LaborPress| December 18, 2025
UNDER THE RADAR, LA MAMA, AND WORKING THEATER CO-PRESENT MANCHESTER-BASED COMPANY QUARANTINE’S ACCLAIMED 12 LAST SONGS, JANUARY 17
12-hour performance will only ever be performed 12 times, in 12 cities around the world; New York is the 9th
12 Last Songs invites 30 workers from across NYC into the room to demonstrate their labor, creating a vivid, immersive portrait of a day—and many lives—lived in this city
Work becomes an entryway into profound connections with strangers—whether a chef, a midwife, an astrophysicist, or a decorator finalizing the performance’s set in real time—and the worlds they know best
Under the Radar partners with La MaMa and Working Theater to co-present Quarantine’s 12 Last Songs. From the disarmingly poignant to the potentially banal, this unscripted work is about work—and work as a gateway into a vast conversation about how we spend our time—wrought from shifts performed onstage by real workers. Part live exhibition, part epic performance, 12 Last Songs invites audiences in from midday to midnight on Saturday, January 17 at La MaMa (66 E 4th St, New York) as 30 people from around New York City demonstrate their labor.
In 12 Last Songs, there are no actors; a builder might build a wall, a hairdresser might cut someone’s hair, a chef might prepare a meal, all in paid shifts throughout the day. Over the course of 12 hours, as we find out what these New Yorkers do and how they see themselves in the world, 12 Last Songs captures onstage the rhythms of a day in NYC across a diversity of experiences, resulting in an endlessly complex portrait of people and place. There will be just 12 versions of 12 Last Songs taking place around the world. New York City is number nine.
Conceived and directed by Quarantine Artistic Director Richard Gregory, ideas for 12 Last Songs began to emerge during a Right-ward, nationalistic, and schismatic turn in Europe and America in the late 2010s. The initial concept had no connection to work: the company simply felt it necessary, in that moment of societal splintering, to make a work focused on bringing people together who wouldn’t normally share the same space. They soon realized that the best way to convene those whose lifestyles and ideologies might otherwise be far apart was by emphasizing people as experts of their own experiences; labor seemed a perfect vessel for this approach to expertise.
What began as an idea for a 90-minute piece for three people ultimately became a 12-hour work for at least 30 workers—over the course of which performers ask them 600 questions, ranging from the everyday to the philosophical, personal to political, as they carry out their shifts. A whole day would itself be devoted to the intimate evocation of the vastness of a whole day in a city and within the details of the work that powers it. When the pandemic hit, it changed the world’s relationship to work—and made more acute Quarantine’s interest in giving palpability and visibility to invisible labor.
Explains Richard Gregory, “Across that time, the subject of work took on a particular weight and – at least during those early days of Covid – a shift in public attention. We perhaps noticed more of those whose work we relied on everyday – the delivery drivers, the health workers, the supermarket checkout staff and more. 12 Last Songs evolved as we understood the need to make something epic and universal, and genuinely diverse in the range of people being invited into the room. In the first moments, the stage technicians are always the first laborers to start their shifts and be asked questions. It shifts from the banal -because that’s how life is – to moments that are utterly extraordinary and profoundly moving. We shape the form of the work with rigour and care – but we have no more idea what the content will be than the audience. There’s something hypnotic and addictive about watching it. People come along planning to stay for an hour or two—and five or six hours later they’re sitting there thinking, ‘I’ll just listen to one more, just one more person talking about their place in the world.’ It’s turned out to be one of the richest, most satisfying pieces we’ve ever made. We love doing it – and can’t wait to make the New York City version.”
Though there’s no script, the work—whether functional or cerebral—is precisely curated in each city to reflect that place’s makeup, and the many forms of labor performed within it. The day is structured so that its beginning correlates with work that occurs in the morning (like that of a baker) or that relates to the early phases of life (like that of a midwife); it moves, as a set decorator rearranges clouds and the nature of questions begin to change, into an exploration of work that happens at night—and that relates to the end phases of life. One invariable job represented in every city 12 Last Songs is a chef: who prepares a meal for the audience who sit close to the action.
12 Last Songs resonates with each partners’ institutional identity and spirit: As Under the Radar connects New York’s vast array of visionary performing arts venues and builds bridges to experiences from across the world, 12 Last Songs sees an international company engaging New Yorkers in creating a portrait of their city and its breathtaking multitudes. Quarantine’s labor of love for the many places it visits reflects Under the Radar’s own reimagining, since its reemergence in 2024, as a pluralistic, citywide collaboration. (The 21st Under the Radar itself inaugurates a new leadership model: Co-Creative Directors Meropi Peponides and Kaneza Schaal join Founder and Artistic Director Mark Russell to form the first of what will be rotating cohorts of festival curators, ensuring that the festival’s programming is ever-evolving and of-the-moment; the festival is produced by Thomas O. Kriegsmann and Sami Pyne of ArKtype.)
12 Last Songs likewise directly echoes the core of Working Theater’s mission — to create theater specifically for, about and with working people — and continues La MaMa’s storied history as a site for some of the most formally inventive theatrical work in New York.
12 Last Songs is one of four works Under the Radar is producing in its largest-ever festival (with over 30 productions altogether), its 21st iteration. Other vital international works the festival is producing this year include Jo Fong and George Orange’s The Rest of Our Lives (Jan 7, 12 – 16 at 7PM, Jan 8 – 9 at 6 PM, Jan 10 at 1 PM, and Jan 17 at La MaMa), Wet Mess’s TESTO (Jan 13, 14, 16 & 17 at Dixon Place), and Cherish Menzo’s DARKMATTER (Jan 13, 14, & 16-18 at Performance Space New York).
12 Last Songs Production Credits
Concept & Direction: Richard Gregory
Performers and Collaborating Artists: Lowri Evans, Ella Otomewo, Michael Sherin and Leentje Van de Cruys
Designer: Simon Banham
Lighting Design: Mike Brookes
Associate Lighting Designer: Kathrine Sandys
Collaborating Artist/Assistant Director: Sarah Hunter
Video Artist: Lowri Evans
Questions text: Sarah Hunter, Leentje Van de Cruys, and Quarantine
Dramaturgy: Renny O’Shea, Sarah Hunter, and Leentje Van de Cruys
Company Stage Manager: Chi Emecheta
Production Manager: Matt Webster
Producer for Quarantine: Kevin Jamieson
12 Last Songs Schedule, Ticketing, & Seating Details
12 Last Songs runs from noon to midnight, Saturday, January 17, with a run time of 12 hours, at:
La MaMa
Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
Tickets are available at lamama.org. A limited number of tickets will be available for advance purchase. All other tickets will be sold at the door.
Tickets can be purchased in person at the La MaMa box office any time throughout the 12-hour performance day on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that if the room is at capacity, ticket purchases will be paused at the discretion of the front of house staff until the capacity has returned to a manageable level. Once you have purchased a ticket, you can choose to stay until the performance ends at 12 midnight or leave whenever you wish.
12 Last Songs is a durational performance that does not have a conventional seating plan or reserved seating. Audiences will be situated on the stage as well as in the auditorium, where the performance is taking place. There will be seating offering different views, perspectives and sight-lines, and audience members will be able to choose, subject to occupancy, where they would like to sit.
General Guidance for Visiting 12 Last Songs
When planning your visit, please bear in mind anticipated peak times being around 1 – 3 PM and 7 – 10 PM. As tickets are valid for the full 12 hours, these peak times may change; Under the Radar will be updating their social media platforms with information about capacity on the day. You will still be able to attend during these times, but you may be asked to wait for a short time before entering the main space so that we can safely manage capacity.
Whether you purchase an advance ticket or a ticket at the door, you are free to attend the performance at whatever time you’d like. You are free to stay for as long as you wish. Once you have entered, you may leave and re-enter as many times as you wish, though at peak times you may be asked to wait for a short time before re-entering the main space.
During this time, you may leave the auditorium for short breaks (i.e. bathroom) without needing to wait in the queue again. If you choose to leave for a longer period, you will only be able to re-enter by joining the queue and waiting for a space to become available. (You will not need to pay again on re-entry).
About Quarantine
Quarantine is an award-winning ensemble of artists and producers making cross-disciplinary work that explores what it means to live right now. Founded in 1998 in Manchester, UK, they create and tour projects around the world that are both intimate and immediate in their relationships with people and global in their reference and scope. Quarantine has an international reputation for intellectually rigorous, socially progressive and formally inventive art that questions who gets seen, whose stories are told and who stands in for whom – questions about representation lie at the heart of their work.
About Working Theater
Working Theater believes the transformative experience of live theater should not be a privilege or a luxury, but a staple of every working person’s life. Now in its 41st season, Working Theater continues its mission to produce theater for, with, and about working people—the essential workers of any city or town—and to make play-going a regular part of our audiences’ cultural lives. Our mobile unit (Five Boroughs/One City), grassroots audience engagement efforts, and pioneering arts-in-education initiatives (TheaterWorks!) have set the bar for equity in the American theater. Our work remains relevant, accessible, and affordable to all, regardless of geography or socio-economic status. Working Theater has commissioned and produced over seventy culturally diverse world-premiere plays, with subjects and themes ranging from the struggles of women working in poultry plants (Lisa Ramirez’s To The Bone) to the plight of the uninsured in America (Michael Milligan’s Mercy Killers), to the shared journey of undocumented immigrants crossing the United States border, staged inside an actual 18-wheeler (Ed Cardona, Jr.’s La Ruta). The company has presented its work in 15 American cities, earned 2 Drama League nominations, 6 Drama Desk Award nominations, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble for Rob Ackerman’s Tabletop, and 3 Audelco Awards. Learn more at theworkingtheater.org.
About La MaMa
Founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, La MaMa is a home for artists of all identities, races, ages, and cultures. At La MaMa, artists are provided the space, support, and creative freedom to explore new forms of expression and to make new work. La MaMa builds audiences that are integral to the creative process. Our local and global community members who gather in our physical, digital, and hybrid spaces to see new work, are often the first audience for that work. The audience response helps to shape the evolution of the piece for the artist, and is an essential part of the creative ecosystem that La MaMa nurtures. La MaMa believes art is a force for change. Violence, discrimination, and systemic racism will not stop without a unified resistance. La MaMa is committed to battling bigotry and intolerance in all its forms, and to providing inclusive spaces for our local, national, and global community. Learn more at https://www.lamama.org/
About Under the Radar
Under the Radar is a NYC-based festival celebrating new theater and performance works from around the world and down the street, produced and programmed in collaboration with venues throughout the city. Led by Artistic Director Mark Russell, Co-Creative Directors Kaneza Schaal & Meropi Peponides, and Producers Thomas O. Kriegsmann and Sami Pyne, UTR addresses a city, a country, and the world with the voices of innovative multidisciplinary artists speaking to their time. It represents global citizenship, innovation, and a platform for those whose voices have yet to be heard. The Under the Radar Festival began as a beta concept in 2003 co-produced by the University of Texas at Austin and Performance Space 122. The first NYC edition was realized at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2005, before moving to the Public Theater for the next eighteen years and becoming one of the world’s seminal annual meeting points for producers, presenters, and their international counterparts. The festival mixes international work with national and local artists to give a spotlight on new artists and new global developments in the field, providing a breakout platform for many artists, and introducing them to international presenters and a wider New York and national audience.
About ArKtype
Established in 2005, Tony-nominated production company ArKtype is recognized among the world’s leading producers of new and experimental work. Specializing in new work development and production of multi-disciplinary performance worldwide, ArKtype recently made its Broadway premiere with Sufjan Stevens & Justin Peck’s Illinoise at the St. James Theater, receiving a nomination for Best Musical, and was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination and awarded Best Picture at the Cinema Eye Awards for Sam Green’s 32 Sounds with music by JD Samson. Past work includes projects with Kaneza Schaal, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Brook, Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin, nora chipaumire, Yael Farber, Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar, Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen, Peter Sellars, and John Cameron Mitchell. Recent premieres include CHRISTEENE’s The Lion The Witch & The Cobra featuring Peaches, 600 Highwaymen’s The Following Evening & A Thousand Ways, nora chipaumire’s Dambudzo, Bryce Dessner’s Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) directed by Kaneza Schaal, John Cameron Mitchell’s The Origin of Love, Kaneza Schaal & Christopher Myers’ Cartography, Sam Green & Kronos Quartet’s A Thousand Thoughts, Big Dance Theater & Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Man in a Case and Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theater’s Not by Bread Alone. Upcoming premieres include Bryce Dessner & Kaneza Schaal’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds from the book by Ocean Vuong, Sam Green’s Untitled Trees Documentary Project with Rebecca Solnit, Yo La Tengo & Caroline Shaw, Jesse Malin’s Silver Manhattan, and Penny Arcade’s autobiographical epic The Art of Becoming. ArKtype is a founding member of CIPA (The Creative & Independent Producer Alliance). More information at arktype.org.
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For more information, please contact Blake Zidell or Adriana Leshko at Blake Zidell & Associates: [email protected], 917.572.2493; [email protected], 917.294.0544.
