NOW 2023: Week Three
Erica Bitton, Mark Golamco, Huntrezz Janos and Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou
Past event
- Genres
- Dance, Music, Theater
- DATE
- AUG 31-SEP 2
- IN-PERSON
- THU-SAT, 8:30 PM
- STREAM
- SAT, 8:30 PM (PT)
- RUNTIME
- Approx. 100 minutes, with intermission
- COUNTRY
- USA
- Program
- Download Program Notes (PDF)
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About
The 20th Annual New Original Works Festival concludes with a program of works by Erica Bitton (‘10), Mark Golamco, and Huntrezz Janos (‘18) and Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou. With a sharp interest in rituals, fantasies and memories, these works use history and technology to formulate diverse, other-worldly futures that provide a counterpart to our reality while allowing us to examine the injustices around us.
Erica Bitton
Vacuum Girl
Vacuum Girl is a live presentation of a television pilot written and performed by Erica Bitton (‘10) that follows Jane, a 31-year old Jewish actor living through consistent, surreal dissociations in New York. What begins as a clear “tell me if you see what I see” tale, soon blurs the lines of theater and film, of writer and character, as Bitton speaks every line spoken by every character while behind a booth with LED lights and a mixing board. It is a fast and fluid, meticulously-timed story—and Bitton is in complete control of it.
Mark Golamco
The Ghost of Ted Dragon
The Ghost of Ted Dragon is a comedic, cabaret-style performance with original music by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mark Golamco, who embodies ballet dancer Ted Dragon and his lover, the painter Alfonso Ossorio–a New York City love story that spanned decades. Written from Golamco’s perspective as a queer Filipino artist, Golamco sings and plays viola, electric guitar and harp, while accompanied by an ensemble of dancers. The diaristic performance evokes traditional folk-music storytelling, classic ballad-love songs, and rock and roll to create a living gay history, demonstrating the importance and bittersweet longing of connecting with our long-departed queer ancestors.
Listen to Mark Golamco on Spotify
Huntrezz Janos and Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou
DENTAXUVIA
DENTAXUVIA is a multi-layered performance that fuses the unique artistic visions of Huntrezz Janos (‘18) and Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou by using technology, sculpture, and poetry to conjure a fragmented futuristic scene of ecocyberfeminist insurgents. In this sci-fi explosion of visuals, the tangible meets the intangible as Huntrezz and Antigoni perform in wearable sculptures and as avatars in their virtual world. The result is an act of queer resistance that transports audiences on a supernatural journey and ignites belief that anyone can shed old skins and reclaim agency in the face of oppressive regimes.
NOW 2023: Week Three will be presented as one shared program of triple bills on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. DENTAXUVIA is presented in English and Greek with English subtitles.
Please note: Vacuum Girl contains strobe lights and mature content.
New Original Works Festival 2023 is organized by Edgar Miramontes and Rolando Rodriguez with Sola Bamis (‘11), Dami Spain, and Rosanna Tavarez.
about the artists
Erica Bitton
Erica Bitton is an Actor and Writer currently living in Los Angeles. In 2010 she graduated from CalArts with her BFA in Acting. She began working on and performing Vacuum Girl in the fall of 2021 and is thrilled to take the REDCAT stage with its newest iteration.
Mark Golamco
Mark Golamco is a Filipino-American artist and multi-instrumental musician. He makes music, dance, drawing, painting, video, and performance. His work tells stories that bridge his life experience with those of past queer ancestors. A classically trained Viola player, Golamco studied orchestral and chamber music in the San Francisco Bay Area and later received a BA in Art from UCLA and an MFA in Painting from RISD. Outlaws, oddballs, and outcasts often take center stage throughout his work as he researches historical figures and relates to them through his experience as a gay person of color. He recently showed his music and dance piece, The Ghost of Ted Dragon, at MOCA. The performance is about the ballet dancer, Ted Dragon, and his lover, the Filipino-American painter Alfonso Ossorio. Golamco is still developing this work as well as researching and composing music for another piece about the unique experience he had performing music regularly for the late playwright Edward Albee.
Huntrezz Janos
Huntrezz Janos, the Afro-Hungarian artificer and cultural alchemist, casts an enchanting spell as a young luminary from Los Angeles. Embracing off-grid sustainable infrastructures and harnessing the power of solar energy, Janos fearlessly fuses art and environmental consciousness. With a boundless array of creative tools at their disposal, from installation to augmented and virtual realities, painting, sculpture, performance, and poetry, Janos conjures immersive experiences that transcend boundaries and provoke introspection. Her groundbreaking blend of cutting-edge technology, evocative aesthetics, and daring craftsmanship sparks a symphony of ideas, pushing the boundaries of what is possible. As a catalyst of cultural transformation, Janos challenges conventions and kindles dialogue through her thought-provoking creations. Guided by a profound gratitude for the uplifting arts community that surrounds her, Janos radiates a genuine eagerness to embrace the transformative power of collaboration and celebrate the beauty of diverse perspectives.
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Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou
Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou is a visual artist from Athens, Greece based in Los Angeles. They hold a BA in sculpture from the Athens School of Fine Arts and are currently completing an MFA in Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) under a Fulbright scholarship. In their multidisciplinary practice, they explore notions of intimacy, alienation, gender and affect in a rapidly advancing technological society. Manifesting in sculptural installations, experimental films and performances, their work is revisiting the neglected‚ ”herstories‚” of the past,challenging normative power structures, and amplifying queer voices to reimagine radical futures. Their work has been exhibited at venues such as the Arnolfini Center of Contemporary Arts in Bristol, Stegi-Onassis Foundation, Athens Biennale OMONOIA, Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles, and have showcased work in theaters such as Sophienshaele and Hebbel Am Ufer (HAU) in Germany as well as the National Opera of Greece.
