Pursuit of Happiness
Photo credit: Andrej Lamut
Pursuit of happiness is one of the rights guaranteed in the US constitution - along with the seemingly incongruous right to bear arms. With the famous phrase, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", the United States Declaration of Independence places pursuit of happiness among the "unalienable rights" – which the Declaration says have been given to all human beings by their Creator, which governments have been tasked to protect.
But what is Happiness? Into what dark corner do we individually and collectively chase it? To what wild and further frontiers will we pursue it? And to what unseemly Hollywood blockbuster end?
In Pursuit of Happiness, Nature Theater of Oklahoma work for the first time with the Slovenian dance company EnKnap Group to take on the myth and legacy of the American Dream and its aspirational aftermath.
A production of EnKnap Group and Nature Theater of Oklahoma, co-produced by Théâtre de la Ville and steirischer herbst.
Concept, text and direction Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper Performed by EnKnapGroup; Luke Thomas Dunne (Great Britain); Ida Hellsten (Sweden); Bence Mezei (Hungary); Ana Štefanec (Slovenia); Jeffrey Schoenaers (Belgium); Lada Petrovski Ternovšek (Croatia) Light design Luka Curk Costume design Katarina Škaper Technicians Leon Curk, Gal Škrjanec SkaberneProduction Chronology
September 2019, FringeArts/Philly Fringe Festival, Philadelphia
September 2019, Walker Center for the Arts, Minneapolis
August 2019, Rosendal Teater, Trondheim, Norway
August 2019, Aichi Triennale, Nagoya, Japan
March 2019, Aarhus, Denmark
March 2019, Inkost Festival, Malmo, Sweden
January 2019, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany
December 2018, International Theater of Finland, Espoo, Finland
December 2018, Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany
October 2018, Festival Borštnikovo srečanje, Maribor, Slovenia
November 2018, Next Festival, Schouwburg Kortrijk, Belgium
August 2018, Theater Spektakel, Zurich, Switzerland
June 2018 Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Athens, Greece
May 2018 La Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
March 2018 Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong, China
March 2018, Kaaitheater, Brussels, Belgium
February 2018, Theatre de la Cite Internationale with Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France
January 2018, Under The Radar Festival, Segal Center, New York, NY
November 2017, Festival Drugajanije, Maribor, Slovenia
November 2017 HAU/ Hebbel-am-Ufer, Berlin, Germany
October 2017 Steirischer Herbst Festival, Graz, Austria
September 2017, Nitra Festival, Nitra, Slovak Republic
August 2017, Mladi Levi Festival, Španski Borci Cultural Center, Ljubliana, Slovenia
March 2016, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
December 2016, Španski Borci Cultural Center, Ljubliana, Slovenia (premiere, and in repertory in 2017)
