Balls

June 14–24, 2019
Presented by CultureHub in association with La MaMa and the Great Jones Repertory Company

On a foggy night in a cemetery, the waves have washed away the land, claiming all the graves except for two. From these graves, two unlikely companions' voices emerge amidst the sounds of the sea, a military march, and a player piano. They battle with their pasts and contend with what looms just beyond.

Paul Foster’s Balls premiered at Café La MaMa, then at 82 2nd Avenue, on November 3, 1964, and went on to Caffe Cino, 31 Cornelia Street, later that month. The action of the original production consisted of two ping pong balls floating and swaying like pendulums in and out of a spotlight.

Re-imagined in 2019 by CultureHub and the Great Jones Repertory Company, audience members are laid to rest in their own geodesic dome as an audio-visual installation washes over them.

Balls is part of an initiative between CultureHub and La MaMa to explore works from the La MaMa Archive and re-discover them in a new media context.

Paul Foster (playwright) is a founding member and the first president of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. He is a recipient of the Guggenheim, Rockefeller, NEA, NY Arts Council, British Arts Council, Theater Heute, Irish Universitis Awards. He has written 22 plays, 6 television scripts, and 5 films. There are nine editions in print of his works by 6 publishers in as many languages. He has been, and continues to be, performed in regionals, Broadway, the West End and just about every major theater on both sides of the Atlantic.

Explore reviews of the original production of Balls here.

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