This Isn’t Working | Work-in-Progress by Sean Donovan

This Isn’t Working is a surreal pseudo-comedy following a listless, unreliable narrator (Donovan himself) who arrives on stage the night of the performance without a clear sense of why he’s there, set in an unspecified future where the idea of a “job” has been rendered obsolete. Across the piece, Donovan moves through memories of forgotten occupations, lumberjack, farmer, office worker, professional mourner, using text, physical embodiment, dance, and song to ask whether an occupation defines a person’s value or is simply a brutal necessity. The work features original lyrics by Donovan, music by Matt Ray, and direction by Keenan Tyler Oliphant.

Sean Donovan is an actor, dancer, writer, choreographer, and director. He creates theater and dance performances that challenge the boundaries and intersections of both mediums. His most recent work, Cabin, premiered in 2019 at The Bushwick Starr (NYC) to critical acclaim. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called it “darkly lyrical and exquisitely rendered.” Other works include The Reception at HERE Arts (NYC), and 18 1/2 Minutes at JACK (NYC), both in collaboration with Sebastián Calderón Bentin. His work has also been presented in The Under the Radar Festival (NYC), CUNY’s Prelude Festival (NYC), Incubator Arts Project (NYC), FAE Festival in Panama, Stanford University (CA), New York University (NYC), and others. Beyond his own work he has choreographed works for acclaimed theater companies, The Talking Band, The Civilians, Taylor Mac, and others.

This work-in-progress showing marks the culmination of Donovan’s Arts Center Dance Residency. LMCC’s Dance Residencies are made possible by support from Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. Learn more about the Dance Residency program here.