Hidden gem
When looking for a new experience in downtown Syracuse, The Red House shines brightest as a unique landmark for alternative art.
On the corner of South West Street and West Fayette Street in the trendy Armory Square neighborhood sits The Red House Arts Center, a nonprofit hub for theatre, music, film and the visual arts.
‘Our mission is really to do new work,’ said Laura Austin, The Red House’s founder and art director. ‘(By founding The Red House,) we were hoping to improve the cultural landscape of Syracuse and what it has to offer.’
The Red House is a small building that feels like a residential home, and one must call ahead to make an appointment to schedule a tour. The entrance of the building leads into an 89-seat theater with an un-raised stage, creating a more intimate atmosphere where the audience becomes a part of the show.
The current exhibit in the art gallery, titled ‘Cryptopocalypse,’ is a series of drawings and paintings by Halo co-owner and tattooist David ‘DJ’ Rose. The exhibit opened on Jan. 21 to approximately 115 people – the second-largest opening of an exhibit, according to Mike Intaglietta, the marketing manager at The Red House.
The work is mostly of a biblical nature, featuring images such as a Garden of Eden, complete with a tree centered in the middle and a two-sided snake along the bottom with Eve being born from Adam’s rib. Other recurring images in his art are blood, crosses and Stars of David.
The exhibit’s room is small and personable, with only three walls (the fourth is open to look down on the stage). A huge wooden red cross with an all-seeing eye dead in the center and three accompanying paintings that match in hue encumber the wall adjacent to the entrance. There are three other sets of paintings along the two remaining walls, with one set of paintings hung in the shape of a cross to emphasize the work.
‘If you didn’t know it was biblical, it wouldn’t exactly jump out at you. But once you know they’re biblical, this becomes the sacrificial lamb. It becomes a little bit more obvious,’ Intaglietta said.
Intaglietta said audience members are so close to the stage that if they stuck their legs or arms out they could trip a performer. During a recent performance, the show sold out its 89 seats, plus an additional 31 seats that were added in front of the first row.
Even so, it’s an intimate space for music and theater. ‘The audience is very much right in the laps of the performers,’ Intaglietta said.
The space is three stories tall. The first holds the performance theatre, the second the visual art gallery, which looks down onto the stage, and the third is home to the administrative office, which almost has the feel of an art studio, with desks decorated with artwork and paraphernalia of the artists that have been recently on display at the theatre.
Although the building was founded in 2001, Austin had to launch a capital campaign to fund the renovations and startup of what is now The Red House. In 2004, after $1.4 million were used to transform the building into a home, The Red House’s doors were opened for business.
Today the theatre has put on more than 700 productions. Although the productions are geared toward people of all ages, Natalia Mount, the executive director at The Red House, said that in general, ‘The theatre is for young people because it is avant-garde.’
Once ‘Cryptopocalypse’ ends on Feb. 12, the next exhibit in the gallery will be ‘Phantoms,’ an exhibit of new media and pop art that is curated by New York City-based Stephan Stoyanov. This exhibit will look into the paranormal and vampires, as well as metamorphosis through the use of lights and illusions.
Alongside ‘Phantoms’ is a performance entitled ‘RadioPlay,’ featuring Reggie Watts and Tommy Smith, which will model old radio programs from a fresh prospective. Itaglietta said employees were excited for the show because of the hype that Watts has received over the last year on Web sites such as College Humor and YouTube. Intaglietta said that they would no longer be able to afford the performance if they were booking it today.
‘We’re very welcoming here and we have a lot to offer and stuff you won’t see on campus,’ Intaglietta said. ‘The stuff that we bring, it tends to be a little bit different.’
Published on February 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm
