ABOUT PDG

Poor Dog Group [PDG] was founded in 2007 by recent graduates of California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Our first work, Hey. Hey,man. Hey. - was presented by REDCAT for their New Original Works Festival. We celebrated the opening of our 6,100 sq. ft. performance warehouse in downtown Los Angeles in 2009. During our yearlong occupancy, PDG Performance Warehouse was witness to ambitious programming initiatives including visual arts exhibitions, dance shows, music concerts, and original PDG performances. In 2009, we toured throughout Eastern Europe performing in over a dozen cities in Croatia, Poland, and Serbia. Funding for this tour was provided by Theater Communications Group, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Grotowski Institute, The United States Embassy in Serbia, and private donors. Last summer we co-presented the world premiere adaptation of Gertrude Stein’s Brewsie & Willie with CalArts Center for New Performance. This project received significant support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We participated in International theater festival Radar L.A., co-produced by The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, Centre Theater Group, and REDCAT. In 2010, we participated in a REDCAT residency with esteemed Polish director Grzegorz Jarzyna. Recently, PDG presented a work in progress as part of The Getty Villa Theater Lab Series. In 2011, we traveled to The Netherlands to collaborate with Dutch actor collective Wunderbaum and participate in the annual Rotterdamse Schouwburg Festival.We recently completed a three week residency at The Curtis R. Preim Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) where we continued to work on what is now being titled, Dionysia Dionysia.
 
COMPANY MEMBERS: jonney ahmanson, jesse bonnell, brad culver, efren delgadillo, jessica emmanuel, andrew gilbert, chris gerard heyward, adam hass hunter, john kern, jesse saler, itamar stern, cat ventura

PRODUCTION HISTORY: 

MAJOR WORKS

DIONYSIA DIONYSIA (WORK IN PROGRESS)
World Premiere at The Getty Villa in Malibu, CA; February 2011. Remounted in November 2011 at The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, NY. Commissioned and supported by The Getty Villa Lab, EMPAC, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and The UCLA Department of World Arts and Culture. Directed by Jesse Bonnell. Based on texts by Eurpides.

BREWSIE AND WILLIE (2010/2011)
World Premiere in Downtown Los Angeles; July 2010. Remounted in June 2011 as part of the Radar L.A. International Theater Festival. In association with CalArts' Center for New Performance. Directed by Travis Preston. Written by Gertrude Stein.

The Internationalists (2009/2010/2012)
World Premiere at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum; May 2009. Subsequently performed at the PDG Performance Warehouse (Los Angeles), nine venues across Eastern Europe (including Winner of the Skradin International Theater Festival), The Lillian Theater (Hollywood), and South Coast Rep (Costa Mesa, CA). Directed by Jesse Bonnell.

Hey, Hey, man. Hey. (2008)
Performed at REDCAT. (Los Angeles)
 

SHORT WORKS

NANONATION or The Murder Ballad (2010)
Performed for the 1st Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival

Serial #17 (2009)
Performed at the PDG Performance Warehouse. (Los Angeles)

Rough for Theater One, by Samuel Beckett (2008)
Performed at The Elephant Theater Lab (Los Angeles)

MOON (2008)
Performed at The Elephant Theater Lab (Los Angeles)

The Midnight Sun (2007)
Performed at REDCAT (Los Angeles)

Attrapee (2007)
Performed at The Atwater Playhouse. (Los Angeles)

 
INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL COLLABORATION

Lunacy Commission (2009)
Performed at The Kirk Douglas Theater (Los Angeles)
Collaboration with Early Morning Opera

Romeo y Juilieta (2009)
Performed at Fort Minor, Mali Brijun, Croatia
Collaboration with the Ulysses Theater