Van Reipen Collective
  Tender Buttons         Upcoming Performance

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NJ Star Ledger

"The Jersey City-based Van Reipen Collective’s eclectic résumé includes 'Tender Buttons' — a performance which set the 1914 Gertrude Stein prose-poem to an alt-rock score as the smell of garlic and onions wafted to the audience from an onstage hotplate."   (see full article)

Jersey City Independent

"Together, they bring to life Stein’s playful words...as deliberately nonsensical as the text with seatless chairs, unbreakable eggs and a giant chicken."   (see full article)

Jersey Journal
Jersey City theater group finds meaning, joy in Gertrude Stein's 'Tender Buttons'  (see full article)

Out.com
Other Voices, Many Rooms - "Tender Buttons has a reputation for being daunting, but seeing it in performance offers an immersive experience with the piece."  (see full article)

The Jewish Week
Staging Gertrude Stein’s Modernism - "...an epic production by the Van Reipen Collective that promises to shed new light on one of Stein’s most challenging and influential works." (see full article)

Stagebuddy.com
"ecstatic...skilled, nuanced, and passionate...a drastic re-imagining...a fitting tribute." (see full article)

Scene4.com
Review of Objects: "their music-making, song-singing, odd choreography kicked Steiny’s subconscious into another realm" (see full article)

Scene4.com
Review of Food: "a tour de force" (see full article)

NPR
An interview on KUHA fm "The Front Row," discussing Tender Buttons, performed as a concept album.   (listen here)

NYtheater.com

"Imagine a jazzier, sweeter take on the Wooster Group, add the intellectual earnestness of the TEAM, stir in a dash of sixties girl-group cool and some Wizard of Oz references and you get an idea of the aesthetic of the Van Reipen Collective, the interdisciplinary group making a stunning FringeNYC debut with Shelly's Spherical Journey."   (see full article)

Theatre Reviews Limited
"This brilliant performance piece is what FringeNYC is all about...Keep your eye on the Van Reipen Collective."   (see full article)

Leipzig Volkszeitung

"bewitching...an oblique, sexy live  rock-and-cooking-show performance"   (see full article)



Bubbles
Tender Buttons.  Photo by Martin Esters