The Revolutions International Theatre Festival is back in Albuquerque with a wider lineup than ever thanks to Tricklock Company.
Kevin Elder, a producer for Revolutions and co-artistic director of Tricklock, said this year’s festival promises more collaborative pieces than previous years were able to offer.
“The biggest thing this year has to do with the collaborations between us and the other companies,” Elder said. “This year’s festival, being the 10th year and having Summer Olsson being the artistic director of the festival, I think she’s really put her eye toward being able to connect these companies, have collaborations between us and these visiting artists, and really set up a festival that almost feels familiar to Albuquerque although it’s incredibly new, interesting art.”
The more than 30 performances were handpicked by Olsson, the head curator of the event and co-creative director of Tricklock. She said each play underwent a vigorous vetting process.
“Some festivals are sort of first-come-first-serve or they are drawn out lottery (style),” she said. “Revolutions is entirely curated. Every performance is specifically chosen out of a giant pool of applicants and invited to come to the festival.”
Tricklock Company tours at least once a year to locations such as Poland or Israel, Olsson said.
“We take our own original work all over the world, and as we were out there performing and meeting people we’re also seeing as much as we can,” she said. “We’re on the lookout for the most exciting and pioneering works happening in the world, and those are the people that we say, ‘Hey please bring your work back to New Mexico.’”
Olsson said there is never enough funding to feature all the hundreds of performers that apply.
“There are always more excellent shows and more excellent artists than we can fit in the show because of time,” she said. “It’s hard, and what that means is that we are constantly working on Revolutions. For example, there are shows in this year’s festival that I have been working on bringing here for three years.”
Massachusetts’s Double-Edge Theatre’s “The UnPossessed” is an example of standout material. “The UnPossessed,” a modern adaptation of the Spanish novel and tragedy “Don Quixote” features groundbreaking theatre work featuring the use of shadow puppetry, circus arts, poetic language and live original music.
“It’s a dreamlike, kaleidoscopic, visceral interpretation of Quixote, his adventures and his relationship with Sancho Panza,” said Matthew Glassman, lead actor and co-director of Double Edge Theatre.
He said it’s an honor to be involved with Revolutions Theatre as a theatre artist.
“It’s different than other types of festivals we’ve participated in,” Glassman said. “There’s an attitude of true enthusiasm about it coming from the producers and participants. There’s a palpable enthusiasm and sense of integrity about it. Festivals can often get bogged down by logistics and politics, and there’s a certain clarity and vision about the Revolutions festival which has made it a pleasure to participate in.”
Olsson said the growth of the festival can be seen by the increase in the opening party’s 300 guests against last year’s 200.
“We expected it to be huge this year because it was the 10th anniversary,” she said. “Just numbers wise — it’s been fantastic.”
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Elder said that while theatre often has the connotation of highbrow and inaccessible entertainment, Revolutions doesn’t stand behind snobbery.
”What’s at the heart of all these shows that we are bringing in and producing is entertainment,” he said. “You’ll see things that maybe you don’t understand or maybe it takes you a little bit longer, but it’s still entertaining. It’s still about providing this really interesting and quality art that you couldn’t see anywhere else in Albuquerque.”
*Revolutions International Theatre Festival
Prices vary by location and show
Runs through Jan. 30
http://tricklock.com/revolutions/*
