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Brian Lobel

BRIAN LOBEL

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Brian Lobel creates performances about bodies and how they are watched, policed, poked, prodded, and loved by others. the New York-born, London-based Lobel has shown work internationally in a range of contexts, from medical schools to galleries, cabarets to museums, marketplaces to forests, blending provocative humour with insightful reflection. For more information visit www.blobelwarming.com

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below is a list of Brian Lobel's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Appreciation, An         Ball         Carpe Minuta Prima         Hold My Hand And We're Halfway there         Mourning Glory, Part 1: Or else your friends will have to do it         Mourning Glory, Part 2: Purge         Mourning Glory, Part 3: Love Letters and Lehman Brothers         Other Funny Stories About Cancer         Purge

Appreciation, An

Appreciation, An
Unexpected, quirky and provocative, BaLL & Other Funny Stories about Cancer is a unique collection of performances about illness and the changing body over time. Documenting a trilogy of Brian Lobels monologue performances from 2001-2011, this collection challenges the inspirational stories of survivors and martyrs that have come before, infusing the 'cancer story' with an urgency and humour which is sometimes inappropriate, often salacious and always, above all else, honest and open. Published together for the first time, this collection of performances goes beyond the chemotherapy to include reflections on politics, sexuality and gender, providing cancer - and cancer narratives - with a much-deserved kick in the ball(s).

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
I'M With You, London     2009

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
monologue

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.Theatrerecord.org/, Theatre Record Vol XXXI (2011) Page 0596

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Ball

Ball
Far from the world of yellow bracelets and pink ribbons, Ball is the story of a young man and his quirky and unique struggle against cancer and, more importantly, the Lance armstrong-dominated cancer narrative. This is not your mother's illness Drama - Ball sees all of the disgusting parts of cancer not as things which should be changed into things beautiful or inspirational. Instead, the sperm bank, the catheters, and the hair loss take centre stage in all their glory, in a manner which is irreverent, honest, and, ultimately, healing.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
University Of Michigan, Residential College Auditorium, Ann Arbor     2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
monologue

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Carpe Minuta Prima

Synopsis:
clever Faustian pact with the audience
Lyn Gardner, Guardian

Notes:
part of Junction Sampled Festival Of Performance

1st Produced:
Cambridge, Junction     30 Apr 2011

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Theatre Record Volume XXXI (2011) Issue 09 Page 481

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Hold My Hand And We're Halfway there

Synopsis:
every day from 9am-5pm for 5 days-the equivalent of a 40 hour work week-Brian Lobel will dance non-stop in his bedroom, inviting any and all passersby to join him, to dance with him, to watch a musical film of their choice or to simply stand inside and watch. Hold My Hand and We're Halfway there links Depression-era Dance Marathons, where contestants danced until they dropped in pursuit of fame and fortune, to young boys dancing in their bedroom after school, where they too dance until they drop, often hoping for fame and fortune. the piece is both fun and frightening, exhausting and exhilarating, and a reflection on loneliness, labor, and labors of love. Hold My Hand and We're Halfway there reminds us that, even in these frightening economic times, the best things in life are still free.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
@Seaport!, 210 Front Street, New York, NY 10038     09 Sep 2009

Organisations:
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mourning Glory, Part 1: Or else your friends will have to do it

Synopsis:
The first installation guides participants through the process of making a playlist for their own funeral in a gentle and playful reminder about what remains behind when we're gone. A reflection on mortality and responsibility, this self-led performance explores the rituals of mourning, memory and the music that goes with them.

Notes:
Brian Lobel's installation and performance trilogy about love, death and technology, inspired by the loss of his best friend and first love, probes the emotional resonances hidden in everyday technologies such as playlists, online profiles and email histories.

1st Produced:
Brighton Dome Founders Room, Brighton Festival     14 May 2014

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mourning Glory, Part 2: Purge

Synopsis:
Where does online friendship stop and real friendship begin? Does the distinction matter? In 2011, Brian Lobel played a brutal game of friendship maintenance: over five days, he gave strangers one minute to decide which of his 1,300 Facebook friends to keep or delete. The deleting was real, the pace was maniacal, the results were final. Fifty hours of performance, 800 emails from angry, amused and intrigued friends and over 2,500 comments from strangers online later, Purge the stage show was born.

Notes:
Brian Lobel's installation and performance trilogy about love, death and technology, inspired by the loss of his best friend and first love, probes the emotional resonances hidden in everyday technologies such as playlists, online profiles and email histories.

1st Produced:
Brighton Dome Srtudio Theatre, Brighton Festival     18 May 2014

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mourning Glory, Part 3: Love Letters and Lehman Brothers

Synopsis:
Grant Falland was an author of the Lehman Brothers Examination Report, and he died while on a trip celebrating its completion. He was also the best friend and first love of Brian Lobel, who mines the text in this installation, looking for Grant's presence in the report's 2,000 pages. Each day for five days, Brian will cut out pieces of the historic report to recreate the couple's emailed love letters, exploring ideas of personal and international collapse and looking at how individual stories can lurk within the coldest of discourses.

Notes:
Brian Lobel's installation and performance trilogy about love, death and technology, inspired by the loss of his best friend and first love, probes the emotional resonances hidden in everyday technologies such as playlists, online profiles and email histories.

1st Produced:
Brighton Dome Founders Room, Brighton Festival     14 May 2014

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Other Funny Stories About Cancer

Other Funny Stories About Cancer
Unexpected, quirky and provocative, BaLL & Other Funny Stories about Cancer is a unique collection of performances about illness and the changing body over time. Documenting a trilogy of Brian Lobels monologue performances from 2001-2011, this collection challenges the inspirational stories of survivors and martyrs that have come before, infusing the 'cancer story' with an urgency and humour which is sometimes inappropriate, often salacious and always, above all else, honest and open. Published together for the first time, this collection of performances goes beyond the chemotherapy to include reflections on politics, sexuality and gender, providing cancer - and cancer narratives - with a much-deserved kick in the ball(s).

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Live Bait Theatre, Chicago     2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
monologue

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Purge

Purge
Part game show, part love story, part lecture exploring modern friendships. Purge addresses where online friendship stops and real friendship begins. In 2010, Brian discovered that his deceased ex-boyfriend and best friend, Grant, had deleted him from Friendster (a pre-Facebook networking site), which neither had checked since they stopped dating in 2006. Although they had since re-'friended' in life (both virtually and non-virtually), it was the discovery of this past de-friending (and impossibility to 'reconnect' since Grant's death), which inspired Brian to create Purge in 2011. In 2011, Brian Lobel played a brutal game of friendship maintenance: over 5 days in cafés in both London and Kuopio, Finland, Brian gave strangers one minute to decide which of his 1300 Facebook friends to keep or delete. The deleting was real, the pace was maniacal, the results were final. 50 hours of performance, 800 emails from angry, amused and intrigued friends and over 2500 comments from people watching via live stream later, Purge is an interactive performance lecture exploring the process of, and fallout from purging and examines how we emotionally and socially interact with digital media.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Jasmine Kitchen, Tower Hill, London     07 Jul 2016

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books (2016) >>>    978-1783193295

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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