The author and the performer Inua Elams born in Nigeria, based in England and performing internationally. “As an immigrant, I feel more comfortable when I’m not at home,” he said during a recent conversation. “Going to another country and seeing if my ideas can still stand the test of art is what I like to do.”
Elams will take that test in early January at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theater when he performs “Search team,” in which the audience curates an evening of his poetry by shouting words that Elams enters into the search bar of an iPad already loaded with his works.
‘Search Party’ is among the works included in this year’s Under the Radar Festival, a celebration of experimental performance. Having lost its longtime venue at the Public Theater due to Public budget cuts, the 2024 festival will spread 17 full productions (as well as symposia and a disco) across more than a dozen partner venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Of these full productions, approximately half of them are created by artists based outside the United States. In a year when the festival, with its budget in half, had to scramble for new partners and new venues, and considering the rising costs and difficulties of visas for artists, a list of local artists might have been easier. But that would undermine the ethos of Under the Radar, which has always connected international artists with locals in pursuit of what festival founder Mark Russell refers to as “the global center of the city”.
“I want our artists to see these other artists from around the world and understand that they are all part of a larger community,” Russell said.
Bringing an international show to New York is a process that must begin many months (or ideally, years) in advance. The work must be sought after and deemed suitable for an American, English-speaking audience and not so massive – in terms of cast size and production design – that the cost of bringing it in becomes prohibitive.
Within these criteria, Ellams’ Search Party is particularly attractive. It only requires Elams, who was already granted a visa as a person of exceptional ability, and his iPad. (“Of all the shows I’ve done around the world, this is probably the most environmentally friendly,” Elams said.) The two other shows Lincoln Center has presented, “Queens of Sheba” and Pan Pan’s “The First Bad Man”, they also travel without scenery, a deliberate simplicity.
“International artists are getting smarter,” said Jon Nakagawa, Lincoln Center’s director of contemporary programming.
Funding for these performances must be secured, usually a partnership between the sponsoring theater and the international artists, who can apply in their home countries for government and private grants, which can be used to cover the cost of air tickets. and the hotel. Visas must be obtained, usually either a P-3, for an artist or entertainer traveling with a work of unique cultural significance, or an O-1 visa, like the one Elams is traveling with, which is granted to people of exceptional ability. Each type requires state approval and an in-person interview, usually in the applicant’s home country. As wait times for visa approvals have increased exponentially, many arts institutions are now partnering with law firms to expedite the process.
Even so, there can be surprises, usually not welcome ones. The Japan Society, which has long imported experimental Japanese performances, ran into a problem “Hamlet/Toilet,” a pop culture-inspired absurdist play by playwright and director Yu Murai and Theater Company Kaimaku Pennant Race. As the play is partly based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Yoko Shioya, the artistic director of the Japan Society, had to argue what made this play culturally unique in Japan. The consular officer was asked to provide further evidence, she focused on the production toilets. (Murai is also the author of “Romeo & Toilet.” Toilets are a recurring motif.)
“Everyone who goes to Japan for the first time, their jaws drop at the toilets,” he said. The clerk approved the request.
Other productions had to rely on US senators and foreign officials to arrange timely appointments at US embassies. When none can be found, artists are transferred to other countries whose embassies are less backward. This year, the vice mayor of Milan helped arrange a speed date for a member of the Italian performance troupe Motus, who will play “I envy the fate of the nightingale” adapted from “The Oresteia,” in La MaMa. Cinema with Sister Sylvester’s “The Eagle and the Tortoise” a play on the history of aerial projection to play in the BRIC, was not so lucky. This colleague could not secure an appointment until 2025 and will not participate in the production.
“It’s getting more and more risky and more and more expensive,” Denise Greber, La MaMa’s director of artistic operations, said of importing international works. He noted that the cost of visa applications has almost doubled in recent years. And he had just received word that the cost of a form was to rise further. “But we’re still trying. It is important for people in New York to have the opportunity to see work from other countries. It is very important to have a cultural exchange.”
It’s not just New Yorkers who benefit. Under the Radar, like other January events such as Exponential Festival, Prototype and The Fire This Time, is in part a showcase to coincide with the annual conference of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. These professionals can reward artists with lucrative tour contracts, and artists can benefit in other ways as well.
Elams looked forward to conversations between local and international artists, perpetuating his belief in what he called “the global village.”
“New York is the concrete jungle of the world,” he said. “That’s where a lot of the world’s conversations start.”