'Tis the season for Nutcrackers

I know. You're already wondering what the hell this Jewish theater director is doing working on a Nutcracker ballet. Sometimes I wonder myself... But I've always had a weird little relationship with the Christmas season. My mother used to hang dreidel-shaped stockings over the fireplace accompanied by stories of Maccabee suicide brigades descending the chimney to fill them. Mall Santa's were frequently visited, to my father's chagrin. And almost annually, while my parents helped out at the local synagogue, I was left in the custodian's office to watch PBS, which is where an 8 year old Josh first saw Mark Morris' influential and delightfully irreverent Hard Nut. It's almost impossible to grow up in this country without being exposed in some way to the Nutcracker. In the coffee-shop where I'm drafting this very email, I've already heard the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy three times (thanks, Pandora). This is funny, of course, because I can't even begin to tell you what in God's name the ballet is actually about. Is it a coming of age tale? A tale of coerced sexual awakening (don't tell me Drosselmeyer isn't a bit of a creep)? Why is everyone battling rats? And someone please explain to me the point of Act 2 beyond the conventions of Russian 19th century ballet. Is it all a dream? Or is it all a melancholy metaphor for Clara's death? -- These are the essential questions we've neglected to answer enitrely by tossing aside what Tchaikovsky himself considered a rather idiotic scenario. Instead, we've taken some of the principle themes and imagery, and newly arranged the iconic score, in order to tell the life-story of a dancer named Clara. From childhood to old age, each chapter of Clara's life is simultaneously depicted by world-class dancers in a playful yet poignant immersive dance-theatre performance. We are determined to make this production an annual holiday tradition, and we hope you'll join us for this first incarnation at the cavernous Knockdown Center, December 12th, 13th & 14th. I really, really hope you can join us. Of course, if you can't make it to one of the performances and you still feel moved by the ol' spirit of the season there's always the opportunity to give via our crowd funding platform Hatch Fund. With a little less than two weeks left in our campaign we are on the verge of crossing the threshold of our target goal and reaching for our more ambitious stretch goal! Yes, we truly need your help, and yes, those $25 contributions make a difference. And if you don't know about Hatch Fund, you should check it out, because they're pretty awesome. They curate their projects and also don't take a percentage (hence the surcharge). Also we've been a staff pick for the past week, so that's pretty cool too. With dreams of sugarplums,

A Nutcracker

Marathon Play to be featured in Prelude Fest October 9th.

On October 9th at 6:30PM JV Squad will be donning our signature tracksuits to present at excerpt of Marathon Play, an explorative fragment of a longer, endurance/performance project that literally places a marathon runner onstage in front of an audience, traversing 26.2 miles in a theatricalized spectacle of athleticism and perseverance. Created and performed by Liza Birkenmeier, Joshua William Gelb, Tegan Ritz McDuffie, Katie Rose McLaughlin, and Dan O’Neil.

MOTHER! @ The New Georges Jam

After years of scheming, Katie Brook and I are finally bringing MOTHER! to the stage. This competitive-sport adaptation of Marsha Norman's 1983 Pulitzer Prize winning play Night, Mother will close the New George's Jam on Toast on Saturday night (May 31st), 9:30PM at Dixon Place. The brave performers joining us include Alex Spieth, Dan O'Neil, Jessie Shelton, Ben Viertel, Sarah Krohn, and Susan Bernfield, among others. And yes, that's my head submerged in a bucket of water.

Party in the USA is going to the Edinburgh Fringe!

We're taking the party to Scotland! Following last summer's sold-out run at the Incubator Arts Project, Party in the USA will be appearing at the Underbelly's Topside Theater at this summer's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world. We're even starting a theater company to do it, and we're calling it JV Squad. This is a mamouth endeavor and we're still raising funds, so if you want to donate, just go to our Fractured Atlas page. I'd also encourage you to like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. And definitely make a Party in the USA cover video to help us get Miley Cyrus' attention. For all I know, one tweet from Miley could potentially sell out our entire run.

Victory at the Flea #serials

So excited to advance to the next round of serials with Donaldo Prescod, Charlotte Simpson and the rest of the Silent Masterpieces gang. Next episode begins December 5th!

Cleo Grey, Madeleine Bundy, Sean McIntyre, and Alex Gould

Cleo Grey, Madeleine Bundy, Sean McIntyre, and Alex Gould

10 more cases

of bud light lime are arriving at IAP tomorrow. All sold for tonight -- So risk the wait-list at your own discretion. Of course, you can always grab a ticket to any of our four shows this weekend!

In spite of this blasted heat wave

I don't know how exactly, but somehow we sold out the first performance of PARTY IN THE USA on the hottest day of the year. Thank you to all the actors and production team and especially the audience, who drank as much bud light lime as possible just to withstand the heat. I am so proud of the piece we created together and so grateful to those of you who joined us afterwards for strudel. It was hot, yes. But somehow through the collective sweat, some amazing theater happened.

I don't know what to say!

I actually don't know what to say. Some time last week I resigned myself to not meeting our Indiegogo goal, content to pester Miley Cyrus and spread awesome/hilarious covers of my new favorite song. That we actually made our goal is something beyond my comprehension, and something for which I am just so -- so damn thankful. To all of you. Thank you. I hope, even in the heat of July, you'll come and see this show. While our brilliant donors donated the rest of us spent the evening in the rehearsal room, a little drunk, working through some of the hardest, funniest sequences in the show. This one is going to really be "something." Plus free beer... Got my hands up, they're playing my song, and now I'm gonna be okay. It's a party in the USA.

Love My Band @ Little Theater Tonight

My latest project, a reenactment of a reenactment of Meredith Wilson's Music Man, will be presented at Dixon Place tonight (7:30PM) at the fantastic Little Theater series. I'll be on a bill in the company of Claire Moodey, Joseph Silvosky, and Young Jean Lee. It features co-conceivers Dan O'Neil and Katie Rose McLaughlin as well as Jessie Shelton, Liza Birkenmeier, David Gould, Josh Smith and David McGee. Tickets here. And if you can't make it tonight, I'll be back at Little Theater on June 10th, directing the 21 minute version of Dan O'Neil's BEAR SLAYER (aptly titled "How to Kill a Bear in 21 Minutes") with usual suspects Joshua Isaacs, Alex Falberg, as well as Elissa Castles and Paul Nugent... Casting announcements for Party in the USA forthcoming!