WORLD THEATRE: Josep Maria Miró (Spain) & The Play Company New York

World Theatre / Reading / in English

LIVE / IN PERSON: Segal Theatre, 365 Fifth Ave @ 34 Street.

LIVE STREAM ON HOWLROUND:

Thursday, Nov. 16

6:30 pm

On a crisp morning in a rural Catalonian village, a mutilated body is discovered on the ground. One actor embodies seven characters within and around this body, in an incisive tour-de-force that excavates the destruction of beauty and the depths of human sexuality and desire.

Join us for an evening with The Play Company's 2023 writer in residence Josep Maria Miró from Barcelona / Spain. The full play will be read in English by David Skeist, directed by Jay Stull. Translator Sharon Feldman, and PlayCo's Kate Loewald & Annie Jin Wang will join the panel; moderated by Frank Hentschker.

Josep Maria Miró, born in Prats de Lluçanès, 1977, is the author of Me, Trans (2023) Remains of the Glowing Night (2021. Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico de Madrid), The Lady Butler (2020), The Nicest Body Every Seen Around These Parts (2020. National Prize for Dramatic Literature 2022 from the Spanish Ministry of Culture / XXV Critics’ Prize for best playwright / Selected by the association of European translators EURODRAM as one of the 3 best texts premiered in Catalonia during the 2021-22 season / XLV Born Prize 2020), The White Room (2020), A Nice Place (2017. Max Prize 2019. Miró's works have been translated into more than twenty languages and have had approximately 100 world premieres and numerous publications. Miró has directed some of his own plays, as well as works by other authors. In 2015-16 academic year he joined the faculty at the ERAM, the undergraduate degree program in Performing Arts at the University of Girona, where he coordinates the academic section devoted to Dramaturgy. He regularly teaches courses and workshops at the Obrador de la Sala Beckett in Barcelona, in Catalonia and abroad.

Sharon Feldman is Professor of Spanish & Catalan Studies at the University of Richmond, where she serves as Associate Dean of Arts, Languages, and Cultures and holds the William Judson Gaines Chair in Modern Foreign Languages. She has published widely on modern and contemporary theatre from the Iberian Peninsula. She is also an accomplished translator of contemporary Catalan drama, having rendered into English over 30 Catalan plays. Her work has earned her the distinction of “corresponding member abroad” of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona [Royal Academy of Letters of Barcelona]. She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Jay Stull (director, dramaturg, and playwright). His work has been developed or produced by Ars Nova, The Alliance Theater, Bloomington Playwrights Project, NY City Center Off Center, NYTW, Joe’s Pub, The Gym at Judson, Roundabout, and The Tank. He is an alumnus of the Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and The Civilians R&D Group, and is a recipient of the 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Grant in Playwriting. He has taught theater at Harvard College, NYU-Tisch, and the American Academy of Dramatic Art. MFA: Columbia. www.jaystull.com

David Skeist (he/they) is an actor and multidisciplinary theatre artist based in Brooklyn. He has appeared, often repeatedly, in works by Javier Antonio González, Richard Foreman, David Gordon, Elizabeth Swados, and Doris Mirescu at venues including The Public, Skirball, Joyce Soho, and Peak Performances. David is the producing director of Caborca and acts in most of the company’s works including Zoetrope and Distant Star (both at Abrons Arts Center). He recently performed in the US premiere of Romina Paula’s Fauna (Torn Page). David is also a composer currently collaborating with Caborca, M-34, and x.sud art/site. They hold an MFA from Columbia and teach Acting at Barnard.

PlayCo is an award-winning Off Broadway theatre that has brought a global perspective to America stages for over 20 years. Supporting and collaborating with artists to generate a dynamic, uniquely international program of adventurous plays that celebrate the power of live theatre, PlayCo commissions, develops and produces new plays from the U.S. and around the globe, creating contemporary theatre experiences that reflect and respond to its NYC home and today's interconnected world.PlayCo encourages ambition and experimentation in both form and content, championing new and marginalized voices to advance an inclusive and innovative American theatre ecosystem. PlayCo commits to inclusive, affordable access and collaborative community partnerships to make their work available and welcoming to all. PlayCo received a 2007 Obie Award for their “unique contribution to the Off Broadway community”. They have produced 42 plays from the U.S., Central and South America, Europe, the Russian Federation, South and East Asia, and the Middle East. Their organization, artists and shows have been honored with Obie, Lucille Lortel, American Theatre Wing, Drama Desk, Drama League awards and nominations.

Sala Beckett is a space devoted to theatrical creation, training and experimentation. It is dedicated in particular to the promotion of contemporary theatre and the dissemination of works by Catalan playwrights. A place for playwrights to meet with other performing arts creators and professionals from various fields and disciplines, Sala Beckett is home to an intense schedule of show production and programming, courses and labs, talks, meetings and all kinds of activities related to exchange, thought and discussion about playwriting and the contemporary world.

The Institut Ramon Llull is the public institution responsible for promoting Catalan language and culture internationally. The Institut represents a cultural and linguistic community of more than 10 million people who participate actively in global events and conversations through performing arts, literature and knowledge exchange. Created in 2002, the Institut is a consortium formed by the Government of Catalonia, the Government of the Balearic Islands and Barcelona City Council. It carries out its programming in the following areas: Language and Universities, Literature, Performing and Visual Arts, and the Program for Innovation, Knowledge and Residencies. The Institut Ramon Llull aims to put Catalan culture in dialogue with the world in all areas of creation and knowledge, constructing networks for mutual understanding, recognition and collaboration. The Institut collaborates with and supports artists, organisations, institutions and festivals while fostering exchange in the fields of Catalan studies, literature and translation, performing and visual arts, film, music, design and architecture.

Headquartered in Barcelona, the Institut Ramon Llull also has offices in Berlin, London, New York and Paris.

Presented by The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The Play Company New York, Institut Ramon Llull New York, Sala Beckett, Barcelona. Josep Maria Miró's fellowship in New York City is an Institut Ramon Llull project, in collaboration with Sala Beckett, and produced by PlayCo.