Vox Femina Los Angeles

Vox Femina Los Angeles Presents
From Shakespeare to Shamrocks
A Spring Concert Joining the English & Irish in Song
At Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Music in LA
Saint Patrick’s Day – March 17, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA - January 20, 2012 - Vox Femina Los Angeles continues its 15th anniversary season with From Shakespeare to Shamrocks, a spring concert celebration that brings the English and Irish together in song on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2012 at the Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Music.  In this bi-cultural evening, Vox Femina will unite classic Shakespeare sonnets with authentic Irish music sung in Gaelic.  From classical works to folk songs, traditions new and old from England, Scotland and Ireland will be celebrated at the event.  The performance starts at 8:00pm. Tickets are $25-30 during presale, $35 at the door.  Group rates are also available.  Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School is located at 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Public parking is available at lots adjacent to the school and limited street parking is also available within the area.  For tickets and additional information, please see www.voxfeminala.org.

From Shakespeare to Shamrocks –
The tradition of setting Shakespeare’s texts to music has long featured both male and female voices. Vox will be turning this convention upside down with compositions arranged purely for the female voice.  The latter part of the concert comprises Irish and Scottish music including Scottish “waulking” folk songs, traditionally sung by women as they gather to clean clothes.

Singer-Composer Moira Smiley has been engaged by Vox to perform at the event, which will include Smiley singing the solo on the traditional Irish piece “Si do Mhaimeo,” as well as performing a solo set of traditional folk songs.  The last selection of the evening, “The Irish Blessing,” was arranged for Vox, for female voices only, in 2007 by Graeme Langager as a tribute to Lynn Bielefelt, a dear friend and long-time supporter of Vox, who succumbed to breast cancer in 2001.  The original composition of “The Irish Blessing” was dear to her heart.

“Music from the British Isles is diverse and rich in story – particularly from a woman’s perspective,” says Dr. Iris S. Levine, Vox Femina’s Artistic Director, “We’re excited to bring the vibrant music of this region to Los Angeles for a special Saint Patrick’s Day celebration.”

Additional Vox Femina 2012 Events –

• February 2012 – Vox has been honored with an invitation to perform Mahler No. 8 Symphony of a Thousand with 14 other choirs and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at Shrine Auditorium.  This spectacular performance will include over 1,000 instrumentalists and singers.

• March 2012 – Vox has been chosen via blind audition to perform at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Conference in Reno, NV on Thursday, March 1, 2012.

• May 2012 – Colors of Love: A Celebration of 15 Years with Vox Femina Los Angeles, a fundraising event on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at the Ebell Club in Highland Park, will feature live music, dancing, food, drink, and memories from 15 wonderful years of giving women voice.

• June 2012 – Celebrating the Muse will look back at the music, people, and events that have inspired Vox Femina over the past 15 years.  This special concert will be held on Saturday, June 16, 2012 at Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Music.

Vox Femina Background –
Vox Femina Los Angeles is a women’s choral ensemble dedicated to the performance of quality choral literature from a world perspective with an emphasis on music by women composers. The chorus was founded in 1997 by Artistic Director Dr. Iris S. Levine.  The 21 founding members of Vox Femina first appeared on stage as guest artists with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles in April 1997.  Since that time, Vox has quickly established itself as one of the premier women’s choruses in the United States with a demonstrated ability to perform highly eclectic repertoire, some of which can be heard on several recordings. It actively fulfills its mission through an aggressive schedule of performances, touring and educational outreach.  Vox has demonstrated its support and encouragement of living composers through commissioning new works.  Auditions are held every August.

Dr. Iris S. Levine, Artistic Director –
Nationally recognized for her excellence in choral conducting, Dr. Iris S. Levine is the founder and artistic director of Vox Femina Los Angeles, the city’s premier women’s chorus. Through her extensive experience with women’s choral literature and innovative concert programming, Dr. Levine has charted Vox Femina’s 15-year journey, building its prominence in the choral community by way of numerous appearances at ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) conventions, and over 100 appearances throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Dr. Levine earned her Doctorate in Choral Music from the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Rod Eichenberger and James Vail, and she holds a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she studied with Alan Harler.  Dr. Levine is Department Chair and Professor of Music at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.  She is also the Artistic Director for the Master Chorus at Stephen S. Wise Temple, where her choral arrangements are often performed.  Dr. Levine is also National Chair of the ACDA Repertoire and Standards Committee for Women’s Choirs and is highly sought as guest clinician and adjudicator for choral festivals throughout the country.

Moira Smiley, Special Guest–
LA-based Singer-Composer Moira Smiley leads moira smiley & VOCO, travels the world as a vocalist and creates music for dance, theater and film.  Her voice, improvisations and compositions can be heard on feature films, documentaries, BBC, PBS, and on over 40 recordings including her recent albums blink (with VOCO) and rua (solo): fiercely spare and elegantly lush collections of warped traditionals and new songcraft.  She has sung with leading ensembles and artists around the world including Paul Hillier’s Theater of Voices, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, KITKA Vocal Ensemble, New World Symphony, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.  Featured in Lincoln Center, UCLALive, Royal Festival Hall, folk and classical music festivals across the U.S. and Canada, Smiley’s work has received praise in Billboard and Gramophone.  For more information please visit www.moirasmiley.com and www.myspace.com/vocoinfo.

The Colburn School/Zipper Hall –
The Colburn School’s mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education in an optimal learning environment.  Founded in 1950, The Colburn School was established as a small preparatory school in connection with the University of Southern California’s School of Music.  The School became an independent, nonprofit institution in 1980 through the generous support of its benefactor, Richard D. Colburn.  In 1998, The Colburn School moved to its current location on South Grand Avenue.  One of LA’s most popular performance halls, the intimate 435-seat Zipper Hall at The Colburn School is home to many arts groups from the greater Los Angeles area, including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica, Southwest Chamber Music, Monday Evening Concerts, Lark Musical Society, and Piano Spheres.  For more information, please call 213-621-4514 or visit http://www.colburnschool.edu.

Vox Femina –
Vox Femina Los Angeles gives women voice through the performance of quality choral literature.  Diverse in culture, age, race, belief, and sexual identity, Vox is a chorus committed to commissioning new works and raising awareness about issues that affect the family of women.  Through music, the chorus aims to create a world that affirms the worth and dignity of every person.
Key Links –
- Official Site – http://www.voxfeminala.org
- Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/VoxFemina

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For more information, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Vox Femina Los Angeles 2012 (photo credit: Paul Kawabori)

Photo credit Jeff Woodward.

501 (see three) ARTS and Highways Performance Space present Who’s Hungry -Santa Monica, part of an ongoing series of experimental tabletop puppet plays that give a voice and face to hunger, with four performances on Fridays and Saturdays from January 27 to February 4, 2012.  The plays, produced and written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), aim to raise awareness of the lives of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The upcoming production weaves together the stories of five homeless and/or hungry residents of Santa Monica, California, incorporating puppetry, dance, music, and text.

501 (see three) ARTS & Highways Performance Space Present

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica

Experimental Puppet Theater

Putting a Face on Food Insecurity

With Four Performances on Fridays & Saturdays
January 27 to February 4, 2012

JUST ADDED: A 5th Show on Sat. 1/4 at 5:00pm [details here]

LOS ANGELES, CA – October 24, 2011 – 501 (see three) ARTS and Highways Performance Space present Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, part of an ongoing series of experimental tabletop puppet plays that give a voice and face to hunger, with four performances on Fridays and Saturdays from January 27 to February 4, 2012.  The plays, produced and written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), aim to raise awareness of the lives of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The upcoming production weaves together the stories of five homeless and/or hungry residents of Santa Monica, California, incorporating puppetry, dance, music, and text.  Nightly shows start at 8:30pm. General admission tickets are $20, students and seniors are $15. Highways Performance Space at the 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310-315-1459; http://highwaysperformance.org).  For more information on Who’s Hungry, please visit http://danfroot.com/repertory/.

“This project is about people’s lives – people who, at times, happen to go without food,” says Froot, “They have some truly beautiful, moving and hilarious stories that might otherwise go untold.”

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica Synopsis -
In Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, the performers serve the audience a visual and narrative feast.  The 90-minute puppet theater adaptation tells the oral histories of five very different homeless and hungry Santa Monicans, through five 15- to 20-minute segments, woven together much as a chef weaves a succession of flavors into a cohesive multi-course meal.  Overall, the project incorporates a range of puppetry styles in order to give each of the five stories its own aesthetic treatment. Presented on a specially built 24-foot dinner table, the audience views the action from one side, as if they are banquet guests.  Incorporated into the evening are Delft china, Matchbox cars, televisions, rod puppets, as well as puppets inspired by Japanese Bunraku, and much more.

Joining the audience at the table are:
- Angel – who tumbled into homelessness after a prominent career as an interior designer
- Sharon – a caseworker for an addiction recovery agency and recovering heroin addict herself
- Chris – an original member of the notorious 1970s surfing/skateboarding crew known as the Z-Boys
- Mike – who endured an eviction from subsidized housing while undergoing a dire health crisis
- Chanel – who headed to New York City when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, feeling the need to run down the street in fear with her fellow New Yorkers

The production will feature four puppeteers and three musicians.  The highly collaborative cast, performers with rich puppetry, dance, and acting backgrounds, includes Zachary Tolchinsky, Rachael Lincoln, Sheetal Gandhi, and Darius Mannino. Original scores have been commissioned from the award winning Seattle-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), to be performed live.  Denio’s work merges jazz, experimental folk, ska, and funk with a range of instruments including, but not limited to, many that are in scale with the puppetry such as toy pianos, ukuleles, and bongos.  Denio will lead a small ensemble, choreographed and staged in the space to interact with the puppeteers and the puppets/objects themselves. Collaborating with Denio in the ensemble are musicians Mike Flanagan and Daniel Corral.

"Sharon" puppet designed by Dan Hurlin. She's a Bunraku-style puppet, operated by three people simultaneously: one on feet and/or arm, one on one or both arms, one on head/torso. Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

The inaugural set of Who’s Hungry puppet plays premiered in West Hollywood in 2008 with narrators from that area.  This new Santa Monica installment in the series takes the experimental strategy of the project to a new level, primarily by inviting the local community narrators into the heart of the creative team. These narrators have collaborated with Hurlin and Froot throughout the process – from story adaptation through construction, rehearsal and performance.

“The project allows each of these individuals to clearly imprint their agency onto the play, deepening it,” says Hurlin, “While they may not have complete control over their lives, we wanted them to have control of their own stories.”

Robert Coughlin, one of the community narrators from the West Hollywood pilot project, reflected on sharing his story with the Who’s Hungry audience: “I’m just so grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to have some clarity and to pull back from my own life.  I get to detach from all that and use it as a tool, and not let it consume me any longer.  I get to build from it; not let it bring me down.  It’s beautiful.”

Object Theater –
Object Theater, a sub-category of puppetry, is a performance style that utilizes the animation of objects – found and/or constructed – for theatrical effect.  A theater of objects goes beyond merely “containing objects” – practitioners of the genre employ the rich functional and symbolic values inherent in objects as potent tools for the theater.  Froot felt that combing puppets with the materiality of Object Theater – bridging theater, visual art and puppetry – was the perfect way to tell these stories for, among other things, the intimate environment and endless creative potential to create a vast range of sensibilities from intense depth to whimsy, from realism to poetry.

“This form of puppet theater creates a very close, communal experience since the audience must sit together, near the action, in order to see these small objects,” says Froot, “It also puts the audience in an empathic role, more so than live theater with human actors – when we watch object theater, we must engage and project ourselves onto the puppets and objects with an active imagination.”

Food Insecurity –

The USDA classifies those who at times go hungry because they cannot afford enough food as having “very low food security.” According to the USDA, around one in six Americans had a hard time putting food on the table at some point last year. That’s roughly 49 million people (14.5% of the population). This figure is virtually unchanged from the previous year.

“To clarify, though, we’re not making a statement about world hunger, or even about hunger in the U.S. per se,” says Froot, “The project is more about who is going through your recycling bins… we want to help them tell their stories.”

left-to-right: Dan Froot (producer/playwright), Amy Denio (composer) and Dan Hurlin (designer/director) Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

Dan Froot, Producer / Playwright –

Dan Froot’s work has toured internationally since 1983. Awards include a Bessie (New York Dance & Performance Award) and a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship. He has worked with Yoshiko Chuma, Ping Chong, David Dorfman, Mabou Mines, Ralph Lemon, and Victoria Marks, among others. He teaches at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures / Dance.

Dan Hurlin, Designer / Director –

Dan Hurlin received a United States Artists Fellowship, two Obie awards, a 2001 Bessie, and a 2004 Alpert Award. His puppet theater work tours internationally. He has performed with Ping Chong, Janie Geiser, and Jeffrey M. Jones, and directed works by Lisa Kron, Holly Hughes, and John C. Russell among others. Hurlin currently teaches dance and puppetry at Sarah Lawrence College.

Amy Denio, Composer –

Amy Denio is a multi-instrumentalist composer and singer based in Seattle, WA. Her music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Opera House, Detroit Institute of Art, and the Venice Biennale, among many other venues. She tours as a soloist as well as with her projects Tiptons Sax Quartet and Kultur Shock.

Highway’s Performance Space –

Highways Performance Space is Southern California’s boldest center for new performance. Now in its 23rd year, Highways continues to be an important alternative cultural center in Los Angeles that encourages fierce new artists from diverse communities to develop and present innovative works.  Recently described by the Los Angeles Times as “a hub of experimental theater, dance, solo drama, and other multimedia performance,” Highways promotes the development of contemporary socially involved artists and art forms.

501 (see three) ARTS –

Who’s Hungry is a project of 501 (see three) ARTS, an independent artist-run non-profit corporation supporting the creation and production of original dance, music, theater and interdisciplinary performance works by its members. The company is dedicated to redefining the role of the performing arts, artists and audiences in a globalized world through innovative approaches to artistic production.

Supporters –

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica was commissioned in part by Vermont Performance Lab and was developed in part during a creative residency at Vermont Performance Lab. The project is supported in part by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Program; Los Angeles County Arts Commission; UCLA Center for Community Partnership; Southwest Oral History Association; The MAP Fund; a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; The Jim Henson Foundation; a Performance Practice and Research grant from the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts; and a grant from Meet The Composer’s New Music USA’s MetLife Creative Connections program, leadership support for which is generously provided by MetLife Foundation.  Additional support is provided by ASCAP, BMI Foundation, Inc., Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Jerome Foundation, mediaThefoundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation and the Virgil Thomson Foundation, Ltd.  The score is commissioned through Meet The Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Ford Foundation, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.

“This is not didactic victim art, some sort of pity party,” says Froot, summing up the production, “It’s not about feeling sorry for anybody – each of these people is sharing their unique oral history with us, their lives – with dignity and a fair amount of humor.”

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For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Rachael Lincoln in rehearsal for "Who's Hungry - Santa Monica," with Delft Buddha by Dan Hurlin Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

Create: Fixate Presents
I Art You
Ten Year Anniversary Valentine-Themed Art & Music Celebration
At Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, February 11, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – January 16, 2012 – Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) celebrates 10 years of existence with its next exhibit I Art You on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at the Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles. C:F’s signature blend features vibrant artwork and music produced by over forty local artists, DJs, and musicians. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview.  The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.  Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists works, please visit www.createfixate.com. C:F can be reached by phone at 310-590-7199 for other inquiries.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. There is a $5 suggested donation during this period but kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry.  Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone.  Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the exhibit.  While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be 21-years old or older to enter after 7:00pm.

I Art You will be filled with Valentine-themed merriment:

• The Love Car Art Competition – a live painting face-off on a 2003 Nissan Sentra
LA’s favorite live painters take on a Nissan Sentra in an art competition like no other! Through a live drawing on the spot, each artist will be assigned a section of the car and then randomly assigned a rock song title - love ballad, of course - to paint their own interpretation of the song on the car!  They have two hours to complete their painting.  Who might the winner be?  The crowd will be called upon to express their inner art critic when their cheers are measured by our judges!  Participating live painters include some of LA favorites  – John Park, Christina Angelina, Max Neutra, and Michael Pukac.

• Valentine’s Day Card Making Station Open All Night Long – Adult Friendly!

• The Art of Romance: Singles Mingle – Guided by relationship & passion consultant Barry Selby
Barry is The Passion Consultant, and his life purpose is inspiring people to live authentic lives. The vehicle that most effectively expresses his purpose is his facilitation and guidance with singles and couples to have amazing relationships, living purposefully and authentically, and fulfilling their highest potential.  About to be released through Amazon, his new book, Rules of Romance – 50 ways to love your lover, is your answer to many questions.  Comprised of 50 powerful relationship and romance principles, it will inspire and give you food for thought and will show you how to have what you want (in relationship and romance), whether you are single or in relationship.

Create:Fixate Founder and Artistic Director Michelle Berc explains the Valentine’s Day theme… “For ten years, we’ve been loving Los Angeles with art, music, and all things creative. I Art You seemed like the perfect title to express this accomplishment of serving our mission and reaching this milestone.  And as always, I love using our event themes to inspire people to think about who they are and who they are becoming.

“I Art You focuses on appreciating the special people in our lives and how we can express our gratitude by giving a gift that is made with our very own hands. I teamed up with a dear friend, Jessica Viola, who helped write our theme, which opens up with the line “We are how we hold each other.” It continues to say “to understand another, selflessly, purely and with good intention is the fire that feeds the desire to give and to find new ways of expressing our love… True love knows the greatest joys are not in receiving as much as in giving.”  This Valentine’s Day, we want to inspire everyone to remember that some of the greatest gifts can only be felt by the heart and to touch those hearts with art!”

All participating artists along with high school students from C:F’s community partner A Place Called Home will be creating one piece of artwork that expresses the show’s theme.

As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts the organization continues to empower youth through arts education projects. For the first time C:F will join forces with A Place Called Home (APCH).  APCH is a safe haven in South Central Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well being; and are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world.

I Art You will feature the creativity of over twenty visual artists in the Optical Lounge, the evening’s visual feast, presenting a stunning array of painting, photography, multi-media, interactive installation, and performance art. Highlights include:
• Curtis Brooks, who is motivated and driven most by the materials he works with in the home improvement industry, uses sheets of acrylic and latex enamel paint skins to create paint sculptures.
• Brian Robertson bridges the terrain between abstraction and representation. One finds in his collaged paintings meticulous geometric patterning and a highly developed sense of rhythm and movement.
• Emily White works with code to explore the aesthetics of inundation. Her recent drawings exist at the threshold between control and chaos. She has exhibited, lectured and published on topics ranging from manufactured islands to the use of code in engineered textiles.

The Audio Lab, otherwise known as the music portion of the evening, completes Create:Fixate’s vision.  Highlights include:
• John Tejada – “LA’s own techno hero” – LA Weekly
• Silver Pesos – a blend of tropical bass rhythms, soulful Spanish & English female vocals, and West African guitar psychedelia
• Valida – as heard on KCRW’s The Lab, late-night Saturday’s
• Aimé – electronic artist/hip-hop beat-maker, occasionally likened to artists such as Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, Amiina and Air

Create:Fixate is an arts organization that has now completed a decade of serving the emerging art and music community of Los Angeles.  The organization is best know for its signature blend of art and music, along with thousands of art lovers and party goers in massive – and at times intimate – warehouse locations and alternative spaces on a quarterly basis.  Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple art show into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.

Optical Lounge:

Annie Terrazzo
Annie Terrazzo has been creating mixed media portraiture for almost 10 years and has sold over 450 works of art in that time. “Detritus”, Terrazzo’s current artistic endeavor is made completely out of newspapers from around the world. Her latest series, entitled “Head Lines” will be completed  in January 2012. Her latest work, Power Lines had a very well received exhibition in Toronto, Canada in September 2011 at Communication Art Gallery And Toast Gallery. 6 out of 10 pieces sold in 3 weeks time. Other projects include “Art Is Trash”, born in 2001, which mainly focused on creating portraits made with objects found on the streets of L.A. at 3am.

Annie spends most of her down time in Los Angeles, but travels most of the year doing shows in other countries and collecting new newspapers. She is inspired by the likes of Ralph Steadman, JR, Roy Lichstenstine, strippers that don’t speak English, box tape and expensive champagne.

Art Weeks
Formerly an advertising Art Director for over 20 years, Art Weeks had always had a dream to one day quit the advertising world to become a full time artist, and in 2007 he did just that.  His work often incorporates graphic elements, patterns and precisely rendered shapes, an obvious influence from his former career.  Since then, Weeks has participated in over 60 group shows, including five solo shows, even having had the prestigious honor of being chosen to exhibit a painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Brian Robertson
Los Angeles based artist, Brian Robertson bridges the terrain between abstraction and representation. Within the artist’s figurative works, a convergence of disparate styles and technique combine to create a blended aesthetic. One finds in his collaged paintings meticulous geometric patterning and a highly developed sense of rhythm and movement. Robertson’s highly graphic and vibrant pieces – themselves a hybrid of processes – invoke a fusion of personal and referenced mythologies to create works of great emotional weight.

Curtis Brooks
Curtis Brooks is a southern California native and self-taught artist living in Santa Monica. A carpenter and house painter by trade, his work has evolved out of his twenty years of experience in the construction industry.  His wood sculptures and paintings, each with their own unique visible history, are inspired by and created with the left over paint, paint sticks, and scraps of wood used in his work as a home improvement contractor.

Donna Trousdale
Donna Trousdale considers herself more of a scientist than an artist – a scientist of Consciousness. She became interested in Sacred Geometry several years ago as a way to understand the fundamental structure of the Universe. Her paintings depict the Flower of Life and the Torus, which represent the underlying architecture of Conscious Vibration. It’s the geometry that naturally forms as Unity divides and expands itself. The sacred image of the Flower of Life has been found across the globe and its formation holds innumerable secrets to the mysteries of Creation. Its structure is a divine expression of L.O.V.E. – the Law of Vibrational Equilibrium. Trousdale has spent the last several years studying the dynamics of this Universal principle and has given talks around the world regarding the constant whole number solution to the Pi ratio, which was revealed to her while working with and painting this geometry.

Emily White
Emily White is an artist and architect working in Los Angeles. She graduated from Barnard College and holds a Master in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Together with partner Lisa Little, she runs the design office LAYER. LAYER’s installations and buildings have appeared in the LA Times, Interior Design magazine, the 2010 California Design Biennial, the New Children’s Museum and the Skirball Cultural Center. White has exhibited, lectured, and published on topics ranging from manufactured islands to the aesthetics of inundation. She is currently on the faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Erik Abel
Born in Ventura County, Erik Abel is an artist inspired by the subtle dynamics of the ocean, ancient cultures, and patterns of the natural world. With over 15 years experience as a freelance designer, Abel has fused his curiosity of nature and design with his passion for surfing and the sea. Through his unique mix of acrylic paint, markers, and colored pencil, Abel’s pieces intrigue clients and collectors to explore their affinity for the environment and appreciation of visual balance. Abel’s clients include private collectors along with notable brands such as Reef, Patagonia, Billabong, and Oxbow. His work has been featured in Surfing Magazine, Fluir, Tide, Juxtapoz, PDX Magazine, Citizen LA, and Oddica.

Gus Harper
Gus Harper was born and raised in Santa Monica.  For the last eleven years he has worked full time as an artist.  His first show was at Ground Zero in Marina Del Rey and since then has shown his work in New York, Denver, New Orleans, Mexico City, and Puerto Vallarta.  His best known work is from the series, “Signs of A Benevolent Universe.”  His most recent solo show, Daydreams, the Awakening was at Gus Harper studios, which he maintains full time at 11306 Venice Blvd. (90066).  His art can be viewed at www.gusharperart.com.  The work on display at Create:Fixate is from the “Signs of Life” series.

Isabelle Alford-Lago
Originally from Santa Cruz, CA, Isabelle Alford-Lago came to Los Angeles to receive her BA from University of Southern California, and has since been working as a painter.  Her current work is distinctly defined by her Gorilla portraits, which are both oils on canvas as well as large public murals.  The Gorillas are a satirical representation of classic portraiture, using an unlikely subject to portray real human emotion and individualized presence.  Alford-Lago is now based in Venice, CA.

Jeremy Crabtree
Jeremy Crabtree’s paintings are made to evoke a comparison between the dreams when we sleep and the dreams of our waking existence. Behind the many layers of color and texture lie varying methods of communication felt collectively from moment to moment, or from space to time. He uses whatever forms of paint or plaster is convenient at the time to maintain the spontaneity felt in our daily lives. He lives and works in downtown Los Angeles.

JK Wasson
JK Wasson is a Venice-based painter and filmmaker. His current series explores the heart– it’s mechanics as a pump, it’s place within the body, it’s rhythms, it’s mood swings. He draws inspiration from his own heart’s struggle to balance order and chaos.

John Park
John Park is an artist and teacher living in Venice.  He received his training at the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied classical figure drawing, painting, sculpture and anatomy.  His current body of work is an attempt to reconcile these classical influences with the modern aesthetic of the New Contemporary Art movement.  The paintings themselves are executed in a public setting in front of an audience at the various galleries, clubs, bars and music festivals that serve as his studio.  He teaches drawing and painting at Concord Prep in Santa Monica.

Jon Measures
Jon Measures is a British artist, designer, and educator based in Los Angeles. Measures produces intriguing mixed media images depicting Los Angeles, and in particular, the East side of LA. These pieces often combine multiple views; slicing and dicing bits of the city’s rich fabric together. The images are usually digitally edited, and collaged together with painted elements. Paint is used to stylize or emphasize aspects of the photographic materials and to add texture and layering. Measures has described his approach to image making as a hybrid between painting, photography, and collage.

Kat Shoa
Kat Shoa is an artist, a world traveler, and a businesswoman. A self taught artist, she combines her art influences from late 19th century to early 20th century impressionism with her unique ink drawing style. As an art collector from around the world, she uses acrylic painting as her creative outlet. She’s a late bloomer who discovered her artistic talents in 2008 with custom portrait paintings, and quickly expanded to figurative paintings, trees, vines, and other subject matters.

In real life, she’s the Managing Director of The Directive Group, a management consulting practice providing strategic business services to companies developing products, services, and intellectual properties. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club, a 60 year old nonprofit organization helping disadvantaged youth with education, sports, and citizenry programs. She has degrees in Computer Engineering and Executive Management.

L. Croskey
Inspired by vintage pin up art, design, and advertising, LC creates a world of imagination, a very distinct world of his own, an image that reflects a metaphor or fantasy or delusion, a false paradise. By using magazines and books ranging from vintage pin up to children’s books and numerous others, he takes these classic beauties and other collected images and places them in a modern design setting. Years of collected wrapping paper, wallpaper, scrap booking paper, and magazines are the materials LC uses to build this girl inspired world, luring you in to find out that the story might actually be saying more than what it may have initially alluded to.

LC’s art is a diary of emotions from his past and the lessons he has learned from these various, funny, sometimes dark relationships, and sometimes just good old fashioned sex.

Luis Sanchez
For his paintings, Luis Sanchez utilizes a number of mediums, including acrylic, dry pigments and stucco. His two-dimensional works are often noted for his masterful use of trompe l’oeil, leaving viewers with the impression that he has used photography, collage, or other techniques when he has only used the brush. His work seamlessly combines the past, present and the future.

Born in 1968, Sanchez lived the first ten years of his life in Mexico City with his family (a Cuban born father, a Mexican-Lebanese mother, and an older brother and sister.) He and his family immigrated to Seattle, WA in 1979.  He attended Cornish College of the Arts and the Academy of Realist Art in Seattle, WA.  In 2002 Sanchez moved to Los Angeles to pursue painting and sculpture full time. He exhibits in Los Angeles, Indiana, Chicago, Miami and New York.

Michelle Nielsen
Michelle Nielsen is a young Bolivian visual artist educated in San Francisco, Chile, and Mexico. Her oil paintings use a combination of narrative figuration and pop influence inspired by fashion and photography. Letting the canvas capture frozen moments in liquid environments filled with color and transparency, her latest work shows a different stroke of what her development as an artist can offer to the eye. Determined to stay true to her feminine sensibility, imagination, and sense of humor, Michelle’s artwork invites the spectator to enjoy the pleasure of looking.

Mike Russek
Mike Russek graduated with an MFA from Maryland Institute of Art in 2001, with a focus in sculpture. He started his own company,1028 Designs, in 2005. 1028 Designs is a custom design and fabrication facility utilizing laser tooling to create furniture, interiors and various products and solutions. Russek is also the co-owner and curator of d i a l e c t satellite gallery, a cutting edge mobile gallery which travels to special events and festivals around the country, showcasing works from established and emerging local and global talents.

Sal Escobar
An advertising creative during the day and conceptual artist at night, Sal Escobar originally from Puebla, Mexico, started his artistic expression in Mexico City doing videos and installations. In 2005 he moved to Los Angeles where he explores new techniques using recycled materials to create diverse objects. For his collection “Banderas” (Flags), he uses mixed-media to express the wear and tear of relationships and the confrontation of ideals where love is the battlefield.

Sean “Chango” Caffey
Sean Caffey came into the arts naturally with a painter for a mother and a jazz composer of a father. With a family full of artists ranging from photographers and graphic designers to fine mixed media artists, he was exposed to the raw knowledge used to create art.  At a young age, Caffey learned drawing, painting, carpentry, costume design and various forms of dance all before he entered high school.  Over the last ten years he has developed into a metal artist.  His latest permanent installation can be found at the Holy Cow night club in San Francisco where he integrated edge glowing fiber optics into his sculpture to make a dynamic lighting display over the DJ booth that pulses to life with the music.  As of late “Chango” has found perforated sheet metal to be his favorite material, the Moiré patterns from stacking the material allow for significant light and shadow play.

Sebastian Halmagean
Residing in San Diego, Sebastian Halmagean is an emerging artist whose education in art is rooted at the Watts Atelier in Encinitas, CA. His paintings can be defined as “snapshot narratives” that have a tale to tell… an asymmetric and riddled tale that is fueled by longings, nuanced by reverie, laced with a dreamy romanticism, and punctuated by a flare for elegance.

Stephanie Han
Stephanie Han emigrated to the U.S. in 1978 from Seoul, S. Korea. She obtained her MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1999 and now pursues careers in painting and graphic design.  She exhibits all over Southern California and also works as an Art Director at a graphic design firm in Long Beach. She explores themes of loss and hope with her current series of abstract expressionist paintings.

Tari Karkanen (Video Projections)
- bio coming soon

Terry Hutton
Terry Hutton was born in London, England in 1960. With no formal education, apart from a long spell in Florence, Italy, and some junior college credit, he is self-taught. Undecided if this is an advantage or not, he works closely with a silent voice, many call it a natural instinct, or intuition. As a direct result of this, he is setting a new purpose, by veering away from representational work he’s known for, to peer closely into color and just sheer paint. There is nothing under the sun that has not been done before, so with this in mind, a new endeavor has evolved to let the paint sing louder then his brush.

Zig Gron
A performing musician (percussionist) born in Detroit, sound and rhythm are often integral components of Zig Gron’s films and videos, which he has been making for the past 25 years.  Fascinated with the way seemingly insignificant images can merge to form something more powerful than any individual part (the way a musical ensemble is the culmination of separate instruments), his work often results in complex visual graphics based on simple tropes, using time-honored compositional techniques such as theme and variation, repetition and counterpoint.

• Fashion / Jewelry / Crafts:

Irene LAVA Jewels
Irene LAVA jewels, a line of vintage-inspired beaded jewelry, was started by Interior Designer/Personal Shopper/Photographer Janet Grey as an antidote to a debilitating e-bay habit.  Thankfully, it worked out!  Named after her two grandmothers, Irene Jeanette Goldman and Leona Lava, each one-of-a-kind Irene LAVA creation is lovingly hand-assembled by Grey using a unique combination of vintage, czech glass, Swarovski Crystal, gemstone, rare, unusual and just simply SPECTACULAR beads from the early 20th century through current times. Gems include onyx, amethyst, labradorite, garnet, peridot, jade, aventurine and more.

Delevo Designs
After graduating from Columbia College, Deborah Vogt became a founding member of The Conjugate Projekt, Transamoeba Studios and The Chicago Art Department, participating in the creation of many collectives, multitudes of events and performance art installations throughout Chicago. She began creating her line of jewelry, Delevo designs, in the year 2000, even traveling to Bali to teach her stylized designs to the master artisans there. Upon landing in Los Angeles, she worked with several high end designers, and early in 2010 co-founded d i a l e c t gallery on 6th Street downtown. She now divides her time between curating and singing in her band, Early Bird Circus. Her jewelry is hand-crafted, elegant and simple, using fine woods, sterling silver and gold, precious and semi-precious stones and recycled materials to create universal and distinctive designs.

Luv Warrior/WittyKitty
Witty Kitty is all about fashion with flavor!  We are inspired by anything and everything Witty! Our “Kittys” also known as leather sleeves or fingerless gloves are all handmade, no two “Kittys” are a like!  Whether casually worn or dressy they complete any look! The buttery soft leather makes them so comfortable, and there is no thumb or finger cut-outs so your fingers are literally free! Our “Kittys” definitely qualify as a classic in the right wardrobe! Enjoy!

Viola Living Jewels
Jessica Viola is a botanical designer and the founder of Viola Living Jewels and Viola Gardens. For the past thirteen years, Viola has been cultivating her design portfolio and practice based on sustainability, whole-system solutions and artistic vision.  Viola Gardens was born nearly six years ago, specializing in permaculture-based botanical design, CA native plant restoration, drought-tolerant water-wise artscapes, edible gardens and organics.  Viola Gardens has worked with a large range of clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, both residentially and commercially.  Viola lectures on sustainable landscape design and permaculture at Santa Monica College, Venice Community Housing and Pepperdine University.  After many years of working in design, studying, stretching, exploring holistic living, traveling to South and Central America, playing music, singing, making art, creating gardens and teaching, Viola Living Jewels was born.  The collection features fashion-forward botanical jewelry; amulets of our wild essence.

Jenneration Fix
Jenneration Fix is a small company made up of two Jennifers:  two women who wanted to help the environment in their own way.  They aim to make a difference in the world by transforming rescued materials into art and supporting various non-profit organizations at the same time.  Jenneration Fix, in effect, makes a complete circle back into the community by taking potential pollutants in the world from businesses and individuals, creating fun and useful items and then donating a portion of their profits back into a wide variety of charities.  The crafty ladies use materials such as discarded fabrics and clothing pieces, leather, scrap wood, e-waste, warped vinyl records, corks, and plastic packaging to make art work, jewelry, purses and clutches, pet toys, clocks, greeting cards and other quirky and fun gifts!

(soy’-ka designs)
Natalie Sojka found her first elements of inspiration for this line at an antique shop in rural Pennsylvania. After seeing the unique blend of metal shapes and textures she was inspired to produce her current line of jewelry.  Her goal with this line is to give her clients something unique, sexy, authentic, and edgy to wear, as well as a conversation starter.  All pieces are handmade, one of a kind, and made from all recycled materials.

Audio Lab:

Silver Pesos
The Silver Pesos blend tropical bass rhythms, soulful female vocals in Spanish and English, and West African guitar psychedelia. Formed in 2009 by producer/instrumentalist Peter Brambl, singer Chloe Conger, and guitarist Robert Weber, the group’s debut album Born at Midnight features the single “Regresando,” which has created a buzz on and offline.  Currently based in Los Angeles, the Silver Pesos also feature jazz bassist John von Seggern, percussionist Jason Kadlec, drummer Krishnanda Adipurba and vocalist/keyboardist Joanna Ellis.
www.thesilverpesos.com For free download of album, enter: http://www.thesilverpesos.com/create-fixate

John Tejada (Palette)
Normally associated with his peers in techno from Detroit, Europe and elsewhere, John Tejada has embraced electronic music as a personal frontier, expanding on his formidable resume as a techno recording artist as producer and remixer, DJ, and label owner. With dozens of singles, remixes, some film and TV work, and contributions to sample CDs to his credit, this recent expansion has born a slew of tracks deeply informed by his uncompromised aesthetic honed over years of diligent production, which finds its roots in Detroit techno but references a far broader range of music, both in and outside of electronic music. His musically formative years were steeped in classical music, growing up in family of performing artists – his mother a soprano singer and his father a conductor – which then widened to include hip hop, DJing and finally, electronic music. www.paletterecordings.com

Valida (KCRW)
Dubbed by LA.com as “one of the most important figures in L.A.’s nightlife scene,” Valida’s steady rise comes from her uncanny ability to seamlessly blend a variety of music styles that include house, hip-hop, indie rock, b-more/electro, and some classic 80s, disco and pop tracks thrown in for good measure. Since purchasing her first set of turntables in 1998, Valida has straddled the music and modeling arena with skills and ease. Worldwide bookings have brought her musical eloquence to Winter Music Conference in Miami, Regine in Paris, Dragon-I in Hong Kong, Mystique in Kuala Lumpur, Budoir in Dubai, Nuphoria event in Tokyo, Candela Party in Puerto Rico, Organic Party in Mexico, Barbados and her native Bosnia.  She can be heard on air on KCRW (89.9 FM) in Los Angeles on rotating Sundays from 3:00 to 6:00am as part of their program The Lab. www.valida.com

HouseMates (Venice)
HouseMates are a DJ trio reigning from Venice Beach consisting of founders Jacob Vaynshtok & Aidan Ramos of Jacob’s List and Matt Xavier of Railyard Recordings. After a series of convivial Venice gatherings the trio continue to provide an indubitable source of thoughtful art and house music events at unique venues along LA’s westside.  http://facebook.com/housemates.venice

Mr. NumberOnederful (Cannibal Flower)
LC has been passionately spinning vinyl since 82’. Specializing in remixes, mash ups and covers. But what creates LC’s sound is the hip hop, lounge, reggae, trip hop, dance and some pop music mixed together to harmonize this DJ’s acoustic signature. A sound that has made him a vital piece of the musical group Bitter:Sweet, as featured on 89.9fm KCRW.  LC spreads his vibe and sound around to various events around LA such as, Cannibal Flower, Bacchanal,  at the Del Monte Speak Easy, L.A. Beatdown at the Henry Fonda, the Mar Vista Farmers Market every second and third Saturday of the month, and is the tour DJ for Shana Halligan formerly of Bitter:Sweet. But his creative spirit doesn’t end there. Out from behind the DJ booth, LC is a collage artist and also a co-owner and curator of Thinkspace Gallery and Cannibal Flower. If you like the vibe LC spins you can download mixes, contact, and book him at www.lcroskeyart.com

Santana (TruthSeekers Radio | KPFK)
Santana Westbrook is the host of TruthSeekers which airs Midnight-2am every Friday Night/Saturday morning on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles. The musical selections cover a wide range of genres from downtempo electronic instrumentals to soul and beyond. Santana also produces music under the aliases of BuddhaSupreme and Nexus102. The show can be heard on demand at www.truthseekersradio.org.

Aimé (Aimemusic ltd)
Los Angeles resident Fran Dominguez a.k.a. Aimé is an electronic artist/hip-hop beat-maker, occasionally likened to artists such as Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss and the Icelandic band Amiina and French duo Air, for his more hybridized orchestral styles. Following the success of his first album Place Your Hands Over Your Eyes, that included accolades (Los Angeles Music Awards “Electronic Album of the Year” 2007) and diverse college and internet radio airplay, Aimé has since gone on to produce music for cable channels (Plum Television, Comcast Cable Programming), short films (“Cop” 2009) and has remixed the work of artists both mainstream (Radiohead, Minus The Bear, Gorillaz, Brian Eno & David Byrne) and underground (Pinklogik, The Dead Amps). A highly anticipated follow up album titled Times When I Know You Will Watch the Sky will be out in 2012. http://www.facebook.com/aimespace

Dj Sebiseb (SD Mixmasters)
Originally from France, DJ Sebiseb  brings European feels to her mixes. Her versatile skills on either vinyl or CDs lets her play different style of music to accommodate many different types of music lovers. She has started to incorporate her music skills into the music producing world. For more info, schedules and booking www.djsebiseb.com.

Theory Abstract (Deep funk records)
Theory Abstract is a 20 year experienced DJ coming from a strong family musical background. He has embraced many styles of music and incorporated them into his sets. He has appeared in small lounges & LA underground events to large clubs in Vegas. He has opened and performed with the likes of MAW, Osunlade, Mark Farina, Doc Martin, Nickodemos, Dj AM, MixMasterMike, Thievery Corporation, and the list goes on. He has collaborations with live bands such as the funk sensation “Kool In The Gang”, as well as the live nujazz project “Modern Groove Assembly”, with singer Sy Smith. www.mixcrate.com/theoryabstract

Charles Guilterre (Fallen Fronds)
Producer/DJ Charles Guilterre is a recent transplant from Brooklyn to LA. Best known for his Hump Wednesday parties in New York City’s East Village in the late 1990s, his electronic sound incorporates elements of lounge, experimental, electro, synthwave, heady house, and a hint of industrial, the latter heavily influenced by music from Chicago’s WaxTrax! label from the mid-1980s. He is currently concentrating his production/remixing efforts on his production team, Fallen Fronds.  http://www.facebook.com/guilterre

Christos Kedras (Kapa Music, SOAK Brasil) -
Originally from Greece and based in Los Angeles, Christos Kedras is a globetrotting ambassador of music sophistication thanks to his ultra-unique music style. Kedras hand-picks the finest ingredients from all over the world: African & Latin rhythms, Disco/Funk/Soul grooves, Brazilian bossa, Jazzy brass & pianos, and dancefloor-adorned Deep House beats. He mixes these into unmatched music cocktails that caress the senses, move the body, and expand the mind. With DJ gigs in Europe, Japan, Brazil and several US cities, a radio show that airs globally, and a constant supply of high-quality productions, Christos Kedras is one of the most international Los Angelinos in the house/electronic genre! www.christoskedras.com

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For more information, images, or to request interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Bottom Floor

Bottom Floor
Celebrates One Year Of Building Down
Featuring Boo Williams, John Tejada, and More
Saturday, January 21, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – Bottom Floor is pleased to announce that the celebration of its one year anniversary will feature a rare Los Angeles appearance by legendary Chicago deep house producer and DJ, Boo Williams, on Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 10:00pm to 6:00am at a private venue in downtown Los Angeles.  Attendees must RSVP to receive location information.  The event also promises a peak-time set by John Tejada, in support of his latest album, Parabolas, released last summer on the revered German label, Kompakt Records.  Rounding out the lineup will be LA underground favorite Suli Belarto and Bottom Floor resident DJs Morgan Alexander and Reg Xelle.  Guests must be 21 years of age or older to attend. The entrance fee will range from $15 to $20, dependent on a number of presale and early arrival options.  Venue capacity is limited and early arrival is strongly suggested.  For more information, please visit www.thebottomfloor.com.

About Bottom Floor -
Bottom Floor was established as a multi-faceted platform for DJs and producers prolific in their ability to squeeze soul out of machines.  Championing the electronic dance music sub-genre of true deep house, its first incarnation was that of a weekly event that served as an intimate home for a specific yet eclectic sound.  Spinning alongside creator and resident DJ, Morgan Alexander, Bottom Floor played host to many of Los Angeles’ finest DJs, including numerous appearances by fan-favorites John Tejada (Palette Recordings), Santiago Salazar (Planet E), DJ Dex (Underground Resistance), and Lars Behrenroth (Deeper Shades of House).  In some cases better known for their more aggressive styles of production, each guest effortlessly delivered on the request to explore the deeper side of their record collection.

Currently, Bottom Floor’s focus is producing the “Bottom Floor Welcomes:” series.  There you’ll find talent that arrives on planes, coupled with talent that arrives on roller skates.  Guests to date have included Kai Alcé (NDATL Muzik), Chris Brann (Wamdue Project), Brett Dancer (Track Mode Recordings), Jordan Fields (MoWax), and Jus-Ed (Underground Quality).

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For more information, photos or to set up interviews please contact Green Galacticʼs Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Hybrid Cinema

For Immediate Release:

LOS ANGELES, CA – December 29, 2011 – Hybrid Cinema, The Colburn School and the California Dance Institute (CDI) are pleased to announce the Los Angeles premiere of the feature length documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance at Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 8:00pm.  Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, directed by Bob Hercules, is the first film to chronicle how the legendary Joffrey Ballet revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet.  The Los Angeles premiere will include a Q&A immediately following the screening moderated by Sasha Anawalt, Director, Arts Journalism Programs at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, with panelists Leslie Carothers-Aromaa, Artistic Director of the Colburn School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, Carole Valleskey, Founder and Director of CDI, Francoise Martinet Moriarty, former Joffrey dancer from the company’s earliest days in the late 1950s, and Jodie Gates, Artistic Director of the Laguna Beach Dance Festival, Associate Professor of Dance at UC Irvine and former Joffrey principal dancer.

General admission tickets are $20 and will go on sale the first week of January.  The Los Angeles event follows the film’s world premiere, which will be held at Dance On Camera Festival January 27th in NYC at Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center.  Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School is located at 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Public parking is available at lots adjacent to the school and limited street parking is also available within the area.  For more information, please visit http://www.joffreymovie.com/

Joffrey Ballet Dancers April Daly & Fabrice Calmels 2007 Photo courtesy Joffrey Ballet

Synopsis –
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
Director: Bob Hercules
Country: USA, 2012, 90min.
This insightful documentary, executive produced by Harold Ramis and Jay Alix and produced by Una Jackman and Erica Mann Ramis, examines the dynamic trajectory of the groundbreaking American ballet company – The Joffrey Ballet – which daringly combined traditional ballet and modern dance at a time when it was not routinely accepted. Weaving together a wealth of archival footage, behind-the-scene photos and interviews with former and current Joffrey star dancers, director Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man) documents the struggles and achievements of the Joffrey from its newfound beginnings in 1956 to the Company’s present international success. The film features rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as breakthrough collaborations with choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Leonid Massine, Laura Dean, and Kurt Jooss. Founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino and a host of ballet notables, including Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Helgi Tomasson, Kevin McKenzie and more, are featured in the film. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin, the film is a rich chronicle of a ballet company that continues to reinvent itself, raise the bar and invigorate audiences worldwide.  See list of full credits at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1829041/fullcredits.

Gerald Arpino's "Light Rain" Photo credit: Herbert Migdoll

Distribution –
Following the film’s world premiere in NYC in late January, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance will embark on a U.S. tour through Spring 2012 with stops not only in Los Angeles but also in Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Aspen, St. Louis, and many other cities. Special one-off events with Joffrey alumni and limited theatrical engagements are planned. The documentary will then have a VOD/DVD/digital release in June of 2012 through New Video.

Simultaneous Screenings –
The film will also simultaneously premiere in theaters around the country via simulcast through Emerging Pictures network of theaters on the weekend of Saturday, January 28th. A pioneering project, this marks the first time a film has simulcast its world premiere out of a major festival (learn more here).  Audiences at screenings across the country will be able to participate in a Q&A session from the New York City world premiere through a live Twitter feed.  Visit http://www.emergingpictures.com/2011/12/19/joffrey for updates on exact theater locations.


Multimedia – The Expanded Joffrey Story –
Hybrid Cinema is also releasing multimedia companion projects with exclusive content for fans wishing to further explore the Joffrey legend beyond the film.  The first of these initiatives is a series of digital photobooks called Joffrey Maverick Moments.  Each new edition will be available for free from the film’s website and Facebook page.  The digital photobooks are based on themes and time frames found in the film with photos accompanied by quotes from Robert Joffrey, his friends and associates, as well as alumni interviews that provide further insight and background into the Company. Future Joffrey Maverick Moments may explore such themes as Joffrey’s Nutcracker through the years, Joffrey’s psychedelic rock ballet Astarte, Arpino’s most well regarded ballets (The Clowns, Trinity, Olympics, Round of Angels, Light Rain), and more.  Hybrid Cinema has started releasing a series of audio podcasts with exclusive new interviews of Joffrey alumni.  These podcasts utilize the SoundCloud platform and are available through the film’s Facebook page for fans only.  The multimedia companion projects will be released over the next few months, through the premieres and leading up to the DVD release in June.  Regular content, including film clips, bonus outtakes, and blog articles, is also available on the film’s website and YouTube channel.


Director Bob Hercules –
Bob Hercules is an award-winning veteran producer/director (Forgiving Dr. Mengele, Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, Senator Obama Goes to Africa).  The co-founder of Media Process Group, his work has been seen widely on PBS, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel and the Independent Film Channel (IFC). He has also directed commercials for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Alzheimer’s Association, McDonald’s Corporation, Gap Clothing Stores and the Obama For President Campaign.  His documentary, A Good Man, co-directed by Gordon Quinn, chronicles the intense creative journey of Bill T. Jones – a 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient and two-time Tony® Award winner for Best Choreography.  It premiered on November 11, 2011 on PBS’ celebrated series American Masters.


The Joffrey Ballet –
For more than a half-century, The Joffrey Ballet’s commitment to taking world-class, artistically vibrant work to a broad and varied audience has created a solid foundation that continues to support the Company’s unprecedented capacity for achieving important “firsts.” Today, the Joffrey, which has been hugely successful in its former residences in New York and Los Angeles, lives permanently in a brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America – Chicago, Illinois. The Company’s commitment to accessibility is met through the most extensive touring schedule of any dance company in history, an innovative and highly effective education program including the much lauded Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and collaborations with myriad other visual and performing arts organizations.

Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become the organization’s principal choreographer, The Joffrey Ballet began as a DIY dance company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon. What started as a childhood dream quickly grew into one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Together, Joffrey and Arpino transformed the face of dance by merging classical ballet technique with bold new perspectives for edgy new ballets that challenged conventions. Aggressive touring took the Company from school auditoriums across America’s Heartland, to the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, on to Russia for a month-long tour during the height of the Cold War, and beyond.  They also garnered extensive media attention for their daring originality, which included appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the cover of Time Magazine, and in major motion pictures such as Save the Last Dance and Robert Altman’s The Company (which is based on the Joffrey).

Classically trained to the highest standards, The Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its Company, audiences and repertoire, which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and contemporary works. The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater and Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world. To learn more, please visit http://joffrey.org/.


The Colburn School/Zipper Hall –

The Colburn School’s mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education in an optimal learning environment. Founded in 1950, The Colburn School was established as a small preparatory school in connection with the University of Southern California’s School of Music. The School became an independent, nonprofit institution in 1980 through the generous support of its benefactor, Richard D. Colburn. In 1998, The Colburn School moved to its current location on South Grand Avenue. One of LA’s most popular performance halls, the intimate 435-seat Zipper Hall at The Colburn School is home to many arts groups from the greater Los Angeles area, including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica, Southwest Chamber Music, Monday Evening Concerts, Lark Musical Society, and Piano Spheres. For more information, please call 213-621-4514 or visit http://www.colburnschool.edu.

The California Dance Institute –

California Dance Institute (CDI) is an in-school and after-school arts education program for low-income elementary school children that encourages discipline, self-expression and the pursuit of excellence through dance. CDI is the newest affiliate of the world-renowned National Dance Institute, founded in 1976 by New York City Ballet’s Jacques d’Amboise, and the subject of the Academy Award-winning film He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’.  Directed by former Joffrey Ballet principal dancer, Carole Valleskey, the CDI program consists of weekly dance classes in the schools, primarily for 3rd – 6th grade students.  Today the program serves 1,400 students in eight elementary schools in which over 91% of students qualify for the Free Lunch Program (indicating income of less than $33,000 for a family of four). http://www.californiadanceinstitute.org


Hybrid Cinema –
Hybrid Cinema was created by filmmaker and author Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office, Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul) to help filmmakers navigate the ever-changing world of film distribution and marketing.  Hybrid Cinema consults with filmmakers to help them with the new digital era of distribution and marketing by utilizing modern strategies of audience engagement, special theatrical events, as well as innovative merchandising and release patterns.  Hybrid Cinema also supervises film releases. Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance is Hybrid’s second full release of a film following the graffiti documentary Bomb It.  Indicative of the innovative release and audience engagement strategies used by Hybrid, the Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance release marks the first time that a film has simulcast its film festival world premiere throughout the U.S. as the launch of its theatrical release.  Hybrid Cinema orchestrated this pioneering release strategy by, among other things, bringing the participating organizations together for these milestone premiere events.  For more information on Hybrid Cinema, please visit http://www.hybridcinema.com/

Key Links –
Official Movie Site – http://www.joffreymovie.com/
Movie YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/JoffreyMovie
Movie Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/JoffreyBalletMovie
Movie Twitter – http://twitter.com/#%21/JoffreyMovie
Joffrey Ballet Site – http://joffrey.org/

For more information, or to request screeners, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com

Save the Date: 

What:
The Industry presents World Premiere of
Crescent City, a hyperopera

Crescent City is a hyperopera by composer Anne LeBaron, widely recognized for her work in instrumental, electronic, and performance realms, and librettist Douglas Kearney, a poet, performer and recipient of the Whiting Writer’s Award. The opera, which incorporates installations by six contemporary LA-based artists, tells the epic story of a mythical city, decimated by one hurricane and on the verge of being wiped off the face of the earth by another, and the voodoo priestess determined to save it. A roving band of revelers spreads chaos throughout the streets of the city, capturing the action of the opera with live video along the way. www.TheIndustryLA.org

When:
Thu. May 10 – Sun. May 27, 2012
Thu. – Sun. for 3 Weeks

- Special Sneak-Peek Reading at the Annenberg Community Beach House - http://www.annenbergbeachhouse.com
- Mon. Feb. 6, 2012

- Performance – Gala Opening Night – Thu. May 10, 2012
- Art Gallery – Opening – Fri. May 11, 2012
- Performance – Closing Night – Sun. May 27, 2012

Where:
Atwater Crossing
3245 Casitas Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
www.atwatercrossing.com

Who:
About The Industry –
Founded by Artistic Director Yuval Sharon and Producing Director Laura Kay Swanson, The Industry produces new interdisciplinary work that merges music, visual arts, and performance to expand the traditional definition of opera. The Industry has received support for Crescent City from The Doris Duke Foundation and the generosity of individual supporters.

Crescent City Credits –
Director – Yuval Sharon – www.yuvalsharon.com
Producer – Laura Kay Swanson
Associate Producer – Rachel Scandling
Music – Anne LeBaron – www.annelebaron.com
Libretto – Douglas Kearney – www.douglaskearney.com
Curator – Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html

Visual Installation Artists –
Mason Cooley – http://masoncooley.blogspot.com
Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html
Katie Grinnan – http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/honigman/honigman8-4-04.asp
Alice Konitz – alicekonitz.com
Olga Koumoundouros – www.vielmetter.com/artists/olga-koumoundouros.html

Set Designer – Sibyl Wickersheimer – www.sawgirl.com
Lighting Designer – Elizabeth Harper – www.eharperdesign.com
Sound Designer – Martin Gimenez
Video Designer – Jason Thompson

Timur & the Dime Museum (photo credit: Sandra Powers)

Cast –
The cast of 18 includes:
Marie Laveau – Gwendolyn Brown – http://www.gwendolynbrown.com
The Good Man – Cedric Berry –  http://www.cedricberry.com/Cedric_Berry/Home.html
Deadly Belle – Timur Bekbosunov – www.theoperaoftimur.com
Homesick Woman – Lillian Sengpiehl – http://tinyurl.com/Robert-Gilder-L-Sengpiehl
Jesse – Anthony Faatolia – http://www.ashleyfaatoalia.com
The Nurses – Maria Elena Altany and Ji Young Yang

More About Crescent City:
Previously featured in workshop performances at New York City Opera’s VOX Festival of new American opera, this massive site-specific production, which audiences will experience in 360 degrees, will be realized in an industrial warehouse space with abstract sets by an extraordinary group of visual installation artists.  At the world premiere, each audience member will be seated in a section of the city – the Cemetery, Swamp, Hospital, Dive Bar, Good Man’s Shack or Junk Heap. They will be able to see and hear the action in every other part of the city through live video streams and sophisticated sound technology.

The production features a live orchestra comprised of The Dime Museum and includes such diverse instrumentation as laptop, chromelodeon, and didjeridu. LeBaron’s hybrid sound world encompasses electronica, bluegrass, jazz, and improvisation.

The installation will function as an art exhibition by day, which transforms into the performance space at night, providing viewers multiple opportunities to engage with the world of Crescent City. “I’m excited by the different ways audiences will be able to experience the work,” says director Yuval Sharon. “Letting imaginations run wild when the space is open during the day should increase people’s curiosity about how the opera plays out by night.”

With every purchase of a ticket to Crescent City, audiences will be provided with downloadable audio program notes and an insider’s guide to the production that is meant to be listened to on the way to the performance space.  These notes are meant to enhance the Crescent City experience and extend the production out into the world.

With a gala opening of the opera on Thursday, May 10, 2012 and gallery exhibition opening on Friday, May 11, 2012, Crescent City will run for three weeks, Thursdays through Sundays, closing on May 27, 2012.

Yuval Sharon –
Yuval Sharon’s directorial work has been described as “magical” (The Village Voice), “ingenious” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “a major event, where surprise sidesteps operatic convention” (Los Angeles Times). He has worked both with international houses like the San Francisco Opera, the Mariinsky Theater, the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, and the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as experimental venues like Berkeley Opera, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Deitch Projects. He was assistant director to Achim Freyer on the Los Angeles Ring Cycle. Sharon was Project Director for four years of New York City Opera’s VOX, an annual workshop of new American opera, which became the most important crucible for new opera in the country under his direction.  Sharon will also be directing Jessye Norman, Meredith Monk, and Joan LaBarbara in the John Cage Songbooks this March as part of San Francisco Symphony’s Mavericks Festival at Carnegie Hall.  More information is at http://www.yuvalsharon.com.

Ages –
For 12 and older

Tix –
TBD

Website – www.TheIndustryLA.org
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Industry/124606140952622
Twitter - TheIndustry_LA
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheindustryArts

Press Contact:
Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada – 213-840-1201 – lynn@greengalactic.com

The Los Angeles artists creating new installation works for Crescent City are:
1) Olga Koumoundouros (photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer)
2) Katie Grinnan (photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer)
3) Liz Glynn (photo credit: Maryanne Williams)
4) Alice Konitz (photo credit: Gene Ogami)
5) Mason Cooley (photo credit: Josh White)
6) Brianna Gorton (photo credit: Brendan Threadgill)
Please note: Works shown are representative of these artists’ sensibility, though not the actual Crescent City installations. 

(Photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen)

The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) will transform Eagle Rock’s Welcome Inn into a six-hour tour through key moments in LA’s experimental music history with Welcome Inn Time Machine on Sunday, January 29, 2012.  Over a dozen concurrent micro concerts will transform individual motel rooms into venues for installations and live performances allowing key moments in Southern California sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. Welcome Inn Time Machine runs from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. The event is free.  

For Immediate Release:

LOS ANGELES, CA – December 13, 2011 – The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) will transform Eagle Rock’s Welcome Inn into a six-hour tour through key moments in LA’s experimental music history with Welcome Inn Time Machine on Sunday, January 29, 2012.  Over a dozen concurrent micro concerts will transform individual motel rooms into venues for installations and live performances allowing key moments in Southern California sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. Welcome Inn Time Machine runs from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. The event is free.  The Welcome Inn is located at 1840 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90041. For more information on SASSAS and this event please visit http://www.sassas.org or phone 323-960-5723.

Members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society Testing Pyramid Headphones, 1976. (Photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen)



Welcome Inn Time Machine revisits works created between 1949 and 1977. The duration of the event is derived from the 1963 premiere performance of John Cage’s Variations IV at UCLA, which was six hours in length. Among the more than 40 works included are John Cage’s Variations IV, Bruce Nauman’s Violin Tuned D.E.A.D., Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations, The Los Angeles Free Music Society’s Pyramid Headphones, James Tenney’s Postal Pieces, and David Ornette Cherry and poet Kamau Daaood will revisit Something Else, The Music of Ornette Coleman.  In addition to presenting historic works, SASSAS is commissioning two new works based on existing fragments and documents. The Calder Quartet will premiere a new work derived from Arnold Schoenberg’s Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949) and choreographer Anita Pace will re-envision Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances (1963) as part of a presentation of Variations IV.

Welcome Inn Time Machine Micro Concerts –


Arnold Schoenberg, Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949)
Composer Arnold Schoenberg moved to the United States in 1934 and soon settled in Los Angeles. During his time in LA, he wrote such notable pieces as the Violin Concerto (1942), A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) and Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte (1942). In addition to this and numerous other works he wrote while in Los Angeles, several were unfinished upon his death in 1951, including the Draft of a String Quartet from 1949. The Draft will be the generative source for a yet to be titled new work by the Calder Quartet.

Los Angeles Free Jazz Tribute
Los Angeles was the home for several seminal free jazz recordings including, Something Else!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman recorded February 10, 1958 at Contemporary Studios, Ornette’s first recording under his own name.  In addition to Coleman (alto sax), the album included Don Cherry (trumpet), Don Payne (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums).   David Ornette Cherry (the son of Don Cherry) and poet Kamau Daaood (who founded the World Stage Performance Gallery with Billy Higgins) will revisit this among other important works that originated or were recorded in Los Angeles.

John Cage, Variations IV (1963)

Variations IV is intended for any number of players producing any sounds by any means, “with or without other activities.” The score consists of seven points and two circles on a transparent sheet. The sheet is cut into nine small sheets. One of the circles is then placed anywhere on a map of the area where the performance is to take place. Then the rest of the sheets are dropped anywhere on the same map and straight lines are drawn from the first circle to the seven points; if a line intersects or is tangent to another circle, the same procedure is applied to that circle. Performers do not need to confine themselves to a performance of the piece during the entire performance and are free to engage in any other activities at any time. The duration of Welcome Inn Time Machine is derived from the 1963 six hour long premiere performance of Variations IV at UCLA.

Field Activity, 2012 (inspired by documents describing the performance of Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances, 1963)
Cunningham abandoned the traditional collaborative process among choreographer, composer, and designer while liberating his dancers from hierarchical symmetrical patterns, allowing the audience the choice of where and at whom to look. The possibilities for choreographic invention appeared limitless. Field Dances was originally performed as a part of the UCLA premiere of Variations IV. Choreographer Anita Pace will revisit this work, use Cage’s description of Variations IV – ‘samsara’, ‘the turmoil of everyday life’ – as impetus for the movement gestalt.

Bruce Nauman, Violin Tuned D.E.A.D., (1969)
Bruce Nauman’s Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. exemplifies his practice of incorporating boredom, exhaustion, and the superimposition of unlike systems into art and, in this case, music. In an interview with Willoughby Sharp, Nauman stated: “I wanted to set up a problem where it wouldn’t matter whether I knew how to play the violin or not. What I did was to play as fast as I could on all four strings with the violin tuned D, E, A, D. I thought it would just be a lot of noise, but it turned out to be musically very interesting. It is a very tense piece.” The D.E.A.D. tuned violin will be played for approximately 2 hours over the course of the event.


James Tenney, Postal Pieces (1965 – 1971)
The Postal Pieces are a series of 11 indeterminate scores composed between 1965 and 1971. Called Postal Pieces because they were printed on post cards (or as Tenney referred to them, “score cards”), most of the works were produced for the first time while Tenney was teaching at CalArts between 1971 and 1976. The scores are: Swell Piece (1967); A Rose is a Rose is a Round (1970); Beast (1971); (night) (1971), Koan (1971), Swell Piece #2 and Swell Piece #3, 1971; August Harp (1971); Cellogram (1971); Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971) and Maximusic (1975).

SASSAS has a long connection with Tenney—he was an advisor to the organization from the time it was formed. Additionally SASSAS worked with him on two concerts during his lifetime – a performance of his own works in 2001, which included Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and a performance of several early works of John Cage in 2002. As a part of the 2009 Anniversary Concert, SASSAS presented Tributaries: Dedicated to the Memory of James Tenney, which included both Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and Koan among other works.

“To some extent, he was the ultimate Western composer. He approached each new piece as an adventure, with the goal of discovering original territory and, if need be, taming some theoretical musical beast or acoustical bugbear.”  Mark Swed, in Tenney’s obituary for Los Angeles Times in 2006.

All 11 Postal Pieces will be performed.

Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations (1971)
Leaving the Bay Area to accept a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego, Pauline Oliveros began learning about meditation. This interest created a shift in her own musical composition in which she began focusing on the significance of long tones. By 1971, Oliveros had collected a number of meditations and published them together as Sonic Meditations. These sonic explorations, open to anyone who wished to participate, were rooted in ancient musical forms that precluded the listener focusing on the healing power of Sonic Energy and its transmission within groups. Each meditation is an activity conceived to assist in making, imagining, listening and remembering sounds. The meditations exist as text giving the participants activities to do and think about over an indeterminate period of time. 10 of Oliveros’ 25 Sonic Meditations will be presented.


Currents Series at the Theater Vanguard (1973 – 1978)
Theater Vanguard presented regular performances of experimental music, theater, film, animation and performance art. Located in the former Stage Society Theatre on Melrose in West Hollywood, The Vanguard provided a nurturing environment for LA performing arts as well as a much needed venue for local and international artists. Currents was a regular program of electro-acoustic music at the Vanguard, founded by composer Barry Schrader in 1973 and continuing through 1978. It was the first regular presentation of electro-acoustic music in the U.S. This installation will feature works by Pierre Schaeffer, Louis and Bebe Barron, Barry Schrader, Carl Stone, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Michel Chion, Warren Burt, and Ilhan Mimaroglu as well as ephemera from the series.

The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), Pyramid Headphones (1976)
The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), the banner heading of a loose collective of experimental musicians founded in the early 1970s, have had immeasurable influence on the 
spread and evolution of noise and avant-garde music and DIY culture over the past almost 40 years. In July of 1976, Le Forte Four, one of the earliest groups in the collective, created an installation at the Brand Library Art Center in Glendale, California, which consisted of forty-four black, pyramid-shaped, stereo headphones, with lights on the top,  through which were played an audio collage entitled Box Your Ears (which was released in 1976 as part of the double LP LAFMS: Live at the Brand).  This installation recreates the original utilizing the twelve extant original pyramid headphones.

Robert Wilhite, Bob Wilhite In Concert (1975)
In 1975, Bob Wilhite created his first musical sculpture – a unique one stringed instrument. As a gesture to establish the object and provide it with a provenance, Wilhite gave two concerts heard only via the telephone.  Wilhite placed display advertisements in the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle announcing both performances. Patrons who phoned during the specified time periods heard a short instrumental played live on the one stringed instrument.  Both concerts were performed at his Los Angeles studio. The on-site audience at the Eagle Rock event will access Wilhite’s live performance by calling his motel room from another room in the motel.

Instrument and telephone from Bob Wilhite in Concert, A Telephone Concert, 1975 (Photo credit: Gary Bedyer & Jerry Byrd)

Credits –
Welcome Inn Time Machine is produced by Cindy Bernard in collaboration with Jessica Catron and the SASSAS Board of Directors.  Project curators are Cindy Bernard, Scott Benzel, Gregory Lenczycki, Renee Petropoulos, Joseph Potts, and Dawson Weber.

Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival –
Los Angeles was a key international birthplace of performance art. Engaging the innovative spirit of that period and LA’s vibrant contemporary art scene, the performance and public art festival will transform Southern California over ten days during Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980. Featuring as many as 30 major performances and large-scale outdoor projects, the festival will include new commissions, reinventions, and restagings inspired by the many radical and trailblazing public and performative works that were created by artists during the Pacific Standard Time era. The Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival is organized by  LA><Art and the Getty Research Institute; support provided by the Getty Foundation. http://www.pacificstandardtimefestival.org

SASSAS –

SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that serves as a catalyst for the creation, presentation, and recognition of experimental art and sound practices in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Inspired by the resonance that occurs when experimental music is combined with unconventional performance environments, SASSAS seeks to foster new collaborations and improvisation to spark further exploration in the field. The organization is supported in part through grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. http://www.sassas.org

For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

501 (see three) ARTS and Highways Performance Space present Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, part of an ongoing series of experimental tabletop puppet plays that give a voice and face to hunger, with four performances on Fridays and Saturdays from January 27 to February 4, 2012.  The plays, produced and written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), aim to raise awareness of the lives of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The upcoming production weaves together the stories of five homeless and/or hungry residents of Santa Monica, California, incorporating puppetry, dance, music, and text.

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica
Backgrounder

Telling stories from the lives of five food-insecure residents of Santa Monica, CA
in the medium of experimental puppetry

501 (see three) ARTS and Highways Performance Space present Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, part of an ongoing series of experimental tabletop puppet plays that give a voice and face to hunger, with four performances on Fridays and Saturdays from January 27 to February 4, 2012.  The plays, produced and written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), aim to raise awareness of the lives of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The upcoming production weaves together the stories of five homeless and/or hungry residents of Santa Monica, California, incorporating puppetry, dance, music, and text.  Nightly shows start at 8:30pm. General admission tickets are $20, students and seniors are $15. Highways Performance Space at the 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310-315-1459; http://highwaysperformance.org).

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica Synopsis -
In Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, the performers serve the audience a visual and narrative feast.  The 90-minute puppet theater adaptation tells the oral histories of five very different homeless and/or food-insecure Santa Monicans, through five 15- to 20-minute segments, woven together much as a chef weaves a succession of flavors into a cohesive multi-course meal.  

Who’s Hungry is the brainchild of award-winning playwright, composer, choreographer and performer Dan Froot, an associate professor in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures / Dance. Working in close collaboration with Froot is Dan Hurlin, a nationally acclaimed puppet artist who is designing and constructing the objects and sets, as well as directing.

Overall, the project incorporates a range of puppetry styles in order to give each of the five stories its own aesthetic treatment. Presented on a specially built 24-foot dinner table, the audience views the action from one side, as if they are banquet guests.  Incorporated into the evening are Delft china, Matchbox cars, televisions, rod puppets, as well as puppets inspired by Japanese Bunraku, and much more.

Joining the audience at the table are:
• Angel – who tumbled into homelessness after a prominent career as an interior designer.
Her story literally sets the scene for the evening, as puppeteers enact an intricate, energetic dance, laying out eight settings of tableware painted blue and white in the delicate style of Delft china.  This is followed by the choreographed manipulation of dozens of other Delft objects: a sandwich opens to become a laptop computer, a tree emerges from a trap door in the table, a Range Rover drives from plate to plate, pursued by a tow truck.  Meanwhile, a barrage of recorded voices gossip about Angel’s gradual rise to prominence as an interior designer and her precipitous tumble into homelessness.  Her story is characterized by direct object manipulation and a kinetic whorl of movement set to Amy Denio’s percussive score.  Angel’s story finds the physically agile puppeteers zipping around, under, on top of the 24-foot table, and through its trap doors.

• Sharon – a caseworker for an addiction recovery agency and recovering heroin addict herself. 
Her story zeros in on her 20-yard walk across the parking lot from a courthouse to a van that will take her to an 18-month lock-down rehab program (“the longest walk I ever took”).  It is performed by three fully visible puppeteers operating a 36-inch high Bunraku-style figure.  The character’s inner monologue is spoken live – the production’s own version of a Tayu, the traditional narrator in Japanese Bunraku puppet theater.  It details a suspended moment of dizzying terror and rage as the character faces the painful abyss of life without mind-numbing drugs.  There are no other puppets or set pieces in this Beckett-inspired void, allowing the audience’s focus to rest on the puppeteers’ subtle manipulation of the figure.

• Chris – an original member of the notorious 1970s surfing/skateboarding crew known as the Z-Boys
.
Shunning the fame and fortune sought by his compatriots, Chris lived a spartan life, surfing the world in search of the perfect wave.  His near-death confrontation with relentless 20-foot Hawaiian waves while night-surfing is portrayed by two-dimensional rod-puppet surfer against an undulating toy theater-style wave machine.  The simple narrative is played out visually.  Far out on an ocean reef, the character loses his board in the pounding surf and exhausts himself to the point of hallucination as he swims in circles for hours trying to find it.  Instead of sea creatures, the water is alive with liquor bottles, electric guitars, skateboards, and other icons that have defined him.  The text is a defiant paean to independence and self-reliance, embedded in a suite of Denio’s original punk songs.

• Mike – who endured an eviction from subsidized housing while undergoing a dire health crisis
.
Mike’s lighthearted optimism is challenged by a corrupt housing system.  His story tells of a social services caseworker who engineers Mike’s eviction from government subsidized housing as Mike endures a dire health crisis.  The creators employ an ironic telling of Mike’s story – a 1950s-style sitcom depicted by shadow puppetry.  Think: a cross between The Dick Van Dyke Show and Eraserhead.  Two full-scale rabbit-eared TV consoles (pink!) are lowered onto the table.  Their screens are made of rear-projection material, and use overhead projectors as light sources.  Black-and-white room interiors are projected as “sets” behind Hurlin’s laser-cut shadow puppets.  Two puppeteers operate the puppets underneath each TV set.  The punchy, fast-paced script is voiced by the puppeteers on a recording, complete with canned laughter.  The live musicians play the show’s theme song and transition music between scenes.

• Chanel – who headed to New York City when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, feeling the need to run down the street in fear with her fellow New Yorkers.

Chanel, born and bred in Brooklyn, is living in Atlanta GA when she hears news reports of the World Trade Center towers collapsing.  She feels it is her place to be “running down the street in fear” with her fellow New Yorkers.  Chanel hops into her car and barrels north on the interstate, thus beginning her desperate odyssey.  The table is transformed into a variety of landscapes in several different scales, navigated by a white car (in matching scale).  With her radio broken and only one CD to listen to on the 12-hour ride, Chanel has a conversation in her mind with her brother, who lives in Brooklyn. She hasn’t heard from her brother since the day started, and her concern prompts her to retell a traumatic childhood story about she and her brother being chased through the woods after a fist fight with a group of racist kids.  Invisible inlaid magnets propel the car through spooky pine barrens while a voice narrates a scene of racist violence in the woods behind a reform school. In another scene, a long conveyer belt moves the road faster and faster beneath the car, as the character’s psyche, and the vehicle itself, begin to fall to pieces.

The production will feature four puppeteers and three musicians.  The highly collaborative cast, performers with rich puppetry, dance, and acting backgrounds, includes Zachary Tolchinsky, Rachael Lincoln, Sheetal Gandhi, and Darius Mannino. Original scores have been commissioned from the award-winning Seattle-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Amy Denio, to be performed live.  Denio’s work merges jazz, experimental folk, ska, and funk with a range of instruments including, but not limited to, many that are in scale with the puppetry such as toy pianos, ukuleles, and bongos.  Denio will lead a small ensemble, choreographed and staged in the space to interact with the puppeteers and the puppets/objects themselves. Collaborating with Denio in the ensemble are musicians Mike Flanagan and Daniel Corral.


Who’s Hungry – West Hollywood (2008) –
The inaugural set of Who’s Hungry puppet plays, created by Froot and Hurlin, premiered in West Hollywood in 2008 with three hungry and homeless narrators from that area.   The first installment of Who’s Hungry consisted of three short “toy theater” plays that premiered at The Great Hall in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park, and has since been presented at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (Burlington, VT) and Great Small Works’ 9th International Toy Theater Festival at St. Ann’s Warehouse (Brooklyn, NY). Toy theater is a miniaturized form of puppet theater performed on tabletop-sized stages.  Excerpts from the 2008 Who’s Hungry – West Hollywood triptych, which includes “What the Fireman Said,” “Dawn by Me,” and “Eight Days Without a Dog,” can be viewed in streaming video at http://vimeo.com/album/167845.

The new Santa Monica installment in the series takes the experimental strategy of the project to a new level, primarily by inviting the local community narrators into the heart of the creative team. These narrators have collaborated with Hurlin and Froot throughout the process – from story adaptation through construction, rehearsal and performance.

Who’s Hungry Artist’s Statement –
I believe that bringing diverse groups of people together to listen to each other’s stories is an end in itself.  Life stories have the power to dispel fear, challenge one’s values, and inspire compassion.  There is urgency in the impulse to tell these particular stories, considering that one out of every 30 Santa Monicans is homeless on any given day, and that many more are food-insecure.  “Food insecurity” is defined in a report by the National Research Council as existing “whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain.” Even at its most local, food insecurity is the nexus of so many systematic social predicaments: healthcare, education, unemployment, trade policies, the housing market and so much more.  I want to stop seeing hunger as an issue, and begin understanding, from the perspective of the street, forces that come between the world’s abundance and so many of the people around me.

I also believe that the way a story is told is as important as the story itself.  My collaborators and I want our work to be judged as much for its artistic achievement as for its social impact.  Our intent is to bear witness to our neighbors’ otherwise untold stories, rather than to compose broad statements about “hunger in America.”

Everything about this project is small: these are local narratives, embodied in small-scale handcrafted worlds.  Skilled puppeteers animate handheld objects; a band of three musicians sets the tone for each play.  Our audiences too will be small: each performance will accommodate a maximum of 90 people. This intimate gathering of economically diverse audiences from neighborhoods surrounding the show’s venues is one of the project’s main purposes.  Foregoing the anonymity of larger groups, our audiences will huddle together for optimal viewing of the miniature objects.  Immediately afterward they will be invited to participate in facilitated discussions between the artists and community narrators, as well as representatives from local social service agencies, and fellow audience members.

– Dan Froot, Who’s Hungry Producer/Playwright

Key Terms:

Object Theater –

Object Theater, a sub-category of puppetry, is a performance style that utilizes the animation of objects – found and/or constructed – for theatrical effect.  A theater of objects goes beyond merely “containing objects” – practitioners of the genre employ the rich functional and symbolic values inherent in objects as potent tools for the theater.  Froot felt that combing puppets with the materiality of Object Theater – bridging theater, visual art and puppetry – was the perfect way to tell these stories for, among other things, the intimate environment and endless creative potential to create a vast range of sensibilities from intense depth to whimsy, from realism to poetry.


Food Insecurity –

The USDA classifies those who at times go hungry because they cannot afford enough food as having “very low food security.” According to the USDA, around one in six Americans had a hard time putting food on the table at some point last year. That’s roughly 49 million people (14.5% of the population). This figure is virtually unchanged from the previous year.

“To clarify, though, we’re not making a statement about world hunger, or even about hunger in the U.S. per se,” says Froot, “The project is more about who is going through your recycling bins… we want to help them tell their stories.”

left-to-right: Dan Froot (producer/playwright), Amy Denio (composer) and Dan Hurlin (designer/director) Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

Creative Team:


Dan Froot, Producer / Playwright –

Dan Froot’s work has toured internationally since 1983. Awards include a Bessie (New York Dance & Performance Award) and a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship. He has worked with Yoshiko Chuma, Ping Chong, David Dorfman, Mabou Mines, Ralph Lemon, and Victoria Marks, among others. He teaches at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures / Dance.

Dan Hurlin, Designer / Director –

Dan Hurlin received a United States Artists Fellowship, two Obie awards, a 2001 Bessie, and a 2004 Alpert Award. His puppet theater work tours internationally. He has performed with Ping Chong, Janie Geiser, and Jeffrey M. Jones, and directed works by Lisa Kron, Holly Hughes, and John C. Russell among others. Hurlin currently teaches dance and puppetry at Sarah Lawrence College.

Amy Denio, Composer –
Amy Denio is a multi-instrumentalist composer and singer based in Seattle, WA. Her music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Opera House, Detroit Institute of Art, and the Venice Biennale, among many other venues. She tours as a soloist as well as with her projects, the Tiptons Sax Quartet and Kultur Shock.

Cast:


Rachael Lincoln –
Dancer and choreographer Rachael Lincoln has performed with Jo Kreiter Flyaway Productions, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Kim Epifano, Scoot Wells and Dancers, The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Jess Curtis, wee dance, The Joe Goode Performance Group, and Project Bandaloop.  Her work has been presented at Sophiensaele Theater (Berlin), Theater Artaud (San Francisco), Middlebury College, UCLA, The San Francisco International Dance Festival, The Dublin Fringe Festival, The Bytom Dance Festival (Poland), and The Indonesian Dance Festival (Jakarta). She also teaches classes and workshops in modern technique and improvisation.

Sheetal Gandhi –
Sheetal Gandhi is perhaps best known for her work in Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion (Oceane/principal dancer, original creator of the role). She also appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams on Broadway, as well as in regional theater, commercials, and numerous dance productions. The dancer and choreographer not only incorporates elements of traditional Indian dance into pieces she creates for California Contemporary Dancers, but also weaves in global culture.  She also teaches modern and West African dance technique.

Darius Mannino –
Darius Mannino is an actor, puppeteer, and director dedicated to the creation of new, original, ensemble-driven theatrical works. Performance credits include trembler.SHIFTER (REDCAT); Disfarmer (St. Ann’s Warehouse, NY; MASS MoCA and Institute for Contemporary Art, MA); Oh My Tiger and Ocean Flight (Highways Performance Space); Circle Course (REDCAT and Kathmandu International Theatre Festival, Nepal); Mycenaean (BAM Next Wave Festival, NY); Invisible Glass (REDCAT); Moby Dick and Short Stories (Perseverance Theatre, AK).  Recent directing credits include distancedisplacement (Ishyo Arts Center, Rwanda).  Mannino received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

Zachary Tolchinsky –
Zachariah Tolchinsky is a recent graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. His credits include: Crime and Punishment (Vgik International Theatre Festival) and Richard III (Essen, Germany). As a puppeteer, he has worked in Scotland and in the US. Credits include: Cut the Strings (Barclays Bank) and The Last Rights of Baron Von Zirner (Princeton University).  Tolchinsky is originally from Phoenix, AZ.

Ensemble:

Daniel Corral –
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Corral has accompanied avant-garde puppetry across the USA, had his music performed by an orchestra riding the Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel, been featured at a USC faculty concert of original player piano music, displayed his multi-movement music boxes at galleries in Los Angeles, and composed for films and dance performances.  He also composes, arranges and plays for Timur and the Dime Museum and collaborated with designer Caitlin Lainoff on a puppet opera for The Dime Museum. He recently founded Free Reed Conspiracy.

Mike Flanagan –
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and SoCal native Mike Flanagan has played venues including the Walt Disney Concert Hall (for Glenn Branca’s Hallucination City), the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry (with traditional Irish pub band Paddy’s Pig), Royce Hall (bard for The Yes Men), and the House of Blues (fronting rock band Willoughby).  Flanagan composed and was the musical director for the ‘80s musical The Next Big Thing and has written music for film and television. He toured the world with Giant Ant Farm, teaches guitar and mandolin, and missed his annual haircut last year. He also plays in Nellie Bly and the children’s folk band the Hollow Trees.

501 (see three) ARTS –

Who’s Hungry is a project of 501 (see three) ARTS, an independent artist-run non-profit corporation supporting the creation and production of original dance, music, theater and interdisciplinary performance works by its members. The company is dedicated to redefining the role of the performing arts, artists and audiences in a globalized world through innovative approaches to artistic production.  501 (see three) ARTS’ community partners are Hunger Action Los Angeles, OPCC and SaMoShel.

Highway’s Performance Space –

Highways Performance Space is Southern California’s boldest center for new performance. Now in its 23rd year, Highways continues to be an important alternative cultural center in Los Angeles that encourages fierce new artists from diverse communities to develop and present innovative works.  Recently described by the Los Angeles Times as “a hub of experimental theater, dance, solo drama, and other multimedia performance,” Highways promotes the development of contemporary socially involved artists and art forms.

Vermont Performance Lab –
In July 2011, Vermont Performance Lab hosted Froot, Hurlin, and Denio for a two-week residency to develop Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica to rehearse the plays, construct the puppet theaters, record the musical score, and share the work in process with local audiences.  The artists worked at the recording studios of Guilford Sound and the hall of the Broad Brook Grange where they rehearsed and held workshop performances of Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica on a 24-foot long dining table for audiences of 30-35 people.

Supporters –

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica was commissioned in part by Vermont Performance Lab and was developed in part during a creative residency at Vermont Performance Lab. The project is supported in part by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Program; Los Angeles County Arts Commission; UCLA Center for Community Partnership; Southwest Oral History Association; The MAP Fund; a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; The Jim Henson Foundation; a Performance Practice and Research grant from the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts; and a grant from Meet The Composer’s New Music USA’s MetLife Creative Connections program, leadership support for which is generously provided by MetLife Foundation.  Additional support is provided by ASCAP, BMI Foundation, Inc., Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Jerome Foundation, mediaThefoundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation and the Virgil Thomson Foundation, Ltd.  The score is commissioned through Meet The Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Ford Foundation, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.


Quotes:

“This project is about people’s lives – people who, at times, happen to go without food.  They have some truly beautiful, moving and hilarious stories that might otherwise go untold.” – Dan Froot, Who’s Hungry Producer / Playwright

“This is not didactic victim art, some sort of pity party — It’s not about feeling sorry for anybody – each of these people is sharing their unique oral history with us, their lives – with dignity and a fair amount of humor.” – Dan Froot, Who’s Hungry Producer / Playwright

“This form of puppet theater creates a very close, communal experience since the audience must sit together, near the action, in order to see these small objects. It also puts the audience in an empathic role, more so than live theater with human actors – when we watch object theater, we must engage and project ourselves onto the puppets and objects with an active imagination.” – Dan Froot, Who’s Hungry Producer / Playwright

“The project allows each of these individuals to clearly imprint their agency onto the play, deepening it. While they may not have complete control over their lives, we wanted them to have control of their own stories.” – Dan Hurlin, Who’s Hungry Designer / Director

“I’m just so grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to have some clarity and to pull back from my own life.  I get to detach from all that and use it as a tool, and not let it consume me any longer.  I get to build from it; not let it bring me down.  It’s beautiful.”  – Robert Coughlin, one of Who’s Hungry’s Community Narrators (West Hollywood)

“When artist Dan Froot first approached us about giving voice to the often voiceless who deal with hunger and poverty – using the arts of theatre, music, puppetry and oral history – we were intrigued. And when, on opening night, the lights went down and the performance began, we were transformed.” – Andrew Campbell, City of West Hollywood Cultural Affairs Administrator

“Who’s Hungry is a visionary project that breaks new ground in thinking about the relationship between art and politics. Complementing and complicating the touching portraits of people’s hardships is the witty and deft choreography in which we see the motions of both puppets and puppeteers. Together their movements gesture towards the possibility of a world dedicated to the communal support of all its members, a world in which the question “who’s hungry?” would receive a prompt and compassionate response.” – Susan Leigh Foster, Ph.D., renowned Dance Studies scholar and UCLA professor

“Who’s Hungry opens up the full spectrum of the lives of homeless and hungry people — the humorous side and the triumphs large and small that make life worth living, as well as sadness and desperation. This play goes much further to humanize the situation of poor people than dreary photos that try to get you to donate money. When you see this performance you’ll realize just how much we all have in common and that the fact that you live in a house and someone else can’t afford to, doesn’t have to be a barrier to the communication necessary between both sides to implement solutions to poverty.” – Frank Tamborello, Executive Director, Hunger Action Los Angeles

Links:


•    Who’s Hungry Official Site – http://danfroot.com/repertory/
•    Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica Blog – http://whoshungrysantamonica.blogspot.com/
•    Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica Images – http://tinyurl.com/WHSMpics
•    Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica Promotional Video – http://youtu.be/vlm3kVnOf6U
•    Who’s Hungry Info Sheet – http://tinyurl.com/WHSMInfoSheet
•    Highways Performance Space -  http://highwaysperformance.org
•    Tickets – http://tinyurl.com/highwaysWHSMtickets


Publicity Contact:

For more information, high res images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Rachael Lincoln in rehearsal for "Who's Hungry - Santa Monica," with Delft Buddha by Dan Hurlin Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

For Immediate Release:

The Recently Resurrected William Castle Productions Presents

House on Haunted Hill:

A William Castle Annotated Screamplay

Complete with Emerg-O!

To Be Released on October 31, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – October 6, 2011
 – Due out on October 31, 2011, William Castle Productions proudly presents House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay. The book features legendary horror filmmaker William Castle’s authentic working script from his 1959 classic thriller with original formatting and Castle’s own hand-written notes.  This collector’s item even comes with a new twist on Castle’s famous theater gimmick, Emerg-O. The 248-page book includes a foreword by acclaimed director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Matinee), hailing the book as “an important artifact.” It also includes an introduction by William’s daughter, Terry Castle, who shares her personal thoughts on this seminal piece of film history. A critical perspective of the film by writer and illustrator Charlie Largent is also included as well as a special welcome from William Castle himself. The Screamplay will be available in print for $24.99 via Amazon and select retailers through the recently resurrected William Castle Productions (ISBN-13: 978-0578092928). For more information please visit http://williamcastle.com/blog/william-castle-productions.

House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay cover art by Charlie Largent

“It’s not that often that you find a script from this period surviving with annotations,” writes Joe Dante in the introduction, “And that’s what makes reading this script such a pleasant surprise; you can actually imagine what it was like to be there, reading the script on the set with the actors, and coming up with artistic decisions on the spot.”



House on Haunted Hill – the movie – 

House on Haunted Hill remains a classic chiller to this day. Produced and directed by William Castle and written by Robb White, the shocker is beloved not only for Castle’s suspense-filled direction but what came to be known as “The Gimmick,” carnival sideshow trickery that both scared and delighted the audience. The original film stars the inimitable Vincent Price and features the classic gimmick Emerg-O – an inflatable glow in the dark skeleton attached to a wire that floated over the heads of the uproarious audience during the final moments of the film to parallel the action on the screen.

In the film, eccentric millionaire playboy Fredrick Loren (Price) and his fourth wife Annabelle have invited five strangers to a “party” at the House on Haunted Hill, a spooky old mansion with a murder-laden history. Whoever stays in the house for one night will earn ten thousand dollars each. Loren even provides loaded guns as party favors. As the night progresses, the guests are trapped inside the foreboding house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors.

House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay –

The Screamplay features the House on Haunted Hill script’s original formatting, maintaining the integrity of the authentic screenplay replete with Castle’s own hand-written notes. In addition, the book cover imitates the leather-bound binders that Castle used for every movie. William Castle Productions, in keeping with the spirit of “The Gimmick,” presents this book with a print version of Emerg-O – simply flip through the pages and scare yourself silly!

The annotated script “pulls back the curtain on the film,” writes Charlie Largent on the artifact, “Castle’s copious notes shine a light on both his own working methods as the director and Robb White’s as the screenwriter … It’s the closest thing we’ll ever have to an alternate director’s cut of this seminal spookfest.”

William Castle –

Born in New York City in 1914, William Castle made horror films in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s and lived his life scaring the living daylights out of people with the numerous horror films he produced and/or directed.  Macabre (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Mr. Sardonicus (1961), Homicidal (1961), Straight Jacket (1964), and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) are a few of his classic credits, the second and third films starring Vincent Price in career-defining roles. In addition to directing and producing, he also made many appearances in films (his own and others) such as Shampoo (1975) and The Day of the Locust (1975).  He also appeared in a non-speaking part in Rosemary’s Baby as the grey-haired man lurking outside the phone booth while Mia Farrow attempts to get in touch with her obstetrician.

Castle is perhaps best known, however, for the marketing strategies he developed to get his fans into theaters. In addition to the tingled butts of movie-goers at The Tingler screenings and insuring moviegoers against death by fright for Macabre, he also created “Illusion-O” a ghost viewer/ghost remover for 13 Ghosts, a “Punishment Poll” for Mr. Sardonicus, and Homicidal audiences were introduced to “Fright Breaks” and the “Coward’s Corner.”  He also introduced audiences to new film making and viewing techniques such as “Percept-O” and “Emerg-O.”

At 15, he began his career on Broadway, securing his first acting role by passing himself off as Samuel Goldwyn’s nephew.  He began his directing career at the age of 18 with a stage production of Dracula before graduating to work as an assistant to director Orson Welles, doing much of the second unit location work for Welles’ noir classic, The Lady from Shanghai (1947). John Goodman’s character in Matinee (1993) was based on Castle. His 1976 autobiography, Step Right Up, I’m Gonna Scare the Pants Off America, was reprinted in 1991 with a foreword by John Waters, who eulogized Castle thusly, “Without a doubt, the greatest showman of our time was William Castle.  King of the Gimmicks, William Castle was my idol.  His films made me want to make films.  I’m jealous of his work.  In fact, I wish I were William Castle.” Castle died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on May 31, 1977.

William Castle Reads to Ghouls - concept art by http://www.kleeproductions.com

Robb White –

Born in the Philippines, Robb White was a preacher’s son who held a wide variety of jobs before landing in the Navy during World War II. He became a prominent Hollywood scriptwriter when he teamed up with William Castle on House on Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts, Homicidal, Macabre and The Tingler from 1958 to 1961. In addition to screenplays, he also wrote television scripts and dozens of novels, mostly adventure stories aimed at younger readers.   Notable among the novels he prolifically penned are The Lion’s Paw (1946), Deathwatch (1972), Up Periscope (1956), Flight Deck (1961), Torpedo Run (1962), and The Survivor (1964).

Terry Castle –
Terry Castle, the real life daughter of cult filmmaker William Castle, grew up in Los Angeles with a dad who made a living scaring the wits out of moviegoers everywhere. Although he was internationally famous, to her he was always just dad, though a larger than life one at that.  While she was growing up in the 1960s her father taught her interesting life skills such as the best recipe for fake blood, the proper way to hold an ax, and how to act out the most terrifying of ghost stories. After working as a writer and producer for years for CNN, Travel Channel, and Nickelodeon/MTV-Networks, she worked with Dark Castle Entertainment (Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis’ production company named after her father).  At Dark Castle she co-produced and consulted on the remakes of two William Castle films to make the plots even more frightening: House on Haunted Hill (1999) and Thir13en Ghosts (2001). Her soon to be released book, FearMaker: Family Matters, is an homage to her father (he’s a ghost writer on it actually!).  Horror is in her blood, as she carries on her father’s wicked tradition of scaring innocent souls everywhere.

William Castle Productions –
Since the 1950s, William Castle Productions (WCP) has been dedicated to scaring audiences with dozens of film and television releases.  The production company is best known for films Rosemary’s Baby (1968), House on Haunted Hill (1959), and The Tingler (1959). Dormant for a number of years after Castle’s death in 1977, the production company has been re-animated in recent years by the ghost of William Castle in collaboration with his daughter Terry Castle.  In addition to the recently released From The Grave: The Prayer (2011), William Castle Productions will soon release another new book, FearMaker: Family Matters written by Terry Castle.  Additional new film, television, theater, and DVD projects are also currently in the works.

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For more information, a copy of the book, photos, or to arrange an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 and lynn@greengalactic.com.

Book Stats:



House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay



From William Castle, Screenplay by Robb White
Publisher: William Castle Productions
Category: Performing Arts / Screenplays
October 31, 2011
paperback • 248 pages • $24.99
ISBN-13: 978-0578092928
8.5″ x 11″ (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
Cover Art by Charlie Largent
Distributed by Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/HOUSE-HAUNTED-HILL-Annotated-Screamplay/dp/0578092921/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317928131&sr=1-2-spell

NextSpace Hosts
Award-Winning Photographer Sam Comen’s
28 at 28
A Solo Exhibition in Culver City
October 22, 2011 – January 22, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 22, 2011, 6-9pm

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 29, 2011 – Award-winning photographer Sam Comen’s first solo exhibition, 28 at 28, premieres with an installation of over 100 works at Culver City’s NextSpace starting on Saturday, October 22, 2011.  28 at 28 is a serial portraiture study that captures the evolving lives of Comen’s peer group in a crisp, saturated style.  Comen unveils the first three years of this new body of work at a free public reception on October 22, 2011 from 6:00 to 9:00pm – on his 31st birthday. The choice of this date to debut the ongoing project calls attention to time’s passage, the integral throughline in 28 at 28. The two-story atrium of NextSpace will be transformed into a larger-than life timeline of Comen’s subjects in a taxonomic display of environmental and studio photographs. Beverages will be provided by Crispin Cider. The exhibition will run for three months through Sunday, January 22, 2012. NextSpace, a creative collaborative community workspace, is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:30pm at 9415 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. To learn more about the artist, please visit www.samcomen.com. To view 28 at 28 online, please visit www.28at28.com.

Carla Blieden, Nick Fowler, and Jerome Gordon from Sam Comen's 29 at 29.

In 2009, when Comen was 28, he initiated the project by shooting twenty-eight 28-year-olds. The next year he shot twenty-nine 29-year-olds – 29 at 29 – and he is currently shooting the same 29 people, plus one, for this year’s installment – 30 at 30. In the years to come, Comen will continue to follow this growing group and investigate how perspective and sense-of-self evolve with age.

28 at 28 is a photographic exploration of Comen’s peers – artists, actors, musicians, scientists, corporate managers, and municipal employees – as they embrace adulthood. The project, shot annually, occupies the photographic space that straddles document and fiction, incorporating both storytelling and portraiture.  Comen frames these subjects in their environments – their homes, backyards, neighborhoods, places of work – to examine how they define themselves as they search for meaning and authenticity in their evolving lives. A successful photojournalist and editorial photographer for national magazines, Comen fittingly applies the motifs and vernacular of commercial photography to his subjects, capturing the essence of his generation in the current cultural context.

“In my late 20s, I sensed that my peers and I were on the cusp – we were all either making strides in our careers and personal lives or searching for direction,” says Comen, a native Angeleno, “I felt like the next few years would inform the rest of our lives – it seemed a perfect time to begin a document of my peers, and by extension, my generation.”

Sam Comen –
Sam Comen seeks out stories that are salient in the American conscience, often working on a project for years at a time. Concurrent with shooting for Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Details, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, and Fortune in recent years, Comen has garnered awards and honors for his ongoing documentary photo essays. In 2010, he was awarded a Santa Fe Center for Photography grant in recognition of his Lost Hills series, which documented a small California community of Latino farmworkers struggling to create a new American Dream. Also in 2010, his 22 Miles of Normandie Avenue, an ongoing exploration of social and ethnic identity in the city, was featured in the Month of Photography Los Angeles’ (MOPLA) exhibition Dear Diary. Work from the two documentary series was also honored in 2011 when Comen was named one of the Critical Mass Top 50 and his work toured the Pacific Northwest in a series of exhibitions. Prints from Lost Hills and Normandie Avenue were also featured in MOPLA’s A Place in the Sun: Picturing California exhibition, also in 2011.

Sam Comen’s Newsweek-assigned portrait series, Watts Votes Obama, which documented Obama’s supporters on election day in the LA neighborhood synonymous with the racial tension in America, was included in the Photo District News Photo Annual 2008.  Comen’s work was also chosen for American Photo 26 in 2008.  He has been nominated for the PDN 30 and received a grant from The Penland School of Crafts in photography. He has shown work in galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, OR and Santa Fe.

NextSpace –
NextSpace is a workplace for the new economy, providing innovative physical and virtual infrastructure for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and creative class professionals to succeed in the 21st Century knowledge economy. In an increasingly disconnected world, NextSpace creates a collaborative community that is revolutionizing the nature of work. For more information please call 310-606-2716 or visit http://nextspace.us.

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For more information, to request images, or arrange interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

The complete set of Comen's initial group of subjects for 28 at 28.