New World Performance Laboratory

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Critics respond to New World Performance Lab

 

 

The Company:

"An ensemble whose extraordinary concentration and physical control draw you into their rituallike work."

                     -Marianne Evett, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"...extraordinary acting skills--Very precise, efficient, authentic, flowing from the inside as opposed to studied, artificial, 'inflicted' on the body...When I watch them I trust them."

                     -Joanna Ostrowska, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland)

"one of the nation's most intriguing theater companies."

                     -Linda Eisenstein, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"...SOMETHING IMPORTANT, VALUABLE, and VERY PROMISING is going on in Akron."

                     -Juliusz Tyszka, Visiting Fulbright Scholar

                                New York University

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love in the Time of Lunatics:

"Quietly, from their base at the Univ of Akron (and as CPT's resident performance company), the New World Performance Lab has been honing a performance form with international actors (from Columbia & Italy), surprising audiences and students throughout the world (Poland, France, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Romania, Brazil, Chicago, NYC) for 10 years, and this month has brought a razor-sharp, mind-bending comedic cabaret featuring Jairo Cuesta, the Willem Dafoe of Cleveland, with his rolling eyes and big mouth full of teeth, exploring dreams, illusions, fantasies and, finally, love (through a wedding in effigy). So finely tuned are the actors, so well rehearsed, so in the moment, the audience holds its breath until the final moment."

-Thomas Mulready from Cool Cleveland

 

 

HamletMachine:

"In this staging, North American director James Slowiak, Italian actors Debora Totti and Salvatore Motta, and Colombian Jairo Cuesta, reveal a fine teamwork where the concept, the precision of the staging, the quality of the acting, and, finally, the professional level, are the main reasons for a dramatic experience that no theatre enthusiast should miss,"

                     -Fernando Toledo, El Tiempo (Colombia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woyzeck:

"It was just brilliant--an example of modern theater that's both challenging
and
engaging."

                     -John Petkovic, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

"...image upon image floods the audience with the fevered pace of dreams."

                     -Toni K. Thayer, The Cleveland Free Times

 

"...the production is elevated moment after moment into a sublime, bleak, metaphysical vaudeville..."

                     -Linda Eisenstein, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"These last few seconds of great acting by Jairo Cuesta remain in one's memory for a long time."

                     -Tadeusz Szyllejko, Gazeta Wyborcza

 

The Book of Saints and Martyrs:

"There is very little to understand here, much more is here to feel.  You can feel light and darkness, huge tension, and the tragic perplexity and laceration of soul and body..."

                     -Tadeusz Burzynski, Gazeta Robotnicza

"...by turns amusing, perlexing, thought-provoking, frustrating and chilling."

                     -Christine Howey, The Cleveland Free Times

 

Mother's Work:

"one of those rare treats--truly experimental work that is highly crafted."

                     -Amy Sparks, The Cleveland Free Times

"Mother's Work delights the eye with its simplicity and harmony."

                     -Marianne Evett, The Cleveland Plain Dealer