Review: Week One of REDCAT’s NOW Festival 2024

There was a surrealistic operetta set at the beach, a dance theater piece by Los Angeles based diasporic artists, and an homage to the Black gay disco era. All this transpired during a 90 minute performance on Week One of REDCAT’s 21st edition of the NOW Festival. They were works by artists Eliza Bagg, Rohan Chander, George R. Miller, Meena Murugesan, and Bernard Brown. This diverse collection of works clearly demonstrated how REDCAT has provided the space and opportunity for artists to present their creations. While some of these works did not fully succeed, others helped launch successful careers.

The setting for Eliza Bagg, Rohan Chander, and George R. Miller’s Sieben Frühe Lieder (7 Early Songs) was the oceanside. There was a lounge chair, a radio, ashtray, a thermos with a straw atop a T.V. table, two small plastic pink flamingos, a child sized swimming pool, and a large dead fish hanging from overhead. While it was not the usual setting one expected for Austrian composer Alan Berg’s music, nor was the powerful adaptation of Berg’s score by Rohan Chander that slowly entered into the genre of electronic rock.

7 Early Songs was very interesting in how the artists combined modernism and surrealism but it moved so slowly that it was difficult to stay involved. Bagg has a beautiful voice, but there were long periods where little or nothing took place. For example, Bagg, dressed in a black bathing suit, stood for several minutes staring up at the dead fish as the music played faintly in the background. Why? The audience was provided with a translation of the lyrics, but it was impossible to read and follow along while sitting in the dark.

I applaud the efforts made by Bagg, Chander and Miller, but for this viewer the work did not hit its mark. What did work beautifully to give this piece a sense of surrealism was the lighting design by Kaitlin Trimble and the set and costumes by John Pete Hardy.

The Vocalist and Co-composer was Eliza Bagg; Co-composer and Music Production was Rohan by Rohan Chander; Director was George R. Miller; and the Assistant Director was Matilda Sakamoto.

Meena Murugesan’s Dravidian Futurities: CHAPTER II had wonderful moments of mystery and perhaps it is just one part of a larger work that would help explain the origins of what was presented. There was a beautiful large textile structure by Murugesan and Susu Attar that hovered over stage left symbolizing some specific spiritual meaning for the people of this realm and helped demonstrate how their histories were intertwined. It was like a ancestral maypole.

One performer sat downstage right and drew symbols on a black surface that were never utilized or explained, and placed downstage left were straw baskets and fans that perhaps represented the wares of a displaced civilization.

The ritualistic dancing was performed by women with head wear that also covered their faces and ended with one dancer being overcome with “the spirit” who they were honoring.

One scene that helped clarify what Dravidian Futurities was about was when the four characters sat in a circle and told each other about where their ancestors originated from and their struggles that led them to flee to America. The remainder of the work needed the benefit of such clarification. What was seen on this program felt like a work that should be experienced as a full-evening production in order to grasp its creators’ full vision.

Also, unlike in this photo, the film that was projected on the background was very difficult to see from where I was sitting. I could only guess at what the images were portraying.

The credits for Dravidian Futurities include: Director, Video Artist, and Performer: Meena Murugesan; Production Designer and Performer: Susu Attar; Composer and Performer: Seema Hari; Poet and Performer: D’Lo; Dramaturg and Cinematographer: d. Sabela grimes; and Lighting Designer: Chu-Hsuan Chang.

Bernard Brown’s Sissies: Something Perfect Between Ourselves was the key that opened the door and released fresh air into he room. One could sense the relief felt by the entire audience as Brown’s all male cast of powerful and sensual dancers took them back decades into the world of the Black gay disco era.

Brown is an extremely gifted dancer and choreographer and this work was one of his most fun while still pointing out the deficiencies of our government’s handling of the AIDS epidemic – especially among the black gay and Latino communities.

Seven gorgeous men entered the stage wearing only various colored briefs and showed us who and what they were – proud gay men. They then approached a line of elaborate and shiny costumes by Arrington Fleming that would only be worn in a disco club. These were costumes that encompassed all types of gay men from the most flamboyant to the tamely outlandish. In gay lingo, these men looked fabulous!

What completed the disco club effect was the opening of the back curtain to reveal DJ, DeFacto X who produced the music for Brown’s entertaining work.

The dancing was sexual and sensual yet powerful. All seven men were strong technicians and movers. We saw them flirt and camp with one another. There were moments of simulated gay sex, including three-ways and orgies. Brown masterfully brought all seven men together for unexpected unison movement phrases that then broke off into solos, duets and trios. He even utilized the entire REDCAT stage area including the stage left balcony areas where the stage crews get access to some of the theater’s rigging and lights.

In Sissies: Something Perfect Between Ourselves Brown not only proved that he is a strong choreographer, but that he can pay homage to the gay men who lived and fought for the rights that today’s LGBTQ+ community enjoy. Yes, the sexy men were enjoyable to watch. Yes, the dancing was magnificent. Yes, the glitter of the costumes and the mirror balls were “fabulous,” but underneath all that glitter, camp and sexual heat was a powerful message of a community’s ability to endure, survive, and thrive.

Kudos also go out to Lighting Designer Chu-Hsuan Chang for replicating the interior of a gay disco club.

The incredible male cast of dancers in Sissies: Something Perfect Between Ourselves were Alex Perez, Charles Pierson, Damon Green, John Santos, Joseph Stevens, Maxima Lyght, and Malachi Middleton.

Other contributors included: Additional choreography by J’Sun Howard; Additional sound by Sound Barrier: Sylvester; and Durag Construction by Damon Green.

The NOW Festival continues for two more weeks. Week Two, November 14-16, 2024 includes works by Ajani Brannum, Sophia Cleary, and Tijuana Dance Company. Week Three, November 21-23, 2024 includes works by Bret Easterling, Mallory Fabian, and Kensaku Shinohara.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the REDCAT website.

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Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.

Featured image: REDCAT’s NOW Festival 2024 – Cast of “Sissies: Something Perfect Between Ourselves” by Bernard Brown – Photo by Angel Origgi.