Rachel Rosenthal
Encyclopedia
Rachel Rosenthal is an interdisciplinary artist, a teacher, and animal rights activist based in Los Angeles, California. She is also known for her smoothly shaven head. She is best known for her full-length performance art pieces which she has toured, with The Rachel Rosenthal Company, to numerous venues both within the United States and abroad. Theatres and festivals she has visited include: the Dance Theatre Workshop and Serious Fun! at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Kaaitheater in Brussels
, The Internationals Summer Theater Festival in Hamburg
, The Performance Space in Sydney
and the Festival de Théâtre des Amériques RACHEL'S BRAIN (Théâtre Centaur, Montréal).
, France, into an assimilated Russia
n Jewish family. Her father, Léonard Rosenthal, was a well-known merchant of Oriental pearls and precious stones. Her mother was Mara Jacoubovitch Rosenthal. During World War II
, her family escaped France, moving to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, via a short stay in Portugal. This périple inspired the creation of her piece, My Brazil. In April 1941, her family left Brazil to settle in New York, where Rachel Rosenthal would later graduate from the High School of Music and Art and become a U.S. citizen. At the end of the war, Rosenthal undertook theater, art, and dance studies with Hans Hoffmann
, Merce Cunningham
, Erwin Piscator
and Jean-Louis Barrault
.
In 1955, she moved to California, where she created the experimental Instant Theatre, performing in and directing it for ten years. The Cast Theatre, now named El Centro Theatre
was were Instant Theatre was created. She was a leading figure in the L.A. Women's Art Movement in the 1970s and co-founded Womanspace. Rosenthal began teaching classes in performance in 1979.
, earth-based spirituality, in a hybrid form that combines voice, text, movement, music, video projection, and elaborate theatrical costuming, set design, and dramatic lighting, ultimately challenging the rigid boundaries that have traditionally separated performance art from theater.
In 1990, Rosenthal premiered Pangaean Dreams at The Santa Monica Museum Of Art for The L.A. Festival. In 1992 filename: FUTURFAX was commissioned by the Whitney Museum in New York. In 1994 she premiered her 56-performer piece Zone
at the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts Wadsworth Theatre. Between 1994 - 97, with her newly formed Company, she revived her acclaimed Instant Theatre of the 50’s & 60’s as TOHUBOHU! and went on to collaboratively create DBDBDB-d: An Evening (1994), TOHUBOHU! (1995–97), Meditation on the Life and Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Timepiece (1996), The Swans and The Unexpurgated Virgin (1997) . Both Timepiece and The Unexpurgated Virgin premiered at the Fall Ahead Festival at Cal State LA. In 2000, at FADO-Paul Couillard (born 1961) is a Canadian performance artist and new media artist, writer and curator and Toronto-based performance art producer http://www.performanceart.ca/, in collaboration with 7a*11d (International Performance Art Festival), presented Rosenthal's final full-length performance piece, UR-BOOR, for two nights only. At the age of 73, Rosenthal said she was retiring from performance to dedicate herself to her animal rights activism and pursue a career as a painter.http://www.performanceart.ca/residence/rosenthal/press.html
Rosenthal has lectured at Carnegie-Mellon University's Robert Lepper Distinguished Lecture in Creative Inquiry series, as a lecturer/presenter at the first Performance, Culture and Pedagogy Conference at Penn. State (1996). Rosenthal has also been a visiting artist at The Art Institute of Chicago, New York University
, University of California Los Angeles, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, California Institute of the Arts
, and at the Naropa
, Esalen and Omega Institutes.
Artist Robert Rauschenberg
has honored her in a new suite of prints entitled Tribute 21. Recipients include Mikhail Gorbachev
, R. Buckminster Fuller, Toni Morrison
, Nelson Mandela
and the Dalai Lama
.
Rosenthal had a small part in an episode of Frasier
, specifically The Crucible in Season 1. As eccentric Seattle-based artist Martha Paxton, she attends a cocktail do in Frasier's residence as guest-of-honour, being the supposed artist of a painting Frasier is very proud of, only for her to tell him in front of all present the painting wasn't her work.
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, The Internationals Summer Theater Festival in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, The Performance Space in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and the Festival de Théâtre des Amériques RACHEL'S BRAIN (Théâtre Centaur, Montréal).
Early life
Rosenthal was born on November 9, 1926 in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France, into an assimilated Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Jewish family. Her father, Léonard Rosenthal, was a well-known merchant of Oriental pearls and precious stones. Her mother was Mara Jacoubovitch Rosenthal. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, her family escaped France, moving to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, via a short stay in Portugal. This périple inspired the creation of her piece, My Brazil. In April 1941, her family left Brazil to settle in New York, where Rachel Rosenthal would later graduate from the High School of Music and Art and become a U.S. citizen. At the end of the war, Rosenthal undertook theater, art, and dance studies with Hans Hoffmann
Hans Hoffmann
Hans Hoffmann was an SS-Rottenführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....
, Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
, Erwin Piscator
Erwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
and Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
.
In 1955, she moved to California, where she created the experimental Instant Theatre, performing in and directing it for ten years. The Cast Theatre, now named El Centro Theatre
El Centro Theatre
El Centro Theatre in Los Angeles, California has two stages: The Circle and The Chaplin . Founded in 1946 and originally named the Circle Theatre, it is located at: Hollywood, California 90038...
was were Instant Theatre was created. She was a leading figure in the L.A. Women's Art Movement in the 1970s and co-founded Womanspace. Rosenthal began teaching classes in performance in 1979.
Recent years
Rosenthal formed The Rachel Rosenthal Company in 1989 in Los Angeles, California. The company's repertoire deals with themes such as environmental destruction, social justice issues, animal rightsAnimal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
, earth-based spirituality, in a hybrid form that combines voice, text, movement, music, video projection, and elaborate theatrical costuming, set design, and dramatic lighting, ultimately challenging the rigid boundaries that have traditionally separated performance art from theater.
In 1990, Rosenthal premiered Pangaean Dreams at The Santa Monica Museum Of Art for The L.A. Festival. In 1992 filename: FUTURFAX was commissioned by the Whitney Museum in New York. In 1994 she premiered her 56-performer piece Zone
Zone
-Places:France* Any of several divisions during the German occupation of France during World War IIGermany* The Zone , a derogatory term for the German Democratic RepublicGreece...
at the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts Wadsworth Theatre. Between 1994 - 97, with her newly formed Company, she revived her acclaimed Instant Theatre of the 50’s & 60’s as TOHUBOHU! and went on to collaboratively create DBDBDB-d: An Evening (1994), TOHUBOHU! (1995–97), Meditation on the Life and Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Timepiece (1996), The Swans and The Unexpurgated Virgin (1997) . Both Timepiece and The Unexpurgated Virgin premiered at the Fall Ahead Festival at Cal State LA. In 2000, at FADO-Paul Couillard (born 1961) is a Canadian performance artist and new media artist, writer and curator and Toronto-based performance art producer http://www.performanceart.ca/, in collaboration with 7a*11d (International Performance Art Festival), presented Rosenthal's final full-length performance piece, UR-BOOR, for two nights only. At the age of 73, Rosenthal said she was retiring from performance to dedicate herself to her animal rights activism and pursue a career as a painter.http://www.performanceart.ca/residence/rosenthal/press.html
Rosenthal has lectured at Carnegie-Mellon University's Robert Lepper Distinguished Lecture in Creative Inquiry series, as a lecturer/presenter at the first Performance, Culture and Pedagogy Conference at Penn. State (1996). Rosenthal has also been a visiting artist at The Art Institute of Chicago, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, University of California Los Angeles, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
, and at the Naropa
Naropa
thumb|right|NaropaNāropā was an Indian Buddhist yogi, mystic and monk. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, of Niguma. Naropa was the main teacher of Marpa, the founder of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism...
, Esalen and Omega Institutes.
Artist Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
has honored her in a new suite of prints entitled Tribute 21. Recipients include Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, R. Buckminster Fuller, Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
, Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
.
Rosenthal had a small part in an episode of Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, specifically The Crucible in Season 1. As eccentric Seattle-based artist Martha Paxton, she attends a cocktail do in Frasier's residence as guest-of-honour, being the supposed artist of a painting Frasier is very proud of, only for her to tell him in front of all present the painting wasn't her work.
Awards
- Vesta Award (1983)
- Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
(1989) - Artcore Art Award (1991)
- College Art Association of America Artist Award (1991)
- Women's Caucus for Art Honor Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts (1994)
- The Fresno Art Museum's Distinguished Artist Award (1994)
- Genesis Award (1995)
- Certificate of Commendation and Certificate of Commendation from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department (1996)
- LA Weekly Theater AwardLA Weekly Theater AwardLA Weekly Theater Award is an annual critics' award established in 1979, given by the LA Weekly for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California...
for Career Achievement (1997)
Books
- Tatti Wattles: A Love Story published by Smart Art Press, Santa Monica, CA;
- Rachel Rosenthal (monograph of her work) published by the Johns Hopkins University Press
- Rachel's Brain and Other Storms, an anthology of 13 of her performance texts published by Continuum and Nihon Journal
- The DbD Experience (Chance Knows What It's Doing) edited by Kate Noonan, published by Routledge