NOW Festival Uncovers L.A.'s Hidden Artistic Gems at REDCAT

Though beginning later in the year than in the past, the eighth annual New Original Works Festival starts up this weekend at REDCAT downtown. Referring to itself as a laboratory for boundary-expanding creativity in dance, theater, music and multimedia performance work, the three-week festival will uncover eight of the hidden artistic gems of our city.

REDCAT’s Associate Director George Lugg says he is “excited to see the truly interdisciplinary collaborations that fuel these projects: master musicians collaborating with a contemporary choreographer, object-theater artists joining forces with art-rock bands [and] a theatrical performance created in partnership with a filmmaker."

Week One includes a performance artist, puppeteer and a music/multi-media designer, each presenting a slice of their daily bread. Marissa Chibas appears as a 1920s flapper and integrates her performance with silent film and live music to reveal Clara’s Los Angeles.

In Edward's House of String, puppeteer Cindy Derby blends stop-motion animation, hand-crafted scenic elements and her manually-driven performers to create potent images that dive into depths of psychological loss.

And Actual Reality features an ensemble of acoustic musicians distributed throughout the theater generating a matrix of software-driven cancellations and reinforcements (and Google Alerts). Here, art band Lucky Dragons’ founder Luke Fischbeck uploads his multi-channel inquiry into digital mediation.

As usual, the line-up sounds a little wild and woolly, which is always great! I bet we see some nice raw edges, watch ideas bounce off the seats and walls and come out of the room wondering where we are and what could be next. But, hang on, after this we have two more weekends to go!

Be brave and head downtown!

Click on the artist for a link to their video: Cindy Derby, Marissa Chibas, Lucky Dragons