New York Live Arts Presents Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein’s "Friday Night Rat Catchers" (World Premiere)
Company:
Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein
NEW YORK LIVE ARTS PRESENTS LISA FAGAN AND LENA ENGELSTEIN IN THEIR WORLD PREMIERE OF FRIDAY NIGHT RAT CATCHERS FEATURING MARIANNE RENDÓN
March 27-29, 7:30pm
“You don’t know what these zanies might do.” - The New York Times, 2024
New York City, NY (February 20th, 2025) – New York Live Arts’ (Live Arts) Live Feed creative residency and commissioning program presents the World Premiere of Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein’s Friday Night Rat Catchers, the latest creation from an experimental duo whose unconventional performative frameworks are rooted in dance-adjacent physicality. Set in a 1976 dancehall, a wild party suddenly grinds to a halt as the space is punctured by hunks of cement. Three rain soaked figures are left amongst the shattered remains of the glittering night to decipher who came out on top. Friday Night Rat Catchers will be presented in the New York Live Arts Theater (219 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011) Thursday, March 27th at 7:30pm through Saturday, March 29th at 7:30pm. A Stay Late Conversation will follow the performance on Friday, March 28th, moderated by Alex Tatarsky. Tickets start at $30 with limited Pay-What-You-Wish options, and can be purchased at NewYorkLiveArts.org or 212-924-0077, on sale now. Please see additional ticketing options below.
Physically demanding choreography bridges dance and theater in the latest from the NYC-based experimental dance makers. Dubbed the “High Weird” by Helen Shaw (The New Yorker), Fagan and Engelstein reimagine how choreography can be used to accomplish theatricality; how the movement can be the engine underneath the theater. Their most recent work Deepe Darknesse, performed as a part of Live Arts’ 2024 Live Artery Festival, breathed life into the downtown dance scene fervently reminding audience goers that the absurd is still alive and well in New York City. Maximalist in all the ways, their works are intensely detailed performances rooted in physicality that use the trust within their collaboration to encourage performative risk. The pair delight in running choreography through innovative structures that place it under pressure, purposefully restricting it, to produce conditions that reflect the strange, strained mannerisms of contemporary social life.
Bernard-Marie Koltès’ 26-page rambling monologue Night Just Before the Forests and Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Lottery in Babylon were both source materials used to feed Fagan and Engelstein’s creative process, though the show does not endeavor to adapt these works directly. Their fascination with Italian pop music continues with an almost unbearable allure to move to songs like “Ma Quale Idea” by Pino D'Angiò. Used as choreographic sleight-of-hand, performers bask in the pleasure of dancing where it “belongs” and then twisting into a deeply unexpected and grotesque new shape. Friday Night Rat Catchers features performances by the choreographers and the critically acclaimed actor, Marianne Rendón. The ludic and peculiar world is brought to vivid life with sound design by Tei Blow, featuring costumes by Normandy Sherwood, lighting by Masha Tsimring, and set by Jian Jung.
Live Arts’ 2024-2025 season presents works that offer a unique perspective on freedom, identity, resilience, spirituality and our place in the world, resonating deeply with our belief that the communal begins with the personal. Onsite performance tickets start at a standard price of $30. Live Arts is proud to launch new community ticket pricing, allowing the public to choose a price that fits any budget. Limited “Pay-What-You-Wish” tickets are available for all onsite events. To support this, Live Arts has introduced a "What-It-Really-Costs" ticket at $250, reflecting the true cost of a performance in NYC. Students and Seniors receive 20% off standard prices and $10 Student Rush tickets are available for any onsite show that is not sold-out.
ABOUT
LISA FAGAN is a choreographer, performer, and theater maker based in NYC whose work has been dubbed “The High Weird” by critics. She is the director/choreographer and a practicing member of the experimental performance company CHILD. Recent: Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s No President (dancer), HILMA (choreographer) at Tony award winning theater The Wilma. 2023 Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist in Residence with company CHILD. Deepe Darknesse at New York Live Arts’ Live Artery 2023 with collaborator Lena Engelstein. Fagan’s work has been presented in NYC by: New Georges, Prelude, Immediate Medium, Mercury Store, Radiohole, LifeWorld, Target Margin, HERE Arts, Bard College (Choreographer: Promenade, Dir. Morgan Green), The Exponential Festival (2019/20 Exponential Fellow), Ars Nova, New York Live Arts (2017/18 Fresh Tracks Artist), Movement Research, Gibney, Roulette, The 92nd Street Y, and others. She collaborates with many artists across disciplines supporting their shows choreographically and as movement director. On-screen choreography credits include the TV pilot THESE DAYS, premiering at Sundance 2021, and various music videos. @lfdanceproblems
LENA ENGELSTEIN is a dancer, performer, and choreographer. She is part of the interdisciplinary performance collective CHILD, headed by Lisa Fagan. Her work, lauded as “subtly campy and hilariously queer” by the Brooklyn Rail, has been presented in NYC dance and theater festivals such as Prelude, Exponential Festival, and Fresh Tracks. Since 2020, Engelstein has collaborated with Jo Warren, Miguel Alejandro Castillo, and Magda San Millan on new works. Other recent performance credits include: Alexa West, Barnett Cohen, Brendan Drake, Falcon Dance (company member, 2018-present), and Third Rail Company’s Then She Fell (company member, 2019-2020). She choreographs for and performs with the band Lou Tides. She has taught dance and choreography at SUNY Brockport, Colorado Mesa University, Bard College, and The Field Center. Lena holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Colorado College. @lenaengelstein
MARIANNE RENDÓN is an actor, performer, and musician. Film: Charlie Says (Venice Biennale), Summer Solstice (IFC), Mapplethorpe (Tribeca), One Day As A Lion. TV: Imposters, In The Dark (Netflix), producer & lead of These Days (Sundance). Theater: Plot Points in Our Sexual Development (Lincoln Center), Who Left This Fork Here (Baryshnikov Arts Center, dir. Daniel Fish). Upcoming: The Life List (Netflix). John Houseman Prize Recipient. Bard College, Juilliard MFA. @mariannerendon
Photo by Maria Baranova, Courtesy of the Artists
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