Upon discovering an abandoned theatre in the small settlement of Death Valley Junction, Marta Becket, a broadway dancer, choreographer and visual artist, changed her life completely, left her “conventional career” as a touring artist and moved to the desert to open up the Amargosa Opera House, where she lived and worked until her death in 2017. In Death Valley Junction, Lulu Obermayer celebrates Marta Becket’s legacy as an example of radical artistic practice and sheds light on endurance, longevity and sustainability in the performing arts. By interweaving the biography of Marta Becket with her own the performance wonders how against all odds art and life intertwine.
LULU OBERMAYER works with performance, opera, theater and choreography. After studying acting in New York City, she graduated with a BA (hons) in Contemporary Performance Practice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2014) and an MA Solo Dance and Authorship at HZT. Since then, she has developed a solo trilogy on female lead roles in the operas of Giacomo Puccini and the ensemble piece L’Opra Fatale on female murderers in opera.
CONCEPT, PERFORMANCE Lulu Obermayer LIGHT Hanna Kritten Tangsoo SOUND Matilde Sambo DRAMATURGICAL SUPPORT Maciej Sado TEXT SUPPORT Max Kopelowicz ASTROLOGICAL SUPPORT Aliza Kelly
A production by Lulu Obermayer in co-production with SOPHIENSÆLE. With the friendly support of MOtiVE Brooklyn. The 31st Tanztage Berlin is a production of SOPHIENSÆLE. Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe. With the friendly support of Tanzfabrik Berlin e. V. and Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte. Media partners: Siegessäule, tipBerlin, taz and Berlin Art Link.