Residency Spotlight: Boney Manilli, a New Play by Edgar Arceneaux
From February 7-16, 2022, the artist Edgar Arceneaux and the creative team behind his current project, Boney Manilli, were in a residency period supported by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. This was the second time CAP UCLA has provided these artists with the creative time and space to develop this work: a previous residency in May of 2021 played a crucial role for Arceneaux in rewriting and revising the play’s script.
Boney Manilli tells a story about Sunny, a troubled playwright, who is trying to direct a play about the infamous pop group duo Milli Vanilli, while struggling to take care of his mother who is slowly dying from dementia. With the revised script in hand, the creative team used their time in the Royce Hall Rehearsal Room to rehearse and develop the visual and spatial elements of the production.
Residencies are a major component of how we engage behind the scenes to facilitate artistic development. For Arceneaux’s project, CAP UCLA received the prestigious Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts’ Artist Project Grant. It is because of dedicated arts supporters that the Center is able to provide production resources and space to help emerging and established artists realize their work.
After the development residency, a sneak preview of Boney Manilli was presented as a 30 minute work-in-progress at Vielmetter Los Angeles. The private, ticketed event was held on Friday, February 18 and staged at the gallery’s north parking lot as an immersive BBQ party for the audience, catered by QD’s Double Barrel BBQ. The presentation occurred during Frieze LA and concurrently with Arceneaux’s solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures, “Skinning The Mirror” at Vielmetter, on view through March 12, 2022. Learn more about Boney Manilli by listening to the UCLA Arts podcast interview with Arceneaux.
Learn more about Boney Manilli by listening to the UCLA Arts podcast interview with Arceneaux.