Presented by LACE & Space 15 Twenty
Conceived and directed by Katherine Brook
Text arranged by Liza Birkenmeier

Directed by Katherine Brook, and originally developed at The Invisible Dog in Brooklyn, New York, American Realism is a one-day extreme endurance piece for eight actors, about contemporary labor, spoken through the voices of depression-era California migrant workers. Disassembling notions of realism and investigating the possibilities of reenactment without authenticity, this piece exposes the ennui of laborers, from dot-com start-up entrepreneurs to immigrant maintenance workers. The text is composed by Liza Birkenmeier from an audio archive of Depression-era Farm Security Administration (FSA) work camps in California, called “Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection.” The archive, recorded by the WPA, includes songs, trials, meetings and testimonials. In American Realism these nostalgic recordings are reconfigured into a play about labor and community in America today.

In this adaptation of American Realism, LACE has teamed up with Hollywood neighbor Space 15 Twenty to present the work in live and livestreaming forms. The process of recording the action -- to be re-presented in another economic territory -- is interjected into the performance by the performers themselves. The live performance of the work will take place in the LACE galleries -- a non-profit space -- while a simultaneous broadcast will project into the courtyard of Space 15 Twenty, a unique corporate retail setting interested in encouraging the participation of local artists, music, film, and curatorial projects. 

This is an endurance performance. The piece runs on loop from 8-11PM. The viewer is invited to stay as long as they please, to see as many re-incarnations as one likes. Ticket provides access to roam between both performances, live and livestreamed.

Tickets are $10 General // $5 Student // FREE for LACE Members

All proceeds directly support the ...