The Armory’s Social Distance Hall commissioning initiative continues this May with Party in the Bardo, a collaboration between multidisciplinary artist and MacArthur “Genius” Jason Moran, who curates the Armory’s Artists Studio Series, and multi-Grammy Award–winning performance artist Laurie Anderson. Over four nights, Anderson and Moran will perform in the Armory’s 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall, underpinned by the soundscape of LOU REED: DRONES, a sonic installation utilizing guitars from Reed’s collection and curated by his former guitar technician Stewart Hurwood. Anderson and Moran will invite two groups of artists to add their own layer of artistry over the Drones, joining them in these improvisational sonic meditations for the city of New York.

Your Health and Safety Are Important to Us

• All audience members are pre-screened for COVID-19 and rapid-tested on site before entering the performance space; anyone with a positive test leaves the building immediately
• In lieu of on-site COVID-19 test, Park Avenue Armory accepts proof of full vaccination prior to the performance date. You must present a government-issued photo ID as well as printed or digital proof of vaccination (a photo of your vaccination card or documents is acceptable). Park Avenue Armory also accepts New York State’s Excelsior Pass as proof of vaccination. Names must match on the photo ID and vaccination documents.
• Strict “no masks/no entry” policy
• Seats are individually spaced 6 feet apart
• Social distancing is rigorously enforced at all times
• All ticket scanning and temperature taking is contactless
• No gathering permitted in the building or on the sidewalks
• Air refreshing in the performance area exceeds CDC and ASHRAE standards
• Restroom facilities are disinfected between each use

• Stay home if you are feeling sick
• Wear your mask properly at all times
• Respect social distancing of 6 feet at all times
• Follow the directions of the Armory staff
• Use hand-sanitizing stations provided throughout the building

• There is no coat check
• Audience members are encouraged to arrive 45 minutes before start time
• Because on-site testing takes 15 minutes, audience members will not be admitted within 20 minutes of the performance start time
• There is no late seating

If health conditions do not permit the re-opening of the Armory on the dates noted, the performances will be canceled, all tickets will be immediately refunded, and if possible, the performances will be rescheduled.

For more detail, please read the Armory’s Health and Safety Protocols.

Sold Out

May 5–May 9, 2021

SOLD OUT—To join a waiting list, please email waitlist@armoryonpark.org with the subject line “Party in the Bardo”. You must include your name, desired performance, desired number of tickets, phone number, and email address with your request. Requests are limited to one performance and a maximum of two tickets.

Performances:
Wednesday, May 5 at 7:00pm
Friday, May 7 at 7:00pm
Saturday, May 8 at 7:00pm
Sunday, May 9 at 4:00pm

Tickets: $45 (plus fees)

Wade Thompson Drill Hall
A Social Distance Hall Production

This performance is approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.

Conceived and Performed by Laurie Anderson and Jason Moran

Creative Team Biographies

Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned and daring creative pioneers. Best known for her multimedia presentations, innovative use of technology, and first-person style, she is a writer, director, visual artist, and vocalist who has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music. Her recording career, launched by O Superman in 1981, includes many records released by Warner Records. Those releases include Big Science (1982), Homeland (2008) and Landfall (2018) released on Nonesuch which won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA which culminated in her 2004 solo performance The End of the Moon. Anderson has published eight books. Her most recent release—All The Things I Lost In The Flood (Rizzoli)—is a series of essays about pictures, language, and codes. Anderson is also an acclaimed filmmaker who has made many films including the Arte-commissioned Heart of a Dog (2015), which was chosen as an official selection of the 2015 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. In 2017 Anderson joined four other artists in MASS MoCA’s Building 6 inaugurating a fifteen-year rotating exhibition of work. She is currently presenting a series of virtual lectures as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University.

Jason Moran

Called “the most provocative thinker in current jazz” by Rolling Stone, pianist, composer, and artist Jason Moran was named a MacArthur Fellow and Downbeat Magazine’s “Jazz Artist of the Year” in 2010. He is the longtime curator for Park Avenue Armory’s Artists Studio, as well as Artistic Director for Jazz at The Kennedy Center. Moran currently teaches at the New England Conservatory.

Jason Moran’s activity stretches beyond his 15 critically acclaimed solo recordings and performances with masters of the form including Charles Lloyd, Cassandra Wilson, and the late Sam Rivers. His 21-year relationship with his trio, The Bandwagon—with Nasheet Waits and Tarus Mateen—has resulted in a profound discography for Blue Note Records and Yes Records, a label he co-owns with his wife, singer and composer Alicia Hall Moran.

Moran keeps a close relationship with music and activism, culminating in his scoring work with film director Ava DuVernay on Selma and 13th. He also created and played the score of the Apollo Theater’s staged version and HBO’s adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Award-winning book Between the World and Me. Within jazz, his multimedia tributes to Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller, and James Reese Europe have shifted the jazz paradigm combining striking visuals, music, and history into evening-length works. Moran has also collaborated with such artists as Adrian Piper, Joan Jonas, Glenn Ligon, Stan Douglas, Adam Pendleton, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker. Commissioning institutions of Moran’s work include the Walker Art Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dia Art Foundation, Whitney Museum of American Art, Harlem Stage, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 2018, Moran had his first solo museum exhibition at the Walker Art Center, which traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

How to Purchase Your Ticket

Step 1: Purchase ticket (only e-tickets are available).
Step 2: You will automatically receive a receipt for your ticket purchase, but not the ticket.
Step 3: 72 hours before the performance, you will receive a COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire. You and each member of your party must fill it out and submit it by 10am the day of your performance to receive your e-ticket(s). If the completed questionnaire suggests any circumstance related to a possible COVID-19 infection, no ticket will be issued and the cost will immediately be refunded to the original payment method. The questionnaire will also contain a consent to be rapid-tested on site by Elevation Health.
Step 4: E-ticket(s) will be issued by email upon successful completion of the COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire.

Entry to the Armory for this event will not be on Park Avenue. Please enter on Lexington Avenue near East 66th Street.

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