Elevator Repair Service with Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin

May 3, 2012 | Elmer Holmes Bobst Library | New York City

Site-Specific Mash-Up of Classic Novels
With visual artist Ben Rubin, statistician Mark Hansen, and audience members

  PHOTO GALLERY | View the photo gallery on Flickr

Ever dream of attending one of Gatsby’s mysterious shindigs? Open your mind to a new literary experience with the groundbreaking theater ensemble, Elevator Repair Service, creator of acclaimed Gatz, now in its second run at the Public Theater. Elevator Repair Service, in collaboration with visual artist Ben Rubin and statistician Mark Hansen, presents Shuffle, a look back on ERS’ last three pieces through the lens of creative data analysis. The result is a site-specific mash-up where the company attempts to read The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury, and The Sun Also Rises simultaneously. Hansen and Rubin are co-creators of Moveable Type, an artwork commissioned for the ground-floor lobby of The New York Times Building. Shuffle will take place on the ground floor of New York University’s striking, 12-story Elmer Holmes Bobst Library—home to more than 3.7 million volumes. Join us in taking a fresh look at the literature you thought you knew.

The public is invited to participate in an optional, afternoon-length workshop, during which the performance will be created. The workshop participants will have the opportunity to perform alongside members of ERS on May 3, resulting in a unique presentation of Shuffle.

Workshops
May 1: 1:30–4 p.m. >> Tickets
May 3: 1:30–4 p.m. >> Tickets

Both workshops will take place at The New School’s Tishman Auditorium at 66 West 12th St., NYC.

Workshop participation is limited to one daytime session (May 1 or May 3, not both days) plus the evening performance on May 3. Inclusion in the performance requires attendance from 6PM-10PM on May 3 for the rehearsal and performance. You may participate in the workshop and opt not to do the public performance, but you must decide by 4:30PM on May 3. Signing up deadline for workshop: April 23rd. $120 for a workshop (12 participant limit).

Presented by Elevator Repair Service and The Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University. Shuffle was commissioned by FuturePerfect, a new initiative that researches and presents emerging hybrid performance practices, media forms, and artistic ideas, and by The New York Public Library on the occasion of its Centennial.

Tickets: $30/$25 PEN Members and students with valid ID. Free to NYU students. Call (866) 811-4111 or visit ovationtix.com

Co-sponsored by Elevator Repair Service and The Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University

PEN Blogs

• Judith Benét Richardson:

This was a mystifying event. In the enormous atrium of NYU’s Bobst Library, we gathered under purple banners to find that our venue was the side of the lobby and some stacks in which we were to wander…[More]