The Painted Bird: Bastard Press Release; Amidst Press Release; Strange Cargo Press Release
2010 Time Out New York Honorable Mention for The Painted Bird:Bastard
"Jaro Vinarsky is piercing... Christian Frederickson's bracing score... “Bastard” is searing."
—Gia Kourlas, The New York Times
"A vivid, often anguished, imagination shines through in [Zustiak's] work, as does a welcome directness that verges on blunt."
—Brian Seibert, The New Yorker
"Vinarsky brings to each moment a sense of haunted compulsion ... the stupendous live score by Christian Frederickson ... (Bastard) earns its emotional extremity – with tenderness and quiet."
—Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times ★★★★
"Overall the piece is impressive and moving. Joe Levasseur’s lighting is dramatic and Pavel Zustiak’s choreography is fascinating and compelling. He uses simple phrases and the natural disposition of the dancer’s bodies to create drama and emotional effect. Great work, very enjoyable and rewarding."
—Andy Horwitz, Culturebot
"...rarely can one see performance that combines sensitive theatre direction, dance, sound, light and symbolism of props as a communication code which is readable and at the same time allows space for performer's improvisation, audience's contemplation and performance experience to anyone who signs up."
—Milan Zvada, KOD Theatre Magazine
"It’s hard to find anything extraneous in Bastard, the first part of Pavel Zuštiak's new trilogy “The Painted Bird.” Almost every artistic choice in this hour-long work feels essential, beginning with the two anonymous figures whose minimal actions set an eerie tone for what follows."
—Siobhan Burke, Dance Magazine
"Bastard” had both magic and mystery."
—Leigh Witchel, DanceViewTimes
"The music rises from stupor and sinks into sorrow, its dreams exposed as the spit-drenched remnants of a savaged balloon. Was it worth it, to soar for an instant, to exult momentarily in the ignorance of our illusions? Did we ever have a choice? By honoring his source material, Frederickson leaves it up to us to decide, providing us with the freedom Kosinski's doomed characters never had a chance to enjoy."
—Richard Allen, The Silent Ballet
"It's worth losing your bearings for a while in the enigmatic atmosphere of this high-art haunted house."
—Leigh Witchel, New York Post
"It was easy to find one’s eyes and imagination most drawn to Mr. Zustiak, a striking performer who projected an exquisite, unknowable vulnerability. Mr. Zustiak likes to probe — even needle — the spatial and power dynamics that swirl around an unorganized crowd when it is invaded by resolute individuals. There is the sense that, with “The Painted Bird,” he has found his material, and will be mining it for a long time to come."
—Claudia LaRocco, The New York Times
"In Zuštiak—whose body seemed controlled by harsh, external forces, by a creature ready to burst from his solar plexus, or by Dietz and Bruder’s literal attempts to dress him in
American-ness—I recognized Kosinski’s persecuted outsider/wanderer. But we, the crowd, also came to take on the vulnerable look of the “painted bird.” Zuštiak’s strategies and effects never felt contrived. And, as always, this artist has chosen forceful performers with the physical skills and courage to follow him into the dark, shuttered spaces of human life."
—Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Dance Magazine
"The most disorienting reminders of the terrors of that war, though, came from the emotional impact of the dance, and the audience’s own foggy path."
—Martha Sherman, DanceViewTimes
"The Painted Bird offers a unique, insightful perspective into a very human issue and one that deserves more attention."
—Stephan Delbos, Prague Post
"To be a stranger in his homeland." - interview with Pavel Zustiak
—Markéta Faustová, Tanecni zona
The Painted Bird / Bastard: Project Report
—Karolina Kalinová, Tanecni aktuality
Kultura s Dvojkou: prime time TV spot and interview about Bastard at Archa Theatre
— Czech Television
The Painted Bird: Bastard at Archa: live radio interview with Pavel Zustiak available for dowload (in Czech and Slovak)
—Czech Radio
"Essentially, Mr. Zustiak has created a roomful of outsiders. That sensation of being on the outside looking in, along with Christian Frederickson and Ryan Rumery’s live score, gives “Strange Cargo” jolts of spooky energy."
—Gia Kourlas, The New York Times
"Pavel Zustiak’s extraordinary trilogy, The Painted Bird."
—Deborah Jowitt, ARTSJOURNAL: DanceBeat
"History-laden ‘Cargo’ worth the freight."
—Leigh Witchel, New York Post
"...what unfolds here now bumps the dark intensity up several notches and calls up the most grueling and risktaking performances from its extraordinary crew... Zuštiak sweats not only body but mind and soul, too.
—Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody
"Terrible images can be so beautiful."
—Martha Sherman, DanceViewTimes
"Strange Cargo is gnomic but also predictable, jarring yet numbing, exhibitionist
and withholding, endless yet antic, cynical but also sincere enough to make you flinch."
—Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times ★