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Bryan Reynolds
Bryan Reynolds (PhD & MA, Harvard University; BA, University of California, Berkeley) is Distinguished Professor, Chancellor's Professor and Claire Trevor Professor at the University of California, Irvine, where he has taught since 1998. He is critical theorist, performance theorist, and Shakespeare scholar who developed the combined socio-cognitive theory, performance aesthetics, and research methodology of transversal poetics. He is also a playwright, director, performer, and cofounder of the Transversal Theater Company, an Amsterdam-based collective of American and European artists. Produced by Transversal Theater or other organizations, Reynolds plays have been performed in thirteen countries on four continents. He has held visiting professorships at the University of London-Drama, the University of Amsterdam-Theater Studies, Utrecht University-Theater Studies, University of Cologne-American Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main-American Studies, University College Utrecht-Arts and Humanities, the University of California, San Diego-Theatre, Literature, Cognitive Science, the American University of Beirut-English, University of Tsukuba-Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nairobi-Department of Literature, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt-Communications, University of Lorraine-Arts, Sciences, & Business Management, INSEEC Business School (L'Institut des hautes études économiques et commerciales)-Marketing, Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon; and he has taught at Deleuze Camp at Schloss Wahn, University of Cologne, Germany, and the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland, among other academic and performing arts institutions. Reynolds is also a regular contributor to Freeskier Magazine, where he publishes articles derived from his ongoing research on extreme sports.
Phone: 949.824.4806
Address: Bryan Reynolds
Claire Trevor Professor
Department of Drama
Claire Trevor School of the Arts
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-2775
USA
Phone: 949.824.4806
Address: Bryan Reynolds
Claire Trevor Professor
Department of Drama
Claire Trevor School of the Arts
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-2775
USA
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involves an exploration of the theory’s various selves in the context
of a self-immolating spectacle staged at London’s New Globe Theatre
by the theory’s progenitor, Dr. Bryan Reynolds. The essay outlines the
history of this scandalous affair, which was inspired by the work of
Rodrigo Garcia (Accidens: Matar Para Comer), Deleuze and Guattari,
and George Bataille. Transversal Poetics travels with Reynolds to
London and is shocked and appalled by the lurid transgression that
unfolds on stage as Reynolds is hung on a massive hook and then
dismembered for the adoring crowds. Exploring the complexity of its
own reactions to this new initiative by Reynolds – and his attempt to
conceive an ‘offspring’ with Bataille through a highly questionable
and outrageous Deleuzian approach – Transversal Poetics is itself
subtly transformed. It casts a powerful light on the urban milieu
surrounding the New Globe (Southwark, the City of London) as it
brings the era of neoliberal financialization to a close. A lobster-city
that combines both ‘central place’ and the ‘maritime’ qualities (as
identified by Christaller), London turns out to be the perfect location
for the demolition of the Deleuzian taboo against the sacrificial.
involves an exploration of the theory’s various selves in the context
of a self-immolating spectacle staged at London’s New Globe Theatre
by the theory’s progenitor, Dr. Bryan Reynolds. The essay outlines the
history of this scandalous affair, which was inspired by the work of
Rodrigo Garcia (Accidens: Matar Para Comer), Deleuze and Guattari,
and George Bataille. Transversal Poetics travels with Reynolds to
London and is shocked and appalled by the lurid transgression that
unfolds on stage as Reynolds is hung on a massive hook and then
dismembered for the adoring crowds. Exploring the complexity of its
own reactions to this new initiative by Reynolds – and his attempt to
conceive an ‘offspring’ with Bataille through a highly questionable
and outrageous Deleuzian approach – Transversal Poetics is itself
subtly transformed. It casts a powerful light on the urban milieu
surrounding the New Globe (Southwark, the City of London) as it
brings the era of neoliberal financialization to a close. A lobster-city
that combines both ‘central place’ and the ‘maritime’ qualities (as
identified by Christaller), London turns out to be the perfect location
for the demolition of the Deleuzian taboo against the sacrificial.
Lumping in Fargo rock operas the eccentric world of multi-millionaire misanthrope Leopold Wallersheim out of a tempestuous winter that could only be mellowed by his puckish retro 80s new wave poodle, Elvira, until the melodious voice of a nubile furniture mover, Cathy Lynn Bommerbasch, ignites hitherto unimagined passions. Yet the Fargoean romantics are unexpectedly muffled when accusations of child molestation compromise their idyllic future. The ensuing courtroom drama, haunted by tragic histories as well as ghostly forbearance, raises questions unanswerable by Betty Sue and Linda Lou. Who they are, of course, remains a mystery until you go Lumping in Fargo.
I am happy to share the written and recorded music on request.
Playwright (book & lyrics), music by Michael Hooker, Lumping in Fargo, Dir. Jim Carmody, Arthur Wagner Theatre, University of California, San Diego, November 2012.
Playwright (book/lyrics), with Michael Hooker (music), Lumping in Fargo (musical), Dir. Christopher Marshall, Transversal Theater project:
• 12th International Shakespeare Festival, Teatr Wybrzeże, Gdańsk, Poland, August 2008.
• Teatr Rozrywki, Chorzów, Poland, July 2008.
• Los Angeles New American Music Theatre Festival, Studio Theatre, UC Irvine, June 2008.
Music is by Alan Terricciano. I am happy to share the recorded music on request. Michael Hooker performed and produced music for some of the productions as well.
Woof, Daddy (in Dutch), Dir. Reynolds, Amsterdam Fringe Festival (TF2), part of Dutch and Flemish National Theater Festival (TF1), Transversal Theater project, Melkweg Theater, September 2008.
Woof, Daddy, Dir. Amanda McRaven, Transversal Theater project:
• New York City Fringe Festival, Linhart Theatre, August 2007.
• San Francisco Fringe Theatre Festival, Exit Theatre, September 2006.
Woof, Daddy, Dir. Eli Simon, Transversal Theater project:
• Rampa-Teatr Na Targowku, Warsaw, Poland, April 2005.
• Teatr Polski-Malarnia, Poznan, Poland, April 2005.
• Teatr Kana, Szczecin, Poland, April 2005.
• Claire Trevor Theatre, UC Irvine, March 2005.
Inspired by Georg Büchner’s famous 19th-century play Woyeck, and combining typically distinct theatrical styles, from satiric comedy to abstract expressionism to musical surrealism, Blue Shade is about a young mafioso from Brooklyn, Joey Mazzoni, who, as a distraction from trying to deal with his too-hot-to-handle wife and the inhumane demands of “the business,” overindulges in today’s freaky fast-track self-help ethos on which daytime talk shows and the pharmaceutical industry thrive. In Blue Shade civilization risks absolute explanation through the all-too sobering ingestion of a breakthrough drug that inspires a logic necessary to create order out of chaos in a warped economy where the means supersede the ends. Whereas making sense is privileged in this sexy, double-edged world on-the-loose, Joey’s enlightenment may not be just what the doctor ordered.
Director & Playwright, Blue Shade, Transversal Theater project:
• Severins-Burg-Theater, Köln, Germany, May 2010.
• HIGH FEST, International Performing Arts Festival, Yerevan, Armenia, October 2009.
• U-Theater Studio T, Utrecht University, Netherlands, September 2009.
• Amsterdam Fringe Festival (TF2), part of Dutch and Flemish National Theater Festival (TF1), Rozentheater, September 2009.
Playwright, Umbra albastră (Blue Shade), Dir. Răzvan Mureşan, The National Theatre, Lucian Blaga, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2008 (in repertory).
Playwright, Umbra albastră (Blue Shade), Dir. Răzvan Mureşan, Romanian National Theater, Bucharest, 18th Annual National Theater Festival, November 2008.
Playwright, Umbra albastră (Blue Shade), Dir. Răzvan Mureşan, Teatrul Tineretului, 23rd Annual Festival of Theater at Piatra Neamţ, Romania, October 2008.
Playwright, Umbra albastră (Blue Shade), Dir. Răzvan Mureşan, Romanian language premiere, The National Theatre, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, April 2008.
Playwright, Blue Shade, Dir. Robert Cohen, Transversal Theater project:
• National Theatre Festival, Teatrul Mic, Bucharest, Romania, November 2007.
• Teatr Lalek, Wrocław, Poland, June 2007.
• Teatr Modjeska, Legnica, Poland, June 2007.
• Teatr 77, Łódź, Poland, May 2007.
• Divadlo DISK, Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU), Prague, Czech Republic, May 2007.
• Little Theatre, UC Irvine, May 2007.
What is a soldier? What are ethics? What is code? What is terrorism?
Through an ironic representation of a modernized version of chivalry, The Green Knight tells a story about bravado, xenophobia, and sociocultural codes that questions motivations and tenets underlying both “the war on terror” and the war on the United States or Western “infidels” as it presents challenges to conventional notions of being a good soldier, honor, and marriage vis-à-vis primal desires.
The Green Knight, Dir. Reynolds, Transversal Theater project: World Premiere,17th Annual Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Cisnădioara Fortress, Romania, June 2010.
Jon McKenzie, Bryan Reynolds, Leeny Sack, Saviana Stanescu
Performing Grounds Forum, Theater & Architecture Working Group, , Prague Quadrennial, June 15, 2023
Flash talk abstract: The multimedia performance LifeLines explores creation in the age of Cultural Intelligence Agencies. Director Bryan Reynolds, noted New York playwright Saviana Stanescu, performance artist Leeny Sack, and transmedia dramaturg Jon McKenzie set their untimely acts of assembly in caves, catacombs, and subway stations in order to stage the abyssal, mise en scene, structure of contemporary life, what Sloterdijk terms our "vita performativa." A series of midwives -Madame Blavatsky, analyst Sigmund Freud, Herodotus, an icy Scythian Amazon, Jaroslav the Wise, Jane Challenger-slyly guide the audience-assemblage through different birth scenes offering up pluriversal interpretations and stylistic interventions across dramatic, philosophical, autobiographic, and choreographic genres.