There are certain rising artists you should know, Charlotte Brathwaite is one of them. She most recently graduated from Yale School of Drama with her M.F.A in directing. However most of her atheistic is inspired by her relationship with La MaMa theatre as a child, and her graduated studies abroad at Amsterdam School of the Arts.
Currently the art that has been speaking to me the most is the work that embraces technology and uses it in an integral way to tell the story. Charlotte’s art melds the world of media with a highly physical score. Although I’ve never seen Charlotte’s work in person, the way her work is depicted on the internet shows that Charlotte couples these two forms of story telling in a seem-less way.
There are a few of Brathwaite’s pieces worth watching. In her Streetcar Named Desire for example not only does she cast multiracial, but modernizes the piece through her expressionistic use of video projections. She sets this performance in Post-Katrina New Orleans, which raise the stakes and allows for the physicalization of the piece to be heightened. In an interview Brathwaite admits to never having seen a production of STREETCAR, which allows her to explode and explore the text in an entirely new way. As an artist I see the major benefits of never having seen a production of the piece, but I also ask myself how important is it to stay true the Author’s vision of the piece? Is there a point that dramaturgy and re-contextualizing can go too far?
In terms of dramaturgical work, her production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is worth taking a glance at.
The work the Brathwaite is producing is work that I undoubtedly want to be apart of. She is creating theatre that I want. It comes as no surprise that she has worked with Radha Blank, a playwright, whose work I am profoundly interested in as well.
