KJCC’s Artists in Residence for the 2024-2025 academic year are the theater company What Will the Neighbors Say? The Neighbors are joining the KJCC to continue developing a new experimental documentary theater play, "At the Barricades," which examines the international volunteers who traveled to Spain between 1936-1939 to fight against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Inspired by true stories of those who traveled to Spain in 1937 to join the anti-Facist forces as a framing, this research-based play explores the integrated Lincoln Battalion to unpack the nature of their resistance and solidarity. This unit fought alongside a range of foreign comrades in Spain - from Scots to Cubans to Filipinos - in an international crusade against authoritarianism. Unfortunately deeply prescient in our current moment, "At the Barricades" is a morally complex work that highlights the bravery of the foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, and asks today’s audiences what they would be willing to sacrifice for the freedom of others - and themselves.

As Artists in Residence at KJCC for the 2024-2025 academic year, the Neighbors will continue researching and workshopping “At the Barricades” with members of the NYU community, with work-in-progress sharings throughout the year. At its conclusion, a full reading of the show will be presented at KJCC ahead of the Off-Broadway world premiere of the piece in late Spring/early Summer 2025.

What Will the Neighbors Say? is a 501(c)(3) documentary theater company that provokes questions through untold stories. Founded by a collaborative cohort of international artists, the Neighbors present overlooked social, cultural and historical narratives that challenge the audience to reflect on the current moment. Through a combination of source-based experimental plays, arts education programming and dynamic community gatherings, the troupe encourages rowdy and rigorous debate at the theater and throughout the Neighborhood.

Since its inception, the company has premiered 12 original plays in 6 cities in 4 countries on 2 continents, and co-presented a further 24 new works. Over the course of these projects, the Neighbors have created jobs for over 250 artists - 75% of them non cis-male identifying and 50% of them members of the global majority of immigrants. Through their robust community engagement department, the Neighbors have organized symposiums, staged annual benefits for organizations ranging from Planned Parenthood to PERIOD and hosted free public events, including their free flagship program, "storytime," a night of storytelling and live music. The Neighbors are members of the Adjunct Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College and were Adjuncts and the Company-in-Residence at CUNY Queens College for three years. Additionally, they have taught at the Wuhan Institute of Design & Science, Ohio State University and the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, amongst others. They also provide free arts education for students K-12 through their What Will the Kids Say? Initiative.

JAMES CLEMENTS

James (he/him) is a Scottish writer, actor, theatermaker and arts educator based between New York and Scotland. Clements has performed at venues including La Mama, BRIC, HERE and MITU580, and has written and directed projects at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, the 92nd Street Y, Culture Lab, Brooklyn Art Haus, The Colony Theatre (Miami), The Keegan Theatre (Washington, D.C) and the Stockwell Playhouse (London). His source-based experimental plays include "The Diana Tapes" (2016), "Four Sisters" (2017), "Beauty Freak" (2018), "MEDEA/BRITNEY" (2019), "Ellis Island" (2021), "The Aliens Make Thanksgiving Dinner" (2022), "TRACES" (2023) and "Brothers in Arms" (2023). Critics have described these plays as “searing” (New York Times), "magnifying" (TimeOut), "intricate" (BroadwayWorld), "compelling" (The Guardian), "affecting" (Playbill) and "intellectual" (Theatre is Easy), and they have been performed in cities across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. He is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College and NYU Tisch, and is Co-Artistic Director of What Will the Neighbours Say? Theatre Company and the Teaching Artist-in-Residence and Entrepreneurship Fellow with the NYU Production Lab. Previous residencies include The Cell, Culture Lab, Brooklyn Arts Council and BRIClab. His work has been recognised by the Queens Council for the Arts, DCLA, NYFA, A.R.T./NY, NYU and Creatives Rebuild New York, amongst others. He is represented for film and television by Swain-Thomas Agency, and recent credits include voicing a national commercial for the Super Bowl.

SAM HOOD ADRAIN

Sam (he/him) is an actor, director, educator and producer based in New York City. As a theatre artist, Hood Adrain has worked on stage and off at companies across the country including Trinity Repertory Company, MCC Theater, Chickenshed NYC, Infinity Theatre Company, Barrington Stage Company Dramatist Guild Foundation, Missoula Children's Theatre, Ithaca Shakespeare Company, HERE, IRT, MITU580, The Flea, Theatre Row, Strongbox Theater, and Audible to name a few. He is the recipient of the 2021 BroadwayWorld Award for Best Director of a Regional Production for his direction of "The 39 Steps" at Strongbox Theater. He is a published playwright whose works have been called "heartbreaking ....complex...and thought-provoking" (Theatre is Easy), have been presented in NYC at HERE, The Nuyorican Poéts Cafe, and IRT Theatre, toured to Providence and Toronto and produced as a radio play by the Cleveland Radio Players. He is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College and is thrilled to be in residence at NYU KJCC. Recent TV credits include "Search Party" and "Law & Order" as well as a print campaign for Santander Bank. Sam is proudly a Co-Artistic Director of WWTNS? BFA NYU: Tisch School of the Arts, Experimental Theatre Wing, repped by WSM Talent.

Sound Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula

A Virtual Artistic Residency Diptych
Isabel Do Diego & La Señorita Blanco
Curated by Daniel Valtueña
NYU King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center
2020-2022

NYU KJCC Artist-in-Residence 2021-2022 – La Señorita Blanco

If we stop and listen to the Iberian landscape, what does it sound like?

SONORIDAD.ES | Sound Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula is a Virtual Artistic Residency Diptych featuring contemporary Iberian artists Isabel do Diego and La Señorita Blanco. After Isabel Do Diego’s residency during the academic year 2020-2021, we are pleased to announce the arrival of La Señorita Blanco as the NYU KJCC Artist-in-Residence for the academic year 2021-2022.

The goal of this project is to stop and therefore listen to the Iberian context during (but not limited to) the COVID-19 pandemic. SONORIDAD.ES aims to collectively reflect on the cultural diversity of the Iberian worlds in a moment in which national territories blur due to the ubiquity of the virtual space. By following the artistic process of these two artists whose work draws on popular sounds and rural landscapes from experimental positions, we aim with these two residencies to create a virtual community which listens to their artistic projects and expands how we hear the Iberian Peninsula, and the sounds we associate with it.

During the academic year 2021-2022, SONORIDAD.ES is providing a space for La Señorita Blanco to work on her creative project Paisaje dentro de paisaje in dialogue with the KJCC virtual community. The KJCC has also commissioned an original piece from La Señorita Blanco.

CLOSING EVENT: VIRTUAL STUDIO VISIT AND DISCUSSION

Thursday, April 21, 2022, 2:30pm EDT / 8:30pm (Spain)
Screening and Q&A with La Señorita Blanco and Daniel Valtueña
Streaming at facebook.com/kjccnyu/live
In Spanish

La Señorita Blanco will close her year-long virtual residency at the KJCC with a conversation with Daniel Valtueña, curator of the Artist-in-Residence Program.

LLANURA

La Señorita Blanco has been working on an original piece called Llanura as part of her 2021-2022 residency at the KJCC. Llanura is inspired by the sound universe of La Serena, a desert-like biosphere in Extremadura (Spain). La Señorita Blanco has created a sound installation which combines video and sound with the textural elements of wool that evoke her roots in Extremadura.

The two videos which La Señorita Blanco has shared with the KJCC open a window into her creative process and give the audience a taste of an art installation that cannot be fully experienced virtually. In the near future, La Señorita Blanco plans to exhibit the installation so that visitors can fully experience the senses and sounds she pulls together in Llanura as an immersive environment.

The first video introduces the context La Señorita Blanco draws from for her piece: her family’s orchard in Castuera (Extremadura) whose landscape informs her understanding of image and sound. The second video is closer to the final installation as the acoustics constitute the sound landscape that will be part of the piece when shown in a physical space through different speakers carefully distributed in a room, while the video presents a slightly moving textured wall that resonates with the audio track.

Please listen to the piece using headphones or speakers with high volume in order to enjoy the piece as much as possible.

Credits: Llanura’s sound space has been created in collaboration with Fernando Monedero and recorded at Los Invernaderos’ studio in Madrid.

If you want to learn more about SONORIDAD.ES, watch the inaugural event hosted in October 2020 SONORIDAD.ES: Listening to the Iberian Landscape

To learn more about NYU KJCC Artist-in-Residence 2020-2021 Isabel Do Diego’s project, click here.

Listen to the SONORIDAD.ES Podcast for a conversation between artists Isabel Do Diego, La Señorita Blanco, and curator Daniel Valtueña in preparation of La Señorita Blanco’s artistic residency.

La Señorita Blanco is a performing arts creator whose work reflects on the incorporation of natural landscapes and traditional rituals into the stage. In 2016 she was recognized at the TNT International Theatre Festival for her creation #imnotrussian. She recently became one of the artists of reference in experimental performing arts in Spain with THE OTHERS/LANDSCAPE, presented in Centro de Danza Canal in 2018, as well as with SACRIFICIO, premiered in the frame of ZIP Theatre Festival at Teatro Español in 2019. She recently premiered the final version of the latter at Teatros del Canal in July 2021. During her residency, La Señorita Blanco will continue to work on her Paisaje dentro de paisaje.

Daniel Valtueña is an independent curator based in Madrid and New York City. He is the Artist Commissioning Program Manager at the Queens Council on the Arts and a doctoral candidate in the Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures Department at the CUNY Graduate Center. Daniel works toward making research in the humanities publicly engaged cultural projects as a Mellon Humanities Public Fellow and teaches romance languages and cultures within the CUNY system. His research focuses on Spanish-speaking cultures and performing arts. He holds a BA in Art History from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a MA in Liberal Arts from CCNY. In 2016 he was awarded the Madrid Region Young Talent Prize in Culture for his early arts management career.