As Time

Goes By

A unique immersive theater experience inside a time café

“I think that’s what’s particularly unique and powerful [about the Global Performance Studio]… that it’s a true collaboration... you’re coming up with these ideas together, and so it’s a true cross-cultural exchange.” – Susan Katz, CEC ArtsLink

About As Time Goes By

Ziferburg Café, Saint Petersburg, Russia (2016)

Third Rail Projects, with CEC ArtsLink, presented the first official project of the Global Performance Studio, March 6-30, 2016 in St. Petersburg, Russia with workshops, discussions, and performances in site-specific and immersive theater.

The residency in St. Petersburg was provided by CEC ArtsLink Back Apartment Residencies for artists and curators.

The project was led by Third Rail Projects Co-Artistic Director Tom Pearson and company member Joshua Reaver (New York), with Project Coordinator Yulia Bylenok (St. Petersburg), collaborator Renata Zhigulina (Russia and U.S.), and Local artists in St. Petersburg.

As Time Goes By was the inaugural project for the Global Performance Studio. Building upon previous models developed by Third Rail Projects and through recent engagements with CEC ArtsLink, the Global Performance Studio is a program that creates opportunities for cultural listening and sharing. For one month, U.S. and Russian-based artists met in St. Petersburg to share methodologies and practices for devising movement-based theater within site-specific and immersive formats. 

The collaborators created a new work for the Ziferburg (a time cafe), and offered audiences an invitation into experiential encounters with performers and situations that unfolded throughout the staircases, rooms and hallways. As action occurred throughout the space, a fragmented narrative emerged through repetition, duration and simultaneity, about our relationship to passing time and what it costs us. Audiences paid by the minute, and were asked to make their own choices about how much time to spend, and where and how to spend it.  

As Time Goes By Film

Streaming on VIMEO (Rent $2.99 / Buy $9.99)

As Time Goes By (2016) was the inaugural project of the Global Performance Studio. For one month, U.S. and Russian-based artists met in St. Petersburg to share methodologies and practices for devising movement-based theater within site-specific and immersive formats which resulted in the first ever performances of contemporary immersive theater in Russia. Collaborators created a new work for the Ziferburg (a time cafe), and offered audiences an invitation into experiential encounters with performers and situations that unfolded throughout the staircases, rooms and hallways. As action occurred throughout the space, a fragmented narrative emerged through repetition, duration and simultaneity, about our relationship to passing time and what it costs us. (Documentary Short Film and Performance Adaptation, 36:00 min.).

Collaborators

Project Leaders

  • Tom Pearson

    United States

  • Yulia Bylenok

    Russia

  • Joshua Dutton-Reaver

    United States

  • Renata Zhigulina

    Russia/United States

Bios

  • Tom Pearson (United States) is an artist working in written media and performance. He is best known for his original works for theater, including the long-running immersive theater hits Then She Fell and The Grand Paradise, and as a founder and co-artistic director of the New York City-based performance company Third Rail Projects. He is also the director of the Global Performance Studio, an international program for cultural listening and exchange. Pearson was recently named among the 100 most influential people in Brooklyn culture by Brooklyn Magazine. His written work is available through his site: tompearsonnyc.com.

    Том Пирсон — режиссер и писатель. Известен по своим театральным постановкам в жанре иммерсивного театра. В их числе Then She Fell и The Grand Paradise. Со- основатель и художественный руководитель Нью -Йоркской компании Third Rail Projects. Руководитель Global Performance Studios - интернациональной программы межкультурного обмена. По мнению Brooklyn MagazineТом Пирсон входит в 100 самых влиятельных людей Бруклинской культуры. Ознакомиться с его работами можно на официальной странице автора tompearsonnyc.com

  • Yulia Bylenok (Russia) is an independent contemporary dance artist and curator. She has assisted with coordinating international contemporary art festivals in St. Petersburg, including 'Art Prospect' public art festival and 'The Body Word' dance festival. She has been a contact improvisation and composition teacher and previously worked at the Iguan and Lesnoy dom dance theatres in different capacities. She has completed a somatics education module with the Moving On Center and a Masters level course in Theory and Workshop in Contemporary Dance Forms. Yulia was previously awarded a CEC ArtsLink fellowship in festival management and a Sleipnir travel grant for the arts from the Nordic Council of Ministers. She graduated from Vaganova State Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg with a Masters Degree in Cultural Studies with a specialization in the history and theory of choreography. Prior to that, she obtained a Spetsialist Degree in Social and Cultural Management from the St. Petersburg University of Culture and Arts.

  • Joshua Dutton-Reaver (United States), a graduate of Florida State University with a BFA in Dance, has been collaborating with Third Rail Projects since 2013 on a multitude of immersive and site-specific works including Ghost Light (Chita Rivera award) at Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 and long-running hits Then She Fell (BESSIE award) and The Grand Paradise. During this time, Joshua has also traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia to assist in the creation of As Time Goes By. In his spare time, along with working administratively for Third Rail Projects, Joshua freelances as a technologist collaborating in various technological mediums including video editing, graphic design, and web design.

  • Renata Zhigulina (Russia/United States) is a multidisciplinary artist and performer from St Petersburg, Russia. Combining various performance techniques gained from her art studies in St Petersburg, London and New York, she works within the mediums of movement, immersive theater, dance, poetry, and video art. As a performer and collaborating artist, she has worked with such companies as Dzieci, Punchdrunk, and Third Rail Projects | Global Performance Studio. Renata is a tango dancer and creative director for Blind: Strength in Vulnerability, a performance by TangoForAll theatre/dance company, that premiered in BAM, New York in 2017.

    Рената Жигулина - актриса и режиссер из Санкт-Петербурга. Пройдя обучение и практику в театральных школах Санкт Петербурга, Лондона и Нью Йорка. Рената работает с жанрами драматического и пластического театра, танца, поэзии, иммерсивного и интерактивного перформанса. В качестве актрисы и исполнителя работала с такими компаниями, как Dzieci, Punchdrunk, ThirdRailProjects| GlobalPerformanceStudio. В качестве режиссера выпустила спектакль Blind: Strengthinvulnerabilityс театрально-танцевальной компанией TangoForAll в Бруклинской Академии Музыки (BAM) в Нью Йорке в 2017 году

Project Participants

Tom Pearson (USA), Joshua Reaver (USA), Renata Zhigulina (Russia/USA), Yulia Rodina (Russia), Anastasiya Rebkalo (Russia), Mayya Popova (Russia), Andrey Adamovsky (Russia), Ruslan Rychagov (Russia), Marina Shamova (Russia), Yulia Bylenok (Russia), Elena Gradkovskaya (Russia), Ekaterina Novikova (Russia), Anna Gorchanuk (Russia), Meiko's Starlight Orchestra (USA), Bina Maracchini (Russia), Natalya Nikolaeva (Russia).

Schedule & Credits

Schedule

March 15, 2016 | 7:00pm: Presentation and discussion about the creation of site-specific and immersive performance through international collaborations and the partnership between Third Rail Projects’ Global Performance Studio and CEC ArtsLink's Global Art Lab.  At the Museum of Russian Ethnography.

March 25-26, 2016 | 8:00pm: Performances of "As Time Goes By" created by workshop participants (USA/Russia). At Ziferburg Café.

March 27, 2016 | 9:00pm: Final late night performance of "As Time Goes By" created by workshop participants (USA/Russia) in celebration of International Theater Day. At Ziferburg Café.

Support

Global Performance Studio workshops, performances, and discussions are supported by Third Rail Projects in conjunction with CEC ArtsLink's pilot group of international artists and curators in residency in St. Petersburg, a new program which fosters collaboration with local artists. Learn more about CEC ArtsLink’s programs.

Media

Documentary & Performance Footage

Streaming on Vimeo (Rent $2.99 / Buy $9.99)

Performance Excerpt | Opening Sequence | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Book Reading Sequence | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Pillow Sequence | FREE

GPS Discussion at Museum of Russian Ethnography | March 15, 2016 | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Wallpaper Duet | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Piano Sequence | FREE

GPS

Global Performance Studio

GLOBAL PERFORMANCE STUDIO

A Program for Cultural Listening & Exchange + Process & Performance

The Global Performance Studio, led by Tom Pearson, is dedicated to creating work through collaboration, developing new site-specific and experiential performances, and speaking and engaging with communities around the world. GPS cultivates opportunities for Tom and members of the Third Rail Projects community to work with local artists and to foster diplomacy through shared practice, dialogue, and community building–all within a framework of cultural listening and peer-to-peer artist exchange. In addition, GPS seeks to create a network among the artists it works with to share resources, opportunities, residencies, and methodologies.