Feb 22-Apr 19 • Limited capacity

Get an inside look at cutting-edge theater

  • 6 sessions
  • In-person
  • Tuition: $799
  • Meet cast and crew!

About the course

This spring, see cutting-edge live performances in a range of genres at NYU Skirball. This course will discover and connect themes between the variety of works and consider these questions:

  • How does genre shape our expectations as audience members?
  • What role does the audience play in each performance?
  • What throughlines and concerns emerge between the performances?

We will attend NYU Skirball’s spring season, meeting on-site before each performance to discuss the artist’s body of work and its social and cultural context, before watching the performance together. We will then join the cast and crew for a post-show toast in the lobby following select performances. We will also read selected texts to develop a broader understanding of the landscape of contemporary performance.

Tickets are included in the tuition for this course.

Registering at least three weeks prior to the course start date is highly recommended.

Learning Outcomes

  • Access to cutting-edge performances at the NYU Skirball Center
  • Familiarity with leading artists, musicians, choreographers and playwrights of today
  • An inside look and analysis of each performance
  • The opportunity to meet cast and crew

Schedule

Session Date/Time Performance Performance Date/Time
Session 1 Thu, Feb 22, 6:00-7:15pm EST Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker: The Goldberg Variations, 988 Thu, Feb 22, 7:30 PM
Session 2 Thu, Mar 7, 6:00-7:15pm EST Teatro La Re-Sentida: Oasis de la Impunidad Thu, Mar 7, 7:30 PM
Session 3 Fri, Mar 15, 6:00-7:15pm EDT Mette Ingvartsen: Moving in Concert Sat, Mar 16, 7:30 PM
Session 4 Fri, Mar 22, 6:00-7:15pm EDT Doug Varone: To My Arms/Restore Fri, Mar 22, 7:30 PM
Session 5 Fri, Apr 5, 6:00-7:15pm EDT Raja Feather Kelly: The Absolute Future Fri, Apr 5, 7:30 PM
Session 6 Thu, Apr 18, 6:00-7:15pm EDT Catapult Opera: La ville morte Fri, Apr 19, 7:30 PM

About the Instructor

J de Leon is the Director of Engagement at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, and part-time faculty in NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Their dissertation, “Let Me Listen to Me”: The Politics and Aesthetics of Self-Indulgence received the Monroe Lippmann Memorial Award for Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation at New York University. They received a 2016-2017 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in “Ethical Subjects,” as part of the John E. Sawyer Seminar at the Center for Historical Analysis at Rutgers University. They were a 2013-2014 Graduate Research Fellow at NYU’s Humanities Initiative, and a 2009-2013 Corrigan Fellow in Performance Studies. They were Managing Director of Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory from 2010-2011. Prior to arriving in New York, J studied and worked offstage in theater in Los Angeles and was co-founder of the theater company Explosions in Act Two, Inc., which exclusively produced one-act plays.