" ATM or this is not new york "

ATM or this is [not] new york received it’s world premiere on November 11-13, 2010 at the Monty Kultuurfaktoirj in Antwerp, Belgium. It is a play for interdisciplinary theatre -- conceived and designed by Kevin Doyle -- that uses New Yorkers' interactions with our city's homeless population as a means to investigate shifting demographics and values under the ongoing financial crisis. It is presented within an installation set design that simulates the automated teller sections of banks. For years, the city's homeless have masqueraded as "doormen" for bank patrons in return for change. Over the course of four repetitive cycles --  mixed cast of ten actors/dancers recreate a ritualistic routine of entrances, transactions, interactions and exits. Live cameras capture both spoken dialogue and a stylized physicality of pedestrian gestures. Words and movement are transmitted via close circuit television and multiple monitors, utilized during performance within a functional video design. The original text written by Kevin Doyle and was based upon hours of interviews with a) New York City residents; b) formerly homeless New Yorkers; and c) members of the company, cast and crew. The production featured pre-recorded films (directed and edited by Doyle), that were spliced into each cycle of the performance.

The project was developed by Sponsored By Nobody in 2010 as Artists-in-Residence at Robert Wilson’s The Watermill Center. Veteran New York actor, Sauda Jackson, and Québec choreographer/dancer Véronique Jalbert provided considerable work during this development stage at Watermill. Additional residency support was provided chashama, the Mabou Mines/Suite program and the Corporation of Yaddo. Prior to rehearsals in Belgium, the final phase of the project was developed at the The Performance Project at University Settlement in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood; with Québec actor/director Olivier Normand. offering considerable work at this stage. SBN continued its’ collaborative, interdisciplinary process employed in W.M.D. (just the low points) and Behind The Bullseye by investigating converging issues of gentrification, homelessness, the financial crisis -- and what it means to be from New York -- or [not] from New York.