PRESS RELEASE: KHARMFUL CHARMS OF DANIIL KHARMS

When you come to see us, forget everything that you have been used to seeing in all other theatres. Perhaps much of it will seem absurd. – OBERIU, 1928

Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms returns! Ladies and gentlemen, don your moustaches and throw on your dandy garb for an evening of not-so-innocent pranks and antics, vignettes and dreamlike incidents, as the St. Petersburg eccentric Daniil Kharms (re)meets ARTEL’s unique brand of clownpunk. ARTEL is reviving and revamping its acclaimed production of the Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms. Experience why audiences are still talking about this show 4 years later! Kharmful Charms is a Russian absurdist comedy at its most illogical, violent, sad and hilarious.

For those new to Mr. Daniil Kharms (1905-1942), here’s a bit of info to quicken your inquisitiveness:

Kharms was an early Soviet-era surrealist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist, a post-modern artist before the term had any cultural currency. He exploded the conception of theatre as a literary representative, defining the rules of theatre not as dramatic but scenic. By the late 1920s, his anti-rational verse, nonlinear theatrical performances, and public displays of iniquitous and irrational behavior earned Kharms – who always dressed like an English dandy with a calabash pipe – the reputation of being a talented but highly eccentric “fool” or “crazy-man” in Leningrad cultural circles.

With his own circle of friends, Kharms created OBERIU (the Association of Real Art) which embraced a creativity that demanded “the transformation of the forms of private life into a fact of art”. OBERIU’s aesthetic centered on a belief in the autonomy of art from the real world’s rules and logic as well as the intrinsic meaning to be found in objects and words outside of their practical function. Derided as literary hooligans in the increasingly hostile atmosphere of 1930s Stalinism, OBERIU survived as a collective for only a few short years, but are considered “the last of the Soviet avant-garde”.

Exiled briefly during the “relatively vegetarian” days of the early 1930s, ten years later Kharms was imprisoned in the psychiatric ward of Leningrad Prison No. 1. He died in his cell – most likely from starvation – in February 1942 as the Nazi blockade of Leningrad was well underway. While much of his and OBERIU’s work remained unpublished in the Soviet Union, their inspiration on contemporary hooligans continues apace. In her 2012 trial closing statements, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova claimed Pussy Riot as OBERIU’s disciples and heirs. ARTEL also ransacks this storehouse, particularly Kharms’s creative practice of sluchai (chance event), to propose its own poetics of alogical perspectives formulated for a new decade of theatrical hooliganism.
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What: Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms by ARTEL, as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival

Where: Schkapf 6567 Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038. www.schkapf.com

When: June, 2014
6/7, 6/8, 6/15, 6/19, 6/21, 6/22, 6/26, 6/28 @8:30pm & 6/13 @ 10pm

Dress Code: Dress to impress while enjoying yourself at a night of irrepressible theatre. Kharmsian time zone is circa 1920s/1930s. Wearing a moustache is highly recommended. Moustachioed persons will be rewarded with a cup of soup. Ladies with moustaches will be doubly rewarded.

Tickets: $20. PURCHASE in ADVANCE, previous productions by ARTEL SOLD-OUT quickly.
Provocative material: illogical, violent, sad and hilarious. www.arteltheatre.com

Run Time: 80 minutes
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Critical Reviews of Kharmful Charms and ARTEL’s work:

“ARTEL’s observations are particularly astute … leav[ing] the audience bewildered, but provid[ing] oases of self-recognition, consistent bouts of hearty laughter, and a genuine sense of payoff in the end. The collective doled out generous servings of comedy with a smirk and a recipe all of their own … proving the mix to be one part Animaniacs, one part Monty Python, and a dash of Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon. Nothing happens. Violence happens. The unexpected happens. Regardless of what’s happening, it’s funny.” – K. Primeau, LA Theater Review

“Russian theater as deconstructed by local company ARTEL is one of the most visceral, dangerous acts we’ve witnessed from the audience since the days of Jesus Lizard, redefining the boundaries of how
live theater can engage us.” – Hadley Tomicki, LA TACO

“Vivaciously interactive dance-cabaret… Much of it is just gorgeous: a 17-person ensemble crooning chorales of traditional Russian folk songs that send the roller-coaster wagon from a muddy pit of slapstick into ethereal heights… This is one company, and a performance, that could rise to breathtaking heights.” – Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly

“Like a trusted lover, ARTEL savors blindfolding us, keeping us waiting, wanting, guessing…our senses wide awake, ready to engage. Fearless, avant-garde and determined to make us active participants in the creative process, ARTEL’s shows are disorienting and exhilarating, creat[ing] a symphony of spectacle and shock, always journeying on roads less traveled, stretching their wild imagination muscles to suggest, rather than dictate…” – Frankie Colmane, LATaco.com

“Macabre symbolism and high-wire emotion… ARTEL’s style is that of a train in motion, challenging us to jump aboard and discern from the views that unfold, rather than stopping at a station, opening the doors and announcing where we might be headed… This is a work that shouldn’t be missed.” – Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly

“I saw Saturday’s show with some friends, two of them from Ukraine. We were all amazed! Such high quality, and such commitment, for a single weekend of performances! The collective apartment piece was absolute genius.” – Alisa Slaughter, Audience for Workshop Production of Kharmful Charms (April 2009)

“The performance was awesome! It was completely different from their last performance, and I loved the stylistic aspect of the show. Very well executed, great ensemble work!!” – Taca N., Audience for Workshop Production of Kharmful Charms (April 2009)
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ENSEMBLE: Mauricio Gomez Amoretti, Nadja Bobyleva, Bryan Brown, James Cowan, Cassandra Gonzales, Lisa Labella, Kestrel Leah, Betsy Moore, Tim Ottman, Joaquin Rios, Alec Tomkiw, Roksana Zeinapur, Alex Suha (understudy for Tim Ottman)

COLLABORATORS: Devised by Ensemble, Director: Olya Petrakova, Assistant Director: Jocelynn Suarez, Fight Direction: Andrew Amani, Music: Jef Bek & Ensemble, Songs: Jef Bek & Ensemble, Set & Props: Vincent Richards & Ensemble, Costumes: Elena Vannoni, Olya Petrakova & Ensemble, Lights: Ronnie Clark, Musicians: Jef Bek, Yuri Fedorko, T.J. Troy, Stage Manager: Rachel Landis, Board Operator: Jared Fladeland, Graphic Art: Ivan Gulkov, Producer: Schkapf

ARTEL:
Founded in 2006, and led by Olya Petrakova and Bryan Brown, ARTEL is a theatre laboratory for continuous research into sluchai and serious fun. The Russian word artelmeans ‘labor collective’ while ARTEL serves as an acronym for the American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory. These multiple meanings highlight a line of research that is central to our aim: the development of the individual potential within the collective environment. Through specific engagement with the histories and cultures of Russia and America, we aim to surprise, delight, shock, unnerve, inspire, & transform.

Schkapf:
Schkapf is an incubation house for curious performances & other experiences. The word “schkapf” is a nonsense word but it bears a close similarity to the Russian “schkap” which could be translated as a wardrobe, armoire, cupboard, or any variation on this theme. Located inside a former automotive garage and a machine shop for rifles, it is always transforming, evolving, changing, all the while remaining a gestation platform for new performance installations, a fairground for the new day polymaths, and a watering hole for poets and jesters.

Schkapf’s particular love is for what would be best described as non-dramatic theatre, crafted experiences that mix and fuse archaic forms of clown, bouffon, magic, puppetry into various styles of presentation such as cabaret, farce, vaudeville, carnival, street parade, immersive theatre, a wedding or a wake.

Some of the work promoted by Schkapf: Inside, The Collector, Red Bastard, Butt Kapinski, Absinthe, Opium and Magic: Shanghai 1920, The Legendary Times of Bulgakov, A Very Grand Guignol Christmas, the first Los Angeles Physical Theatre Arts Festival (featuring A Grand Guignol Children’s Show (not for children), Limoncello, and Big Bang and other small things), Variation #50, various local, national and international master classes, works-in-progress, and panel discussions.