Life and Times – Episode 1

With a stunning mix of conceptual strictness and overboard enjoyment of play, Nature Theater of Oklahoma embark on their latest epic – Life and Times.

A musical based on the life story of one of their own company members, Life and Times is the last in a series of works which were all generated from recorded telephone conversations. (No Dice, Rambo Solo, Romeo and Juliet).  Using a verbatim transcript of the over 16 hours of recorded audio as libretto, the company have, with heroic effort, created their first original musical extravaganza – the tale generated from the single simple question, asked of a friend: “can you tell me your life story?”.

A performance that will eventually stretch 24 hours when complete, Life and Times - Episode 1 is but the start of a planned series of 10, each episode derived from a separate phone call.  The first episode is but the beginning of the saga – covering the early years of childhood, from birth to age 8.

Far from resembling the traditional arching narrative with dramatic structure and tension, the source text for Life and Timesresembles instead a patchwork quilt or spider’s web – the wanderings and digressions of a single person considering the entirety of their whole life.  Filled with simple moments of insight, flashes of half-forgotten friends, the subject of this musical saga stops her life to consider all the moments that made her who she is.  Since her life is quite normal and unexceptional, her story contains many bits of our own.  You remember the toy you couldn’t live without – the next door neighbor who had a better house –  a father who was mysteriously quiet – the friend whose mother let you stay up all night – the grandmother who served tea with honey in the good china cups – the sister who never wore shoes…

It is a portrait of an unremarkable life, an epic narrative along the lines of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past– a deep map of memory which takes us on a subterranean plunge into the layers of our own forgotten history

A production of Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Burgtheater Wien in coproduction with Internationales Sommerfestival Hamburg, Kaaitheater Brussel, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Internationale Keuze Festival Rotterdamse Schouwburg, and the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University. With support from The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Conceived and Directed by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper From a telephone call with Kristin Worrall Original music Robert M. Johanson Design Peter Nigrini Featuring Ilan Bachrach, Asli Bulbul, Gabel Eiben, Anne Gridley, Matthew Korhais, and Julie LaMendola Musicians Daniel Gower, Robert M. Johanson, and Kristin Worrall Prompter Elisabeth Connor Dramaturg Florian Malzacher Production Manager Dany Naierman Audio Engineer Daniel Gower

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Production Chronology

November 2013 Spielart, Munich, Germany (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

November 2013 Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil, France (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

October 2013 Melbourne Festival, Australia (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

October 2013 Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

September 2013 Walker Center for the Arts, Minneapolis, MN

September 2013 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Philadelphia, PA (w/ all Episodes 1-5)

June/July 2013 Berliner Festspiele/Foreign Affairs, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Germany (w/ all Episodes 1-5)

May 2013 Norfolk & Norwich Festival, United Kingdom (w/ all Episodes 1-5)

May 2013 Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival, Sweden (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

January/February 2013 Public Theater/UTR Festival/Soho Rep, New York (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

October-November 2012 Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

September 2012 (Internationale) Keuze, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Netherlands (w/ Episodes 2, 3&4)

September 2012 BITEF Festival, Belgrade, Serbia

June 2012 World Theatre Festival under Mt., Fuji, SPAC Shizuoka, Japan

May-June 2012 Festival Transamerique, Montreal, Canada

May 2012 Avant Garden, Trondheim, Norway

May 2012 BIT Theatergarasjen, Bergen, Norway

April 2012 Black Box Theater, Oslo, Norway

April 2012 Gessnerallee, Zurich, Switzerland

July 2011 Festival d’Avignon, France (with Episode 2)

June 2011 Straw Theater (NO99), Tallinn, Estonia

May 2011 Singapore Festival, Singapore

March 2011 Hebbel Theater, Berlin, Germany

February 2011 deSingel, Antwerp, Belgium

January 2011 Theater Maria Matos, Lisbon, Portugal

January 2011 Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

January 2011 Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France

September 2010 (Internationale) Keuze, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

September 2010 Kaaitheater Brussels, Belgium

August 2010 Kampnagel Summerfestival, Hamburg, Germany

May 2010 Theatertreffen/Berliner Festspiele, Sophiensale, Berlin, Germany

April/May 2010 Burgtheater Kasino, Vienna, Austria

September/October 2009 at Burgtheater Kasino, Vienna, Austria (premiere)

July 2009 Austrian Cultural Institut, New York, NY (work-in-progress)