Dramaturgy & Experience Design
SEAGULL (The Tech Rehearsal)
Putting on a show takes time, effort, and for the stars to align. Many of the characters in The Seagull know this or learn this truth in their own artistic and romantic pursuits. Konstantin struggles to become a writer and Nina strives to become an actress, as successful writer Trigorin searches for further inspiration and Irina seeks to relive her best onstage roles from days gone by. Other visitors at Sorin's estate know this struggle. And the performers playing these characters know it too. The production of this play is just one day away and in a precarious state. Witness the theatrical process unfold in Seagull (The Tech Rehearsal).
Andrew Agress and Jorge Schultz adapted the script from The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. Directed by Jorge Schultz, SEAGULL (The Tech Rehearsal) premiered at The Schapiro Theater at Columbia University in June 2022, featuring dramaturgy by Andrew and starring them in a pre-show facilitating audience interaction.
Der Ring Gott Farblonjet
A long time ago in an underwater kingdom, one ring of power was forged to rule us all. Unfortunately, a funny thing happened on the way to Valhalla: the ring gott farblonjet! Gods, giants, dwarves and valkyries must work together to put a pesky piece of jewelry back where it belongs in Charles Ludlam’s comedic retelling of all four operas in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.
In addition to traditional dramaturgy on the history behind The Ring Cycle and Theatre of the Ridiculous, Andrew designed a lobby display, fake playbill, and interactions for director Phoebe Brook’s framing device of an actual production of The Ring Cycle having to resort to the comedic retelling instead, due to the actors and orchestra “quitting.” Der Ring Gott Farblonjet played at Lenfest Center of the Arts in February 2022.
Nine Ways to Plead with a God
A group of travelers set out to illegally summit a Himalayan mountain believed to be the abode of several Godly presences. As their physical limits, relationships to one another, and perceptions of reality are tested with each meter they climb, they must find a way to achieve their new collective goal: survival.
Andrew Agress and Liv Rigdon served as dramaturgs for Kanika Vaish’s play. They researched mountain-climbing, world religions, and belief. Directed by Liz Peterson, Nine Ways played the Lenfest Center of the Arts in 2022.
She Walks the Air IX
Performing joy as resistance, can one heal through anger?
“She walks the air” is a line cut out from a Japanese Avant Garde theater artist’s minimalist depiction of war, life, death and sex: Ota Shogo’s The Water Station. Incredibly humbled by the breathtaking beauty of this non western canon, and equally dissatisfied by its hyper eroticization of the female body, and failure to acknowledge colonization, She Walks the Air has been refusing to land since 2017, incessantly morphing in its shape.
Andrew Agress served as an experience designer for the ninth iteration of She Walks the Air. In consultation with creator Chaesong Kim and drawing inspiration from Fluxus, they devised a means for the audience to keep interacting with the work after the show. She Walks the Air IX premiered at Lenfest Center for the Arts in 2022.
