New York Sun Review of Regurgitophagy and Generation Jeans

http://www.nysun.com/article/69966

Under the Radar opens

Go to Church. Young Jean Lee gets you to Heaven

For more years than I want to really admit I went to church every sunday, attended Catholic school and for a few years even spent some time at a religo' summer camp- where in the middle of a really competitive pre teen bocci ball game - a bell would ring and we would have to freeze, get the prayer hands on and say a little chant to the angels. Now a recovering Catholic I am haunted by guilt and after saying or doing something particularly ungodly I find myself begging forgiveness by mumbling to the air. " Sorry Jesus".

Starting in darkness and ending with a bright light YJL's Church spins you through the tenor, the vertigo inspiring ecstasy and the deep joy and sickness of the preacher and his followers.

Last fall I took in YJL's Songs of Dragons Flying to Heaven, which married sadistic / (slap)stick, a dissection of Korean American identity and the drone love perpetuated by over educated white kids. Anyone who can make me love Mariah Carey + mime in one scene deserves a close second look.

In Church I was unsettled by the glare from the house lights, left on purposefully I can only assume so one could not hide from themselves. A trio clad in calico frocks gives ripe testimony and a preacher names Jose spurt monologues that elicit memories of guitar mass compassion and slowly evolve into a fire and brimstone rant.

I was smitten by its simplicity, enamored by its raw honesty, tricked by its tricks, and revived by the choral surprises. In the end this lapsed devotee was saved by YJL- In her I have found a new religion.

Kristan Kennedy, PICA

Bang a Gong - Get it on!

Attending a Festival in a city you only dip your foot in once and a while is a feat - your jet lagged and subway weary- and although you know you might just see everyone in your field in the lobby of the Public Theater - that might not be a good thing at this moment. Still as the day goes on and the calls and emails and text messages pour in from your colleagues around the world- and every one of them says "see you tonight"- you feel a bit restored and head out. Everything seems to become part of the show and as you get closer to the Public. From about ten blocks away you can start identifying your people the clear signifiers are the UTR tote bags, the head to toe black clad ensembles and then their are the haircuts. Have I mentioned that it is 60 degrees today. As you head to the lobby- more and more and more and more and more people start filtering in and the noise rises from chatter to clang. Wait- that is UTR's Artistic Director, Mark Russell standing on the coffee bar with a gong, he is ringing in the first night Everyone has filed into their shows, and now we are back in the lobby - champagne is poured and you start seeing the faces from the catalog come alive, there is Mike Daisey who will soon tell us how theater has failed us, there is Pavol Liska and his Nature Theater of Oklahoma entourage, Reggie Watts, Young Jean Lee- then there are the art world mavericks - I spied Rose Lee Goldberg, Chuck Helm, David Henry , Olga Garay and many more. We are here - together to have our minds bent, to make connections, to fall in love with a moment on stage (or off).

Kristan Kennedy, Visual Art Program Director, PICA