DUET (currently in development)
“Conceived, written and performed by Paul Outlaw and Joe Seely
Mask design and construction by Joe Seely
Production: OutlawPlay
Work-in-progress presentations:
• Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
June 2022
• MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Los Angeles, CA
October 2022
• Clifton’s Republic, Los Angeles, CA (upcoming)
• Davidson/Valentini Theatre, Los Angeles, CA (upcoming)
The development of this project has been supported, in part, by Los Angeles Performance Practice (Live Arts Exchange Festival); a Lincoln City Fellowship from the Speranza Foundation; and artist residencies at Ucross Foundation (Sheridan, WY) and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. ”
In its exploration of the joys and challenges of collaboration, DUET mines the complex friendship and long creative partnership of these two multidisciplinary performing artists: Paul Outlaw, queer and Black, was born and raised in New York City and educated at elite Northeast institutions; Joe Seely, straight and white, is an autodidact from suburban Ventura County. This devised performance piece about boys and men, seen in early iterations in Los Angeles at Human Resources LA and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, combines storytelling, movement, masks (designed and built by Seely) and audiovisual elements.
DUET is Outlaw and Seely’s eleventh collaboration since 2011—including five with Asher Hartman’s Gawdafful National Theater—and their first time creating and performing as a duo.
Excerpt from a work-in-progress performance during Los Angeles Performance Practice’s LAX (Live Arts Exchange) Festival at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Los Angeles, as part of Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs
Excerpt from a short film created at the end of an artist residency at Ucross Foundation