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For Love is Strong: A Happening

For Love is Strong: a happening transports audience members to 1960s Greenwich Village. In that era, New York City was known to have “happenings,” which typically took place in an environment or installation that involved light, sound, projections, and an element of spectator participation. These happenings were the forerunners of performance art and in turn emerged from the theatrical elements of dada and surrealism, combining elements of dance, theater, music, poetry, and visual art to blur the boundaries between life and art and forge a path for new methods of artistic practice.

 

For Love is Strong, a title borrowed from the programmed minimalist choral work by David Lang, grapples with how exactly to understand and express the concept of Love. The remaining program features excerpts from the collective’s current works in development, all exploring this theme of the strength of love as it relates to heroism, accessibility, and equity in a war-torn world. 

 

For Love is Strong served as a fundraiser for TWC's projects in development and UNRWA.

ARTISTS (alphabetically)

Sydney Anderson, Creative Director/Vocalist; Sebastian Armendariz, Tenor; Michael Arthur, Visual Artist; Charlotte Aucella, Dancer; Amanda Austin, Visual Artist; Mark Bankin, Lead Choreographer; Alyssa Bodmer, Dancer; Taylor Bonadies, Dancer; Micaela Bottari, Vocalist/Associate-Producer; Camille Constanti, Dancer; Sophie Delphis, Mezzo-Soprano; Dicky Dutton, Bass; Colleen Edwards, Dancer; Elizabeth Gartman, Soprano/Composer; Kameron Ghanavati, Tenor; Mary-Angela Granberry, Dancer/Actor; Zoe Griffith, Lighting Designer; Shafiq Hicks, Bass; Laura Izquierdo Jurado, Dancer; Shaina Martinez, Soprano; Norm Mathmattox, Poet; Molly Yoku McGuire, Mezzo-Soprano; Alberto Medero, ASL Artist & Poet; Rachel Mikol, Soprano; Brian Mummert, Bass; Logan Pitts, Vocalist; Héloïse Ponsonnet, Dancer; Matt Robbins, Tenor; Manatsu Tanaka, Dancer; Derek Weagle, Conductor/Composer/Sound-Healer; Christine West, Dancer; Julian Wild, Singer-Songwriter/Actor

The Women Have Something to Say

The Women Have Something to Say presents the stories of female-identifying artists on the journey to find their voices, told through monologues and song texts written by the women themselves. The stories range in topic from sexism in the classical music industry, racism, age-ism, body image, silencing of women, to motherhood. Developed as a concert version in Houston, TX, this updated iteration will feature dancers, actors, and the original monologues will be woven into a theatrical narrative. The synergy of a living woman’s story being portrayed by other women speaks to the simultaneously distinctive and communal experience of women throughout time.

CREATIVE TEAM

Nicole Kenley-Miller, Conceiver/Director/Workshop Facilitator

Sydney Anderson, Executive Producer/Assistant Director

Madeline Styskal, Composer

Laura Dearman, Choreographer 

Janine Dworin, Graphic Designer

Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Dramaturg/Workshop Facilitator

Julian Wild, Director of Production/Technical Director

CAST (in order of appearance)

Jessica Blau, librettist/mezzo-soprano; Cynthia Clayton, librettist/soprano; Mary-Angela Granberry, actor/dancer; Gracie Ibemere, librettist/bassist; Shannon Hesse, librettist/pianist; Ingrid Gerling, librettist/violinist; Tali Morgulis, librettist/pianist; Marianna Morgulis, actor; Lisa Vickers, librettist/soprano; Sydney Anderson, librettist/soprano; Gwen Alfred, librettist/soprano;  Newsha Farahani, librettist/actor/visual artist; Isabelle Ganz, librettist/mezzo-soprano; Laura Dearman, Choreographer/Dancer; Uila Marx (they/them), Dancer; Manatsu Tanaka (they/them), Dancer; Nicole Kenley-Miller, librettist/mezzo-soprano

Words of the Prophets

This new play by Vayl Larkin tells the stories of five homeless characters as they go about their lives. An enby subsistence sex worker who is privately an avid reader and writer. A soldier, home with PTSD from a tragic wartime experience. Skater kids, making their own way in their own way. A woman who used to be an astrophysicist, who now wanders through her schizophrenia, colliding at times with the world. A busker, watching, observing, and most importantly, Seeing each of these people, their nuance, their complexity, and their fundamental humanity. Brought to life through silent body performers, narration verging on the poetic, and creative ASL interpretation, grounded in facts and real-world experience, this piece seeks to educate empathy above all.

This workshop presentation seeks to be fully accessible to D/deaf and hard of hearing, and Blind audiences. The theatre is also wheelchair-accessible. 

CREATIVE TEAM

Vayl Larkin, Playwright 

JNK Enzo, Stage Director

Maleni Chaitoo, Director of ASL

Sydney Anderson, Music Director/Stage Manager

Zoe Griffith, Lighting Designer

Micaela Bottari, Scenic Design 

Sebastian Armendariz, Sound Design/Livestream Producer

CAST

Julian Wild, Narrator Voice/Body; Dickie Hearts, Narrator ASL; Norm Mattox, Storyteller Voice/Body; Alberto Medero, Storyteller ASL; JNK Enzo, Graffiti Body; Justin B. Withers, Broadside Body; DeMarco Sleeper, Ballet Body; Mary-Angela Granberry, Trompe-l'œil Body; Sydney Anderson, soprano; Sophie Delphis, mezzo-soprano

COMMISSIONED COMPOSERS

Derek Weagle

Vasily Ratmansky

Elizabeth Gartman

Tyson Gholston Davis

Vexations in Time I & II

I: Co-produced with Heather Jones and Slavina Zhelezova, with support from ChaShaMa.

 

II: Based on the piano work by Erik Satie, and featuring new music by Timothy Peterson. Poetry by Nicole Kenley-Miller and Lynn Lane. Performances by Legs Akimbo, Mary-Angela Granberry, and more.

Getting High With the Family (That You Choose)

Official music video with music by Julian Wild. Directed by Ian Sutherland, and starring Caito Aase.

 

Watch here!

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