Travel along with Mark & Raydun

Under the Radar is a groundbreaking festival spread across multiple theatres in New York. The festival takes place every January and lasts for more than two weeks.
Almost every year, Mark attends the Festival in New York. "It is an important gathering of professionals, certainly in the States," Mark explains. "People from different generations and diverse backgrounds discuss critical issues of this moment. The younger generation was more present than at other editions. That was nice to see," he smiles proudly. 

"The way the festival was organised had changed for the first time in 18 years. Previously, the focus was on the Public Theatre. This year, for the first time, the festival was spread across 15 different theaters around the city. That made for a more diverse programme."
Mark concludes with what he noticed about the audiences: "the audiences in NYC are really interesting too, very specific to the work being presented. I guess they are very experienced when it comes to consuming stuff... Plus of course everything is sooo darned expensive... well, compared to Groningen anyway :)."

Wondering what all was discussed here at the Under the Radar Symposium? You can watch the keynote back here (the recording is also interpreted).

After the first stop in New York, Mark and Raydun travelled on to Santiago, Chile. Here they visited several performances by famous faces:

"We met up with Ebana Garin (pictured on the left). She played at Noorderzon in 2013(!). We saw her in the wine cellar of her favourite restaurant in downtown Santiago. Bad luck for us ;)," laughs Raydun. 

In the same wine cellar, Raydun and Mark also saw another familiar face: Malicho Vaca. He played his performance Reminiscenia in Santiago, which you also saw at Noorderzon last year at the Usva. Ebana co-directs this performance in which you are taken on a beautiful digital walk through Malicho's hometown and his memories. 

"On the street, we were treated on a great performance by Grupo Krapp, whom played at Noorderzon in 2014," says Mark. "We saw their performance Fx Especiales, a show with all kinds of special effects. As if you were on a real film set yourself," adds Raydun.

"Besides the performances, we also saw concerts outside. It's summer so that's part of it, as is the loads of dancing and people coming together," Mark concludes.

This was Mark & Raydun's trip for now. When they are back on the road, you will read more in this blog!