This special crossover edition of Segal Talks, in collaboration with NYU Skirball’s Office Hours series, will be live-streamed via Howlround on Tuesday, March 28 @ 12:30PM EST. Free and open to the public.
Join us for a live, virtual conversation on directing and collaboration with Phelim McDermott, the Co-Artistic Director & Co-Founder of Improbable (UK), and Frank Hentschker, Director of CUNY’s Segal Center. In advance of McDermott’s upcoming New York Premiere of Tao of Glass at NYU Skirball, they will discuss his work and career, Improbable’s work with Open Space Technology, and McDermott’s long-term collaborations with Philip Glass.
Tao of Glass is a storytelling tapestry, performed by McDermott with a virtuosic ensemble of musicians and puppeteers, underscored by Glass’s mesmerizing music, and shot through with Improbable’s trademark magical stagecraft. This New York Premiere marries ten new works from Glass with ten theatrical meditations on life, death, and Taoist wisdom.
Phelim McDermott is the Co-Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Improbable. He has directed renowned productions around the globe (Shockheaded Peter, Beauty and the Beast), most recently the World Premiere of The Hours at the Metropolitan Opera, and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s newest musical extravaganza, My Neighbour Totoro. improbable.co.uk
Frank Hentschker, who holds a Ph.D. in theatre from the now legendary Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, Germany, came to the Graduate Center in 2001 as program director for the Graduate Center’s Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and was appointed to the central doctoral faculty in theatre in 2009. thesegalcenter.org
Tao of Glass was commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Improbable, Perth Festival, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival and Carolina Performing Arts – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in association with Naomi Milgrom AO. Originally performed at Manchester International Festival 2019.