NOTHING DOING

The avant-garde experimentalist performer Alex Tatarsky's previous work has been called "thrilling and frenetic” by The New York Times and “appealingly unhinged” by Vulture. A classically trained clown, Tatarsky's obsessions with dada glossolalia, beefy classical literature and messy entropy often manifest as riotous live freak-out sessions where the audience is implicated, tagged and released. As part of Under the Radar’s inaugural commissioning cohort, Tatarsky offers a generous peek inside their half-cracked skull, revealing a roiling cauldron laden with lofty concept and earthy funk. Performing nightly experiments to create NOTHING DOING over the course of the festival, they invite audiences into their turmoil for a conjuring of new material both literary and fleshy, possession as property ownership and as spirit channeling, unstable fictions from the self to the nation-state, baloney as nonsense and as lunch meat, plus all kinds of holistic thinking about plot holes, potholes, assholes, black holes, holes in your pocket, wormholes, glory holes, the holy and the profane.

This work addresses adult concerns and may contain comic nudity and moments of shock. The artist invites audiences of all ages and theater experiences who are willing to play along.  Please note that this show will be performed in a studio that is not fully ADA compliant.

Approximately 60 minutes.

“The English language is inadequate to describe their brilliance” - New York Theatre Guide on Alex Tartarsky

A “hilarious, finely tuned absurdist” (Theatre Jones), Alex Tatarsky (they/them) makes performances in the uncomfortable zone between comedy, dance-theater, performance art and delusional streetside rant, often breaking the fourth wall and embracing humor to reveal vulnerability and humanity. Sometimes there are songs. Their live performances actively play with perceptions of narrative language and strive to be highly responsive to venue and audience. Their original solo performance pieces Americana Psychobabble, Untitled Freakout, Buttplug Gnome, Dirt Trip and Sad Boys in Harpy Land have been presented across NYC at La MaMa, MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, The Glove, The Brick, Abrons Arts Center, Gibney Dance and Playwrights Horizons. Most recently, their improvisational project MATERIAL was presented as part of the Whitney Biennial. As a curatorial fellow at the Poetry Project, Tatarsky organized a series on the poetics of rot. They are honored to have been Garden Gnome In Residence at numerous public parks including Glen Foerd and the South Philly Meadows. Along with collaborator Ming Lin, Tatarsky is one half of the roving poetic research unit Shanzhai Lyric and its fictional office offshoot the Canal Street Research Association. Personal interests include bootlegs, hellscapes and compost.

Created and Performed by Alex Tatarsky
Music by Shane Riley
Scenic, Props and Costume Design by Andreea Mincic

Co-Commissioned by UNDER THE RADAR and Playwrights Horizons.

Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk, from MATERIAL commissioned by the Whitney Museum.