2018 IDEA SWAP PROJECT IDEAS

The Idea Swap is NEFA's annual event that provides opportunities for New England-based nonprofits that offer cultural programming to network and share tour project ideas.
Post your project idea! Follow the instructions below. These projects may have the potential to tour New England through NEFA's Expeditions grant program.
Learn more about the 17th annual Idea Swap, and register today!

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR IDEA SWAP PROJECT

Complete and submit your proposal online.

Project ideas must be submitted by Tuesday, October 9, 2018. If you are selected to present, you will be notified by Monday, October 15.
Project ideas must include a link to a video or audio work sample of the artist. The work sample does not have to be of the proposed project. It will be reviewed by NEFA when considering project ideas for the selected five minute presentations. Work samples will NOT be posted on the Idea Swap Project Ideas page. If chosen to present, you must provide a downloadable file of the work sample. You will be given the chance to review your work sample for the Idea Swap.
Project ideas with at least one interested presenter and creative presentations, which may include the featured artist, are given priority.

BROWSE PROJECTS BY TITLE: A-H

#//<EMBEDDED//#
ARTIST: Pratik Motwani
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Multidisciplinary, Multimedia with live video

A multimedia examination of identity in a digital age. EMBEDDED questions notions of identity & image, reality & perception, our need for real connection/inclusion coupled with our inability to disconnect our selves from the virtual world and our virtual identities in it. A world where all connection/communication happens only via a digital WALL- symbolic of a multitude of WALL'S of race/color/gender/religion/nationality that restrict us from real connection/access to our selves and each other.

SUBMITTED BY: Pratik Motwani | Blue Lake, CA

24-HOUR NEWS (IN FOUR-PART HARMONY)
ARTIST: Collins & Sullivan
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Multidisciplinary, Multimedia with live video

The audio from four live news broadcasts (CNN, Fox News, CBS News, and MSNBC) is digitally processed in real time and transformed into an endlessly unfolding, multimedia concert of live news/music. Together, these networks unwittingly perform as a live quartet. The harmonic music they create uses abstraction and beauty to counterbalance sensationalism and scandal in the hope of encouraging us to imagine a different kind of news reporting and thereby more inspired modes of public discourse.

SUBMITTED BY: Kenneth Collins | Temporary Distortion | New York, NY

ALIEN
ARTIST: Atlantic Ballet
DISCIPLINE: Dance

In its 18th year of award winning performances and recognized community involvement, the ABC is proud to bring ALIEN, an intimate and emotional human portrayal of immigration. Award winning choreographer Igor Dobrovolskiy tells his story bringing to life on stage the struggles, pains and the successes of the immigration experience. This is a beautifully, emotionally charged ballet performed with pure passion in every step. Premiered at the Atlantic Immigration Summit in May 2018.

SUBMITTED BY: Susan Karam | Atlantic Ballet Canada | Moncton, NB, Canada

ACTIVARTE: ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH THE ARTS
ARTIST: Agua, Sol y Sereno
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary

Agua, Sol y Sereno (Puerto Rico) bring their new production of “Hambre: A Hurricane Story”, which is a powerful depiction of hunger and food accessibility in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria. Agua, Sol y Sereno carries the aesthetic trends of the 20th century of puppetry, which were renewed and strengthened in the Puerto Rican scene. "El Arbol de las Palabras" is an interactive play where the audience becomes a co-creator to tell the story of the Tree of Words.

SUBMITTED BY: Elsa Mosquera | Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción | Boston, MA

AMERICAN/WOMAN
ARTIST: Betsy Miller Dance Projects
DISCIPLINE: Dance

What does it mean to be a woman in America? How do we create an alternative geography that follows the existing map but develops from a logic other than the dominant logic of the nation state?
In 2018, Betsy Miller takes on a new ambitious national choreography project. The first phase includes collaborations with New England dance artists Shura Baryshnikov (RI), Ali Kenner Brodsky (MA), Alexandra James (ME), Kellie Lynch & Rachel Boggia (CT), Jesse Stinnett (NH), and Lida Winfield (VT).

SUBMITTED BY: Betsy Miller Dance Projects | MA

ASK MAMA
ARTIST: JoAnn Vinagro Bromley
DISCIPLINE: Spoken Word/Storytelling

"Ask Mama" is an interactive-inspirational comedy show. The show is filled with stories and anecdotes of living, loving and lessons learned. In addition, pre-show the audience submits questions to "ask mama" anything and working improv style her answers are funny, poignant and sometimes like a metaphorical slap upside the head!

SUBMITTED BY: JoAnn Bromley | RI

ARE YOU BUYING?
ARTIST: Catherine Siller
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

A storefront mannequin searches for beauty, traveling back in time through beauty advertisements from the 1920s to today, only to find herself caught in a loop of desire and dissatisfaction. Combining live theatrical dance and real-time video with pre-recorded animations projected larger than life in a storefront window, “Are You Buying?” playfully skewers Western fashion and beauty tropes. A humorous and ironic score, mashing up clips from radio and TV commercials, accompanies the performance.

SUBMITTED BY: Catherine Siller | Somerville, MA

BABYLON
ARTIST: Sandglass Theater
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Puppetry, Multidisciplinary

Sandglass Theater’s Babylon is a response to the refugee crisis. Working with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, Babylon looks at the relationship of refugees to their homelands, lost and new, and the conflicts that exist within the countries to which they flee. Using puppets and moving panoramic scrolls, we tell the refugees’ stories in original four-part choral songs that give the texts a formal settings.

SUBMITTED BY: Eric Bass | Sandglass Theater | Putney, VT

BETH MORRISON PROJECTS
ARTIST: Beth Morrison Projects
DISCIPLINE: Opera

Portland Ovations is in discussion with New England native/contemporary opera force Beth Morrison to bring one of her projects in 2019-2020. Currently under discussion: “Song from the Uproar,” a staged feminist song cycle by much-in-demand composer Missy Mazzoli, OR “The Hubble Cantata,” a chamber opera to be presented outside with virtual reality enhancement. Both hold the possibility of integration of local, professional musicians.

SUBMITTED BY: Aimee Petrin | Portland Ovations | Portland, ME

BOLEROS OF SYLVIA REIXACH
ARTIST: Miramar
DISCIPLINE: Music

Boleros have long been the ultimate expression of love and suffering in SA and the Caribbean. Miramar (Puerto Rico) exemplifies this pathos, balancing a strong sense of musical roots in contrast to a constant feeling of cultural uprootedness.

SUBMITTED BY: Alison Loerke | ALIA Prod | Bethesda, MD

BURNT-OUT WIFE
ARTIST: Sara Juli
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Comedy

Burnt-Out Wife explores the decay and detritus of a once-promising marriage. Separation, sex deprivation, and lack-of communication add-up to wanting to run from the popular, yet impossible binding contract. Using her comedic, text-driven dance style, Sara Juli’s latest evening-length solo blows open marriage for reflection, humor and a total re-imagining. Costume by Carol Farrell, Dramaturgy by Michelle Mola, and Lighting by Justin Moriarty. Co-Commissioned by SPACE Gallery and Portland Ovations for October 2019 World Premiere.

SUBMITTED BY: Sara Juli | SPACE Gallery & Portland Ovations | Portland, ME

CANVAS 5X5 & OTHER WORKS
ARTIST: Mocean Dance with Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Multidisciplinary

Mocean Dance, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will tour New England in 2019-20, presenting a signature work, "Canvas 5x5," accompanied live by pan-Celtic musicians Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, plus other repertoire. This project is intended to bring high-quality contemporary dance and its illuminating perspectives to underserved rural audiences, while also connecting New England audiences to masterful contemporary dance and music from their neighbors in the Atlantic Maritimes.

SUBMITTED BY: Tom Ayres | Chandler Center for the Arts | Randolph, VT

CARTOGRAPHY
ARTIST: Kaneza Schaal & Christopher Myers
DISCIPLINE: Theater

Cartography is a performance rooted in migration and the concrete and metaphorical cartography at the center of worlds in motion. The performance weaves stories of a group of young migrants awaiting border passage, using tools developed with groups of immigrant children worldwide. Visual tools such as map-making and inventory meet performance tools toward a catalogue of journeys and the pitfalls and triumphs of each. Performances include workshops for local immigrant and refugee communities.

SUBMITTED BY: Thomas O. Kriegsmann | ArKtype | Brooklyn, NY

CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR
ARTIST: a canary torsi
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Multidisciplinary

CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR is a trilogy of works that draw from a collection of audio and video recordings (the project’s “archive”) generated with fifteen accomplished NYC performing artists concerning the process of performing and casting, and the complexities of representation. Each piece in the trilogy is a standalone work. Rearranging the relationships between audience, performer, and event, the individual works inform one another and can be viewed in any order.

SUBMITTED BY: Shoshona Currier | Bates Dance Festival | Lewiston, ME

CIRCUS CAPSTONE PROJECT
ARTIST: New England Center for Circus Arts
DISCIPLINE: Circus

NECCA presents the Circus Capstone Project, a culminating performance of aspiring circus professionals at the forefront of American Circus.

SUBMITTED BY: Serenity Smith Forchion | New England Center for Circus Arts | Brattleboro, VT

CERITA ANAK (CHILD'S STORY)
ARTIST: Melbourne’s Polyglot Theatre and Indonesia’s Papermoon Puppet Theatre
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Multidisciplinary

Cerita Anak draws its inspiration from the seafaring history in Java and the true tale of arrival told by a small boy. Combining puppetry, song, shadow imagery and sound, the show bustles with all the life of the ocean. Audience members, both young and old, are passengers and storytellers on this adventure.

SUBMITTED BY: Chad Herzog | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT

CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS
ARTIST: A NIKAYA
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

Conference of the Birds (COTB) is a multi-media movement theater work inspired by the epic poem of Farid Ud din Attar, embodying stories gathered from modern-day refugees and other migrants. Dancers are from Benin, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, India/South Africa, Japan, Turkey and the US, with music by Shaw Pong Liu (US), Eric Raynaud/Fraction (France), and Shahou Andalibi (Iran) and projection by David Bengali (US). Brown University is the lead member of the consortium to present COTB in 2019-2021.

SUBMITTED BY: W endy Jehlen | ANIKAYA Dance Theater | Somerville, MA

CRQ - JAZZ TANGO FOR THE NEW CENTURY
ARTIST: CRQ - The Claudio Ragazzi Quartet
DISCIPLINE: Music

After years of touring and playing with some of the best Jazz and Tango musicians in the world and receiving the 2018 Grammy Award for best Latin Jazz Album. I am extremely excited to bring to New England the CRQ . Featuring some of the best New England has to offer, Dan Greenspan on bass, Cuban pianist Zahili Gonzalez Zamora and Drummer Steve Langone, The CRQ combines exciting Latin Rhythms with the Passion of Tango and the Harmonies of contemporary Jazz.

SUBMITTED BY: Claudio Ragazzi | CR Music | Boston, MA

DANCE OF DA VINCI 2.0
ARTIST: Sonia Plumb Dance Company
DISCIPLINE: Dance

The Dance of da Vinci 2.0 (DodV2.0) is an original full-length dance inspired by the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. The dance is a creative collaboration between Plumb, the dancers, projection artist Bryan Swormstedt, composer Michael Wall and costumer Sabrina Notrafrancisco. DodV2.0 premiered at The Bushnell, Hartford, CT in April 2018 and is available for touring. DodV2.0 includes Turning the Triangle: Geometry and Dance, Arts Integration for grades 3-5.

SUBMITTED BY: Sonia Plumb | Sonia Plumb Dance Company | Hartford, CT

DANIEL: A MASTERPIECE REVISITED
ARTIST: The Boston Camerata
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Theater

The Boston Camerata is presenting their critically acclaimed production: Daniel – A Masterpiece Revisited. This powerful, highly-praised production of an early musical drama, premiered in Boston in 2014, toured in 2017 and 2018, and will again, in NE in 2020. The themes of justice, and of truth spoken to people of power, are central to this medieval mystery play. " Powerfull...Impressive" - Chicago Classical Review

SUBMITTED BY: Anne Azéma | The Boston Camerata | Boston, MA

DETROIT RED
ARTIST: Will Power and Lee Sunday Evans
DISCIPLINE: Theater

Will Power is developing a piece about Malcolm X and his days in Roxbury, where he was not yet Malcolm X but was instead known by the nickname Detroit Red. Set at the moment of a robbery, where he was interrupted by a police officer, the play unfolds in that split second of deciding whether to shoot the cop or not, unpacking the details of his life in what ultimately became the moment he moved out of his Detroit Red phase and toward his Malcolm X identity. Mixed live and filmed performance.

SUBMITTED BY: David Dower | ArtsEmerson | Boston, MA

DOGGIE HAMLET
ARTIST: Ann Carlson
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

A full-length outdoor performance spectacle that weaves dance, visual and theatrical elements with aspects from competitive sheep herding trials. The work is performed by two women, two men, a boy, three herding dogs and a flock of sheep. Doggie Hamlet recalls the bucolic impression of a landscape painting and or a 3D pastoral poem. Through story, motion, site and stillness Doggie Hamlet explores instinct, sentience, attachment and loss.

SUBMITTED BY: Fiona Coffey | Wesleyan University | Middletown, CT

THE END OF MEN, AGAIN
ARTIST: Vanessa Anspaugh
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater

Under the current Trump regime, and the "me too" movement, Anspaugh finds a renewed relevance in her continued research and critique of male masculinities with her latest dance-theater work, The End of Men, Again. Interweaving demanding physicality with spoken dialogue, sonic religiosity, and sublime virtuosity, Anspaugh investigates masculine vulnerability and the historical and unyielding dynamics of cultural domination. Anspaugh was a 2017 Bessie Award nominee for Outstanding Production.

SUBMITTED BY: Vanessa Anspaugh | Vanessa Anspaugh Dance | Portland, ME

ENOUGH
ARTIST: ParadiseMoves
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Theater, Multidisciplinary

ParadiseMoves presents Enough, a story of discovering one's self worth, bravely tackling topics surrounding Mental Health, Sexuality, LGBT identity development, Personal Growth, Therapy, and the power of the love and support of friends and family. We share the stories of two young men, Noah and Justin, through our uniquely accessible hybrid of story-telling, modern/hip-hop dance and original music (Act I), as well as facilitated discussion that connects audience members with each other (Act II).

SUBMITTED BY: Tyler Catanella | ParadiseMoves | Boston, MA

ETHEL!
ARTIST: The Davis Sisters
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater

In 1979, at the age of 71, Broadway LegendEthel Merman recorded her last studio album before her death. "The Ethel Merman Disco Album" exists as a centerpiece of gay camp culture that raises questions of artistic integrity, the commercialization of queer culture, and gay male/straight female relationships. Join dancers Alexander Davis and Joy Davis (and a few special guests) as they explore these questions in a high energy evening-length, contemporary dance/theater/cabaret performance.

SUBMITTED BY: Alexander Davis | The Davis Sisters | Boston, MA

EXPLANATION: BLACK SQUIRRELS, AT THE PARTY, & OTHER TALES
ARTIST: The ZYG 808 & Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling

"Explanation..." is an exploration of the oral tradition as a conversation between a father and son. It's a Saturday afternoon and Zyg would rather write story ideas on his phone than clean his room. In a thinly veiled attempt to get out of cleaning his room, he engages his father in a storytelling and music session. It is here that he learns that his place as an Emcee is just a link in the storytelling tradition of his family. An evening of storytelling, poetry, and hip-hop jazz.

SUBMITTED BY: Morgan James Peters | Song Keepers, LTD | Mashpee, MA

F=MA
ARTIST: Urbanity Dance
DISCIPLINE: Dance

In the year of the #MeToo movement, Urbanity Dance Founder and Director Betsi Graves asked herself why she was one of the few female choreographers to set work on her own Company. In response, Urbanity’s artistic team invited six women choreographers to create or stage original work for Urbanity Dance's F=Ma. F=Ma features works by Camille A. Brown, Lorraine Chapman, Chantal Doucett, Betsi Graves, Jackie Nowicki, and Nailah Randall-Bellinger.

SUBMITTED BY: Betsi Graves | Urbanity Dance | Boston, MA

FEFA Y SU BODEGA: A NEWCOMER'S STORY
ARTIST: Teatro Latino @Rhode Island Latino Arts
DISCIPLINE: Theater

What does it mean to be an immigrant in America? We leave our homeland seeking job opportunities and a new life for our children. We arrive filled with hope and dream of a bright future. The story of Doña Fefa from the Dominican Republic is recreated in a one-woman monologue and discusses the history of Latinos in Rhode Island along with a deeper themes of what it means to be a Latinx immigrant then and now.

SUBMITTED BY: Marta V. Martínez | Rhode Island Latino Arts | Central Falls, RI

THE FORCE OF THINGS
ARTIST: Ashley Fure
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary

The Force of Things is a cross between an art exhibit and a black-box theater spectacle. The work wrestles with the vitality of matter and the hum of ecological anxiety around us. Upon first entering that space, the audience is beckoned by 2 vocalists whispering through small megaphones and are met with bass tones coming from subwoofers placed on the floor and aimed at the ceiling. After a series of oft-ignored, barely detectable sounds, the singers’ operatic voices are finally ready to sing.

SUBMITTED BY: Karen Henderson | Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH

THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOM - SAND STORIES
ARTIST: Guy Mendilow Ensemble and Sand Artist Kseniya Simonova
DISCIPLINE: Music, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary

Folding This American Life-type stories into a top-tier world music concert, the Guy Mendilow Ensemble conjures voices lost to war in a tale brought to life by Kseniya Simonova who creates, obliterates, and morphs images in a flowing narrative. Breathtaking landscapes of sand, from ruined villages of the former Ottoman Empire to the streets of post-war Cairo, evoke a panorama of a Mediterranean world in turmoil. Based on 19th-century Sephardic women’s songs, the story touches our tensions today.

SUBMITTED BY: Matt Cahoon | Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy | Derry, NH

A FURTIVE MOVEMENT: THE USE OF FARCE
ARTIST: Vatic Kuumba and the invisible manifesto
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary, Bulletproof everything

A Furtive Movement: The Use of Farce is set in an alternate future that parallels our present, where over one thousand people are killed by the police every year, told from the perspective of one of the victims of the State. whose death inspired protest, riots, and the formation of a black billionaire super PAC that funnels dark money to radical community building organizations of color including, the manufacturer of bulletproof hoodies.

SUBMITTED BY: Vatic Kuumba | Invisible Manifesto | Providence, RI

GLORIOUS VISIONS IN ANIMATION
ARTIST: Miwa Matreyek
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary

Combining projected animation with her own shadow silhouette, solo artist Miwa Matreyek creates live multimedia works that are emotional, surreal and dreamlike. Matreyek blurs the lines between film, visual art, and theater to create fantastical worlds that explore themes of Earth’s epic creation, humanity’s complexity, and the traversing of environmental and domestic spaces. Her 19-20 touring program features two of her iconic works: "This World Made Itself" and "Myth and Infrastructure."

SUBMITTED BY: Aimee Petrin | Portland Ovations | Portland, ME

GO HOME TINY MONSTER
ARTIST: The Gottabees
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Puppetry

Go Home Tiny Monster is the newest production from The Gottabees, a Boston-based company committed to making super fun theater for the whole family. One day, Sylvie and her family of homespun creatures suddenly find themselves in need of a new home. Luckily, they have an audience full of people who can help them out. Go Home Tiny Monster features The Gottabees’ trademark mix of joyously absurd silliness, puppetry, physical theater, live music, and surprising poignancy.

SUBMITTED BY: Bonnie Duncan| The Gottabees | Boston, MA

GOOD GRIEF
ARTIST: Everett Company
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

Everett artists have used therapeutic approaches such as Internal Family Systems, EMDR, dioramas and performance to explore healing for their own life experiences. Onstage, they dive inward, uncover parts of the self, slip into the unconscious, and look at the body made foreign and disconnected - all in search of a true self. In Good Grief, Everett presents a journey of fragmented memories, exiled parts, and the hope that dwells in a thriving imagination.

SUBMITTED BY: Aaron Jungels | Everett | Providence, RI

GRAVITATIONAL FOOL
ARTIST: Brian King & What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary

How often do we play The Fool? Society has often relegated the queer to the role of the clown, from sad Pierrot or the sissy to the funny fop or lonely dandy. With neo-cabaret band What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? and two circus aerialists, singer-songwriter Brian King performs an internal/external wrestling match onstage with these characters. Through make-up, costume, monologues and original music, King explores ways these archetypes and stereotypes can both empower and limit our identities.

SUBMITTED BY: Brian King | What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? and Afterglow Festival | Gloucester, MA & Wellfleet, MA

GUGU DRUM GROUP
ARTIST: GuGu Drum Group
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater

Portland Ovations seeks partners for a Feb-March 2020 tour with the award-winning Shanghai troupe GuGu Drum. With costumes, drums and compositions dating back to the Qing Dynasty, Gu Gu is historically and culturally authentic while appealing to audiences through their sheer sense of spectacle and theatricality. Through a series of vignettes -- Chinese proverbs, fables and fairy tales – Gu Gu explores environmental and social themes. Programs are available for both public and school audiences.

SUBMITTED BY: Aimee Petrin | Portland Ovations | Portland, ME

HAMALA
ARTIST: The Garifuna Collective
DISCIPLINE: Music

The Garifuna Collective carries the torch of cultural innovation and promotion into the future, expanding the story of this fascinating community, passionately working to retain its unique language, music, & traditions in the face of globalization. Their newest album, HAMALA, meaning "Let him fly", explores lesser known traditional rhythms such as Wanaragua and the semi-sacred Hungu-Hungu, and creatively juxtapose them with new melodies from the deep well of Garifuna songs.

SUBMITTED BY: Edo Mor | Laudable Productions | Northampton, MA

HEAR WORD!
ARTIST: Ifeoma Fafunwa
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

HEAR WORD! is an exhilarating piece of performance art that combines artistry, social commentary and true-life stories of inequality and transformation. Stories are based on life experiences of women from all corners of Nigeria, crafted into a compelling piece by playwright Ifeoma Fafunwa, and presented by some of Nigeria’s most talented actresses. Culturally-specific gender realities take on universal forms, leaving audiences with “open eyes” that clearly see harm, humor, strength and hope.

SUBMITTED BY: Lydia Breckon | iOpenEye | Pawtucket, RI

THE HOUSE OF ACCUMULATED BEAUTIES
ARTIST: Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

PDM, fresh from a year residency at the Gardner Museum, offers a performance "tour", adaptable for single or multiple spaces including galleries, black box, proscenium; and/or traveling through a maze of in- and out-door spaces. Inspired by Isabella's Palace of accumulated oddities& beauties, the PDM company (ages 17- 68), joined by double amputee dance artist Kris Lenzo and other artists with disabilities, becomes a metaphor for themes of loss, abundance and varying perspectives.

SUBMITTED BY: Peter DiMuro | Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion | Boston, MA

HUANG YI & KUKA
ARTIST: Huang Yi
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Robotics

As a child, Huang Yi longed for a robot companion. As an adult, he created a robot to dance with. 
Named by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to Watch,” acclaimed Taiwanese choreographer and dancer Huang Yi and his robot companion KUKA bring razor sharp precision and stunning artistry to a poetic work that harmoniously weaves together the art of dance and the science of mechanical engineering. FirstWorks seeks partners to bring HUANG YI & KUKA to New England for the 2019-20 season.

SUBMITTED BY: Kathleen Pletcher | FirstWorks | Providence, RI

HUMANITY'S CHILD (A NEW MUSICAL)
ARTIST: John McDonnell Tierney
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary

I am a composer and playwright developing socially-conscious and entertaining properties for musical theater. My musical, “Humanity’s Child” is directly related to national and world affairs. The story focuses on a young person’s fears for the future while struggling to make sense of school shootings, civil-unrest and national dissonance. We are currently developing a “Festival/Touring” Cast (3W/3M) for summer festivals and a regional tour (N.E.) of in the fall of 2019.

SUBMITTED BY: John Tierny | The Peaceful Educator Foundation (501c3) | Shelburne Falls, MA

HUNGARIAN NIGHTS
ARTIST: Crystal Theatre Inc & The Liget Dance Ensemble
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Theater

A musical theatre/dance piece combining an international cast of US musical theatre and opera performers and Hungarian dancers, who merge their talents to present an original production developed in Connecticut and Budapest. Regional dances of Hungarian peasants and gypsies, choreographed by Hungarian dance master Tibor Paar matched with a score that combines gypsy musicians with Americans and an aesthetic that underlines the universality of musical theatre.

SUBMITTED BY: Cheryl Kemeny | Crystal Theatre Inc | Norwalk, CT

A HUNGER ARTIST
ARTIST: Sinking Ship Productions
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Puppetry, Multidisciplinary

A man sits alone in a cage, starving himself for your entertainment. This darkly comic, Drama Desk nominated visually-striking adaptation of the Kafka story uses physical theater, Victorian miniatures, puppetry, and a set of simple props to support a powerhouse solo performance. Once cheered by thousands, the Hunger Artist is now forgotten by nearly everyone. A simple nostalgic story transforms into a startlingly inventive trip into the nature of memory, art, performance, and spectatorship.

SUBMITTED BY: Amanda Cooper | ALC Management | Philadelphia, PA

BROWSE PROJECTS BY TITLE: I-P

IMAGINARY
ARTIST: L ida Winfield
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary

Mixing dance, theater, storytelling and original music, Lida Winfield collaborates with Laurel Jenkins, Ellen Smith Ahern, Maree ReMalia and Joseph Hall on IMAGINARY, an innovative performance which playfully and directly challenges our expectations and perceptions of ourselves, others and our world. Exploring perceptions around identity is critical to understanding the impact these impressions have. IMAGINARY engages the audience in a cultural commentary, fostering understanding and empathy.

SUBMITTED BY: Lida Winfield | Middlebury, VT

INDUSTRIOUS ANGELS
ARTIST: Laurie McCants/Ko Theater Works
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Puppetry

A solo by Laurie McCants, evoking the secret creative lives of women, mother/daughter bloodlines & the ghost of Emily Dickinson. A story about the crafting of stories, the piece unfolds through shadow puppetry, paper-cutting, music, movement & the weaving together of words. It is a dance of the hands honoring women’s handiwork: mending, preserving, ordering, adorning, writing, hiding. Music by Guy Klucevsek for accordion, violin & toy piano. Stage magic created by the Center for Puppetry Arts.

SUBMITTED BY: Sabrina Hamilton | Ko Theater Works/Ko Festival of Performance | Belchertown, MA

JUNK DRAWER
ARTIST: The Davis Sisters
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Theater, Multidisciplinary

Astrophysics. Judy Garland. Faux Fur Coats. Glitter. In Junk Drawer, a new multidisciplinary, dance theater work created during the 2018 Bessie Schonberg (Boston) Fellowship at The Yard, Alexander & Joy Davis (The Davis Sisters), along with composer Eric Mullis explore the intersection of things in their lives that don't quite have their own place, but are too essential to keep hidden from sight.

SUBMITTED BY: Alexander Davis | The Davis Sisters | Boston, MA

LADIES AT A GAY GIRLS' BAR, 1938-1969
ARTIST: Maggie Cee
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary

“Ladies at a Gay Girls' Bar, 1938-1969” takes the audience into a mid-20th century urban American gay girls’ (to use the parlance of the time) bar, using dance, soundscapes, oral history and fictional monologues to explore the emotional and experiential realities of fem women. The piece brings LGBTQ and allied communities to a deeper connection to queer history, situating audience members within a specific, formative time that laid a foundation for modern LGBTQ life and activism.

SUBMITTED BY: M aggie Cee | In The Streets Productions | Boston, MA

LAST WARD
ARTIST: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre
DISCIPLINE: Dance

Last Ward follows one man’s journey towards death in a hospital. Surrounded by the sterile mechanisms of modern medicine, the patient reflects on his life, relationships and connection to place, as the ritual of doctor visits and family calls transform into a surreal landscape of tragedy and humor. Written/directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi with choreography/music by Samar Haddad King, Last Ward blends dance and theater (in Arabic with English subtitles) in a highly-visual evening length performance.

SUBMITTED BY: Karima Borni | Middlebury College | Middlebury, VT

LUYANDO
ARTIST: Mokoomba
DISCIPLINE: Music

Mokoomba brings a fresh vision to African music. Whether they are celebrating their roots or mixing a potent stew with ska, reggae and funk, this band will take you on a journey into the heart of Zimbabean society, culture and tradition.

SUBMITTED BY: Chloe Powell | BarnArts Center for the Arts | Barnard, VT

MEMOIRS OF A...UNICORN
ARTIST: Marjani Forte-Saunders
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Multidisciplinary

Memoirs of a…Unicorn is a solo evening length dance work that weaves sound and media to offer historic and personal narratives as embodied tales of fragmented histories, unabated love, and Warriorship. This work is an unearthing and exploration of Black American magic and resilience. Spurred by stories of her Arkansas born Father’s life, she explores the tenets of his identity while riffing in the wound of its creation story.

SUBMITTED BY: Michelle Daly | Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts | North Adams, MA

MERCY
ARTIST: Ronald K. Brown\EVIDENCE
DISCIPLINE: Dance

Evidence will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Grace I 19-20 with a newly commissioned companion piece called Mercy (working on Meshell Ndegeocello to create the music) – also new to the repertory is New Conversations with music by Arturo O’ Farrill.

SUBMITTED BY: Holly Jones | The Yard Inc. | Chilmark, MA

MOVING HISTORIES
ARTIST: Lenora Lee Dance
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Multidisciplinary

Moving Histories, a multi-media, multi-discipline immersive performance, integrates contemporary and historical research, and community storytelling. It will consider labor, displacement, and issues informed by research on Boston Chinatown, North Adams, and other significant sites of New England Chinese American history. It will engage audiences of all backgrounds in participant-driven dialogue on these issues. This performance can be adapted for proscenium stage.

SUBMITTED BY: Cynthia Woo | Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center | Boston, MA

NICO MUHLY'S "HOW LITTLE YOU ARE"
ARTIST: Roomful of Teeth and Dublin Guitar Quartet
DISCIPLINE: Music

Roomful of Teeth and the Dublin Guitar Quartet will launch a North American tour of a newly arranged version of Nico Muhly’s "How Little You Are" at Middlebury College in late January 2020. Originally commissioned by Texas Performing Arts for three guitar quartets and vocal choir, the libretto is made up of texts written by pioneer women during the 19th century. In addition to this powerful 40-minute, collaborative work, each ensemble will perform several shorter works on their own.

SUBMITTED BY: Allison Coyne Carroll | Middlebury Performing Arts Series |Middlebury, VT

NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
ARTIST: Svetlana & The Delancey Five
DISCIPLINE: Music

Svetlana and her Delancey 5 are conquering the world with their songs, on a mission to uplift, connect, and spread the joy of “exuberant foot–stomping music...” (WPIX/11 News). “Night at the Movies” is Svetlana’s new concert, arranged by Grammy-award winning Gill Goldstein, consisting of songs spanning a century of the art of film - accompanied by projections referencing these movies. “Breakfast at Tiffanny’s meets Some Like It Hot” (LucidCulture)

SUBMITTED BY: Svetlana Shmulyian | Svetlana & The Delancey Five |Middlebury, VT

OTHELLO IN THE SERAGLIO
ARTIST: DÜNYA
DISCIPLINE: Music, Live Opera Performance, and/or Film Screening of the Opera

We are getting ready to premiere the film version of this opera next spring. As a result, we are able to do screenings of the film (followed by Q&A) and/or live performances of what we have been calling a "coffeehouse opera" in which composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol reimagined Shakespeare's Othello as a former African slave, a powerful but aging eunuch. The story is set in a 17th c. Istanbul coffeehouse where a storyteller and 11 instrumentalists and singers guide the audience through the story.

SUBMITTED BY: Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol | DÜNYA | Belmont, MA

OTTO FRANK
ARTIST: Roger Guenveur Smith
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling

Otto Frank is a theatrical performance in development by stage and screen actor Roger Guenveur Smith, exploring the story and legacy of Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank. The piece considers this secondary character in Anne Frank's story and investigates the universality of this story as it relates to family relationships, loss and disappearance and anonymity, beyond the specific story of the Holocaust. Otto Frank will premiere in 2019 in Los Angeles.

SUBMITTED BY: Shannon Mayers | Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College | Keene, NH

PASSING
ARTIST: The Passing Project
DISCIPLINE: Dance

The Passing Project is comprised of a 77 min. performance, Passing, with community engagement opportunities. What is passed on to us and what do we pass on? What are our passing stories? The intention is to assuage fear and inspire acceptance. Passing is performed by seven dancers and four musicians. A set of hand-netted linen represents the veil between the worlds. It is a place of transformation, of spirit, of soul. The original score includes piano, guitar, clarinet, voice and accordions.

SUBMITTED BY: Tracy Penfield | The Passing Project | Chelsea, VT

THE PHUNKEE BASEMENT PARTY
ARTIST: The GroovaLottos
DISCIPLINE: Music, Cabaret

Remember those basement parties back in the day? Red light bulbs transformed the basement into a steamy club with a band in the corner cranking out funky grooves? Oh, you don't remember that party? Well, here's your chance to experience it. People meet, fall in love, hearts are broken, and the party goes on... cabaret style, interactive theater set to the music of The GroovaLottos.

SUBMITTED BY: Morgan James Peters | Song Keepers, LTD | Mashpee, MA

PULL | TIRER & THEY HAVE TAKEN NOTHING
ARTIST: Heather Stewart
DISCIPLINE: Dance

‘they have taken nothing and pull | tirer’ is an evening length performance featuring two original works by Canadian choreographer Heather Stewart and composer Marc Bartissol. Imbued with movement that takes its impulse from resistance and opposition these works offer audiences an intimate experience of dance and sound. Creating tension and submission through charged moments of contact and release the performers each seize piece of each other, dancing with a striking sense of technical rigor.

SUBMITTED BY: Heather Jane Stewart | Heather Stewart | Somerville, MA

PULSE
ARTIST: Mairi Campbell
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Movement

A Scottish musician's extraordinary tale of finding her way back home. An exhilarating blend of acting, music, movement and animation, PULSE tells Mairi's early life story from London classical viola playing, to Mexican mariachi music- her melding of personal anecdotes links times, places, people and traditions into a learning curve of defining experiences. Campbell opens her throat in a spirit of belonging, that is ancient and modern- and life affirming for all of us.

SUBMITTED BY: Sheryl Stoodley | Serious Play Theatre Ensemble | Northampton, MA

BROWSE PROJECTS BY TITLE: Q-Z

RE:MAIN
ARTIST: FUKUDANCE
DISCIPLINE: Dance

Re:main seeks to inspire self empowerment through contemporary dance by reflecting on contemporary issues as a community. In particular, Re:main is a cathartic exploration of one’s feelings of powerlessness amidst unjust and controlling forces in society.

SUBMITTED BY: Junichi MI Fukuda | FUKUDANCE | Winchester, MA

REQUIEM FOR AN ELECTRIC CHAIR
ARTIST: Toto Kisaku
DISCIPLINE: Theater

With a gun to his head, Toto Kisaku was moments away from being killed by his government when his executioner showed him a moment of mercy. His only crime? Creating art that questioned the practice of child exploitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Toto Kisaku found political asylum in the United States, but many people from his country have not been so fortunate.

SUBMITTED BY: Chad Herzog | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT

RESILIENCE
ARTIST: Samite Mulondo
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater

Acclaimed musician and humanitarian, Samite Mulondo, uses the healing power of music to share his message of peace and hope. Travel with him now as he shares a story that crosses boundaries both physically and emotionally. Resilience is a theatrical telling of his personal resilience beginning as a Ugandan refugee. Created and developed by the Autorino Center for the Arts at the University of Saint Joseph and HartBeat Ensemble, Hartford, CT.

SUBMITTED BY: Steven Raider Ginsburg | Autorino Center for the Arts, University of Saint Joseph | West Hartford, CT

RIVER/BODY
ARTIST: Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Multidisciplinary, Environmental

RIVER/BODY is a site-specific, multidisciplinary, community-engaging dance inspired by the Housatonic River. Our intention is to express the intense, immediate ways that our fluid bodies are inseparably intertwined with the water bodies that surround and support us. RIVER/BODY is about awakening the sensual heart of that relationship. It asks how does the continuous flow of the waters parallel our lives? What are our own wild currents? RIVER BODY can be performed in any body of water.

SUBMITTED BY: Paula Josa-Jones | Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works & Housatonic Heritage | Kent, CT

RUMPELSTILSKIN
ARTIST: Dream Tale Puppets
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Puppetry

In "Rumpelstilskin,” a lively take on the classic tale of gold and guessing games, a girl must spin straw into gold or lose her life. She is saved by a mysterious gnome, but his aid has its price. She must guess his name or give away her baby. This 40- minute show for children 4 years old and older and their families features five table-top puppets. Two puppeteers perform a number of roles as they bring the tale to life. An after show workshop in acting with puppets is optional.

SUBMITTED BY: J acek Zuzanski | Dream Tale Puppets | Somerville, MA

SAMMY AND "LE GRAND BUFFET"
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company
DISCIPLINE: Theater

"A charming children’s show about an American clown in Paris . . . Piti Theatre Company’s aim is simple: to delight audiences and artists alike . . . Piti lives up to this mission, as its clownish protagonist conquers clumsiness and language barriers to make us smile . . . Sammy thrives on audience interaction . . . it’s refreshing to have a space where youthful silliness and self-expression can run free." – Theatre is Easy Review from Piti's October 2018 FringeNYC run

SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin | Piti Theatre Company | Charlemont, MA

THE SEA: TALES OF LAPHAM
ARTIST: A Far Cry
DISCIPLINE: Music

The Sea is an evening-length symphonic song cycle inspired by the literary magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly. Using Lapham’s “The Sea” issue as eclectic libretto, the work weaves together texts by some of history’s greatest seafarers, explorers, and aquatic fabulists, from Shakespeare to Homer, and John Donne to the Book of Jonah. It was premiered in Boston at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in October ‘16, performed collaboratively by A Far Cry and Oracle Hysterical, supported by New Music USA.

SUBMITTED BY: Michael Unterman | A Far Cry | Boston, MA

A SINGULAR THEY
ARTIST: T oby MacNutt
DISCIPLINE: Dance

My body behaves as a liquid, taking its shape and motion from its environment. With crutches, I run; with the floor, I ripple and roll; with aerial silks, I fly. My disability and genders flow like tides. "A Singular They" is the working title for an evening-length solo show currently in development, exploring all my shifts and modalities through pieces created by me and other Vermont choreographers, a nonlinear narrative of a self in flux.

SUBMITTED BY: T oby MacNutt | Burlington, VT

SHADOWS ACROSS BORDERS
ARTIST: The Brothers Campur
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Puppetry

As night falls, a flame is lit and leather puppets come to life as shadows on a screen. The performers in this ‘wayang kulit’ bring together elements from all of Bali’s cultural traditions: mythology, music, visual arts, ritual, and comedy. They are The Brothers Čampur—Putu Rekayasa, Panji Wilimantara, Sam Jay Gold and Ian Coss—who next year will return for their third US tour, presenting this dynamic and interdisciplinary art form in schools, parks, theaters and universities.

SUBMITTED BY: Ian Coss | The Brothers Campur | Boston, MA

SPIRIT OF THE MACHINE
ARTIST: CORDIS / le Cirque Esprit
DISCIPLINE: Music, Circus

“Sparkling moments that defy classification” raves Billboard Magazine. le Cirque Esprit – a collaborative project between Boston alt-classical mavericks, CORDIS, and the renown acrobatic and visual artistry of ABCirque – present their latest creation: Spirit of the Machine. The show delivers a family-friendly, 90-minute breathtaking cirque show with internationally renown live music – all amidst an engaging 19th century steampunk aesthetic.

SUBMITTED BY: Richard Grimes | CORDIS/le Cirque Esprit | Needham, MA

SWINGING HARMONIES OF THE BIG BAND ERA
ARTIST: Vintage Vocal Quartet
DISCIPLINE: Music

The 1930s and 1940s hit the sweet spot when swing music, jazz music, and pop music were all one and the same. It was a time when every radio blared out music that was danceable yet sophisticated.
The Vintage Vocal Quartet dials in the sound of this era by singing while playing piano, bass, guitar and trumpet, so you’ll hear the full, rich style of the big band era in a tight little package.

SUBMITTED BY: David Thorne Scott | Vintage Vocal Quartet | Somerville, MA

A THOUSAND THOUGHTS
ARTIST: Kronos Quartet & Sam Green
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary, Film

Filmaker Sam Green takes the stage with the legendary classical-music group Kronos Quartet to create a “live documentary” that chronologically unfolds the quartet’s groundbreaking, continent-spanning, multi-decade career. Wildly creative and experimental in form, A Thousand Thoughts is a meditation on music itself-the act of listening closely to music, the experience of feeling music deeply, and the power that music has to change the world.

SUBMITTED BY: Chad Herzog | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT

TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company
DISCIPLINE: Theater

Farmer James has lost his bees, there’s only gruel to eat and now the townspeople (the audience) have arrived to protest, chanting “There’s no good food, we’re in a bad mood.” To Bee tells James’ comic, tragic and ultimately hopeful story – complete with puppetry, clowning, live music and lots of audience participation. Piti created this international touring show (also available in French) to raise awareness and provide audiences with tools for helping pollinators thrive in their communities.

SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin | Piti Theatre Company | Charlemont, MA

TRUCK STOP
ARTIST: Machine de Cirque
DISCIPLINE: Circus

A motley group of campers in search of adventure and thrills decides to hitch up their trailer to set out on a journey across the American continent. With a well-stocked cooler, windows wide open and music blaring, they are all set for an epic odyssey on wheels. Salty air that fills the lungs, enshrouding forests, electrifying cities, breathtaking mountains and plains that stretch as far as the eye can see hold the promise of an unforgettable trip.

SUBMITTED BY: Chad Herzog | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT

TSVEY BRIDER
ARTIST: Tsvey Brider
DISCIPLINE: Music

A year ago, I returned from an ethnographic trip to Belarus and Poland, full of Yiddish poetry I experienced by exploring the physical spaces that inspired it. The poetry was surprisingly sophisticated—not evocations of shtetl life but fleeting images of a distinctly urban, modernist moment. Tsvey Brider (Two Brothers) is an outfit for performing modern, idiosyncratic and unique musical interpretations of this poetry in contemporary genres ranging from classical to cabaret to hip-hop.

SUBMITTED BY: Anthony Russell |Tsvey Brider | Maynard, MA

UNTITLED
ARTIST: Frédérick Gravel
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary

Montreal-based choreographer Frédérick Gravel will premiere his new work in 2019/20 as he further investigates what it means to be human. As choreographer, lighting designer, and musician, his unique perspective will be shared in a new solo dance piece with live music accompaniment performed by Gravel and a backing band.The work will make its US Premiere at the Quick Center, in collaboration with DLD cie, Festival TransAmeriques, National Choreographic Center of Caen, and MuffaWerk.

SUBMITTED BY: Lori Jones | Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University | Fairfield, CT

UNTITLED NEW WORK BY DOUGLAS WEBSTER
ARTIST: Ice Dance International
DISCIPLINE: Dance

Unbound by space and time, figure skating has the ability to transport an audience into an ethereal world of flight and flow. In this new work that will be work shopped at NEFA funded Strawbery Banke performance and residency in February 2019 and built at IDI's 5th annual Sun Valley residency in the fall of 2019, Douglas will explore the unlimited possibilities of movement in the kinesphere of skating, stepping away from the theatrical qualities of figure skating performance.

SUBMITTED BY: Douglas Webster | Ice Dance International | Kittery, ME

(US)
ARTIST: JDPP Ensemble
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Spoken Word/Storytelling

(US) brings the artist’s eye to examine the current and past realities of the American immigrant experience. Incorporating dance, multimedia visuals, and a layered sound score, the performance boldly confronts the hot button issues of 2018: nationalism vs. patriotism; barriers vs. welcome; racism vs. inclusion; privilege vs. justice; and fear vs. sanctuary. It shies from none of them, yet is never consumed by them, moving steadily forward in the direction of hope. #DoorsNotWalls

SUBMITTED BY: Jennifer Eifrig | Judy Dworin Performance Project, Inc. | Hartford, CT

VESSEL
ARTIST: Passive Aggressive Novelty Company
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary, Projection Mapped Video

Confronting the audience with a triptych of projection-mapped performers, hand-drawn animation, and a 12-foot tall iridescent dress, Passive Aggressive Novelty Company presents the new multimedia performance Vessel, an evening length meditation on the uniquely human puzzle of inhabiting a world that is simultaneously real and imagined.

SUBMITTED BY: Andy Russ | Passive Aggressive Novelty Company | Providence, RI

VIC'S MIX AND EVER SO SLIGHTLY
ARTIST: RUBBERBANDance Group
DISCIPLINE: Dance

Los Angeles native Victor Quijada burst onto the scene with his Montreal-based company in 2002, uprooting the boundaries of contemporary dance and west coast hip hop to create a singular language that is uniquely his own. Vic’s Mix is a repertory program that spans 15 years of Victor’s choreographic journey and the evolution of his unique dance-form. Ever So Slightly is the company’s newest and largest creation to date featuring 10 dancers, 2 musicians and live dj mixing onstage.

SUBMITTED BY: Maure Aronson | World Music/CRASHarts | Cambridge, MA

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED
ARTIST: Daniel Bernard Roumain
DISCIPLINE: Music, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary, Opera

Called “The Best Classical Work of 2017” by the New York Times, Daniel Bernard Roumain's new opera is planning to tour in a new chamber form. Combining spoken word, contemporary movement, video projection, and a brooding, often joyful score filled with place, purpose, and possibility, We Shall Not Be Moved is a timely exploration of past and present struggles, exploring the tragic legacy of 1985 MOVE bombing, and suggesting an alternate future through the eyes of its young protagonists.

SUBMITTED BY: Kathleen Pletcher | FirstWorks | Providence, RI

WHAT WILL HAVE BEEN
ARTIST: C!RCA
DISCIPLINE: Circus

Hauntingly beautiful and truly virtuosic What Will Have Been is a sublime display of interlocking bodies, awe-inspiring movement and pure physical beauty. Acrobats will challenge your perceptions of what is possible within the human body and draw you deep into a world of physical daring. Joined by a live violinist and fusing together the music of Bach and spine-tingling electronica, this explosive new production is guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings and have you on the edge of your seat.

SUBMITTED BY: Chad Herzog | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT

WHAT WILL WE BE LIKE WHEN WE GET THERE
ARTIST: Joanna Kotze
DISCIPLINE: Dance

What will we be like when we get there is an interdisciplinary dance performance created with long time collaborators Netta Yerushalmy (dancer/choreographer), Jonathan Allen (visual artist) and Ryan Seaton (composer/musician). Our multidisciplinary team investigates physical, emotional, and artistic spectrums while reflecting on personal journeys and the current environment - bringing attention to our desires, flaws, strengths, and fantasies.

SUBMITTED BY: Holly Jones | The Yard Inc. | Chilmark, MA

THE WHOLEHEARTED
ARTIST: Stein | Holum Projects
DISCIPLINE: Theater

Spectators have a ringside seat for this “dazzling tour-de-force” (Los Angeles Times), a blood pumping revenge tragedy and intimate tribute to lost love. Once a championship boxer, Dee Crosby was taken down in her prime by her own husband. Now, Dee is hell-bent on revenge, no matter the cost. By turns “potent and enigmatic” (San Diego Union Tribune) and “boldly arresting” (Boston Globe), THE WHOLEHEARTED is an unsettling ride through the human heart.

SUBMITTED BY: Amanda Cooper | ALC Management | Philadelphia, PA

THE WILD DIVINE
ARTIST: Deborah Abel Dance Company
DISCIPLINE: Dance

The Wild Divine is the Deborah Abel Dance Company's 2018 evening-length concert, with original live music, sets, costumes and projections, performed by 11 dancers and 8 musicians. The work, inspired by a friend’s battle with ALS, depicts an emotional/spiritual pilgrimage to the true aliveness and beauty living inside us. Traveling to the wilds of the heart in a lush, mystical, and uplifting journey, we step out of our personae, visiting places of deep peace and sublime joy. We return awakened.

SUBMITTED BY: Deborah Abel | Deborah Abel Dance Company | Carlisle, MA

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