Eliza Bent
ELIZA BENT is a writer and performer whose works are structurally and linguistically “bent.” A CVS Super Saver and speaker of Italian, Bent is currently a lecturer at Northwestern in the Radio/Television/Film department.
In Conversation
Caridad Svich with Eliza Bent
In late 2002, I kept having conversations about words and music with fellow artists, mainly playwrights, and how we could create new kinds of lyric texts for the stage
FUTUREROCK: PASS KONTROL’S NEW HOPE CITY
By Eliza BentConsider hits from The Strokes, only imagine them catchier, less faded and with vocals not nearly as strained or affected. Consider that the musicians also make art—like Lansing Dreiden, but without the shroud of mystery or lofty price tags.
In Conversation
The Art of Duel: NICK JONES with Eliza Bent
By Eliza BentNick Jones may best be known for Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, the quite successful puppet pirate musical. But the “puppet man” is serious about playwriting too. I sat down with the Park Slope resident for a late afternoon sandwich during rehearsals for The Coward which opens Nov. 22 at Lincoln Center’s LCT3.
In Dialogue
Ich Bin Ein Pumpkin Deity
By Eliza BentSibyl Kempson’s sparky presence on stage and page first caught my attention in 2009 with Crime or Emergency, in which Kempson inhabits a myriad of characters and sings some early Bruce Springsteen songs.
I Want You in My Zoom
By Eliza BentVirtual theater doesn’t have to suck. Playwright and performer Eliza Bent meditates on embracing a radical new world and creating art in a place that is the seeming antithesis of a theater. Through Karen, I Said (2020), each facet of her changing life coalesced into a celebrated performance on Zoom. Here, she reflects on that work, and leaves readers with some tips on how to create and endure a virtual performance that may not offer where we want to be, but at least we’re there together.
YOU GIVE ME FEVER The Audience and Wallace Shawn
By Eliza BentThere is a bit of cheeky self-awareness that permeates the theatrical event in The Fever. The monologue play, delivered by Wallace Shawn, asks how a sensitive person can comfortably cope in a world of economic inequity. If you’re not born in the third world, and if you’re not living in a war torn country, how can you sit by enjoying bon bons and chardonnay?
The Church of Young Jean Lee
By Eliza BentYoung Jean Lee didn’t always imagine herself a playwright. In fact, it was pretty far off her radar until five years ago when she had a bit of a quarter life crisis. Her therapist asked her what she would be if she could do anything in life.
A Ripe Time: Rachel Dickstein's Betrothed
By Eliza BentWhatever you do, don’t call Rachel Dickstein’s work ‘physical theatre.’
