Stay Connected
Receive the latest news, grant offerings, and community events.
Post your project idea! Follow the instructions below. These projects will have the potential to tour New England through NEFA's Expeditions grant program.
Learn more about the 14th 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 Friday, October 16, 2015. If you are selected to present, you will be notified by October 29.
- 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.
by 10.16.15
Browse ProjectS By Title: A - H
ANGAJE
ARTIST: Jean Appolon Expressions
DISCIPLINE: Dance
ANGAJE is a full-length production created by Jean Appolon and set to the music of Haitian legend Toto Bissainthe. In Haitian Creole, “Angaje” means “committed” or “engaged," with the implied meaning of political engagement. ANGAJE is inspired by the struggle against homophobia and the power of Haitian folkloric culture in the fight for justice. Performed by JAE's Boston-based Haitian contemporary company of six dancers, ANGAJE has a run-time of 75 min with one intermission.
SUBMITTED BY: Stephanie Scherpf | Jean Appolon Expressions |Boston, MA
ANIMAL
ARTIST: Hanna Satterlee
DISCIPLINE: Dance
Using live dance, layered sound, an environmental film backdrop and detailed lighting design, ANIMAL showcases physical power and energetic intuition to bring out the instinctual animal that lives within every one of our human bodies. ANIMAL studies how we communicate viscerally in relationship to both one another as well as the environments we occupy, and has been structured for theater performances, durational collaborative installations and in various natural settings.
SUBMITTED BY: Hanna U. Satterlee| Montpelier, VT
ALL FOR LOVE AND LOVE FOR ALL
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company
DISCIPLINE: Theater
This solo clown performance being developed in collaboration with Avner the Eccentric will premiere in Switzerland in fall, 2016 and tour in the U.S. in spring, 2017. Our hero is a lovelorn "roadie" having quite a hard time setting up for a Valentine's Day rock concert that's going to happen in about 45 minutes. In the course of his preparations, he discovers some things about love and just how badly physical objects can behave. "Mirin is a performer with energy to burn.” -nytheater.com
SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin | Piti Theatre Company| Shelburne, MA
ART OF THE DUO: COMPLEX STORIES, SIMPLE SOUNDS
ARTIST: Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne
DISCIPLINE: Music
Described as a "winning performance" by the Daily Star, Complex Stories, Simple Sounds is a collaboration project between the award-winning Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh and Sri Lankan-born Canadian innovative pianist and composer Dinuk Wijeratne, both Juilliard school graduates. The project fuses elements of Arabic and Southeast Asian vocabulary with classical and jazz music idioms to create a new sonic world that the legendary Marcel Khalife called "wings of breath".
SUBMITTED BY: Melissa Richmond | West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts| Claremont, NH
BEE WEEK USA
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
Bee Week USA is a spring, 2017 national tour of pollinator-inspired performances, workshops, panels, planting days and more, including:
- Piti Theatre’s internationally acclaimed performances To Bee or Not to Bee and Innocenzo
- Communities across the country holding their first Bee Weeks
- Our goal of major media coverage
- Fundraising to support planting of bee friendly habitat
SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin | Piti Theatre Company| Shelburne, MA
DORA
ARTIST: Wendy Woodson & Present Company Inc.
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Dora, a new play written by Wendy Woodson, features two characters caught in an intense balancing act between visceral poetry and feverish movement as they engage in tender and violent attempts to piece together lost memories of a shared ‘mission’ and find new ground. Dora was inspired by stories of refugees and resistance fighters, Freud’s Dora and the concept of ‘solastalgia’ defined as the pain one experiences when the place where one lives is under immediate assault.
SUBMITTED BY: Wendy Woodson | Wendy Woodson & Present Company Inc.| Amherst, MA
EMERGENCE
ARTIST: FUKUDANCE/NH
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Multidisciplinary
Emergence is an evening of contemporary dance and electronic music with a rare approach to performing art and technology. The work focuses on establishing a pipeline between music, technology, and dance by engaging them in a live conversation. The use of video tracking technology allows the dancer to initiate and compose music spontaneously with each movement. This cross-disciplinary work can be produced not only in theaters but in museums, galleries, outdoor spaces, and warehouses.
SUBMITTED BY: Junichi Fukuda | FUKUDANCE/NH| Portsmouth, NH
FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT
ARTIST: Bryony Kimmings
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Inspired by the taboos, stigmas, anomalies and social injustices around her, Bryony Kimmings creates mind-blowing, multi-platform art works to provoke change. Her latest work is inspired by her real-life partner's struggle with severe clinical depression. Through humor, personal reflections, tears and truths, this is a wickedly heartwarming and funny celebration of the wonders and pitfalls of the human brain, as the duo seek to unpick what it takes to be a “real man."
SUBMITTED BY: Halina Kusleika | UMass Fine Arts Center| Amherst, MA
FEATHERS OF FIRE: A PERSIAN EPIC
ARTIST: Hamid Rahmanain, Larry Reed, ShadowLight Productions
DISCIPLINE: Puppetry
Feathers of Fire is a shadow play combining puppets and shadow casters. Based on the classic love story from the Shahnameh, it has all the trappings of a classic tale: In Iran, a boy is forsaken by his father and raised in the wild by a magical bird. The boy grows up and falls in love with Rudabeh, a beautiful young woman whose ancestor is a never-forgotten enemy of the Persians. The star-crossed lovers are determined to be together, even as war and death threaten to tear them apart.
SUBMITTED BY: Melissa Hibbard | Two Chairs Inc| New York, NY
FREEDOM PROJECT
ARTIST: Everett Company
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
Everett’s Freedom Project is a multimedia physical theater piece that interweaves gripping personal stories, evocative imagery, and athletic choreography in an examination of mass incarceration in America. With material drawn from extensive research, as well as personal experience, the Everett Company calls upon our common humanity to challenge the conditions that have transformed the “land of the free” into the most incarcerating country in the world.
SUBMITTED BY: Aaron Jungels | Everett | Providence, RI
FROM REFUGEE CAMP TO PROJECT
ARTIST: Sokeo Ros
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
From Refugee Camp to Project is a one-man show that tells the story of an individual who survived the refugee camps, then 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, Ros shares experiences and stories from the refugee camps and urban life.
SUBMITTED BY: Sokeo Ros | Providence, RI
FROM STEM TO STEAM: INTEGRATING THE ARTS INTO CURRICULUM
ARTIST: Marvelous Marvin
DISCIPLINE: Theater
For 25 years, Marvin has written, produced and performed science and math shows for children. Marvin has taken curriculum and infused his artistic stamp using magic tricks, circus arts, great visuals and a rhyming text to educate and entertain. The Magic Of Science demystifies the scientific process. How The Body Works brings physiology to life. Bugging Out is about bugs and Mathblast makes math fun. It's the "Art of Education."
SUBMITTED BY: Marvin Novogrodski | Marvelous Marvin| East Providence, RI
GUMDROPS & THE FUNNY UNCLE
ARTIST: Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle is a un-Nutcracker dance/theatre work about families we were born into and families of choice. LGBTQ/adoptive/bi-racial life-issues - any of us who feel "other" - will identify. Adaptable to include local community participants as desired by presenter. Gumdrops will workshop at the Dance Complex in 2015, and be presented for 3 years at Boston Center for the Arts. This work is adapted from the original touring production created for Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.
SUBMITTED BY: Peter DiMuro | Peter DiMuro/Public Display of Motion| Boston, MA
A GUN SHOW
ARTIST: So Percussion
DISCIPLINE: Music
VPL is seeking presenters to join a tour of A Gun Show, an evening length work created by So Percussion in collaboration with director Ain Gordon and choreographer Emily Johnson. The piece is about our relationship to guns and will take the form of Greek Tragedy - a series of episodes, each followed by commentary from a chorus of drummers. Spoken/sung text, choreography and video will stitch the evening together. The work will premiere in fall 2016 be available for touring in January 2017.
SUBMITTED BY: Sara Coffey | Vermont Performance Lab| Guilford, VT
Browse projects by titLe: I - P
ICE DANCE INTERNATIONAL's MISSION AND GOALS
ARTIST: Ice Dance International
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Multidisciplinary, Ice Dancing
Ice Dance International aims to create a classical and contemporary ice ballet company. We are also focused on ice dancing as a recognized art form with the emphasis on art more than sport. We have a home in New England but have national and international reach through programming. We are also motivated to share our outreach programs that celebrate the joy of skating with all and encourage skating as a healthy life long activity. We are planning a New England presence in the winter months.
SUBMITTED BY: Douglas Webster|Ice Dance International| Kittery, ME
IMAGINARY
ARTIST: Lida Winfield
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Spoken Word/Storytelling
IMAGINARY is a community-based dance/theater performance that explores our capacity to be courageous or cowardly. Community participants will assume each others identity, blurring the line as to whose story belongs to whom and challenging how we perceive the reality and identity of others and ourselves. IMAGINARY has been co-commissioned by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and will premiere there in the 2016/17 season. We are currently looking for additional commissioners.
SUBMITTED BY: Lida Winfield| Shelburne, VT
IMPROVISATIONS: SOUND AND LIGHT
ARTIST: Debo Band with the Joshua Light Show
DISCIPLINE: Music
Improvisations: Sound and Light, the working title for this collaboration, brings together critically acclaimed Ethiopian pop ensemble, Debo Band, and pioneers of the psychedelic experience, The Joshua Light Show. This innovative project builds on a 2012 performance at NYU Skirball presented by globalFEST. A dance party plus an immersive light show experience best suited for a concert hall, the project can be presented in a variety of indoor settings. We look to tour New England in Fall 2016.
SUBMITTED BY: Danny Mekonnen| Debo Music Productions | Jamaica Plain, MA
INNOCENZO
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Innocenzo blends live music, humor and magic to tell the story of a clown who falls sick. After visiting many doctors and healers unable to explain his bewildering symptoms, he finally understands his illness is being caused by electromagnetic pollution and begins to heal. The show is joyous, poetic and for all ages. Families are increasingly waking up to the idea that 24X7 exposure to electrosmog carries serious risks and are pleased to find a show that delights while raising awareness.
SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin | Piti Theatre Company| Shelburne, MA
IN MY SHOES
ARTIST: Judy Dworin Performance Project
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary
In My Shoes presents an authentic, provocative and soul-searching journey of the walk to prison and back and probes what it means to be truly free. Performed by women who have made the walk themselves and The Ensemble of the Judy Dworin Performance Project, it premiered at Hartford Stage (2014) to sold-out crowds and to standing ovations ever since. Through dance, spoken word and song, the piece portrays some of the most salient issues of incarceration in a transformative evening of theater.
SUBMITTED BY: Tracey Mozdzierz | Judy Dworin Performance Project | Hartford, CT
IN SEARCH OF AIR: GROWING UP DYSLEXIC
ARTIST: Lida Winfield
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Spoken Word/Storytelling
One-hour dance/theater performance based on her experience growing up with a learning disability, choreographer and spoken word artist Lida Winfield shares the gifts and heartache that accompanied her struggle to learn to read — which did not occur until her early twenties. Mixing vignettes woven in a creative and captivating format, the show and companion workshops are a platform to engage a wide variety of populations to experience disability, access and the value of the arts.
SUBMITTED BY: Lida Winfield| Shelburne, VT
INVISIBLE: IMPRINTS OF RACISM
ARTIST: Anna Myer and Dancers/beheard.world Performing Arts
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
Invisible: Imprints of Racism is a mixed genre performance that utilizes modern and hip hop dancers, combined with three of Boston’s finest poets to plumb the emotional issues of race in urban America. Under the directorial leadership of choreographer Anna Myer and playwright Jay Paris, the performance explores the difficult parameters of what divides us but also what is available beyond anger and victimization to what we share in common.
SUBMITTED BY: Anna Myer | Anna Myer and Dancers/beheard.world Performing Arts | Cambridge, MA
JIMMY & LORRAINE
ARTIST: HartBeat Ensemble
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Written by Talvin Wilks and directed by HartBeat’s Brian Jennings, Jimmy & Lorraine is a meditation on the political climate of the 50’s and early 60’s through the lens of two significant artists of the time, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry. Using text from journals, letters, plays, novels and media clips, Wilks and Jennings forge together a picture of this period in American history with Baldwin and Hansberry front and center navigating the challenging terrain of race, class and sexuality.
SUBMITTED BY: Julia B. Rosenblatt | HartBeat Ensemble| Hartford, CT
KANAPOLIS: A MOVING PORTRAIT
ARTIST: Jenny Scheinman
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
In this project commissioned by Duke Performances, composer, singer, violinist Jenny Scheinman invites us into the world of Depression-era filmmaker, H. Lee Waters. From 1936-42, he filmed people in the South in a collection he called "Movies of Local People." Scheinman performs her original live score to Waters' footage, reworked into a new film by Finn Taylor. The humanity in these images has a transcendent, universal quality that speaks profoundly to audiences.
SUBMITTED BY: Natalie Neuert| UVM Lane Series| Burlington, VT
MADE IN CHINA
ARTIST: Wakka Wakka
DISCIPLINE: Puppetry
Wakka Wakka's a NY-based puppet company evoking "the best of Jim Henson's early, dangerous days" (NY Times). Wakka received a 2011 Drama Desk Award for Baby Universe: A Puppet Odyssey. Their new Made in China is a dark musical comedy about the complicated relationship between the U.S. and China, examined through the lens of an unlikely relationship between a middle-aged American woman and her Chinese neighbor. It features over 30 puppets and masks, puppeteers, musicians, and video.
SUBMITTED BY: Margaret Lawrence | Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH
MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO
ARTIST: Marcus Roberts Trio
DISCIPLINE: Music
Pianist and composer Marcus Roberts hit the national jazz scene when he joined Wynton Marsalis on tour at the age of 21. Wynton Marsalis said, "We call him 'the genius of modern piano', because he is." Years later, he left to focus on his own projects which include his jazz trio as well as original suites and symphony orchestra recordings. His talents as a composer have led to numerous commissioning awards, from Jazz at Lincoln Center, Chamber Music America, ASCAP, and more.
SUBMITTED BY: Linda Little | Burlington Discover Jazz Festival | Burlington, VT
A MEDITERRANEAN CHRISTMAS
ARTIST: The Boston Camerata
DISCIPLINE: Music
A Mediterranean Christmas in collaboration with SHARQ Ensemble - a holiday favorite! The Christmas story is retold via profoundly beautiful melodies of Europe, North Africa and the Holy Land. Instrumentation includes voices, early and Middle Eastern instruments, plus readings of the Christmas story. This program is available for New England touring in December 2016. Bring Camerata to your town to create a landmark event in the community!
SUBMITTED BY: Anne Azema| The Boston Camerata| Boston, MA
MIRAGE: A CIRCUS LIFE
ARTIST: Nimble Arts
DISCIPLINE: Circus
Through the mechanical riggings and physical poetry of contemporary circus, the award winning ensemble explores community vitality, who we are and why we create, sharing personal stories through aerials and acrobatics in a magical world inspired by dance, gravity and life! Based on a freestanding sculpture, the production can set up in and out of doors, allowing the company to follow a vision of bringing high level circus arts to small, rural and unusual stages as well as modern theaters around the world.
SUBMITTED BY: Serenity Smith Forchion| Nimble Arts| Brattleboro, VT
NUFONIA MUST FALL
ARTIST: DJ Kid Koala
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
Nufonia Must Fall is en elegant and technically adventurous adaptation of DJ Kid Koala's original 'silent' graphic novel. Directed by K.K. Barrett, recently Oscar-nominated for Her (Spike Jonze), Nufonia unfolds via real-time filming of more than a dozen miniature stages and a cast of puppets, while Kid Koala and the dynamic Afiara String Quartet provide original live scoring on piano, strings and turntables. The audience watches an animated film, simultaneously seeing all elements in real time.
SUBMITTED BY: Kathleen Pletcher| FirstWorks| Providence, RI
NUT/CRACKED
ARTIST: The Bang Group
DISCIPLINE: Dance
It’s The Nutcracker, but definitely not as we know it. The Bang Group has taken every little girl’s favorite Christmas show and torn it limb from limb. Mixing Tchaikovsky’s original score with music by Duke Ellington, Glen Miller and others, the company turns the sugar coated ballet into a percussive piece of dance theatre. Expect tap dancing, singing and some unusual pointe shoe activity. Nothing is sacred as Nutcracked twists and melds various dance traditions into an ode to American eclecticism which honors the power of the human urge to dance while riding Tchaikovsky’s voluptuous waves of rhythm.
SUBMITTED BY: Holly Jones| The Yard| Chilmark, MA
THE ODYSSEY: AN EPIC DANCE JOURNEY
ARTIST: Sonia Plumb Dance Company
DISCIPLINE: Dance
The Odyssey: An Epic Dance Journey is multimedia feast for your senses — with modern dance, masks and costumes, underwater videos, original rock score and pre-show "Prep Talks" with local educators. The Hartford Courant called it "a journey that audiences will want to share." Our idea is to tour The Odyssey so we can connect with local educators in each community to be part of our pre-show lectures and to support their teaching cirruclum of Homer’s 3000-year-old epic poem.
SUBMITTED BY: Sonia Plumb| Sonia Plumb Dance Company| Hartford, CT
ONE-MAN CIRCUS IN-A-SUITCASE
ARTIST: Circus Minimus
DISCIPLINE: Theater
One-Man Circus in-a-Suitcase gives everyone an opportunity to participate in an enthralling, whimsical celebration of the imagination. From Kevin O’Keefe’s suitcase an entire circus emerges. Each performance becomes a dialogue between the characters and the audience–a light-hearted collaboration.
SUBMITTED BY: Kevin O'Keefe| Circus Minimus| Brattleboro, VT
OTHELLO IN THE SERAGLIO: THE TRAGEDY OF SUMBUL THE BLACK EUNUCH
ARTIST: Dunya
DISCIPLINE: Music, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Multidisciplinary
With eleven musicians and a storyteller, Othello in the Seraglio: The Tragedy of Sümbül the Black Eunuch, is scaled to the intimate, informal setting of a coffeehouse in seventeenth century Istanbul (Constantinople). The storyteller spins out a well-known tale, an historically-based legend of love and jealousy, intensified by the crossing of boundaries between the free and the enslaved, white and black, Muslim and non-Muslim.
SUBMITTED BY: Yonca Karakilic| Arts Transcending Borders at the College of the Holy Cross| Worcester, MA
OVERTURE TO A THURSDAY MORNING
ARTIST: Kali Quinn
DISCIPLINE: Music, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Theater, Multidisciplinary
The grief and gifts that come from family secrets: When Lila inherits all of her mother’s things she discovers the astonishing truth about her own birth. Slide projector montages and a live violin score deliver an inspiring journey through three generations that questions how we move on and who and what we take with us. Kali then facilitates a talkback that gives communities the opportunity to share stories and dream up compassionate and creative ways to better take care of themselves and one another.
SUBMITTED BY: Kali Quinn| Compassionate Creativity| Providence, RI
PERCEPTION
ARTIST: Tricinium
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Music, Theater
Perception is a Verbatim Opera. It tells the story of Tony Barrand, a renowned English ballad singer and dancer, in his own words. Tony has been afflicted with multiple sclerosis for most of his adult life, and has continued to inspire audiences and fans from around the world. The uplifting story is about living the passionate life in the face of adversity. The Country Dance and Song Society is a partner in the project. The company awaits confirmation from two presenters and seeks to develop a tour.
SUBMITTED BY: Lawrence Siegel| Tricinium| Keene, NH
PERSEPHONE IN THE LATE ANTHROPOCENE
ARTIST: Hinge/Works
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary, Spoken Opera
Persephone in the Late Anthropocene is a modern spoken opera that re-imagines the Persephone myth in the age of climate change. The libretto tells of a modern Persephone moving erratically between worlds; her wise but heavily medicated mother Demeter; and a human Chorus. The score is a post-Romantic chamber work for two violins, cello, and oboe filtered live through a delay, and evokes the disjunction and crisis – as well as the beauty – of our modern world.
SUBMITTED BY: Megan Grumbling| Hinge/Works| Portland, ME
PORCH
ARTIST: Hio Ridge Dance
DISCIPLINE: Dance
In this duet, performers engage themselves in a rigorous search for a newer, queerer version of couple-hood and femininity in dance. Through improvisational scores, the two perform literal and metaphorical construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. By taking daring risks and putting themselves in the way of failure, the dancers illuminate excitement, hilarity, chance happenings, and disasters of real life and real romance.
SUBMITTED BY: Delaney McDonough| Hio Ridge Dance| Denmark, ME
PRAISE SONG FOR CHINGGIS KHAAN
ARTIST: Tsogtgerel and Ganzorig
DISCIPLINE: Music
Traditional Mongolian music duo performs new arrangements of well-known praise songs as well as new compositions that feature throat-singing, the horse fiddle, the open-ended flute, jaw harp, and pastoral whistling techniques. Andrew Colwell, an ethnomusicologist who focuses on Mongolian musical culture as a PhD candidate at Wesleyan University, will also give pre-concert talks introducing audiences to the pastoral and urban musical landscapes of Mongolia.
SUBMITTED BY: Pamela Tatge| Wesleyan Center for the Arts| Middletown, CT
browse projects by title: Q - Z
(RECITAL)
ARTIST: Villiers String Quartet
DISCIPLINE: Music
The young Villiers is one of the most charismatic, "adventurous" string quartets of the British scene. Dedicated to the works of Beethoven, Haydn, and Mendelssohn, they’re also known for interpretations of UK composers like Elgar and Britten. They’ve been declared "one of the best young quartets around today" (Jerry Horner, Fine Arts Quartet). The Hop anchors a Nov residency and handles international visas, creating a great opportunity for affordable presentations.
SUBMITTED BY: Margaret Lawrence| Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College| Hanover, NH
ROOM
ARTIST: SITI Company
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Virginia Woolf wrote with delicacy, humor, anger, outrage, and passion from the point of view of a highly creative woman in the first half of the 20th century. Room examines these notions from the perspective we now share at the beginning of the 21st century. Sampled from a lifetime of writings by this remarkable artist, Room traces the movement of a creative spirit in exquisite crisis. It‘s a play of many voices embodied by one actress, the extraordinary Ellen Lauren.
SUBMITTED BY: Matthew Cahoon| Pinkerton Academy| Derry, NH
ROOSEVELVIS
ARTIST: The Team
DISCIPLINE: Theater
On a hallucinatory road trip from the Badlands to Graceland, the spirits of Elvis Presley and Theodore Roosevelt battle over the soul of Ann, a painfully shy meat-processing plant worker, and what kind of man or woman Ann should become. Set against the boundless blue skies of the Great Plains and endless American highway, RoosevElvis is a new work about gender, appetite, and the multitudes we contain.
SUBMITTED BY: Pamela Tatge | Wesleyan Center for the Arts| Middletown, CT
RUTHLESS RECIPROCITY: A LIVING DOCUMENT TO TRANSFORM THE PERFORMING ARTS COMMUNITY
ARTIST: The Seth Lepore Project
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
Based on his crash course "The Nuts and Bolts of Being a Performing Artist," RUTHLESS RECIPROCITY breaks down the current issues in the performing arts field and the methods to resolve those complexities into three sections:
1) What performing artists are expected to know but are never taught.
2) The way to build collective ownership for artists.
3) The future of the field. Creating a strategic and collective movement in order to take full ownership and control of our careers as performers.
SUBMITTED BY: Seth Lepore| The Seth Lepore Project| Easthampton, MA
SABLE ISLAND
ARTIST: Mocean Dance
DISCIPLINE: Dance
A physically and emotionally charged work, Sable Island embodies the relentless sway of the fierce ocean encircling the famous isle and the mystery, isolation and untamed spirit of the wild horses that live there. Masterfully performed by a quintet of dancers, this powerful work features an original musical score by Montréal composer Bertrand Chénier, who transforms the theatre into a windswept island, ocean floor and rocky shoreline, with a poetic palette of piano, bass, and mandolin.
SUBMITTED BY: Matthew Cahoon| Pinkerton Academy| Derry, NH
SEASONS OF LOVING YOU
ARTIST: Acoustic Breezes - Rahel
DISCIPLINE: Music, Spoken Word/Storytelling
Seasons of Loving You follows the evolution of an intimate long-lasting love between two people told through poetry and song. At present the work features singer-songwriter-guitarist Rahel and flutist Sue Hurwitz. We are currently seeking additional musicians as well as dancers. We would love to collaborate with others to create this beautiful theme in song, poetry and dance.
SUBMITTED BY: Rahel Limor| Rahelmusic| Millford, NH
SEEKER OF TRUTH
ARTIST: Yuval Ron Ensemble
DISCIPLINE: Music
Powerful, globally rich music propels an interactive residency steeped in music and its relationship to spirituality, healing, and mysticism. Through his music, Ron endeavors to ease national, racial, religious and cultural divides. His multinational ensemble has been featured at LA’s World Festival of Sacred Music and renowned Féz Festival and been in residence at major universities/colleges. This project unites Middle Eastern and South Asian traditions in an ecstatic experience.
SUBMITTED BY: Aimée M. Petrin | Portland Ovations| Portland, ME
SELECTIONS FROM CURRENT REPERTOIRE
ARTIST: Bandaloop
DISCIPLINE: Dance
A pioneer in vertical dance performance, BANDALOOP’s work has been presented in theaters and museums, on skyscrapers, bridges, billboards and historical sites, in atriums and convention halls, in nature on cliffs, and on screen. BANDALOOP honors nature, community and the human spirit by bringing dance to new audiences, activating public and natural spaces, and re-imagining what dance can be. For an Expeditions tour, we would host a chamber ensemble and three to four dancers in selections from current repertoire.
SUBMITTED BY: Yonca Karakilic| Arts Transcending Borders at the College of the Holy Cross| Worcester, MA
SHEVA, MY PRECIOUS TREASURE
ARTIST: Mouli Pal and Upasana Ensemble
DISCIPLINE: Dance
This vibrant new work on Indian Classical dance attempts to reconnect the human soul with nature and has an universal appeal. The human consciousness interacts with the elements of nature. The Sun radiates positive energy, the wind is ever changing, the moon glows with love and the water reflects the immortal soul. In each of them the dancer discovers her inner strength depicted as "Sheva", meaning treasure. Run time 45 minutes.
SUBMITTED BY: Mouli Pal | Upasana Odissi| Wilmington, MA
THE SHIPMENT
ARTIST: Young Jean Lee
DISCIPLINE: Theater
We are hoping to help remount Young Jean Lee's The Shipment in February 2017. A cast of five African-American performers create an unsettling terrain of well-trodden stereotypes that dare audiences to laugh as they consider their own preconceptions about race and culture. Lee confronts her fear about creating an ethnic identity play through the lens of a "black identity politics show."
SUBMITTED BY: Pamela Tatge | Wesleyan Center for the Arts| Middletown, CT
SMALL STORIES
ARTIST: Sara Juli & Claire Porter
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater
Claire Porter and Sara Juli propose Small Stories. This performance is a 15-minute duet about two friends in big dresses who tell, retell and tell again small stories about little events that have big impacts. In addition are two solos, Juli’s Shadow Artist about the fear of being an artist and Porter’s HomeStretch about trying to arrive home after a long workday. As two creators of movement-based text work imbued with humor, they have a natural chemistry that is both charming and sophisticated.
SUBMITTED BY: Sara Juli | Falmouth, Maine
SONG OF THE JASMINE or SACRED EARTH
ARTIST: Ragamala Dance
DISCIPLINE: Dance
Always performed to live music, Ragamala explores the dynamism of Bharatanatyam, from its ancient roots to its contemporary possibilities. The beloved company’s work lives in the spiritual realm where religions connect, intersect; no separation exists between the sacred, divine, the sensual. Combining contemporary Western aesthetic with an Indian ethos, Ragamala creates work that conveys a sense of reverence and unfolding mystery -- creating new paradigms for cultural expression in the 21st century.
SUBMITTED BY: Aimée M. Petrin | Portland Ovations| Portland, ME
SOUTH PACIFIC
ARTIST: Tophat Productions
DISCIPLINE: Music, Puppetry, Theater
I do toy theater/miniature stage productions of musicals. I use 5 to 6 inch action figures on a miniature stage with lights, props and pre-recorded backing tracks to accompany myself. I would like to present a scene from the romantic and controversial musical, South Pacific.
SUBMITTED BY: David Worobec | Tophat Productions| Portland, ME
STAR OF THE SEA
ARTIST: Moonfish Theatre
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Multidisciplinary
Star of the Sea is a an adaptation of Joseph Connor's acclaimed book, created by Moonfish Theatre, a company based in Galway, Ireland. The play charts the lives of three protagonists struggling to survive the Great Irish Famine of 1847. The journey comes to life as six performers blend projection, physicality, live sound effects and music to conjure the worlds of the characters on a bare stage. The play is performed in English and Irish, and is accessible to American audiences for a US tour.
SUBMITTED BY: Shannon Mayers | Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College|Keene, NH
TENSE VAGINA: AN ACTUAL DIAGNOSIS
ARTIST: Sara Juli
DISCIPLINE: Theater, Multidisciplinary
Tense Vagina: an actual diagnosis is a dance-theater solo by performance artist Sara Juli that addresses the topic of motherhood and bladder control. The hour-long performance uses humor, movement, sounds, songs, monologues and audience participation to reveal the silent underbelly of being a mother. Tense Vagina focuses on the seldom-discussed and taboo aspects of motherhood, such as loss of bladder control, vagina physical therapy, tears, monotony, loneliness and dildos.
SUBMITTED BY: Sara Juli | Falmouth, Maine
THREE SISTERS
ARTIST: Dmitry Krymov Laboratory
DISCIPLINE: Puppetry, Theater
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is pleased to present the premiere of a new devised work created by visionary director and designer Dmitry Krymov. This bold re-imagining of Three Sisters, Krymov’s first production to be performed in English, will be a cornerstone production of Arts & Ideas 2016, where it will play for five performances, after which it will be available to tour to theatres and festivals in the US and abroad.
SUBMITTED BY: Chad Herzog | International Festival of Arts & Ideas|New Haven, CT
TIME TESTED TALES
ARTIST: Alison Chase/Performance
DISCIPLINE: Dance, Theater, Multidisciplinary
Multidimensional storytelling that blends a unique movement vocabulary with film, photography, and aerial choreography to create a physical narrative that is both lyric and moving. Presenting four works: Monkey, a delightfully campy interpretation of Chinese children's tale; Drowned, where a man falls from the sea into the hearts of a village; Devil, a fast-paced and humorous story of love gone astray; and Night of the Dark Moon, our retelling of the tale of Orpheus.
SUBMITTED BY: Alison Chase|Alison Chase/Performance|Brooksville, ME
TWO MEN TALKING
ARTIST: Two Men Talking
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Two Men Talking is the live performance of a friendship. Unscripted and autobiographical, TMT explores race, religion, class and sexual orientation. These themes delve into personal and collective identities, honoring the space between people and “the other.” TMT has been presented in the West End, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, South Africa, NYC’s Barrow Street Theater and Mondavi Center. It “successfully dives into our universal humanity in a world of misunderstanding and division” (The List).
SUBMITTED BY: Aimée M. Petrin | Portland Ovations| Portland, ME
VAMPING
ARTIST: Kali Quinn
DISCIPLINE: Music, Spoken Word/Storytelling, Theater, Multidisciplinary
Vamping follows three generations of women, all connected to a 91-year old woman who is struggling with memory loss. Through graceful movement and the creative use of a wheelchair, along layers of song and old slide projector images, Kali creates a riveting and educational theatrical experience about aging. Afterward, she facilitates a talkback that gives communities the opportunity to share stories and dream up compassionate and creative ways to better take care of themselves and one another.
SUBMITTED BY: Kali Quinn| Compassionate Creativity| Providence, RI
WE CREATE! CELEBRATING WOMEN IN THE ARTS, 2016
ARTIST: Marsha Parrilla/Danza Orgánica
DISCIPLINE: Multidisciplinary
We Create! Celebrating Women in the Arts is a community-based and process-oriented festival featuring some of the most talented women artists in Massachusetts. Artists are selected from an open call. Over a period of six months, they will create work around the theme Acculturation. This unique festival creates a container for women artists to network, collaborate, support each other, and be featured in a high visibility space.
SUBMITTED BY: Marsha Parilla | Danza Orgánica | Boston, MA
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
ARTIST: Presentation House Theatre
DISCIPLINE: Theater
Where the Wild Things Are, originally adapted for the stage by TAG Theatre of Glasgow, is an immersive, interactive theater experience for young audiences ages 3-7. Children are intimately involved in creating the production, using props and sound effects to turn Max's room into a forest, create the ocean he sails across, and stage a Wild Rumpus. They also, with the leadership of the narrator, help Max find his way safely home.
SUBMITTED BY: Norah Piehl | Boston Book Festival| Boston, MA
YELLOW BIRD CHASE
ARTIST: Liars & Believers
DISCIPLINE: Theater
A clownish maintenance crew finds a magical yellow bird. They try to capture the bird, but it escapes and a great chase begins. Racing over land, across the sea, and through the air, battling pirates, monsters and terrible pop songs, how far will our crew chase to catch the yellow bird? Join Liars & Believers in a new story for all ages told in clown, puppetry, gibberish, and imagination. 30 min. Three actors. Low tech. No set. Accessible for Deaf audiences. Commissioned by Outside the Box.
SUBMITTED BY: Jason Slavick | Liars & Believers | Cambridge, MA
YOUNG@HEART IN BLACK AND WHITE
ARTIST: Young@Heart Chorus
DISCIPLINE: Music, Theater
Young@Heart Chorus is a group of 25 singers whose average age is 82. With a 33 year history of performing shows locally, nationally and internationally, the chorus was the subject of the Fox Searchlight film Young@Heart. Their new show will feature songs chosen by inmates from their prison project. As an added attraction, they intend to feature inmates who have been released and continue to work with the chorus.
SUBMITTED BY: Bob Cilman | Young@Heart Chorus | Florence, MA