I’m tackling a slew of new projects these days, and loving the extra hours of daylight!  We’re starting King Lear at BAM, and I am currently developing the lesson plan that I’ll bring to high schools through out the five boroughs.  Many I will have visited in the Winter, and it will be nice to seem some familiar faces.

And speaking of familiar faces, I’m spending time in Princeton, New Jersey these days at The McCarter Theater.  I’m directing my adaptation of Mary Zimmerman’s The Metamorphoses, mixed with some Ovid, for their Education Department.  The show runs in mid-May and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be directing and teaching at the theater where I grew up.

I’m also continuing to mentor BFA candidate directing majors for NYU, and teach with The Public Theater.

In unrelated news, I am going to so many weddings this year!  Hooray for love!  Weddings are incredible for many reasons, but the most fascinating one to me is this:  Weddings are theatrical events.  They are creative productions planned and produced and conceived by people who may or may not have ever participated in a specifically ‘theatrical’ event in their lives.  And here they are, creating an event that in the personification (eventification?) of their lives, and is presented to their most favorite humans to share in.  How magical!

My dear, talented friends wrote this AMAZING musical and asked me a part of it, and I couldn’t be more proud.  I admit, I was skeptical at first.  Do we really need to delve any further into Peter’s story?  But these guys did it right, with kick butt heros AND heroines, pee yourself from laughter jokes and incredible songs.  I’m thrilled to be Associate Directing, and urge you to get your tickets now!  We run March 15th – 21st at The Mint Theater on West 43rd.

I’m happy to report that I’ve joined the Staff of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as a teaching artist and curriculum developer.  This month I’m traveling to high schools in the 5 boroughs, bringing workshops on Propeller’s COMEDY OF ERRORS, which plays BAM through March.  The workshops are tailored specifically to each class’s experience with Shakespeare and Propeller.

I’m so excited to join the fantastic team at BAM, and doubly thrilled to get to spend more time the in wacky world of Epidamium.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be directing a staged reading of Augusto Federico Amador’s SOLTERONA for Queens Theater in the Park this Spring!  Augusto is recent East Coast transplant, who is heading in to second year in the Public Theater’s Emerging Writer’s Group.  I can’t wait to see SOLTERONA come alive, April 2nd at 8pm.

SOLTERONA

Written by Augusto Federico Amador

Directed by Lauren Keating

Maria is a solterona- a spinster. Or atleast that is how her Mother likes to see her.

If you want more info about what to expect tonight, check out this interview on the Cornelia Street Cafe Blog with New Georges Artist Director Susan Bernfield and Associate Artistic Director Sarah Cameron Sunde.

And, you can check out the paintings of Denis Luzuriaga after the show.  His work is on display throughout February!

TGIF!

Come check out the comedic genius of Mallory Portnoy, as well as the other great New Georges’ artists we’ll be performing along side in tonight’s Trunk Show!

6pm at 29 Cornelia St. -  The perfect end of the week pick me up, to send you smiling into this gorgeous weekend we’re about to have!

Please come check out my very exciting collaboration with the incredibly talented Mallory Portnoy!

We’ll be showcased throughout the evening, trying out some new (hysterical) characters and scenes, as part of New Georges’ Trunk Show at Cornelia Street Cafe FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11th!

NEW GEORGES’ TRUNK SHOW

Our innovative artists whip out new pieces from the ol’ trunk!

at

THE CORNELIA STREET CAFÉ

29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11 at 6PM

Doors open at 5:45pm

$10 at the door + one drink minimum

Rsvp recommended: 212.989.9319

February artists include Jessica Bauman, Lenora Champagne, Lauren Keating, Ari Kreith, Rachel Peters, Mallory Portnoy and Sarah Cameron Sunde

NEW GEORGES, in business since 1992, is an award-winning theater company that produces ambitiously theatrical new plays downtown; and is a play and artist development organization, providing an artistic home to some of the most adventurous theater artists (who are women) working today.

“New Georges has been rocking expectations of performance, artistry, and collaborative possibility for over a decade” - Culturebot.org

“downtown faves since 1992″ - The Village Voice

“A reminder that the theater’s future is largely in the hands of those companies that cultivate the work of lesser-known writers and bring them to our attention.” - The New York Times

This special deal only lasts two more weeks, and my schedule is filling up.  Act now (haha…), and grab the last few slots!

$25 for 50 minutes of monologue coaching .
Work on clarifying just one monologue, or quickly polish up several well known pieces.
Most of all, get the feedback you need to give a confident audition.

Please contact me directly to schedule a time/location.
Brief coaching bio below or here.

——————–

Lauren Keating is a New York City based director, teaching artist and acting coach.  Lauren’s work has been seen in NYC with The Public Theater, Ars Nova, The Flea Theater, At Play/The Old Vic, Prospect Theater, The Player’s Theater, New Lions Productions/NYC Parks and Recreation Dept., Cooper Union, The Space;  Regionally with The Hangar Theater, The Williamstown Theatre Festival.  As an assistant Lauren has worked extensively with Daniel Sullivan and directed the replacement cast of Stuff Happens at The Public Theater. Upcoming 2011 productions with Luna Stage and Queens Theater in the Park.

Lauren’s coaching clients have been booked at The Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, The McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, The Williamstown Theatre Festival and many NYC venues.  Her educational work includes teaching and directing with The University of New Mexico, Fordham University and The Public Theater.

Lauren is a Drama League Fellow, the Old Vic New Voices American Director 2009, a New Georges Affiliated Artist and an NYU:Tisch Alumni.

Top Ten Shows of 2010

This list is in no particular order.  It only includes productions that I saw for the FIRST time in 2010.  This list does not include productions that transferred to Broadway or other venues over the course of the last few years.  The other criteria are loose.  I went with what had stuck in my brain over the last year.

Vollmond – Pina Bausch gets to the heart of the human experience more directly and more viscerally than any artist, of any medium, I have ever experienced.
Brief Encounter - What this production does so brilliantly is create a vocabulary on stage, in front of the audience, essentially teaching you how to watch the show.  Then, Rice builds upon that vocabulary, shifting it and surprising you, bringing the whole the ride to a satisfying and expansive finale.  Plus, who doesn’t love a little Rachmanioff.
Red Shoes – Ditto.  Though this was certainly darker than BRIEF ENCOUNTER, both felt like events. not simply performances.  Kneehigh/Emma Rica think about how to structure that time before and after the performance, in order to enhance the audience’s experience and to create that feeling of Event.  The audience’s experience begins with their own entrance into the theater, not the performers.
Women of the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – I LOVE Almodovar.  I loved the vibrance of this production, and how, in that vibrant, unapologetic way, it stayed to true the film.
Creditors – Full, brash, bold, terrifyingly present acting.  August Strindberg via Alan Rickman, what could be better?
Rent – Confession: I saw RENT for the first time last year.  Mike Donahue’s production for the Yale Dramat was so full of energy and imagination, and of course, the material is stellar.   A thrill to finally see it.
Witness Relocation – I saw several workshops and productions by Dan Safer and his company during 2010.  The way they blur the line between theater/dance/games is invigorating and exciting.  I never have more fun in a theater than at their shows.
Gatz - Immersive and expansive at once.  I have never seen such care taken to bring an audience into a world and build that world up around them.  Thrilling.
Chautauqua! – I saw this at Under the Radar last January, and plan to see it again.  The mix of fictional narrative, real life biography and local anthropology allowed me to see my everyday surroundings with renewed excitement.  Plus, these guys are hysterical.
As You Like It – Sam Mendes is a genius of stage picture.  The end.

Runner up :
The Jackie Look – Karen Finley is fierce and fearless.

Best Theater Going Experience :
Measure for Measure at Bayview Women’s Correctional Facility – The work I’ve done teaching in prisons this year has been incredibly rewarding and enlivening.  After working with the women of Bayview Correctional, I joined them for the Public’s Touring production of Measure for Measure.  Each moment was real for them.  They are living the questions of justice, forgiveness and sacrifice every day.  It was a lesson in bringing my own willingness to be transported to the theater.  Not for one moment did these women sit back with their arms crossed, deciding if this production was “good.”  It wasn’t about good or bad.  Worthy or not worthy.  Better or worse.  They simply signed themselves over to the experience.

The Harmonious Pimps of Harmony will be reprising the hit numbers from their sold out, ANT fest hit The Harmonious Pimps of Harmony’s Last Show at Ars Nova’s GET LUCKY: A New Year’s Eve Bash!

Come early or stay late.  It’s going to be a fantastic party full of energetic performances, games, and, of course, champagne!  Details at http://www.arsnovanyc.com/get-lucky.