Immense Joy / H.o.t.S

2019 Fay Chandler Creativity Grant

Performers Natalia deCampos and Fabio Tavares in Immense Joy/Hots. Credit: Joshua Higgason.

Clarice Lispector’s brutal and tender exploration of what it truly means to be poor

About

Senior Lecturer Anna Kohler’s latest devised work Immense Joy/ H.o.t.S is based on the writing of Clarice Lispector, a revolutionary Brazilian author (1920-67). The project began with a primary workshop during the summer of 2021 and a work in progress performance at MIT in September, with a full premiere at The Tank in New York September 9-19, 2022. 

Lispector is a legend among Brazilian writers for her innovative and truly provocative style and content. Apart from being infected by the profound and insane humor of her writing, the piece will attempt a deep vision into what it truly means to be poor—not “middle-class” or “Bohemian” poor—but in a desperate situation without any possibilities. Immense Joy/H.o.t.S attempts, with the help of the passionate writing of Lispector, to hold up a mirror to us all.

Schedule

Past Events

Immense Joy/H.o.t.S
September 9-19, 2022
The Tank NYC
312 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018

Immense Joy/H.o.t.S
Work-in-Progress Presentation
September 10, 2021 / 7:30pm
MIT Building W97-110
345 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA

Collaborators

Natalia de Campos is a multidisciplinary artist from São Paulo, Brazil working in performance, video, sound, writing, interactive media, and street interactions, and as a theater director, producer, researcher, educator, and translator. de Campos worked in São Paulo for ten years before moving to New York in 1998.

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immense-joy-hots-work-in-progress-showing-tickets-168833586803


Since the 1970s, John Hagan has performed in works by Robert Ashley, Richard Foreman, Samuel Beckett, Steve Buscemi, DANCENOISE, Mimi Goese, Eugene Ionesco, John Jesurun, Christina Masciotti, Stuart Sherman and Via Theater, among others. He can be seen as the patient taking an hallucinogenic journey in Aaron Siegel’s video opera, “Tea Before You Go”(available on Vimeo and YouTube). He also holds a PhD in Film Studies from NYU, and has written multiple articles and curated numerous art shows.


Senior Lecturer in (“theater” or “Acting/Directing”) at MIT, Anna Kohler is a stage and screen author, actor, and director.

Biography: MIT Music and Theater Arts
Website: annakohler.com


Fabio Tavares is a queer Brazilian artist who’s been obsessed with the human body in action from a very young age. He started off as a competitive gymnast before running away to join the circus at the age of 15 where he got his first professional job as an acrobat. He hasn’t stopped working since. Tavares moved to NYC in 1999 where he’s been dancing, flying, falling, crashing, studying, learning, creating, teaching, and making noise since.

Biography: Movement Research
Website: healthandpoise.com
Social: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Credits

Immense Joy/Hots features Natalia deCampos (an artist and activist from Brazil and long-time collaborator with the Living Theater in New York), Fabio Tavares (a Brazilian performer and dancer who, apart from his own work, is also a company member of the world famous Streb Dance Company), and experimental theater legend John Hagan.

Immense Joy/Hots is presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, DeFlorez Fund for Humor, and SHASS Dean’s Fund.