New York
New York
La MaMa Presents I Love That For You
Arts and Entertainment
December 9, 2024
From: La MaMa Experimental Theatre ClubLa MaMa presents I Love That For You by Paul Budraitis at The Downstairs at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 66 E. 4th Street, NYC.
I Love That For You is an intimate solo performance that invites its audience to notice what an acceptance of the temporary nature of our lives might teach us about living more fully. Simple, direct, empathetic, the production offers a compelling shared experience that encourages a greater presence in our relationships and in our world. As with Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, at heart, I Love That For You is an honest and engaging community offering that hopes to help generate more life from the lives which we are already living. In this season of light, it is a celebration of the light within each of us.
PAUL BUDRAITIS is a director, performer, and generative artist born and raised in Queens, New York, and now based in Berlin. His original solo performance, I Love That For You, premiered at Acker Stadt Palast theater in Berlin in the fall of 2023 and will have its U.S. premiere at La MaMa E.T.C. in December 2024, followed by performances at On the Boards (Seattle) in January 2025. Paul was last seen at La MaMa in The Indigo Room, which he co-created with Timothy White Eagle (lead artist) and which was shown as part of Under the Radar 2023.
With the support of a Fulbright grant, Paul earned his MFA in theater directing from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy under the mentorship of visionary director Jonas Vaitkus. In Lithuania, he directed the Lithuanian-language premiere of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and Erik Ehn’s The Saint Plays (both at the State Youth Theater of Lithuania), as well as the world premiere of The Ferryman (Oskaras Korsunovas’ / Vilnius City Theater). He was nominated for Lithuania’s highest theater award, the St. Christopher Cross, for his direction of The Merchant of Venice, which he co-directed with Jonas Vaitkus.
In Seattle, Paul directed the world premieres of Elizabeth Heffron's Bo-Nita (Seattle Repertory Theatre) and Kristen Kosmas’ The People’s Republic of Valerie (On the Boards), as well as the Northwest premieres of Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses (New Century Theatre Company) and David Greig’s The Events (Intiman Theatre).
His most recent solo work, Blue is the light that doesn’t reach us, premiered at Acker Stadt Palast (Berlin) in September of this year.
EVAN C. ANDERSON is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer and musician who created the lighting, sound, and original music for I Love That For You. He is an Associate Artist at The Wooster Group, where he recently designed lights for the Group’s new adaptation of Richard Foreman’s Symphony of Rats. Evan’s other work includes the premiere of Paul Budraitis’ Blue is the light that doesn’t reach us (Acker Stadt Palast - Berlin),
Jekyll & Hyde, The Winter’s Tale, It’s A Wonderful Life (Hartford Stage Co.); Pipe Dream (Berkshire Theatre Group); John Early: Now More Than Ever (HBO).
Evan hails from the Pacific Northwest, where he honed a technically and emotionally rigorous approach to music and light. His work has been seen across the United States and internationally in Europe and Asia.
He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.
SIMONA BIEKŠAIT? is a Berlin-based visual artist, art director and spatial designer, working at the intersection of contemporary theatre, film and digital media. Her works have been shown at BAM, Berliner Ensemble, and a number of EU National stages.
Review:
The Dance Enthusiast
“The Search for a Chiliastic Moment: Paul Budraitis in ‘I Love That for You’ in Berlin”
Paul Budraitis is a performance genius.
Paul’s greatest ability is to fill the emptiest spaces and make them fully alive - full of people, sounds, stories, feelings, conversations with others, thoughts, emotions, psychologies of desires. As the best of actors, he does this simply: with just his words, his stories, and a few simple gestures of choreographed moments is all it takes to take us on journeys we never have experienced before.
The premiere of his new solo performance in Berlin last month, was just that: a revelatory, almost religious (let's make that in the personal soul-searching sense) experience. The catharsis of the shared experience the audience receives from Paul’s performance is as intense and powerful as a theater piece gets. It is inventive, and its effect on the audience was clear - from wiping away tears to, after the performance ended, touched deeply to the point that for minutes there was silence: some could not speak - could not get up and leave- folks just sat there in their seats, some for quite a long time, after the show had ended.
Date:
Thursday, December 12, 2024 - Sunday, December 22, 2024
Time:
December 12, 13, 14, 19, 20 and 21, 2024 at 7:00pm
December 15 and 22, 2024 at 2:00pm
Location:
The Downstairs at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club,
66 E. 4th Street,
New York, NY 10003.
Tickets:
$30 for adults, $25 for students/seniors, and can be purchased online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1212083, by phone at 646-430-5374, or in person at the La MaMa Box Office. Additionally, the first 10 tickets of each show are $10 (limit of 2 per person).