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idea swap PROJECT IDEAs 2013
Idea Swap is NEFA's annual event that provides opportunites for New England-based nonprofit presenting organizations to network and share project ideas.
Post your project idea below! Follow the instructions to the right to submit your project idea. These projects will have the potential to tour New England through NEFA's Expeditions grant program.
Learn more about the 12th annual Idea Swap and register today.
Fendika - music and dance from ethiopia - submitted 11/5
Title: Fendika - Music and Dance from Ethiopia
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artists: Fendika - Dancers and Musicians from Ethiopia
Fendika, a troupe of the most accomplished azmari musicians and dancers from Addis Ababa, draws deeply from the well of Ethiopia’s bardic tradition. Their creative performance style adds innovative movements and sounds that revitalize the ancient artistic forms. Led by Melaku Belay, Ethiopia’s leading dancer and a breathtaking interpreter of the shoulder dance eskista, Fendika presents the dynamic and colorful dances of Ethiopia’s 80 tribal groups. Performances build in sonic and dance intensity, often culminating in exciting interaction as Fendika members join the audience to invite dance participation.
Submitted by: Lynne Williamson, Institute for Community Research; Hartford, CT; Lynne.Williamson@icrweb.org
Haiti Speaks - submitted 10/30
Title: Haiti Speaks, Ayiti Dans (Haiti Speaks, Haiti Dances)
Category/Discipline: Haitian Contemporary Dance
Artist: Jean Appolon / Jean Appolon Expressions
www.jeanappolonexpressions.org
“Haiti Speaks, Ayiti Dans,” is a full-length work that transports audiences with the electric energy, technical artistry and passionate drumbeat of Haitian folkloric dance and music as interpreted by Jean Appolon. Appolon’s choreography, set to live percussion by JAE’s musicians, preserves Haitian folkloric dance but also advances the art form through a base in Modern (specifically Horton) technique. Appolon’s interpretations of 6 Haitian folkloric dances are woven together with spoken text performed by the dancers and written by Patrick Sylvian, noted Haitian-American poet.
Submitted by: Stephanie Scherpf, Jean Appolon Expressions; Boston, MA; JAExpressions@gmail.com
black girl - submitted 10/29
Title: Black Girl
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: Camille A. Brown and Dancers
Camille A. Brown and Dancers will be creating a new repertory length work called "Black Girl" - about beauty and the perceptions of beauty in urban culture. This repertory work will be informed by Tony Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," and imagery from Alice in Wonderland and will feature live music by pianist Scott Patterson and possibly a string player. Camille is imagining a program featuring live music that includes "Memories" - a beautiful duet to solo guitar and possibly "Matchstick - a quartet for the men on the company. Separately, her evening length work "Mr. TOL E. Rance" will also continue to tour.
Submitted by: David R. White, The Yard; Martha's Vineyard, MA; drw@dancetheyard.org
get on good foot - submitted 10/29
Title: Get on Good Foot
Category/Discipline: Dance
The Apollo Theater's James Brown Project, featuring Philadanco and a roster of choreographers including Otis Sallid, Derick Grant, Camille Brown, Ron Brown and Aakash Odedra. James Brown's music and legacy (and 80th birthday) celebrated through the dance step. Six choreographers were commissioned to give s creative interpretation of Brown's music and onart Philadanco to celebrate and newly create a global tribute to his influence on dance and culture. with guest tap, hip-hop, South Asian artists
Submitted by: David R. White, The Yard; Martha's Vineyard, MA; drw@dancetheyard.org
the subtle one - submitted 10/29
Title: The Subtle One
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: Ronald K Brown/Evidence
Ronald K Brown/Evidence will premiere and tour it's newest work "The Subtle One" set to the music of Jason Moran (trio). The work brings to the forefront the "Afircanmess" in Moran's work while allowing Ron to further explore the more contemporary side of his own blended style. The arrangement was actually composed by trio bassist Tarus Mateen and is on Moran's latest release Ten. The piece will be available for touring in the 14-15 season after its premiere during Evidence's home season. There will be limited live dates and other NE interest so far includes World Music/Crash Arts.
Submitted by: David R. White, The Yard; Martha's Vineyard, MA; drw@dancetheyard.org
the wondertwins - submitted 10/29
Title: The Wondertwins
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: The Wondertwins
The Wondertwins (Billy and Bobby Mcclain), outstanding pop and lockers out of Boston who are also amazing post-modern audiotrack designers and educators. They appear live at the Idea Swap. They are part of The Yard's TapTheYard project, and will be given their first creative residency ever by The Yard in 2014. They became household names on the Vineyard after their first MV appearance in 2013.
Submitted by: David R. White, The Yard; Martha's Vineyard, MA; drw@dancetheyard.org
maria montez 100 years -submitted 10/22
Title: Maria Montez 100 years
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: ECAS Theater
www.ecastheater.org
ECAS Theater is proud to collaborate with the Alta Escena theater company of the Dominican Republic in presenting their original play Maria Montez 100 Years. This play is a compelling look at the life and times of Maria Montez, a Hollywood film star from the 1940s who hailed from the Dominican Republic and came to be known as the “Queen of Technicolor.” Montez starred in twenty six films before dying a tragic and untimely death at her residence in Paris at age 39. The play is based on authentic letters that Montez wrote to her loved ones in Barahona, Dominican Republic, where she described her hard fought battle to become a movie star and the many challenges and adventures that she encountered along the way. This is a compelling story on many levels. A young woman from a small town in a foreign country finds a way to realize her dream of making it in Hollywood, becoming the first Latina film star there. A story of love lost and found, closely guarded family secrets, and the unstoppable willpower of a woman with a dream. The play is accompanied by an exhibit of original canvas movie posters from the era depicting Montez in her major motion picture roles. Each presentation will be followed by an interactive session with the play’s author who is also a noted Montez historian and a distant relative of the movie star. The Alta Escena theater company was founded in 1974 and features a cast of notable theater and television actors for Maria Montez 100 Years. This play made its US debut this past month with presentations in New York City and Providence, where the play drew more than three hundred spectators ranging from high school students to senior citizens who recalled fond memories of the screen star. ECAS Theater plans on bringing the play to Clark University in Springfield, MA, and the University of Rhode Island, marketing it to both academic and general audiences within the local Latino communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Submitted by: Francis Parra, ECAS Theater; Providence, RI; ecastheater@yahoo.com
southern comfort - submitted 10/22
Title: Southern Comfort
Category/Discipline: Music - Jazz
Artist: Regina Carter
www.reginacarter.com
Pre-eminent violinist and MacArthur Fellow Regina Carter will be releasing her newest album in March of 2014, which celebrates her Southern roots. The touring quintet will feature violin, slide guitar, accordion, bass and drums.
Submitted by: Cathy Edwards, International Festival or Arts and Ideas; New Haven, CT; cedwards@artidea.org
a man's requiem - submitted 10/21
Title: A Man's Requiem
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: SEOP Dance Company, Korea
http://kmpartists.com/seop/
A Man’s Requiem explores the powerful theme of “when a sinner dies he must be judged”. A Man’s Requiem uses both traditional and contemporary Korean dance techniques to create a stunning display of sound, color, and movement. The SEOP Dance Company, established in 1992, seeks to contemporize creative Korean dance through adequate harmony between the abstract and conception, with sentimental yet refined works with roots in the Korean dance and cultural traditions.
Submitted by: Ranjanaa Devi, UMass Amherst Asian Arts & Culture Program; Amherst, MA; devi@admin.umass.edu
Total Verrückt! - submitted 10/21
Title: Total Verrückt!
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Joanna Caplan
www.joannacaplan.ca
Have you heard the tale of the Jewish diseuse? The one where she wanders around the concentration camp singing her arias as she tries to escape the transport? Total Verrückt! tells her story, with inspiration from the work of Jewish Dutch poet Etty Hillesum, Jewish cabaret stars Max Ehrlich, Johnny & Jones, and Dora Gerson. Taking its name from the 1944 production performed by inmates at Westerbork transit camp, Total Verrückt! translates as “totally crazy.” Joanna Caplan developed Total Verrückt! in residency at Double Edge Theatre’s Farm Center, in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Her creation process combines Double Edge’s immersive actor training methodology with research into the ancestral memory of her cultural heritage and the rich legacy of Jewish artists. Total Verrückt! explores the Jewish imagination in the context of World War II and the Holocaust. By weaving stories and characters connected to pre-war Germany, the Weimar Republic and the height of the German Cabaret, the work expands the question of how we live through times characterized by strangeness and darkness. Blending myth and memory, Total Verrückt! asks questions about the necessity of art as a means of survival and an act of resistance.
Submitted by: Joanna Caplan, Individual Artist; Ashfield, MA; Joanna@doubleedgetheatre.org
being in the moment - submitted 10/18
Title: Being In The Moment; An Interactive Evening With An Improviser - Laszlo Gardony - Solo Piano
Category/Discipline: Music
Artist: Laszlo Gardony
http://www.facebook.com/LaszloGardony & http://www.LGJazz.com
Renowned improviser/composer, Laszlo Gardony creates a soulful, entertaining evening of on-the-spot improvisations, audience participation and unique renditions of popular songs, bringing the invigorating experience of "real-time decisions" to the audience in the spirit of warmth, sharing and openness. Audiences witness the moment to moment unfolding of the musical story and they actively participate. No two concerts are ever the same, but they always in tune with the evening - time and place.
Submitted by: Edith Toth, LG Jazz; Boston, MA; booking@lgjazz.com
hio ridge dance collective - submitted 10/18
Title: Hio Ridge Dance Collective
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artists: Cookie Harrist, Delaney McDonough, and Caity Richards
www.facebook.com/hioridgedance & www.cookieharrist.com
The Hio Ridge Dance Collective is a group of three young choreographers living and developing dances together in Denmark, Maine throughout Fall 2013. The HRDC is founded on the belief that the best dances are developed not from specific ideas but from significant time and space to let the work find itself. The choreographers find that young artists are rarely afforded such an environment and that this deprives modern dance from having young and mature contemporary art. This issue is faced straight on in their work: the process and the content are one.
Submitted by: Cookie Harrist, Hio Ridge Dance Collective; Denmark, ME; cookie.harrist@gmail.com
To Bee or not to bee - submitted 10/18
Title: To Bee or Not to Bee (Bee Week: Your Town)
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Piti Theatre Company
www.ptco.org/shows/to-bee-or-not-to-bee/
In 2012, Mahoosuc Arts Council turned "To Bee" into "Bethel Bee Week." In 2013 there will be 4 bee weeks around MA combining roundtables, screenings, planting days, school residencies and public performances. Use Piti's internationally acclaimed show to help your community become "bee-friendly"! Farmer James has lost his bees, there's only gruel to eat and 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 hopeful story with puppetry, clowning, dance, and live music. Available in french.
Submitted by: Jonathan Mirin, Piti Theatre Company; Shelbourne Falls, MA; jonathan@ptco.org
Innocenzo - submitted 10/18
Title: Inncenzo
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Piti Theatre Company
www.ptco.org/shows/innocenzo/en
Piti's autobiographical and surprisingly funny, clown-with-live-music performance for all ages is the first theatrical contribution to the international conversation about the risks of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phones, wifi, etc. A clown slowly falls sick and after visiting many md's and healers unable to explain his symptoms, he finally understands EMR is the cause. Add-ons include: multi-media exhibition, school residencies, expert roundtable, documentary screenings, version française.
Submitted by: Aranka Matolscy, Mahoosuc Arts Council; Bethel, ME; mahoosucarts@gmail.com
I am my father's daughter - submitted 10/18
Title: I Am My Father's Daughter
Category/Discipline: Music
Artist: Riffat Sultana
http://www.riffatsultana.com/
Riffat Sultana daughter of legendary Pakistani classical singer Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, channels the musical wisdom of 500 years and eleven generations of master musicians in her family in India and Pakistan. Riffat is the first woman in her family to sing in public and sings for all the woman in her distinguished family who never had the chance. Riffat & her ensemble explore Punjabi folk, ghazal, and qawwali (devotional Sufi songs) music.
Submitted by: Pamela Tatge, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts; Middletown, CT; Ptatge@wesleyan.edu
Words move/music moves - submitted 10/18
Title: Words Move/Music Moves: T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets and Beethoven's Opus 132
Category/Discipline: Spoken Word and Classical Music
Artist: Figures of Speech Theatre and DaPonte String Quartet
www.figures.org/fq & www.daponte.org
Words Move/Music Moves is a new collaboration between Figures of Speech Theatre and the DaPonte String Quartet: a recitation from memory of T.S. Eliot’s masterwork Four Quartets, with a performance of the Beethoven string quartet that Eliot loved. Great crossover possibilities among classical music, theater and poetry fans!
“Their compelling performances made the case for a collective power that only exceptional live performance could possibly deliver.... a genuine and organic manner in which to celebrate the greatness of both works.” Seth Warner, Olin Arts Center
Submitted by: Amy MacDonald, Friends of the DaPonte String Quartet; Damariscotta, ME; amym781@gmail.com
The Queue - submitted 10/18
Title: The Queue
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: Lucky Plush
http://www.luckyplush.com/
Co-created by Julia Rhoads & Leslie Danzig, The Queue is a novella-style dance-theater work drawing from the staging of early 20th-century slapstick, vaudeville, one-act plays. It is premised on the idea that public spaces hold concurrent dramas in which individuals play different roles to different people. In the communal spaces of a staged airport, plots unfold and intersect, and characters become embroiled in each other’s lives. As the tension unfolds, new storylines emerge and accumulate into a long-form arc. Engaging community activities available including inclusion of local choir.
Submitted by: Aimee Petrin, Portland Ovations; Portland, ME; ampetrin@portlandovations.org
Double Duo - submitted 10/18
Title: Double Duo
Category/Discipline: New Music
Artist: Paul Dresher Ensemble
http://www.dresherensemble.org/
Double Duo combines traditional chamber music instrumentation with newly invented instruments, including the Marimba Lumina, a specialized MIDI control surface capable of triggering myriad sounds and the Quadrachord, a 14-foot long guitar-like stringed instrument invented by Dresher that is plucked, bowed, hammered , strummed. The ensemble includes Dresher, Bang on a Can All Stars founding member Lisa Moore (piano), longtime Dresher collaborator Karen Bentley (violin) and percussionist Joel Davel. The program injects chamber series and recital halls with innovation and delightful surprises.
Submitted by: Aimee Petrin, Portland Ovations; Portland, ME; ampetrin@portlandovations.org
Brownstone - submitted 10/18
Title: Brownstone
Category/Discipline: New Music
Artist: Metropolis Ensemble
http://metropolisensemble.org/
Part concert, part installation, Brownstone is both experimental and experiential. Sited in multi-room space, the soundscape fills halls and stairways, creating a rhythmic and colorful sonic tapestry and blending with the various instruments in different ways depending on one’s location. Conceived by composer Jakub Ciupinski, the electro-acoustic composition can be appreciated in its parts or as a whole depending on the listeners’ location. Brownstone turns a chamber concert into an event. ME is currently working on a project with Questlove for BAM. This will be their first tour out of NYC. Strong education programs. Other projects/programs available.
Submitted by: Aimee Petrin, Portland Ovations; Portland, ME; ampetrin@portlandovations.org
Expedition - submitted 10/18
Title: Expedition
Category/Discipline: Live Art/Action Art
Artists:
Daniel S. DeLuca (http://danielsdeluca.com)
Jeff Huckleberry (http://jeffhuckleberry.com)
Sandy Huckleberry, (http://www.mobius.org/artist/sandy-huckleberry)
Vela Phelan (http://www.templeofmessages.com/vela/index.html)
Sandrine Schaefer (http://sandrineschaefer.com/home.html)
Alice Volger (http://choiceandcontrol.tumblr.com)
Six local artists will embark on a multi-week expedition to survey and discover resources within the territories now identified as New England. These artists will utilize a range of contemporary tools for travel, navigation, survival, research, and art making in order to maximize the ground covered and quality of content explored. The route will be a mixture of wild, rural, sub-urban, and urban areas that will be selected based on the groups’ interests in the topology and history of particular sites. The art is the expedition and it is being realized through collaborative, site sensitive, durational action.
Submitted by: Daniel S. DeLuca, Modius Inc.; Cambridge, MA; Daniel@mobius.org
Schwanze-Beast - submitted 10/18
Title: Schwanze-Beast
Category/Discipline: Interdisciplinary Performance (Theater/Video)
Artist: Alina Troyana (a.k.a. Carmelita Tropicana) in collaboration with Ela Troyano and Susanne Sachsse
http://carmelitatropicana.com
Schwanze-Beast is an evening length work with video projections and an art installation/set by long time collaborators performance artist Carmelita Tropicana and filmmaker Ela Troyano, along with Berliner actor/director Susanne Sachsse. S-B mixes the psychological sci-fi thriller with the performative scientific lecture to pose the question: "what separates human from beast?" S-B is hybrid in form, mixing languages, English, German and Spanish to address civil rights of the animal species, delving into biotech and bio-politics in a minimal expressionistic performance style.
Submitted by: Sara Coffey, Vermont Performance Lab; Guilford, VT; sara@vermontperforamncelab.org
From refugee camp to project - submitted 10/18
Title: From Refugee Camp to Project
Category/Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Artist: Sokeo Ros
This project, From Refugee Camp to Project, is a one-man show that tells the story of an individual who survived the refugee camps in Thailand, thus making it to the United States where he lived in a low-income neighborhood that was filled with gangs, poverty and violence. Through hip-hop dance, traditional Khmer dance, theater, spoken word, and video, he will share experiences and stories from the refugee camps and urban life as to how he has tried to stay away from the negative aspects found within his environments.
Submitted by: Sokeo Ros, Individual Artist; Providence, RI; sros@everettri.org
Dancers and Musicians from Syiah Kuala University - submitted 10/18
Title: Dancers and Musicians from Syiah Kuala University (Indonesia)
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artists: Dancers and Musicians from Syiah Kuala University (Indonesia)
Wesleyan seeks partners to host the first-ever U.S. appearance by a all-star group of Acehnese performers, aged 18 to 40, who perform a centuries-old all-female form. The genre is one of the best illustrations of the transcultural blending of Islam and Indonesian culture where singer-dancers sing both Islamic liturgical and local secular texts. Their performances are very accessible and surprisingly reminiscent of American forms that utilize body percussion.
Submitted by: Pamela Tatge, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts; Middletown, CT; ptatge@wesleyan.edu
Concert with Tanya Tagaq and TBA Collaborators - submitted 10/17
Title: Concert with Collaborators TBA
Category/Discipline: Music
Artist: Tanya Tagaq
http://mainstagemanagement.com/artists/tanya-tagaq/
Tanya Tagaq, who you may have seen at 2009 Global Fest or w/Kronos Quartet, is an avant-garde Inuit throat singer. Since breaking onto the world stage in 2001, she has emerged as a Canadian national treasure. Her music defies description. Alternately called primal, orchestral or free jazz, her performances are improvised and, as she says, “I dial in another frequency. I go to places where I surrender to all that terrifies and excites me.” The result is a staggering music performance that portrays in full color sound the scope of her life experiences. The Hop will anchor a Jan or Feb tour.
Submitted by: Margaret Lawrence, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College; Hanover, NH; Margaret.lawrence@dartmouth.edu
Lotus Lives - submitted 10/17
Title: Lotus Lives
Category/Discipline: Music, Theater, Video
Artists: Su Lian Tan, composer; Anne Babson, librettist; Tim Bartlett, video set and projections
http://suliantan.com/, http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/music/faculty/node/26891is
Lotus Lives is a chamber opera, scored for two singers with brass ensemble, that brings a fascinating juxtaposition of chronologies, an exploration of themes of growth and discovery, and the crossing and interpenetration of cultures. The on-screen and live action takes place in London, Southeast Asia and the U.S.A. and is held in a shifting panorama of singers, dancers, instrumentalists, and shadow puppetry, both live and prerecorded. With elements of rap, Chinese folk music, and dance-club music incorporated into its high-art classical melodies, these components are blended into a delicious and exuberant romp within a dazzling display of electronics. Tufts University would like to host a performance in spring 2015 and we invite you to join us in our Expedition.
Submitted by: Su Lian Tan, MIddlebury College; Middlebury, VT; tan@middlebury.edu
John McDonald, Tufts University; Medford, MA; John.McDonald@tufts.edu
"wot? no fish!!" - submitted 10/17
Title: "Wot? No Fish!!"
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artists: Bread and Circuses Theater Company, Written and Performed by Danny Braverman, Directed by Nick Philippou
http://wotnofish.wordpress.com/about/about-breadcircuses/
In 1926 shoemaker Ab Solomons drew a doodle on the wage-packet he gave to his wife Celie. Throughout their marriage, right up until 1982, Ab developed his art, drawing a wage-packet cartoon every week for Celie. These cartoons chronicle Ab and Celie’s family life, through ups and downs, with great wit and warmth and a blistering honesty. Danny Braverman’s solo show tells the moving story of how he discovered the lost art of his Great-uncle Ab. Wot? No Fish!! is an extraordinary story about love, art, and history.
Submitted by: David Henry, Institute of Contemporary Art; Boston, MA; dhenry@icaboston.org
Akasha - submitted 10/17
Title: Akasha
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: Shantala Shivalingappa
www.Shantalashivalingappa.com
Choreographer and Dancer, Shivalingappa was born in Madras and raised in Paris. Trained in the classical Indian dance form of Kuchipudi, she also has worked with some of the greatest western artists including Pina Bausch and Peter Brooks making her a unique artist who embodies both a traditional dance form and contemporary dance theater. Her latest work Akasha (Sky in Sanskrit) was choreographed by her in 2013 and premiered in France. It is a solo dance in five parts with four live musicians on percussion, vocal and flute.
Submitted by: David Henry, Institute of Contemporary Art; Boston, MA; dhenry@icaboston.org
Rising - Submitted 10/17
Title: Rising
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: Aakash Odedra
www.aakashodedra.com
Widely known as an accomplished Kathak dancer and a rising star of British dance, Odedra has trained with dancers in both India and the UK. In 2011 he worked with three acclaimed choreographers: Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and Russell Maliphant. Each created a solo on Aakash’s body and, in turn allowed him to observe each of their processes. Rising is the culmination of this investigation and includes the three solos plus one by Odedra. The Aakash Odedra Company offers a number of educational packages in both Kathak and contemporary dance that can be customized to fit the needs of individual communities.
Submitted by: David Henry, Institute of Contemporary Art; Boston, MA; dhenry@icaboston.org
War/peace - submitted 10/17
Title: War/Peace
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Seth Lepore
www.sethums.com
This week-long participatory installation allows the community to cultivate a better understanding of war and peace. Information gathered over the course of the week is presented as a 75-minute performance. Participants are interviewed for half hour segments. All points of view are welcome across the spectrum, regardless of political agendas and religious belief systems. Community members are also given the opportunity to create visual representations of their ideas, feelings, and thoughts.
Submitted by: Seth Lepore, the Seth Lepore Project; Easthampton, MA; seth@sethums.com
The Seth Lepore Trilogy - Submitted 10/17
Title: The Seth Lepore Trilogy
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Seth Lepore
www.sethums.com
“Lepore… [is] part Friedrich Nietzsche, part Jim Carrey…”
A trilogy of one-man shows about the underbelly of the self-help movement. Losing My Religion: Confessions of a New Age Refugee is a hysterical romp through America’s spiritual enterprise. SuperHappyMelancholyexpialidocious is Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Something That Feels Better Than This. Kicking Ass and Taking Names takes on Measuring Success One Failure at a Time.
The first two shows are scripted. Kicking Ass is interactive.
Submitted by: Seth Lepore, the Seth Lepore Project; Easthampton, MA; seth@sethums.com
Firecracker Bye Bye - Submitted 10/17
Title: Firecracker Bye Bye
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Seth Lepore
www.sethums.com
A Comedic Tearjerker About the Best Italian-American Grandmother. Ever.
“...this heartfelt show is just about impossible not to enjoy.” TC Daily Planet
Lepore playfully prods the Italian-American obsessions of food, homemade sweaters and unfiltered discourses that border on the absurd. Through a vulnerable wit, he shows how his grandmother became a second parent to him, leading to the ludicrous and heartfelt moments of life amongst the inevitably of loss.
Submitted by: Seth Lepore, the Seth Lepore Project; Easthampton, MA; seth@sethums.com
Present Shock - Submitted 10/17
Title: Present Shock
Category/Discipline: Theater
Artist: Seth Lepore
www.sethums.com
A multi-media devised theater piece based on the book by Douglas Rushkoff and the perceptive spaces of James Turrell.
A womb-like atmosphere is shared by audience and performers. The fourth wall dissolves into a communal space, bearing witness to a future we have hastily arrived at and are now consistently entrapped in. Through our ever-growing access to technology, the ensemble will personify the pathos of this effect on the characters presented.
Development: 2015. Premiere: 2016.
Submitted by: Seth Lepore, the Seth Lepore Project; Easthampton, MA; seth@sethums.com
Hyphen - Submitted 10/17
Title: Hyphen
Category/Discipline: Dance/Performance
Artist: Catherine Cabeen
www.catherinecabeen.com
Hyphen is a contemporary dance company that connects interdisciplinary collaborations with the dancing body. Anchored in the work of dancer Catherine Cabeen, Hyphen's productions have been called, "highly kinesthetic, virtuosic, and beautifully performed..." by the New York Times. Hyphen's repertory program can vary in scale from a solo show to a full ensemble production with five dancers and two live musicians, in order to fit a variety of venues and budgets.
Submitted by: Steve MacQueen, Flynn Theater; Burlington, VT; smacqueen@flynncenter.org
The Burial at Thebes - Submitted 10/17
Title: The Burial at Thebes
Category/Discipline: Theatre/Music
Artist: theatre KAPOW
www.tkapow.com
With The Burial at Thebes, recently deceased Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney delivers an exquisite adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone, reviving the Greek tale of self-sacrifice for a contemporary audience. As with the original, The Burial at Thebes centers on the never resolved conflict between a person's individual rights and the demands of the state. The story is 2,500 years old, but one need only look to very recent events surrounding the burial of a domestic terrorist to find relevance.
Submitted by: Carey Cahoon, theatre KAPOW; Manchester, NH; ccahoon@tkapow.com
The Nile Project - Submitted 10/15
Title: The Nile Project
Category/Discipline: Music
Artist: Meklit Hadero, various African musicians
www.thenileproject.org
A collaboration of Nile basin composers and musicians performing new music to inspire cultural and environmental curiosity in the river's ecosystem, TNP’s unique sound comes from collectively composed new musical works. A powerful pan-Nile percussion section drives this orchestra of Ethiopian, Egyptian, and Ugandan musicians and multiple vocalists singing in 11 different languages. It also includes Bay Area-based Ethiopian musician/2012 Ted Fellow Meklit Hadero. TNP will tour New England in spring, 2015, emphasizing educational residencies and community partnerships.
Submitted by: Margaret Lawrence, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College; Hanover, NH; Margaret.lawrence@dartmouth.edu
Freedom Project - Submitted 10/15
Title - Freedom Project
Category/Discipline - Multidisciplinary
Artist - Everett Company
EverettRI.org
Freedom Project is a devised multidisciplinary theater production based on experiences of people who have been marginalized by the American criminal justice system. It will also incorporate interviews with police, prosecutors, judges, and those working to change the system. It will examine mass incarceration through the lens of personal stories, and in the context of jarring statistics that reveal gross racial and socioeconomic disparities in the way the law is applied.
Submitted by: Aaron Jungels,Everett: Company, Stage & School; Providence, RI; ajungels@everettri.org
50 years after the fire - Submitted 10/15
Title: 50 Years After the Fire
Category/Discipline: Music
Artist: Craig Harris/MCLA Jazz Band
www.craigsharris.com/biography/
Craig is working on a new full length piece that will roll out over the next ten years, witih new work each year, entitled "50 Years After the Fire". Taking the seminal happenings of the civil rights movement, anti-war movement, women's movement etc, he is composing new work for each year from 1962-1972.
This year he is in residency at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, putting new music on the student acapello group, as well as performing with his NYC based musicians.
Submitted by: Jonathan D. Secor, MCLA Presents!, MCLA Berkshire Cultural Resource Center; North Adams, MA; jonathan.secor@mcla.edu
Enlightenment on E Floor North - SUBMITTED 9/26
Title: Enlightenment on E Floor North
Category/Discipline: Theatre (devised/ensemble)
Artist: Strange Attractor Theatre
www.strangeattractor.org
Strange Attractor takes on jobs in America by examining the museum security guard. We turn our curiosity toward the endless cycle of mindless work, utilizing our character-driven, highly physical, and outlandishly absurd style to follow four guards on an average day to reveal what actually happens when you pass the time while on the clock. Developed throughout 2013 in Rhode Island, Maine, Philadelphia, and Southeast Alaska, Enlightenment is touring New England in the spring and summer of 2014.
Submitted by: Rebecca Noon, Strange Attractor Theatre; Providence, RI; info@strangeattractor.org
Mr. TOL E. RAncE - SUBMITTED 9/24
Title: Mr. TOL E. RAncE
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: Camille A. Brown and Dancers
www.camilleabrown.org
Inspired by Mel Watkins’ book, “On The Real Side: From Slavery to Chris Rock”, Spike Lee’s controversial movie, “Bamboozled”, and Dave Chappelle’s “dancing vs. shuffling” analogy, this evening-length dance theater work celebrates African-American humor, examines “the mask” of survival and the “double consciousness” (W.E.B. DuBois) of the black performer throughout history and the stereotypical roles dominating current popular Black culture.
Submitted by: Laura Faure, Bates Dance Festival; Lewiston, ME; lfaure@bates.edu
Come and back Again - Submitted 9/19
Title: Come and Back Again
Category/Discipline: Dance
Artist: David Dorfman Dance
www.daviddorfmandance.org
Seeking presenting partners for David Dorfman's newest work, Come, and Back Again, an evening-length elegiac exploration of the virtuosity of daily life, vulnerability, and mortality. Driven by the charged poetry and unapologetic, raw ferocity of indie, punk, and folk rock music including venerated artists such as Atlanta, GA band “Smoke” and Patti Smith, the godmother of punk, five dancers and five musicians embark on a kinetic anthem of reckless personal abandon - taking on time, and how memory influences and manages our slippery, elastic existence.
Submitted by: Laura Faure, Bates Dance Festival; Lewiston, ME; lfaure@bates.edu
ICARUS - Submitted 9/17
Title: ICARUS
Category/Discipline: Theatre /Experimental Musical Theatre
Artist: Liars & Believers
www.liarsandbelievers.com
Mythology meets burlesque, puppetry, and a modern Americana score in the latest piece of theatrical innovation from acclaimed ensemble Liars & Believers. Set in a Depression-era sideshow, ICARUS tells a tale of parents, children, greed and excess reflecting our own recently collapsed economy. The New York Times calls ICARUS “intriguingly ominous” with a “tangy score” while Boston Survival Guide calls Liars & Believers "the region's most experimental and visionary artists".
Submitted by: Jason Slavick, Artistic Director, Liars & Believers; Cambridge, MA; jason@liarsandbelievers.com
Moment of Impact - SUBMITTED 9/16
Title: Moment of Impact
Category/Discipline: Theatre/ Physical Theatre
Artist: Bronwyn Sims / Strong Coffee Stage
www.bronwynsims.com
www.strongcoffeestage.com
MOMENT OF IMPACT PHYSICAL THEATER/AERIAL PERFORMANCE
Inspired by a real life journey by train from Brattleboro to New Haven, Moment of Impact explores the vast ripple effect caused by one unexpected and tragic event. Seamlessly shifting between lyrical aerial performance, virtuosic physical theatre, storytelling and comedy, solo performer Bronwyn Sims shares a deeply personal story of love, loss, life and ambition. Moment of Impact is currently available for touring. We are interested in doing a New England Tour. Workshops and teaching residencies are also available and can be included with performances.
Submitted by: Bronwyn Sims, Strong Coffee Stage Company; Guilford, VT; bronwyn@strongcoffeestage.com
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Burning Bridge - Submitted 9/16
Title: Burning Bridge
Category/Discipline: Jazz, Improvised Music, World Music
Artist: Jason Kao Hwang
www.jasonkaohwang.com
From Kevin Whitehead’s NPR Review: “Jason Kao Hwang's octet is a mixed ensemble of jazz, classical and Chinese instruments: there's drums, a brass trio and a quartet of bowed or plucked strings. The Chinese pipa and erhu fit in seamlessly, but then traditional East Asian players incorporate striking textures, expressive vibrato and tremolo and pitch bends — rather like jazz musicians. For all the mixing, Hwang calls Burning Bridge a jazz composition. The improvisers energize, illuminate and personalize the written material.
Hwang has said the way he mediates among his various musical worlds is a mix of conscious and unconscious processes: Some of the music is plotted out and some just floats to the top because of who he is. That natural flow is one of strengths of Burning Bridge; the mixing doesn't feel contrived. To extrapolate a little, this multifaceted music recognizes how we all define ourselves in different ways at different times; our behavior shifts to accommodate coworkers, family, friends or strangers. Which is to say we're all code switchers. Jason Kao Hwang makes us hear what that sounds like.”
Featuring: Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Wang Guowei (erhu), Sun Li (pipa), Ken Filiano (string bass), Andrew Drury (drum set), Joseph Daley (tuba), Steve Swell (trombone), Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet/flugelhorn).
Submitted by:
Glenn Siegel, Magic Triangle Jazz Series; Fine Arts Center, UMASS; Amherst, MA; advisor@wmua.org