Under The Radar Theater Festival

The Village Voice calls Under the Radar “One of the City’s Best Theater Festivals,” and once you’ve been to a few of the performances, you gradually begin to see why it has the reputation that it does. Under the Radar Theater festival brings together contemporary productions not only from the US but from all over the globe, including countries like Belgium, Canada, Ireland, France, U.K, and Poland.

Under the Radar was first premiered in January 2005, in St. Ann’s Warehouse, at which time its focus was wholly on theater companies in America. The following year, it chose The Public Theater as its locations in an attempt to base themselves at the “heart of the American theater”. It was also in this year that they ventured out into the international theater community and the festival featured performances from various countries, some of which were the Netherlands, Brazil, Indonesia, France, Australia, and Austria. In 2007, the popularity of the festival caused them to expand from a five-day theater festival to a two-week-long theater festival, a format which continues till today.

Under the Radar aims at throwing the spotlight on international artists and it is not reserved exclusively for the masters in this field. Emerging talent is given just as much encouragement and the theater festival presents an interesting mish mash of works by ensembles, writers, solo artists, and creators. In the 5 years of the history of Under the Radar, it has provided a platform that has showcased phenomenal talent from more than 15 countries through 67 productions. Some of the artists that have worked with Under the Radar are SITI Company, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Elevator Repair Service, Mike Daisey, Reggie Watts, Superamas, Teatro De Los Andes, and Abbey Theater.

Each year Under the Radar piques the curiosity of the audience towards new theater work. This year too, this dynamic festival brings to you 20 productions from 7 different countries at The Public Theater and other venues around New York. Watch 13 talented teenagers as they open your eyes to the mind of an adolescent in “Once and For All We’re Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen.” In “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” you get to see a combination of live performance and puppetry and the experience is enhanced by hypnotic soundscapes and video projections. Acclaimed British director and performer Andrew Dawson brings to you a documentary on the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon using simply his hands and a table with a black cloth!

These are just some of the theatrical jewels you will get to see at the Under the Radar Theater Festival which starts on January 7. After the show, head over to the LuEsther Lounge for an intimate and low-key meeting with the artists among drinks and musical performances. Theater can hardly get more interesting than this.

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One Response to “Under The Radar Theater Festival”

1. live at st. ann's warehouse says:

   March 26, 2010 at 10:53 am

   [...] out this Tuesday (October 6) and it features versions of 12 classic songs selected from a list …Under The Radar Theater Festival | Manhattan StyleThe Village Voice calls Under the Radar One of the City's Best Theater Festivals, and once you've [...]