Hillar Liitoja
iPhoto caption: The company of 'Phalanax.' SummerWorks photo by Jae Yang.
The specter of death is omnipresent in Phalanx, one of the offerings at this August's SummerWorks Performance Festival. First presented by DNA Theatre in 1998, the current version was catalyzed in 2023, perhaps fittingly, by the passing of former artistic director Hillar Liitoja. I decided to document the creative process and to provide space for the artists involved to reflect on why they were doing the show and what they hoped to achieve.
2023 in review at Intermission Magazine
It’s been one heck of a year at Intermission. After founding and leading the publication for seven years, including steering it through the pandemic, Philip Riccio decided it was time...
Director Hillar Liitoja was ‘pathologically uncompromising’ in his pursuit of great art
His creations brought together all the joy and terror and beauty and chaos of being alive.
iPhoto caption: Ravi Jain
“If you don’t embrace fear and risk getting it wrong, you’ll never find something new, something inventive, something beautiful.”