Journey to New York:
Monkey King Performances
MONKEY KING at the
American Museum of Natural History
Photos and video of Diane performing Journey to the West at the American Museum of Natural History in New York with multi-instrumentalist Geoffrey Gordon.
Monkey King at
Laguardia Performing Arts Center
Monkey King blossomed into a full theatrical performance at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. We had a full house both nights with a lovely mix of people from India, China, South America, Europe and the US. Here's a section of an excellent review by Hari Krishnan in London's Pulse magazine, featuring Diane Wolkstein and guest artist Anita Ratnam:
Rarely are interdisciplinary performance works that integrate theatre, dance, and voice with speculative narrative held together in delicate balance. Journey to the West did just that, proving, ultimately, to be a provocative and powerful work of performance art.
Enthusiastic audience members stayed for Q&A sessions for forty-five minutes after each performance and offered thoughtful, inspiring and unexpected reviews. Here is some of their feedback:
I grew up with Monkey King stories. However, your performance revealed to me the depth of the stories for the first time. The characters became so true to me.
Very impressed! It was GREAT and congratulations for the memory like an elephant! Thank you.
It was an amazing performance - profound, funny and continually surprising.
Great movement and music. I loved Anita’s dancing and use of verbal sounds.
Diane’s expressions are worthy of Beckett. I hope the set stays simple - the simplicity lets the story shine!
Led me into a new world of imagination. Sensational!
I loved being held in the present moment for this amount of time. We loved it. Storytelling is so nourishing.
What a wonderful tale. So smooth, seamless and fun! Can’t wait to see what happens next!
I read the books as a child and this performance brought everything back to life. Both actresses were phenomenal. This show should be performed at every school to teach the west this treasure of a story. It really translates the book and brings in the essence of Monkey King.
Photos by Rebekkah Ross
EDUCATION AND PERFORMANCE
- Working with Chinese Emigrant Parents and Children to develop their English language skills. -
Diane worked for two months with both Chinese Emigrant children and parents. She chose the text of Journey to the West because the people were already familiar with the plot. For two months they learned vocabulary: monkey, stone, play, peach, weep, immortality, travel. They tried out movements and improvised vocabulary, culminating in a joint performance of parents and students at the University Settlement.