October 10, 2007

Interview with Jen Abrams

When my "half-hour" interview with dancer-choreographer Jen Abrams concluded, we were amused to see that it had actually lasted a full hour! But that's what it takes to tell even part of the story of her work with the WOW Cafe Theater collective, an historic and essential part of the still-hearty cultural abundance of Manhattan's rapidly-changing East Village. Listening to Jen talk about her background in contact improvisation, I discovered a fascinating connection between contact improvisation and the "open source," grassroots nature of WOW. Her intensity and strength as an artist working in dance, theater and poetry are more than matched by the tenacity of this theater collective and space that she so clearly loves.

Listen to audio interview with Jen Abrams (MP3 - 60 Minutes)

"Other Voices - Eva Yaa Asantewaa talks to lesbian choreographers Jen Abrams and Pat Catterson" in The Village Voice.

Jen Abrams' Bio

Jen Abrams' work has been presented at BAX, HERE, Dixon Place, the Nuyorican Poets Café, and the Bowery Poetry Club, as well as at WOW Café Theater, where she has been an active member for seven years. She has produced three full-length concerts of her own work at WOW: Itch (2000), Saturn Return (2001), and Surfacing (2002), as well as two shared bill evenings: As I Was Saying (2004, with Risa Jaroslow and Eva Lawrence) and Asunder (2006 with Clarinda Mac Low and Tara O'Con.). She was a 2005 BAX space grantee, and is co-curator and co-producer with Sally Silvers of TalkTalk WalkWalk, an annual poetry and dance festival. Her choreographic work has also been seen at WOW in the stage plays The Skriker by Caryl Churchill, All Eyes, All Sides - Beckett One Acts, Naomi Wallace's Slaughter City, and Moira Cutler's MetaMeshugenaMorphosis and Sonofabitch Stew, all with Dogsbody Theater. The Village Voice has called her work "quintessentially New York," and her performances "convincing no matter what [she chooses] to do." Continue reading...

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