The Invisible Dog Art Center and NYU Skirball are thrilled to co-present Autophagies by Eva Doumbia.
Autophagies (Self-Eaters) is a show halfway between theatre and group tasting session. New Orleans native Karen-Kaia Livers plays the role of master of ceremonies, inviting the audience to a “documentary eucharist,” orchestrated by the chef Alexandre Bella Ola. Over an hour and a half, the preparation of mafé is accompanied by stories about its ingredients. According to the director, Eva Doumbia, this journey through a dish consists of “starting with a small thing and unfolding it to tell a story.” Behind every food item is the story of a migration, colonial conquest, or different forms of exploitation of people or the environment.
Eva Doumbia shares her strong childhood memories of her father’s restaurant, the first in Le Havre to serve mafé. A few years ago, however, she discovered that mafé is not a traditional dish, but a very recent recipe, as peanuts were introduced into West Africa after the Second World War. She then started reading more and more about the history of food and its link with historical and geopolitical phenomena. This gave rise to the idea of recounting the origins of food by cooking, and by linking them, through words and anecdotes, to personal experience. The intention is to become aware of what we have on our plate.
As a founding member of the Décoloniser les arts collective, Eva Doumbia pays particular attention to social dynamics and their influence on culture. Autophagies puts food center stage in order to readdress it through a number of paradoxes. Rice is the most consumed food in Africa? Yet it does not grow there, and must be imported from Asia, where mangoes and bananas also come from. As for sugar, which is useless to our bodies, it will be called into question for the crucial role it played in the Transatlantic slave trade. Without ever resorting to moralising, Autophagies simply proposes we “eat consciously,” taking our daily habits and our prejudices as a starting point for a broader reflection.
Eva Doumbia (France/Mali/Ivory Coast): Author, director, actress, Eva Doumbia received her theater degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, where she notably studied with Jacques Lassalle, Krystian Lupa, and André Engel. In 1999, she founded the theater company La Part du Pauvre. A founding member of the Décoloniser les arts collective, Eva Doumbia is part of the generation paying close attention to the ways in which racial relations, inherited from French colonial history, still express themselves today in society. Her works are published by Acte Sud and Vent d’Ailleurs.
Alexandre Bella Ola (France/Cameroon), head chef, understood there was a place for traditionally inspired African gastronomy, using techniques and certain products from French cuisine, so-called “Afropean cuisine.” Moussa l’Africain, his restaurant in Paris, thus offers a hybrid cuisine that explores cultural connections more than a singular identity. His food is an ode to memory. “African cuisine doesn’t only exist in Africa. It adapts with space and time…”
Choreographer Massidi Adiatou was born in Nigeria. Fleeing the Biafran war with his parents, he settled in Abidjan in the 1970s. In 1990, he founded his dance company N’Soleh and earned first prize in the Rencontres chorégraphiques de l’Afrique et de l’Océan indien in 1997 with Corps Actif. With Rue Princesse and Faro-Faro, he became known for shows that mix contemporary dance with African urban style and virtuosic acrobatics.
Olga Mouak (France/Cameroun/Réunion Island) is a French actress based in Paris. Born and raised in Orléans, she began her journey into performing arts in Bordeaux, studying dramaturgy and drama theory. By way of RESAD in Madrid, Olga entered the renowned School of Performing Arts in Montpellier, graduating in 2016. She has since then honed her skills and performed modern and classical theatre on stages across France, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and Italy. She's fluent in English, French and Spanish. She is currently learning Swedish.
Angélica-Kiyomi Tisseyre-Sekine (France/Japan) was trained at ERACM (Marseille). With a passion for physical processes that lead to performance, she developed her training in dance in parallel. She frequently collaborates with Eva Doumbia, Judith Depaule, and Marine Bachelot N’Guyen. She dances for choreographers Aurélien Desclozeaux, Vusi M’doyi, and Massidi Adiatou.
Gauz, co-author of Autophagies, was born in 1971 in Abidjan. Gauz received his degree in biochemistry, then went on to become a photographer, documentarist, and director of a satirical economic newspaper in the Ivory Coast. His first novel, Debout-Payé, was hugely successful and was selected Best First French Novel in 2014 by Lire magazine. Camarade Papa received the Grand Prize of Black African Literature as well as the Virilo, Ivoire and Ethiophile Prizes.
Lionel Elian was born in 1971 near Paris, France. He learned piano and music theory at age 6 and later studied fine and audiovisual arts. In 1998, he founded the band Poum Tchack, in the “gypsy jazz” style, which over a period of 10 years appeared on stage for approximately 800 performances, in which Lionel sang and played the bandoneon and piano. Alongside his stage performances, he has composed music for theater, cinema, and television. His collaboration with Eva Doumbia began in 2000, since which time he has created music in collaboration with the director for approximately 15 shows and performance pieces. The somber, lyrical style of his compositions adds a poetic touch to the documentary and political dimension of La Part du Pauvre’s shows.
Amelia Parenteau (United States) is a writer, French-English translator, and theater maker with a passion for social justice, based in New Orleans. An alumna of Sarah Lawrence College, she has translated over a dozen plays and had her writing and translations featured in numerous publications including American Theatre Magazine, Asymptote, Contemporary Theatre Review, and HowlRound. Her portfolio is available at www.amelia-parenteau.com.
Karen-Kaia Livers is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, who’s appeared on stage and in films and TV for the past 45 years. Most recently nominated for Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival for film Burning Cane, other recent feature film credits include Queen & Slim, Triple Nine, Don't Kill It, Hurricane Season, & Sonny. Her last theatrical tour included a performance at the Apollo Theater in Swimming Upstream, a piece by 18 New Orleans women about their experiences surviving Hurricane Katrina, directed by Tony Award winners Eve Ensler & Kenny Leon.
Photo © Thomas Cartron
The performances of Autophagies by Eva Doumbia - Compagnie la Part du Pauvre has received the support of FACE Contemporary Theater, a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States, with support from The Ford Foundation, Institut français, the French Ministry of Culture, and private donors. The translation of Autophagies has received the support of the Contxto Network, a Program of Artcena (France)
Admission
Book your tickets with our partner NYU Skirball
If you are a Major Donor or a professional please reach out to your usual contact at The Invisible Dog for comps.
Hours
Thursday - Friday
Performances 7pm
Duration approximately 90mn
Each performance is followed by a meal
Saturday
Performances at 12pm & 7pm
Duration approximately 90mn
Each performance is followed by a meal
Sunday
Performances at 12pm and 4pm
Duration approx 90mn
Each performance is followed by a meal
Location
The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen St.