Ludic Proxy

April 1–May 2, 2015
USAWorld Premiere
“Ambitious. Beautifully conceived. Ms. Ogawa has big ideas, both in terms of the writing and how to stage it. The play shows how the simulated can adjoin, infuse or ultimately replace the actual.” –The New York Times
Meet the Artists

Aya Ogawa (Writer, Performer, Director, Translator) is Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based. Thier work centers women/non-binary perspectives and utilizes the stage as a space for exploring cultural identity and the immigrant experience. They wrote, directed, and performed in The Nosebleed that was at Japan Society (with The Chocolate Factory Theater) in 2021, Lincoln Center Theater in 2022, and upcoming at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in 2023. Resident playwright, New Dramatists; President’s Award in Performing Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Chris Henry Off Broadway Servant of Two Masters (Yale Rep), Summer: Bloo The Blue Room (Williamstown); TV: "All My Children Christmas (NYTW); Regional: Romeo and Juliet, Andrew Jackson, On the Razzle, Paradise Now, : Carnegie Mellon, MFA: Yale School of Drama.

Ayesha Jordan is a multidisciplinary performer and creator based between Oslo, Norway and New York City.She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree from the Norwegian Theatre Academy (Spring 2022) Her current research has been based in applied permaculture studies, regenerative community/ecosystem formation and adaptation, event curation, and how these can be explored through performance, or how they can inform performance methodologies.

She and her collaborators, Justin Hicks and David Sainte, recently presented the work Shasta Geaux Pop: Blended Therapy, November 2020,as part of The Shed’s Up Close and as a commissioned artist for their Open Call. Shasta Geaux Pop has been presented on The High Line (NYC) with collaborator Charlotte Brathwaite . Shasta Geaux Popwas also presented at Under the Radar Festival 2018, Right About Now Festival in Amsterdam, NL, and in Orange County, CA for the Off Center Festival at the Segerstrom Arts Center. In 2017 we were also at the La Jolla Playhouse's Without Walls (WOW) Festival, the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Under the Radar Festival (Jan 2017) and at The Bushwick Starr (Sept 2016). 

Some of her acting credits include the Broadway production of Eclipsed at The John Golden Theatre and returned to her role of "The Girl" at The Curran in San Francisco, March 2017. Jordan also performed in both Failure Sandwich and Ludic Proxy, by Aya Ogawa, Home by Geoff Sobelle, This is now, and now, and now, Stairway to Stardom and Harold I Hate You, by cakeface (HERE, Ars Nova & Triskelion), and Platonov: Or the Disinherited by Jay Scheib (The Kitchen). In 2015 she created Come See My Double D's at JACK (NY). She has performed abroad in Amsterdam, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Taiwan, Australia, and Japan. Other projects created and developed by Ayesha include Enter & Exit: Family Reunion, Enter & Exit: Playing House, Inter 1-to-1, and video project Living Room Dance Breaks.

Jackie Katzman is an actress and writer, known for THE STRANGENESS YOU FEEL (2017), ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD AND FAMILY TREE (2003). She has been married to Bernard White since November 2012.


Yuki Kawahisa is a native of Japan, now based in New York, works internationally as a performing artist. New York Times called her star performance in Andrew Ondrejcak's FEAST (Public Theatre) "dynamite", Temporary Distortion's Amerikana Kamikaze (PS122. Creteil Maison des Arts, Paris, VIA Festival International, Maubeuge, Brisbane Power House.) "simple and brutal as a knife to the throat." Other credits include Robert Wilson's KOOL Dancing in my Mind (Guggenheim Museum, Baryshnikov Ants Center Akademie der Kunste, Berlin), Richard Foreman's Bridge Project.

Megan Stern (Actor) is an actor, creator, and big fan of PlayCo. Her work has been seen at The Public Theater, Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Walkerspace, BAX, and HERE Arts Center, as well as the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and the Kennedy Center. Her award-winning solo show “Upline: It’s Not a Show, It’s an Opportunity” will have its New York debut in 2023.

Saori Tsukada is a performance artist whose collaborators includes composer/theatre artist John Moran, choreographer Yoshiko Chuma, Catherine Galasso, video artist Katja Loher, playwright/director Aya Ogawa, theater company Hoi Polloi, Witness Relocation, composer Joe Diebes. Aside from her favorite NY downtown venues, she's toured London, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Düsseldorf, Warsaw, Skopje, Bucharest, Istanbul and more. Tsukada was nominated for Best Actress at Dublin Fringe Festival. She is currently developing a silent film performance work called Club Diamond, with filmmaker/theater artist Nikki Appino.

Jian Jung (Set and Costume Designer) from Korea.

Jung’s design has been acclaimed as ‘innovative’, ‘inventive’, ‘genius’ and ‘spectacular’ by major press such as The New York Times. While her productions range from classic masterpieces to new plays, her design always focuses on innovative delivery of the piece, provoking audience’s expectations.

Jung recently designed The Nosebleed by Aya Ogawa at Lincoln Center Claire Tow Theater and Woolly Mammoth Theater (DC), Ocean Filibuster at A.R.T (Boston), Kiss at Wilma Theater (Philadelphia), and Bodies They Ritual at the Wild Project with Clubbed Thumb. Other theater work has been in many NYC theaters including CSC, ART/NY, HERE, The Kitchen, Bushwick Starr, Abrons, Theater Row, Soho Rep, Target Margin, and Mabou Mines, Her international work has been in Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Korea. Her opera and musical work have been in Bard Fisher Center, Juilliard School, Wolf Trap Opera (VA), Long Beach Opera (CA), and Huntington Theater (Boston).

Jung received Edith Lutyens & Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Award for Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Proxy, and was nominated for Henry Hewes Design Award for Haruna Lee’s Suicide Forest. Her design in Venezuela was presented in Prague Quadrennial 2015.

Jung received an MFA in Theater Design from NYU, and an MFA in Environmental Design from Ewha Women’s University in Korea, where she was born and grew up. She teaches at NYU Tisch Design and Sarah Lawrence College.

Loren Shaw is a two time Drama Desk Nominated Costume Designer, based in New York City. She is one of the founding members and resident costume designer for Exit, Pursued by a Bear, a socially immersive New York theater collective. Loren's background in fine art and dance has inspired her work, which is known for being bold, imaginative and sometimes truly outrageous. Her primary focus is on new plays and musicals for off-Broadway and regional theaters across the country; however, her career has recently expanded to the world of dance and opera.

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (Lighting Designer) is an award-winning theatrical designer in lighting and projection for theatre, dance, opera, musicals, music performances, installation, immersive experiences and digital productions. Her designs have been seen across US cities and internationally. As a designer, Jeanette aims to create a visual environment that is organically integrated into the landscape and language of the production. NY Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive”. With PlayCo, Jeanette designed for Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Proxy.

Michael Kiley is a sound designer, composer, performer and educator working in theatre and dance. He has recently collaborated with Faye Driscoll Group, luciana achugar, The Acting Company, Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Lars Jan, Magda and Chelsea, and Dan Rothenberg. He makes his own work under The Mural and The Mint, which of late has manifested in compositions as iPhone apps that use GPS to trigger sound based on your location.

Anne Erbe is an independent producer and dramaturg based in Brooklyn and New Haven. She is a former Artistic Producer at The Foundry Theatre, where she currently sits on the Board of Directors. With The Foundry, she collaborated on the development and/or production of new works by Carl Hancock Rux, Alice Tuan, Kirk Lynn, Annie Dorsen, Aaron Landsman, and Tarell McCraney, among others. As a dramaturg, she maintains long-term collaborations with director Lear deBessonet, director Charlotte Brathwaite, and playwright/director Aya Ogawa. Anne graduated from David Geffen School of Drama with an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

PlayCo commissioned Aya for a new original play after producing her brilliant translation of Toshiki Okada’s play ENJOY in 2010. She has devised a beautiful, haunting and magical piece that pulls you into uncharted territory where memory, fantasy and virtual reality swirl together. Three intertwining stories, from the past, present and future, tap into our deepest impressions of living in tumultuous times as nature and technology evolve out of our control, and explore the eternal drive for human connection.

“Ludic Proxy is surely the very sort of downtown theater that should be supported by bold companies and even bolder audiences who want to encourage new voices.
–Huffington Post

An acute and aesthetically arresting experience of life… Ludic Proxy is a lot of things: it is a roller coaster of emotion, it is bizarre, it is melancholic, and it doesn’t entire coalesce in one evening, but it is also not just a show that you can read about and know. You’ve gotta go.
–Theatre Is Easy

Ogawa’s writing is enchanting and poetic, deeply in tune with the spirit of many different cultures.
–New York Theatre Review

Related Productions

Featuring

Christopher Henry Ayesha Jordan Jackie Katzman Yuki Kawahisa Megan Stern Saori Tsukada

Set Design

Jian Jung

Costume Design

Loren Shaw

Lights & Video

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew

Sound Design

Michael Kiley

Dramaturg

Anne Erbe

Production Stage Manager

Marjorie Ann Wood

Production Management

Anchor Watch

Venue

Walkerspace 46 Walker Street New York, NY