks of August and the first weeks of September working on a wonderful production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. Michael is a wonderful director and I was blessed to be observing such a wonderful cast and crew in action. Chicago is a wonderful theater mecca that I hadn't previously explored, so I was lucky enough to catch some work around town.

I wrote a blog post for the Writer's Theater website, titled Debunking Poetic Romance in THE REAL THING rehearsals, which you can read by clicking here.

Busy Summer!

2011-05-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

This summer, I was lucky enough to attend two directing conferences, one of either coast. Lincoln Center Directors Lab here in NYC and Directors Lab West were both wonderful. I met directors from around the country and globe who work in a variety of different genres and niches of theater and performancee.

Click here for a description of the 2011 Lincoln Center Lab. We spent three weeks discussing and deconstructing August Strindberg's A Dream Play.

Click here to read a blog post on the LA Stage Times website on Director's Lab West by Lab production coordinator Doug Oliphant. If you scroll down, there's a picture of me under the sub-heading "Who The Hell Around?!"

After the labs, I returned to MCC's Youth Company as director. For a week, a talented teenage playwright gets to hear his or her play read for the first time and workshopped with a company of professional actors. This summer, I was fortunate enough to work on Renn Santiago's Come To Starr Street. Click here for some info about the festival and to see the rest of the line up.

18 Paintings Production Photos!

2011-05-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

18 Paintings had a wonderful run at HERE Arts Center.
Missed it? Check out some production still below!

The Making of 18 Paintings Part 3: Spring Artists Lodge!

2011-04-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

18 Paintings recently got curated into the Spring Artists Lodge at HERE Arts Center and I'm psyched! The show runs May 4 - 7th and you can grab your tickets here.

We've also started a kickstarter to help raise funds for the show. Especially with a project of this nature, every little bit goes a long way! Also, some of the gift incentives include tickets, so if you want to support the show as well as see it, this would be the perfect way to do so! You can click here to access our project.

And last but certainly not least, I wanted to give you, my loyal blog readers, the first taste of the show. Above is the image from the postcard and below are storyboards I made of segments of the show. Enjoy and hope to see you at HERE Arts Center in May!

Theatrical Canvases: The Making of "18 Paintings" Part 2

2011-02-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

I was so fortunate to be able to assemble a wonderful cast for the workshop from both the dance and theater worlds. Laurel Atwell, Megan Hanley, Cavin Moore, Peter Rothbard, Rachel Troy and Reed Whitney were all wonderful collaborators and schemers throughout the rehearsal process.

After a few weeks of rehearsals, I began thinking of a good framework for the piece. We decided the title should be ”18 Paintings“ to give the audience a suggestion into a way of receiving information from the visual-heavy segments we were creating. Imposing this structure on the piece opened up a lot of questions: What are the basic properties of a visual artwork and how can we translate those properties to the stage? In a theater space, what could be a canvas? Or paint?

I also began to think a lot about what makes paintings particularly painterly. In the documentary Alice Neel, about the life of the late painter, Yale University’s Robert Storr speaks to this:

“The business about the difference between painting and photography becomes crucial in the sense that the photograph does capture somebody in a manner which freezes that person in an instant. Painting never freezes in quite that way—painting takes place over time. But the mere fact that painting is not a second arrested but is a relationship of seeing, and of the seer, and of the subject, means the painting contains duration of time. When you look at a painting you are seeing an extended moment, you are seeing time happen—not just time stop—which gives the photograph a somewhat more obviously morbid characteristic and painting a less morbid one.”

A painter, Store ultimately says, has to continue to look at the subject over a period of time while he or she is rendering the object on a canvas. Therefore, a painter experiences the subject in a state of constant change—the light might differ or the subject’s emotional state may change. I began to wonder how to incorporate these properties into this piece.

The weeks spent rehearsing culminated in a workshop on January 23, 2011, at INTAR where I am an artist in residence. Below are photos and clips!

Rachel Troy as The Angel

Megan Hanley, Peter Rothbard and Reed Whitney as the Trio of Businessmen

The cast of 18 Paintings

Wanna see clips from the showing? Click here to see a clip on our Vimeo page.

DON’T GIVE THE ANGELS HALO LICE: The creation of “18 Paintings” Part 1

2011-01-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

Hello blogosphere! It's been a wonderful and hectic few months -- and it seems I've forgotten to post about it. I was extremely fortunate in October to be invited as a member of THE POUND, a new Emerging Artist Residency at INTAR. There, I've been building a piece called 18 Paintings. Keep checking back over the course of the next several weeks to see read more about the work.

When film was first being introduced to the public consciousness, early filmmakers had to ask themselves how their work could differ from the predominant form of entertainment -- theater. Companies such as the Lumiere brothers and the Edison company answered this challenge almost anthropologically -- by filming small bits of life. These early films could be intimate moments, such as William Heise’s May Irwin kiss or footage of theatrical performances such as Loie Fuller’s Danse Serpentine.

Today, with the accessibility of film and television, theater no longer occupies the same social space it once did. So, as theatermakers, it’s now our turn to ask what makes theater inherently theatrical. For the past several months, short delicious theatrical images and moments kept on popping into my head. I wanted to find a way to piece them together without having to create a narrative structure around them. My mind wandered back to those early films -- potent emotion moments that extremely captivating in the absence of narrative.

Because this piece was going to be so rooted in the visual, I began to think a lot about how visual information can be delivered in a theatrical setting. How does the way people look at visual art differ from the way they watch performance? Can you relate to a static image the way you relate to a character in a narrative? What kind of imagery provokes emotion?

The kind of events I was dreaming up always included a set of iconography that sprung from Medieval paintings -- I was specifically enamored with several tapestries and tryptichs that hung in the Metropolitan’s Medieval Art Wing, such as this. These images not only include an set of iconography that evoked emotion but also were dramatic in the way they were laid out.

Madonna and Child with Angels
1420
Pietro di Domenico da Montepulciano

I kept wondering how this set of imagery could be transposed today. Friends recommended the Banksy movie, Exit Through The Gift Shop about street artists (which I, in turn, highly recommend). I was drawn to the work of the artist Space Invader, whose pixelated like critters looked like something out of a computer game.

Work by Parisian street artist Space Invader

Armed with this research, I started to bring in performers. Check back in a few days to find out how the piece started to evolve!

Cynthia Hopkin's The Truth : A Tragedy @ SoHo Rep

2010-05-07T09:44:00.001-07:00

These past couple of weeks, I've been back at walkerspace, the theatre I managed for the Fringe Festival several years ago. But this time, I've been assisting DJ Mendel who's directing the latest show by Cynthia Hopkins. Known for her multimedia spectales The Accidental Nostalgia Trilogy at St. Ann's Warehouse, this show is a much more intimate evening -- an investigation into her relationship with her father who is dying of Parkinson's disease. The show opened May 6th and runs until the end of the month. Stop by and check it out! Here's the information:

THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY
written & performed by Cynthia Hopkins
directed by D.J. Mendel
U.S. Premiere
Starts May 6

Cynthia Hopkins, writer, composer and performer of the acclaimed "Accidental Trilogy" at St. Ann's Warehouse, brings her singular style to Soho Rep for her new show, THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY. With song, dance, and text, she weaves real and fictional narratives and leads us into an engrossing and funny multi-faceted world--literally transforming the theater into a living museum of oddities and artifacts from one man's life nearing its end.

Design: Jeff Sugg
Choreography: Faye Driscoll
Public Relations: Sam Rudy Media Relations
Graphic Design: An Art Service

www.sohorep.org

LOLercaust Workshop

2010-05-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Royal National Company of Sveeden takes on Connecticut!
Thanks to the generous hospitality of Marya Ursin and the Dragon's Egg Arts Center, we'll be doing to for a week to Ledyard CT to develop our premiere work. Here's the information!

Royal National Company of Sveeden presents

a workshop of

LOLercaust: a fugue for our times

with

Kevin Brouder
Olivia Etzine
Mandy Hackman
Jim Jackson
Peter Rothbard
Alaina Sciascia
Rachel Troy

directed by Dylan Levers
devised with the cast

Saturday, March 20th at 4pm
The Dragon's Egg Arts Center
401 Shewville Rd., Ledyard CT

The showing will be followed by a feedback session moderated by the director.

Here's a video of some work we were doing as some performance research to gear up for the workshop. It's a trio choreographed by myself and Mandy Hackman and featuring Ilona Bito, Larissa Sheldon and Kate Kernochan.

The Advanced Directing Semester At the National Theater Institute

2010-01-05T13:31:00.001-08:00

Hey blogosphere! I've just returned from an incredible few months up at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, where I was in the Advanced Directing program at the National Theatre Institute. The program blew my mind -- I had the opportunity to create my own work every single week, traveled to London for two weeks to study with world renowned theatre company Complicite, and got to observe Diane Paulus, the new artistic director at the American Repertory Theatre, work her magic in the rehearsal room.

I wanted to share with you some videos of scenes I worked on while there. A warning before you take a peak: the quality is pretty muddy so it may be hard to make out some of the events.

The first scene I've titled "(cue blanche.)" The assignment was to create an 8 to 10 minute dream based on one of the characters from William's A Streetcar Named Desire. I chose Stella. I wanted to investigate female relationships -- how is Blanche this vampy lady in a red dress that comes and interrupts the lives of the characters? How does Stella's jealousy overcome her? i am also fascinated with gesture and to make choreography from the pedestrian. So I created a trio of three Stellas and a domestic ballet. You'll see the first part here - unfortunately the camera ran out of battery.

The piece was performed starting outside the building, with the audience being welcomed in by one of the Stellas. The video features Noelle Arms, Estefania Colon, Steve Aron, Addie Gorlin and Liliana Dominguez

Next is a live-action installation piece I created based on Act 1 Scene 5 of Twelfth Night. I was interested in examining how the character of Olivia's grief from the deaths of her father and brother overtook her and her environment to extremes. I was also fascinated how Shakespeare's characters' emotions change on a dime -- so also what is the upswing like, when Olivia first meets Viola (disguised as the male Cesario)? I had a dream before I started working on this scene of a room covered in lots and lots of balloons.

So to accomplish this, we created a giant installation piece with rotting food, tipped over chairs, large portraits of Olivia's ancestral lineage, a shrine to her dead brother and father, torn up letters from admirers, etc. The first character you'll see is Maria, the servant, attempting to clean up Olivia's mess. Enjoy!

The video features Olivia Etzine, Matt Coakley and Alaina Sciascia

The Ghost Sonata Workshop @ New York Theatre Experiment

2009-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Summer is here! And that means I'm going to Summer Camp.

Maggie Robinson and I have been given a developmental workshop as part of New York Theater Experiment's Summer Camp Development project. We've decided to do a piece using the text of Strindberg's crazy wacky play, The Ghost Sonata. We've been given 20 hours to probe into the physical environment of the production with a bunch of our favorite actors. Check out New York Theater Experiment's website here:

http://www.newyorktheatreexperiment.org/NYTE/Home.html

And here's a link short video we made to open the piece. Keep in mind it's just a rough sketch:

Here are the details! I hope to see you all there!

The Ghost Sonata Worshop
June 14th from 1:00pm - 2:00pm
The Algonquin Theatre Complex
123 E24th St.
*Take the 4-5-6 to 23rd*

conceived by the company and Dylan Levers

featuring Kevin Brouder, Daryl Ellerbe, Danny Kopel, Katie O and Maggie Robinson

Dan Fishback's You Will Experience Silence

2009-04-21T13:02:00.001-07:00

Max Steele, Dan Fishback and Joseph Keckler in "You Will Experience Silence"

Hey cute people!
I'm currently a production assistant on Dan Fishback's You Will Experience Silence at Dixon Place. Dan is a queer Jewish writer, performer and musician and the play is a fantastic and insightful venture into Jewish and queer identity expertly directed by Stephen Brackett. The Village Voice just called it "sassier than Angels in America" and gave it a stellar review. Check out the website at http://www.youwillexperiencesilence.com/ or take a look at Dan's blog: http://www.danfishback.com/

Here's the blurb from the website: In ancient Israel, at the dawn of the Chanukah war, the "chosen people" are bored and horny. Judah Maccabee (Dan Fishback), a surly queer teenager, travels to Jerusalem one day with his best friend Ezra (Max Steele). When they encounter a sexy Greek soldier (Joseph Keckler), they must reckon with their responsibilities -- to their people, to their libidos and to each other. Their story is interspersed with tale of Ian Fleishman (Dan Fishback), a crazed activist who spends his morning in bed, calling the White House to complain about the state of the world, the state of the war, and the state of his love life. Erotic, neurotic and dorky, performance artist Dan Fishback is fiercer than ever in this absurdist meditation on citizenship, imperialism and sexual ethics

Or come see the show. At the time I'm writing this, there are two performances left (April 21st and 22) at 8pm at Dixon Place on 121 Chrystie St. (Take the F or V to 2nd Ave and walk up). Hope to see you there!

I am a 20-year-old EMERGENYC Fellow

2009-03-30T06:49:00.001-07:00

GREAT NEWS!

I've been chosen as one of the artist-activists for the 2009 EMERGENYC fellowship! The fellowship is a weekly group that meets with the intention of promoting new work from artists-activists, chatting about important issues facing artists and communities and then, going out and implementing these ideas in community-based performance projects (or so I think -- it hasn't started yet!). I've been selected as part of group of 17 artists for this session. The fellowship is by run by Marlene Ramirez-Cancio and George Emilio Sanchez (creator and star of Dixon Place's recent show BURIED UP TO MY NECK WHILE THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX) and sponsored by NYU's Hemispheric Institute for Performance Studies. Check out more about it here -- http://hemisphericinstitute.org/emergenyc/ Certainly more information to follow!

KID-SIMPLE

2009-03-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

Oh hey -- more updates!

In March of 2009, I directed a play by the brilliant Jordan Harrison (who wrote Act A Lady) called Kid-Simple, a radio play in the flesh. The play follows Moll, a girl genius, who creates a machine that can hear sounds not apparent to the naked ear. When the machine is stolen by an evil mercenary who pretends to be in love with her, she is determined to get it back! Armed with her ingenuity, a plethora of random things and a boy virgin, Moll sets off to reclaim her machine and get revenge. WHAT A BADASS PLOT! The show also featured the foley artist and music of my good friend and the super-talented ukelele rockstar Megg Farrell -- check out some of her solo stuff on her myspace (http://www.myspace.com/meggfarrellmusic)

The play was produced by my good friend and partner-in-crime Jennifer Smith (also a member of last years Downstage Theatre Project) who hopped on board instantly and really made it happen. The show was our first venture into independent producing and I couldn't have been more ecstatic with the reaction. The show was performed in the Sound Stage at Sarah Lawrence's Heimbold Arts Center.

Photos by Rachel Solomon
Costume Design by Carolin Dithrich with assistance from Tracy Klein
Set Design and Projections by Petra Marar

The cast of Kid-Simple

Rachel Sacks as Moll

Our brilliant foley artist Megg Farrell

The cast!

More photos from the show can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28373785@N08/sets/72157616033581079/

KRRRAAAZZZZZYYY KAT!

2009-03-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

A panel from George Herriman's comic strip Krazy Kat

Hello lovely people! It's been more than a long time since I last posted. This year has been kicking my butt -- in the best way possible.

This past November, I directed Krazy Kat, a movement theatre piece based on the 1920's and 30's comic strip by George Herriman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herriman). The show was constructed by Davis Robinson and his theatre company, the Beau Jest Moving Theatre. The company used to reside in Boston in the 1990's, but since perform semi-regularly, as Davis now teaches at Bowdoin. Their last show, Samurai 7.0, opened to rave reviews in Beantown and was nominated for an Elliot Norton award back in 2007. Check 'em out -- http://www.beaujest.com. I first saw the show performed by a few of my pals at my childhood performing arts camp, Middlesex School Summer Arts. For this production, I wanted to create a production that was just based on feelings of sheer, utter and complete joy. Armed with music of Django Reinhardt and the Raymond Scott Orchestrette (thanks Dad for the suggestions) and the fantastic visual palate of the Herriman cartoons, the cast and crew and I had an absolute blast creating this superfun world!

Again, as always, I was super super lucky to have an amazing cast and superb design team. The show was produced by my good friend Joya for The Black List at Downstage -- this year's incarnation of the student-run theatre company at Sarah Lawrence. It featured choreography by the talented and lovely Cavin Moore. More pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28373785@N08/sets/72157616199070758/

Photos by Angela Goebel
Costumes by Tracy Klein
Lights by Julia Maritz
Set by Petra Marar

The cast of Krazy Kat

Ignatz (Maggie Robinson), Krazy Kat (Daryl Ellerbe) and Offissa Pup

The cast

Krazy Kat (Daryl Ellerbe)

She Can't Believe She Said That! At New York Musical Theatre Festival

2008-08-26T15:39:00.001-07:00

matthew[1]_41cffc88_thumb
Originally uploaded by dylanlevers

Hope your Augusts are off to a great start. Beginning this week, I'm assisting director Josh Hecht as he begins rehearsals for She Can't Believe She Said That: The Rise and Fall and Fall and Rise of Kathie Lee Gifford nee Epstein. The show is written by Matt Prager (who wrote for South Park and worked on the upcoming Valley of The Dolls remake), has fantastic choreography by Tara Jean Vallee (who worked on the Broadway smash Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy) and will star Heather Laws (who played Amy in the recent revival of Company). Tres tres exciting!

The show opens at the Barrow Group Theatre starting September 26th at 8:00pm and is being produced through the New York Musical Theatre Festival. For those of you who saw it, one of my favorite shows to open this summer -- (title of show) -- started at NYMF. Hope to see some of you there!

Grapes of Wrath CD

2008-08-26T15:29:00.001-07:00

grapesofwrathCD460
Originally uploaded by dylanlevers

The first of the CDs I've proofed has finally hit stores! After several hot July days spent in my Bronxville apartment with headphones on, I emerged having edited the 98-page booklet of what I think is a major major new work -- a live recording of the opera of The Grapes of Wrath. The libretto was written by Michael Korie (who wrote Grey Gardens) and the stunning stunning (I can't say stunning enough) score is by Ricky Ian Gordon (Orpheus and Eurydice, Dream True). The CD comes out on August 26th and keep your eyes peeled -- I think there is a promotional event happening at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble with Victoria Clark and few other singers to welcome the CD to the shelves. For more information, go to www.psclassics.com

More Information on The Fringe

2008-07-19T16:06:00.001-07:00

The Fringe is a-comin' up, kids! I thought I would post some information about the shows playing at Walkerspace, the venue I'm managing, and how to get your hands on tickets. The festival opens on the 8th and runs through the 24th. My space is a gorgeous 74 - seat black box way downtown at 46 Walker St. between Broadway and Canal. You can get there on the subway by taking the A/C/E, N/R/Q/W or 6 train to Canal or the 1 to Franklin.

The shows playing in my venue are:

Boots
But For The Grace
Extraordinary Rendition
The Umbrella Plays
Not Dark Yet
Parental Indescretions
R U Prime?
Sad, Sad, Sad,
Secrets of Lamp Lit Blinds
Too Much Memory
Wildboy '74

At this stage in the game, I know little to nothing about any of the shows. HOWEVER, my gut tells me they are AWESOME. Tickets, descriptions of the shows and show schedules are available here on the fringe website -- www.fringenyc.org

I best be seein' some of you there!

Marketing and Development Director / Producing Associate for Downstage Theatre Project

2008-07-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

From Fall 2007 - Spring 2008, I worked at the Marketing Manager and Producing Associate of the Downstage Theatre Project, a small student-run theatre company based out of Sarah Lawrence. Here are some poster samples from throughout the year:

The opening flier for Downstage Theatre Project (front and back)

Poster for the Downstage Theatre Project production of The Rover by Aphra Behn

Mamas, Don't Let Your CFOs Grow Up To Be Cowboys by Jonathan Tarlin

2008-07-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Tarlin
Lighting by Julia Maritz
Set Design by Gordon Landenberger
Costumes by Katie Bainbridge
Photos by Shane Tilston

produced by the Sarah Lawrence College Theater Department April 2008

featuring Briana Pozner, Aaron Matteson, Owen Scott, Carmen Zilles, Calder Shilling, Kate Thomas and Rowan Magee

For the full collection of photos from the show, visit the CFOs collection on my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28373785@N08/sets/72157606006282624/

Briana Pozner as Trees and Calder Shilling as Ed

Aaron Matteson as David, Carmen Zilles as Susan and Owen Scott as Harry

Carmen Zilles as Susan, Aaron Matteson as David, Briana Pozner as Trees and Calder Shilling as Ed

The Set by Gordon Landenberger

I'm Natcho Bitch, Bitch

2008-07-05T17:23:00.001-07:00

Natcho Bitch, Bitch
directed with Rachel Sacks

devised with the ensemble: Rachel Smith, Kate Thomas, Calder Shilling, Max Mallory, Kevin Brouder, Chelsey Duckworth, Leslie Burton

performed in workshop at Sarah Lawrence College March 2008

Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka

2008-07-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

Anon(ymous)
By Naomi Iizuka

produced by Downstage Theatre Project November 2007

Costumes by Tracy Klein
Lighting by Jennifer Smith
Set Design and Photos by Gabriel Aronson

For the complete collection of photos from this show, visit my Anon(ymous) photo set on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28373785@N08/sets/72157606010281553/

Owen Scott as Anon(ymous)

Candice Knox as Nemasani with various members of the ensemble

Harley Ware as Mr. Zyclo