18½ Minutes

Created, directed and performed by DONOVAN & CALDERÓN
August 22 - August 25, 2013

18 1/2 Minutes is a multi-media theater piece by DONOVAN & CALDERÓN that explores the historical, technological and political circumstances around the mysterious 18 1/2 minute gap in the Nixon tapes and broader questions of time, silence, and erasure intrinsic to one of the most famous political scandals in modern U.S. political history


Written, Directed and Performed by Sean Donovan and Sebastián Calderón Bentin
Video Design by Jeremiah Barber
Sound Design by Derek Phillips
Lighting Design by Jay Ryan
Set Design by Angrette McCloskey
Costume Design by Connie Strayer

ABOUT THE ARTISTS


SEAN DONOVAN is a New York based actor, dancer, and writer. In addition to his work with Sebastián Calderón Bentin, he is a performer with the Bessie Award winning Faye Driscoll, Obie Award winning Builders Association and the Bessie Award winning Jane Comfort and Company. He also collaborates regularly with Witness Relocation. In New York, he has performed as an actor and dancer at such places as The Kitchen, PS122, HERE Arts Center, The Joyce Theater, Joyce SoHo, The Duke, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Incubator Arts Project, The Ohio Theatre, New York Live Arts, La MaMa E.T.C., and The Chocolate Factory. Recent credits include House/Divided at BAM (NY) along with a national tour, Heaven on Earth at LaMaMa ETC. (NY) and Les Subsistance, Lyon France; Soul Leaves Her Body at HERE Arts Center (NY); Faith Healing at Joyce SoHo (NY) and a national tour; and Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale at the Castleton Opera Festival (VA) conducted by the world-renowned Lorin Maazel. He received his BFA in Theatre from New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing. He has trained and performed internationally in France, Holland, Romania, Poland, Russia, Panama, Canada, Thailand and Japan working with the highly acclaimed Ildi! Eldi of France and Sankai Juku Butoh company of Japan. He has taught workshops in theater and dance at Stanford University, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Swarthmore College, and others.

SEBASTIÁN CALDERÓN BENTIN is an actor, director, and scholar. In addition to his work with Sean Donovan, he has performed with Witness Relocation, Every House Has a Door, Anna Deavere Smith, John Jesurun, Ann Carlson, Faye Driscoll, Gisela Cardenas, Tim Etchells and Matthew Goulish's Institute of Failure, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, among others. Collaborations with Every house Has a Door include 9 Beginnings (2012), TESSERACT (2009) and The Midnight Stratum (2008). With Witness Relocation he has performed in In a Hall in the Palace of Pyrrhus (2006), Dancing Vs. The Rat Experiment (2006), and Schreibstück (2008, 2010). As part of PERFORMA 07, he appeared in Allan Kaprow’s 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (Re-doing) directed by André Lepecki at Deitch Studios. Mr. Calderón Bentin holds a B.F.A. in Theater from the Experimental Theater Wing and an M.A. in Performance Studies both from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University where he recently directed Gertrude Stein’s Everyday Afternoon (2011).

Here's what the critics said of Donovan & Calderón's last piece, THE CLIMATE CHRONICLES:

"THE CLIMATE CHRONICLES succeeds wildly...staged with absurd panache and true-to-life humor." - Backstage

"A solid piece of downtown theater." - Culturebot

VIDEO LINK: https://vimeo.com/58647383