ACTION AT A DISTANCE

Santa Fe’s celebrated physical theater ensemble, Theater Grottesco, proudly premieres Action at a Distance in May 2025, a bold theatrical experiment from Fay|Glassman Performance. This new production offers a kaleidoscopic theatrical experience that is closer to jazz composition and dance, blending six simultaneous plays performed on a 10x10 grid by four actors, John Flax, Danielle Louise Reddick, Apollo Garcia and Elizabeth Glass. In 2018, the two companies received a national grant from the Network of Ensemble Theaters for five weeks of outlandish theatrical research and development for this work. The fully-developed production will run May 22 through June 8, 2025, at Teatro Paraguas' Second Space in Santa Fe, NM. Tickets are available now at www.theatergrottesco.org/tickets.

 

About Action at a Distance: Action at a Distance is a work of new form in theatre that breaches several of theatre’s traditional boundaries. Using techniques often found in film, musical composition and dance such as innovative physical ‘jump-cuts’ and ‘gestural choreography,’ characters and actions depart from common representations of time and space, to create moments of astonishing synchronicity, while actors fluidly transform among multiple characters, and interact across disparate scenes.

 

This dynamic, multilayered performance challenges storytelling, immersing audiences in a constantly shifting mosaic of interactions and emotions. Much like the bustle of a crowded airport, Action at a Distance captures the unpredictability within human connections, and constructs fleeting moments of seemingly unintentional, yet finely-tuned synchronicity.

 

About The Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman Duo (Fay|GlassmanPerformance): Fay and Glassman are known for creating theater that ranges from humorous and disarming to mesmerizing and disorienting. Their work applies composed structures to ordinary human behavior, just as electronic music applies composed structures to sound. The techniques they have developed over 40 years are designed to show us new ways of seeing ourselves and each other. The reflections can be cathartic and awakening, opening windows on new ways of seeing human activity. Find more information about Fay|Glassman Performance at lisafayandjeffglassmanduo.org.

 

About Theater Grottesco: Founded in Paris in 1983, Theater Grottesco is known internationally for visual and explosive original productions. The Grottesco Ensemble rekindles interest in live performance by juxtaposing classical and modern theatrical styles with daring, poetic research of culture and imagination, giving voice to marginal elements of our contemporary society, and taking audiences to the brink of emotional wonder and soulful reflection. Theater Grottesco is celebrating its 29th year in Santa Fe and is a 2017 award winner of the National Theater Program. Find more information at www.theatergrottesco.org.

About the Creative Process: Theater Grottesco’s creative process is collaborative and involves intensive workshops, improvisation and experimentation with an eye toward making a work of art in itself. The company's approach to devising a new play often takes years and incorporates elements of physical theater, dance, mask work and ensemble-based storytelling techniques. This long-time practice intersects neatly with the Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman Duo, creating shared artistic languge. On top of that, Jeff Glassman has said, “Theater Grottesco is the only company I know of in the United States that could handle the physicality of this work.”