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.”

#         #         #

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

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

(photo credit: Nabil Elderkin)

Award-winning film Bouncing Cats, the inspiring story of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda through hip hop, makes its US television premiere on Documentary Channel Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. (EST/PST). The film, narrated by Common and featuring interviews with Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, follows the legendary Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and b-boy Abramz, the founder of Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU), on a journey to unify, empower and inspire youth in the war torn region that has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child.  The film, produced by Red Bull Media House and directed by Australian filmmaker and photographer Nabil Elderkin, toured the film festival circuit in 2010 and 2011, earning awards along the way at Urbanworld Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival, among others.  Proceeds from the film benefit BPU.

Award-Winning Documentary

Bouncing Cats
Premieres on Documentary Channel
Saturday, 
November 19, 2011, 8:00pm EST/PST


LOS ANGELES, CA – October 19, 2011 – Award-winning film Bouncing Cats, the inspiring story of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda through hip hop, makes its US television premiere on Documentary Channel Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. (EST/PST). The film, narrated by Common and featuring interviews with Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, follows the legendary Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and b-boy Abramz, the founder of Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU), on a journey to unify, empower and inspire youth in the war torn region that has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child.  The film, produced by Red Bull Media House and directed by Australian filmmaker and photographer Nabil Elderkin, toured the film festival circuit in 2010 and 2011, earning awards along the way at Urbanworld Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival, among others.  Proceeds from the film benefit BPU. To learn more about the film, view the trailer at http://www.bouncingcats.com and join the conversation at http://www.facebook.com/bouncingcats.

“Bouncing Cats is just the sort of work that the world needs to see coming out of Africa, a story of self-reliance and perseverance against immeasurable odds,” says K’naan.

Encore presentations of Bouncing Cats will air on Documentary Channel November 25, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.; December 29, 2011 at 2:30 p.m.; January 26, 2011 at 9:30 p.m. and January 27th at 12:30 a.m.  All times are EST. Documentary Channel is available on DISH Network (Channel 197) and DirecTV (Channel 267).

UNITING THE CHILDREN OF UGANDA THROUGH BREAKDANCE & HIP HOP CULTURE

Breakdance Project Uganda started in February 2006 by Abraham “Abramz” Tekya out of the belief that hip hop can be used as a tool to engage and empower disadvantaged youth in Kampala and other areas of Uganda. Its mission is to engage young people in hip hop culture in order to build leadership skills and promote social responsibility for positive change.  The Project has attracted people from every walk of life and acts as a catalyst for building mutually beneficial relationships between people of different social strata across Uganda and the rest of the world. After a trip to Uganda with NGO Oxfam, and a chance meeting with Abramz, director Elderkin felt compelled to share Abramz’ story with the hope of shedding light on the situation and motivating viewers to help.

“The work Abramz is doing with the kids of Uganda inspired me,” said Elderkin. “It was something I wanted to capture and share with others.”

Over the past five years, BPU has partnered with not only Oxfam, but also local and international organizations including: MS Uganda, In Movement, People Concern Children’s Project, Danish Centre for Cultural Development, H.E.A.L.S. (Gulu), Global Youth Partnership for Africa, the Embassy of France in Uganda, Uganda FDNC, USAID/NUTI, Straight Talk Foundation (STF), and has carried out activities in orphanages, juvenile prisons, local and international schools, and youth and community centers. Details on BPU, the situation in Uganda and how to donate can be found at:  http://bouncingcats.com

BEHIND THE SCENES

“In short – the movie features some serious hip hop cameos, incredible landscapes, and dancing.” – Chris Farone, Boston Phoenix

The Film’s Title:
“Bouncing Cats refers to the sound made by the kids in Uganda when they have no access to a boombox,” Elderkin explains, shedding light on the film’s title, “They sing the words ‘bouncing cats, baboons and cats’ in repetition to create their own beat – I was quite taken by it.”

Principal Cast:
Abraham “Abramz” Tekya -
Abraham Tekya, commonly known as “Abramz,” is the director and founder of Breakdance Project Uganda, an organization launched in February 2006 that uses breakdance and other elements of hip hop culture to promote positive change and social responsibility. A native of Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, Abramz grew up quickly, as most children in Uganda are forced to. At the age of seven, he lost both of his parents to AIDS and was orphaned, shuffled between distant relatives and different homes. Despite these circumstances, Abramz used his life experience and love of hip hop to educate, inspire and unite youth in Uganda and beyond. http://www.bouncingcats.com/cast/tekya.php 



Richard “Crazy Legs” Colòn -
To call Richard “Crazy Legs” Colòn a pioneer is an understatement. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation about b-boying without giving mention to the legendary Crazy Legs. Not only is he a veteran of hip hop as a culture, boasting more than 3 decades as the driving force behind the hip hop dance movement, but he’s also an outstanding citizen and role model. He has lent his time, experience, and influence to aiding and encouraging the positive advancement of hip hop culture. http://www.bouncingcats.com/cast/crazylegs.php 

Jolly Grace Okot -
Jolly Grace Okot, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was among the first wave of children abducted and forced to be a child soldier in the beginning of Uganda’s civil war. She is the Uganda Country director for Invisible Children (IC) and has been involved with the organization since the beginning. Her guidance enabled Bouncing Cats‘ filmmakers to see and understand the plight of children in Northern Uganda, and her leadership and direction helped create IC’s initiatives on the ground. Okot also runs H.E.A.L.S., a program that provides play therapy for war-affected children.


Additional Credits:
Nabil Elderkin, Director -
Director Nabil Elderkin, originally a native of Australia, began his photography career when he picked up a camera to shoot portraits of fellow surfers. What started as a hobby, rapidly developed into a working career. From surf portraits, Elderkin began shooting musicians and anyone that inspired him. He later moved to the United States to continue to expand his career. Today, Elderkin lives and works in Los Angeles at his studio downtown. He shoots musicians, sports, fashion, and portraiture. Elderkin recently published a book titled Glow in the Dark with Kanye West through Rizzoli and has directed several music videos and documentaries from here to Africa. Traveling is his passion. He created the film in order to bring attention to the situation in Uganda as well as support the inspiring work Abramz is doing through BPU.   http://www.nabil.com

- 
Executive Producers: Amy Taylor, Scotty Bradfield, Karma Gardner, Charlie Rosene
- Producers: Nyla Hassell, George Mays, Claude Merkel, Charles Spano
- Film Editing: Isaac Hagy
- Sound Editor: Andrew Le Guier
- Genre: Documentary / Music
- Runtime: 75 minutes
- Country: USA
- Language: English
- Color: Color
- Filming Locations: Uganda, USA


Red Bull Media House -
Red Bull Media House is a global media company that creates compelling sports, culture 
and lifestyle programming and distributes it across multiple platforms. From film to 
television, print to digital and games, Red Bull Media House content is optimized for any 
device or platform. For more information, go to www.redbullmediahouse.com or contact Maddy Zeringue at 310-460-5110 or maddy.zeringue@us.redbull.com

Documentary Channel®-
Documentary Channel (DOC) is the USA’s first 24-hour television network exclusively devoted to documentary films and the independent documentary filmmaker, providing viewers with round-the-clock opportunities to see fascinating, eclectic and award-winning documentary films of all lengths and genres.  For more information on DOC, visit the network website at http://www.documentarychannel.com, in addition to http://www.facebook.com/DocumentaryChannel and http://www.twitter.com/doc_channel. Documentary Channel is available on DISH Network [channel 197] and DIRECTV [channel 267].  Don’t get the channel?  Request it by calling your cable provider or visiting http://www.documentarychannel.com/getdoc. Contact: Ashley Sandberg, Triple 7 Public Relations, 347-735-6480 or ashley@triple7pr.com

Through the Red Bull network, hi-res video and still images are captured and made immediately available for editorial use for all media channels including television, film, print, mobile, and digital. The content is centrally located in the Red Bull Content Pool for media partners at http://www.redbullcontentpool.com/.  See Bouncing Cats videos here.

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

Breakdance Project Uganda reaches youth in the slums of Kisenyi, Uganda (photo credit: Nabil Elderkin)

Joffrey Ballet founders Robert Joffrey & Gerald Arpino, early 1960's. Photo credit: unknown

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, the first film to chronicle the legendary Joffrey Ballet, is set to premiere in New York City in January 2012 at the Dance On Camera Festival. The feature length documentary takes a look at this groundbreaking cultural treasure, known a s the first truly American dance company. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin and directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man), the film documents how the Joffrey revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet, and setting it to pop and rock music scores. Following the North American premiere in late January, the film will embark on a theatrical tour to select cities in the U.S. Released through Hybrid Cinema, the documentary is expected to have a DVD release in the first quarter of 2012 as well.
For Immediate Release:

Hybrid Cinema Announces New Documentary

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance

Chronicling the History of the Groundbreaking Joffrey Ballet

Set to Premiere in New York City
January 2012

Followed by a Theatrical Tour in Select Cities


LOS ANGELES, CA – October 18, 2011 – Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, the first film to chronicle the legendary Joffrey Ballet, is set to premiere in New York City in January 2012 at the Dance On Camera Festival (see that press release here). The feature length documentary takes a look at this groundbreaking cultural treasure, known as the first truly American dance company. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin and directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man), the film documents how the Joffrey revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet, and setting it to pop and rock music scores. Following the North American premiere in late January, the film will embark on a theatrical tour to select cities in the U.S. Released through Hybrid Cinema, the documentary is expected to have a DVD release in the first quarter of 2012 as well. For more information, please visit www.joffreymovie.com.

Joffrey Ballet founders Robert Joffrey & Gerald Arpino, early 1960's. Photo credit: unknown

Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become their 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).

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance weaves a wealth of rare archival footage and photographs along with interviews featuring former and current Joffrey star dancers, showing the full history of the Company from its founding in 1956 to the present. It describes how the Joffrey repeatedly resurrected itself after devastating financial and artistic setbacks and introduced cutting-edge choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean and Margo Sappington to larger audiences.

The film features rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as breakthrough collaborations with choreographers Twyla Tharp (Deuce Coupe), Kurt Jooss (The Green Table) and Leonide Massine (Parade).

 Featuring: Kevin McKenzie, Helgi Tomasson, Lar Lubovitch, Ashley C. Wheater, Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Anna Kisselgoff, Adam Sklute, Christian Holder, Dermot Burke, Paul Sutherland, Francoise Martinet, Brunilda Ruiz, Jonathan Watts, Diane Consoer, Sasha Anawalt, and Hedy Weiss.

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance:
A Lakeview Films Production in association with Ocean Films
A Film by Bob Hercules
Executive Producers: Jay Alix & Harold Ramis
Producers: Una Jackman & Erica Mann Ramis
Writer/Director: Bob Hercules
Narrator: Mandy Patinkin
Directors of Photography: Michael Swanson & Keith Walker
Original Music Composition: Mark Bandy
Editing: Melissa Sterne
Run Time: 87m10s

Gerald Arpino rehearsal shot from the 1980s. Photo courtesy Joffrey Ballet.

About 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 premieres November 11, 2011 on PBS’ celebrated series American Masters.


About Narrator Mandy Patinkin –
Mandy Patinkin is an American actor of the Broadway stage, network television, and film. His credits include starring roles in musical theater presentations of Sunday in the Park with George, The Secret Garden, The Wild Party, Evita and Mamaloshen; television shows Chicago Hope, The Larry Sanders Show, Dead Like Me, and Criminal Minds; and the unforgettable Inigo Montoya in the 1987 comedy classic film The Princess Bride. Patinkin will be headlining on Broadway in November with Patti LuPone in An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin and is currently starring in the new Showtime series Homeland with Claire Danes.


About the Producers –
The film was born through the friendship of legendary multi-hyphenate actor-producer-director-writer Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Analyze This and SCTV) and first time producer Jay Alix.  Fans of the Joffrey, they both saw the need to interview Gerald Arpino before he passed. When they discovered that no documentary had ever been made of this legendary company, they decided now was the time.

Harold Ramis, Executive Producer –
Harold Ramis is a screenwriter, director and actor whose films include some of the most popular and influential comedies of our time – Animal House, Caddyshack, Stripes, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Ghostbusters, Back to School, Groundhog Day, Multiplicity, Analyze This, Bedazzled, Analyze That, The Ice Harvest and Year One. Among his numerous professional honors and awards, Ramis is the recipient of the American Comedy Award, the British Comedy Award, the BAFTA (British Academy) award for screenwriting (Groundhog Day), and the Just for Laughs Lifetime Achievement Award.  Four of his films were listed among the American Film Institute’s “100 Funniest Movies” and Groundhog Day was recently chosen one of the “101 Greatest Screenplays” by the Writers Guild of America. Harold Ramis has also directed several episodes of NBC’s acclaimed series The Office.

Jay Alix, Executive Producer –
Jay Alix is new to the documentary film world.  Having completed many private and corporate documentary projects, this film is his production debut for public distribution.  On the road to getting here, he was the founder, past chairman and president of AlixPartners, an internationally recognized firm of corporate turnaround, restructuring, performance improvement, and financial advisory professionals. He was also co-founder, chairman and past president of Questor Partners, a $1.2 billion investment fund focused on investing in turnarounds, underperforming and distressed companies, as well as special situations.

Una Jackman, Producer –

Una Jackman founded the Detroit Friends of the Joffrey Ballet in 2000, an organization that brought the Joffrey to perform at The Detroit Opera House for the past ten years and continues to have a presence in Detroit each year. Jackman was first introduced to Gerald Arpino and The Joffrey Ballet in 1980. While serving as a board member of Dance with Altitude in Telluride from 1995 to 2000, where the Joffrey enjoyed a summer residency for five years, she developed a close friendship with Arpino and the two conceived of the Detroit Friends organization. The making of this documentary, particularly doing the final interviews with him, is her way of paying tribute to Arpino’s life’s work and to the Company he co-founded.



Erica Mann Ramis, Producer –
Erica Mann Ramis is a poet and writer who has spent most of her life in and around the film industry. Her connection with the Joffrey began fifteen years ago when she met  Arpino. Ramis’ lifetime love of ballet and modern dance came to fruition when she and husband, filmmaker Harold Ramis, connected with Jay Alix and Una Jackman, and they resolved to document Arpino’s life and the history of The Joffrey Ballet.


The Joffrey Ballet Mission –
The Joffrey is a world-class, Chicago-based ballet company and dance education organization committed to artistic excellence and innovation, presenting a unique repertoire encompassing masterpieces of the past and cutting-edge works. The Joffrey is committed to providing arts education and accessible dance training through its Joffrey Academy of Dance and Community Engagement programs.


About 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.

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. Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey in 1956, guided by celebrated choreographer Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, 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.

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

Joffrey Ballet founders Robert Joffrey & Gerald Arpino. Photo courtesy Joffrey Ballet.

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.

After a 5 year hiatus, underground performance party pioneer Dream Circus Theatre (DCT) returns to the limelight with I Am Vegetable at the Premiere Events Center (aka Lot 613) in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, October 8, 2011.  I Am Vegetable is a delectable interactive costume party that merges theater, story telling, music, performance art, and dancing with imaginative sets that integrate the audience with the action.  The event soundscape incorporates dubstep, electro/breaks, house, tech house, and ambient/downtempo with a tasty DJ line-up that features John Kelley, Shayn, Trevor + Travis Wyse, Petey, and more. The creative brains behind I Am Vegetable are musician and event director Teo Castro and costume designer Mikiko Nagao, who have collaborated on creative underground events since the 1990s.  I Am Vegetable runs from 9:00pm to 3:30am. Tickets range from $20 to $40. Premiere Events Center/Lot 613 (http://www.lot613.com) is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. 

Underground Performance Party Pioneer
Dream Circus Theatre Presents
I Am Vegetable
A Wildly Costumed Interactive Theatrical Dance Event
At Premiere Events Center (Lot 613) in Downtown LA
Saturday, October 8, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 16, 2011 – After a 5 year hiatus, underground performance party pioneer Dream Circus Theatre (DCT) returns to the limelight with I Am Vegetable at the Premiere Events Center (aka Lot 613) in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, October 8, 2011.  I Am Vegetable is a delectable interactive costume party that merges theater, story telling, music, performance art, and dancing with imaginative sets that integrate the audience with the action.  The event soundscape incorporates dubstep, electro/breaks, house, tech house, and ambient/downtempo with a tasty DJ line-up that features John Kelley, Shayn, Trevor + Travis Wyse, Petey, and more. The creative brains behind I Am Vegetable are musician and event director Teo Castro and costume designer Mikiko Nagao, who have collaborated on creative underground events since the 1990s.  I Am Vegetable runs from 9:00pm to 3:30am. Tickets range from $20 to $40. Premiere Events Center/Lot 613 (http://www.lot613.com) is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, please visit http://www.dreamcircus.com or call 310-853-3075.

Attendees are encouraged to wear vegetable-themed costumes and bring their favorite organic vegetables for the communal soup that will be served all night long. The event will be streamed live at http://www.stickam.com. Guests must be 21 years of age or older to attend. A limited number of advance tickets can be purchased for $20-25 at http://fla.vor.us/1100057-I-AM-VEGETABLE-tickets/I-AM-VEGETABLE-Los-Angeles–.html. On the day of event, tickets are $30 with vegetable costume and organic vegetable for the communal soup, $40 “plain jane.” Street parking is free.  $10 secured valet parking will also be available. Please also see DCT’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/dreamcircus.theatre as well as the event page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=247783768584432

I Am Vegetable welcomes Fud-gee Bear and Electric GrassHopper back from a Deep Hi Bear Nation. Climbing out from the underground city of Zion, rising like a phoenix from the ashes, they will bring magic, mystery and fantasy back into our world once again.  Event attendees will be transported into a world where they can mingle with roaming I Am Vegetable characters in elaborate costumes, get a scrub down in the make-believe “Vegetable Wash,” and wander down the interactive “Vegetable Brick Road” (a floor with interactive screens and projections) on their way to the “Veggie Voyeurism Museum” (a “green light” district of steamy vegetables).

In the “Market Membrane” front room, a farmer’s market-themed area, guests can enjoy dubstep/electro breaks DJ sets, VJs, theatrical performances, and a costume contest. The outside “Mushroom Garden,” is a place for attendees to sit, lounge, drink, and eat.  More DJs, VJs, an ambient room, and photo booth will be set as a soup bowl.  Out back, attendees will find the “Psycho-Ponics Ward,” a black-lit room with house/tech DJ sets, VJs and theatrical performances with a backdrop of vegetables hooked up to tubes. The upstairs area houses the chill zone known as “The Refrigerator” with VJs and ambient music.

Interactive characters will roam throughout the event space.  Examples include the “Mr. Snails” characters (like the Mr. Smiths from the Matrix movies) – Secret Service snails who try to capture veggie attendees – and “The Garlic Informant,” who saves the veggies from the Mr. Snails.

The event is a vehicle to launch nutritional vegetable awareness and support the organic health movement for sustainable living.  Organic local food companies will be participating.

Featured DJs by Event Area:

Market Membrane - a vegetable marketplace full of sinful, carnal delights features dubstep/electro breaks with:
- John Kelley (Ball of Wax / Moontribe) - site
- Shayn Almeida (Intetech / Deep LA) – site
- Bartek (Quade / Ball of Wax) – site
- SuneviL LovechiLd – site
- Petey (Technique) – site

Psycho-Ponics Ward – veggie crazed madness, with padded walls and black lights, is hosted by Fade Dra and features house/tech house with:
- HAWT DJs Mikey + Eddie B. (HAWT Music) - site
- Frank Fader (Dogtown DJs) – site
- Ben Annand (Moontribe / Tropical) – site
- DJ Xian Fayette (I Am)
- DJ M*Linss (Dogtown DJs)

The Mushroom Garden - outside chill area features ambient/downtempo with:
- Imagika – site
- Trevor + Travis Wyse (Green Sector) – site
- Maggie (Moontribe) – site
- Kevin Chills (See Thru Sound) – site

Click here to watch Dream Circus Theatre in action.

Teo Castro, Co-Founder Dream Circus Theatre / Producer / Writer
Party planner, performer and legend in the L.A. underground circuit, Teo Castro runs Dream Circus Theatre with his wife, Mikiko Nagao.  The collective organizes the legendary “I Am” series of themed events that merge theatrical performances and electronic music into party environments. Castro and Nagao also created a street music and clothing company called Stoner Generation. He worked with Bill Manspeaker (Green Jello), Lou Maglia (former president of Island Records), and Art Jaeger (former executive at Capitol Records) in executive and production capacities at QTOPIA Event Center in Hollywood, which later became the Vanguard. For Insomniac Events, he created Dream Circus Village at Electric Daisy Carnival.  Other organizations and artists he has worked with over the years include Red Bull, M-Audio, Native Instruments, Magic (Las Vegas), Jane’s Addiction, Snoop Dog, Lollapalooza LLC, Coachella Music Festival, Burning Man, Cirque du Soleil, Dance with Films, House of Blues, Charlie Armstrong (Paramount Pictures), and PF Chang’s.

Mikiko Nagao, Costume Designer / Event Creator –
Mikiko Nagao is an innovative costume designer who has worked on commercial, film, television, and theater projects for the past 10 years. With her husband Teo Castro, she runs Dream Circus Theatre.  She has created custom designs for over 100 productions including costumes for stilt walker clowns, medieval soldiers, angelic space gods, large monsters, Victorian characters, and more. Past large-scale productions include creating costumes for Dream Circus Theatre’s 2003 tour of 35 cities with Lollapalooza.  Nagao studied at Bantan Design Fashion Institute (Tokyo) and Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (San Francisco and Los Angeles).  http://MKOCostumes.com

Dream Circus Theatre –
Dream Circus Theatre (DCT) was initially involved in the local underground scene in the mid 1990s, the first in the Los Angeles area to merge theatrical performances such as fire dancers, aerialists, performance artists, and art installations in a DJ dance party environment.  DCT is known for their innovative series of event/parties called “I Am” – costume, themed parties, which fuse all the elements mentioned above. DCT has self-produced, created and written over 100 original events and shows.

Castro, Nagao and/or Dream Circus Theatre have been featured in news and entertainment media around the world including the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, KCRW, KPFK, KROQ, KLOS, MTV, CNN, FNN, CBS-TV, Bad Boys, MTV, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine (Asia).

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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.

West of Rome Public Art
With Arto Lindsay and Rirkrit Tiravanija Present
Trespass
A Parade, Party & Public Call to Action
In Downtown Los Angeles
October 2-3, 2011

Trespass is Part of the Official Opening Weekend Celebration
Of the Getty-Sponsored, Region-Wide Initiative
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 14, 2011 [updated 9/19/11] – On Sunday, October 2, 2011, the historic Broadway Theater District in Downtown Los Angeles will erupt with Trespass, a parade where artists and residents will rally together to engage in art, music, dancing, floats, community activism, and performance. The parade is just one component of Trespass – a collaborative project between Arto Lindsay, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and West of Rome Public Art (WoR) that also includes a party and a T-shirt project with call-to-action slogans.  As part of Trespass, many Los Angeles art luminaries, including John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, Nancy Rubins, and Jeffrey Vallance, were asked to produce statements – personal calls to action expressing political or social concerns – which will be worn on T-shirts at the October 2nd parade. Many of the participating artists will also join in with performative pieces. Trespass continues into Monday evening, October 3rd with Trespassparty, a blowout celebration at Union Station (800 North Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012) featuring interactive and musical performances by progressive artists to benefit nonprofit West of Rome. For more information, please visit http://trespassparade.org.

Trespass is part of the opening weekend of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 – a collaboration of more than 60 cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. As a catalyst for change, Trespass collaborates and interacts with a high-octane roster of important local artists, the resident Downtown population, and the architecture in the area.  The project invites Los Angeles to gather and occupy the streets of our city as an act of community activism in this time of world turmoil and change. Provocative performance artists, philosophers, musicians, sound wizards, and dancers will rise up and speak out in spectacle to create an unforgettable moment in the cultural life in the streets of Downtown L.A. Trespass strives to convey and reiterate, in a creative way, the importance of free speech as the most powerful and effective vehicle for implementing change.

Sunday, October 2 – Trespass –
Highly influential contemporary artists, the youth of our time, and the public will engage in a symphony of creativity and free speech as Trespass takes over Downtown L.A. on Sunday, October 2nd, with music, dancing and performance. Arto Lindsay will create bold and loud sound experiments, responding to the activity and architecture of Downtown Los Angeles. Additional performers on the parade route will include ACE, Scott Benzel, Nancy Buchanan, Vaginal Davis, Dawn Kasper, KILLSONIC, Joel Kyack, Sylvère Lotringer, Ann Magnuson, My Barbarian, Alex Segade, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and more TBA. Many parade walkers and performers will wear T-shirts with the slogans about free speech, reciprocity, and civic participation, as an act of alternative messaging in the street. The October 2nd portion of Trespass is part of opening weekend of Pacific Standard Time, as swarms of culture seekers flock to the area on a day when dozens of area museums and institutions offer free admission.

For those participating, the parade formation begins at Art Platform – Los Angeles (L.A. Mart, 1933 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007) at 11:00am on October 2nd. The parade will quietly make its way north through the staging area with the main spectacle beginning around noon at the Herald-Examiner Building at Broadway and 11th (1111 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015). The parade will continue through the heart of the historic Broadway Theater District to First Street. Trespass then takes a left on First Street to the Grand Avenue cultural corridor with a finale by KILLSONIC and ending reception at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) as well as at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater). The length of the parade, including vehicles and performers, will span approximately one long city block and will involve a rolling closure of streets over more than 25 blocks. See the parade map at http://trespassparade.org/when-and-where.

Updated Additional List of Parade Performers –
Dewey Ambrosino, Raul Paulino Balthazar, Dola Baroni, bodycity, CollectiveCollective, Stephanie Diamond, Corey Fogel, !mpact people, James Brandon Lewis Trio, JETS a group organized by CHAMPIONS, Monica Rodriguez Medina, Mobile Mural Lab, Felicia “Fe” Montes, Milena Muzquiz, Newspaper Reading Club, Anna Oxygen, Pedestal & the All-Girl Band, QW##R <3, Christopher Reynolds, Kenny Scharf, Alex Segade, Sir Richard’s Condom Company, Niko Solorio, South Gate High School, Stella Adler Acting Studio, and Yarn Bombing Los Angeles.

Monday, October 3 – Trespassparty –
Trespass will continue into Monday, October 3rd with Trespassparty, a blowout celebration for West of Rome at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. The party kicks off at 9:30pm featuring interactive and musical performances by progressive artists such as iconic underground figure Ms. Vaginal Davis who will act as MC/host and legendary singer and pioneer in the queer core movement Phranc. The rhythms of Trespass will permeate into the evening as musician Arto Lindsay performs a unique piece composed for the occasion. Artist Rirkrit Tiravanija will engage the audience in a continuation of the collective experience of social awareness stemming from the parade. The evening also features special guest DJ JD Samson of Le Tigre and MEN. A $200 donation is required for entrance to the party, which will feature a signed limited edition recipe by Tiravanija revealing both his artisan pizza creation in collaboration with Pizzanista and vodka drink created specially for Trespass. Kanon Organic Vodka and Singha Beer are the evening’s liquor and beer sponsor respectively. For a $1,000 donation, starting at 7:00pm, a limited number of guests will enjoy a gourmet dinner in Union Station’s historic Fred Harvey Room with a recipe by Tiravanija especially executed for the occasion as well as first access to the silent auction of unique artwork by Barbara Kruger. To purchase tickets, please visit: http://trespassparade.org/party.

Participating Trespass Artists –
In addition to Lindsay and Tiravanija, participating artists include: Eleanor Antin, Edgar Arceneaux, Lisa Anne Auerbach, John Baldessari, Scott Benzel, Walead Beshty, Andrea Bowers, Nancy Buchanan, Chris Burden, Vaginal Davis, Sam Durant, Charles Gaines, Cheri Gaulke, Amy Gerstler, Piero Golia, Matt Greene, Julian Hoeber, Alex Israel, Glenn Kaino, Dawn Kasper, Mike Kelley, Chris Kraus, Barbara Kruger, Joel Kyack, Suzanne Lacy, Liz Larner, William Leavitt, Sharon Lockhart, Ann Magnuson, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Dave Muller, T. Kelly Mason, My Barbarian, Yoshua Okón, Jorge Pardo, Renee Petropoulos, Stephen Prina, Gustavo Raynal, Steve Roden, Nancy Rubins, Sterling Ruby, Aaron Sandnes, Jim Shaw, Susan Silton, Stephanie Taylor, Diana Thater, Kaari Upson, Jeffrey Vallance, Marnie Weber, Pae White, Terry Wolverton…

Public Participation–
The public is encouraged to participate in Trespass by embracing free speech and creative action, either officially or unofficially. To march in the parade or volunteer at the event, please sign-up at: http://trespassparade.org/parade-enrollment. Participants are also encouraged to engage in the event by purchasing a printed Trespass T-shirt with a slogan that resonates with them to wear at the parade.

Trespass T-Shirts –
Trespass commissioned 60 Los Angeles-based artists to produce a statement – each expressing a call to action – printed on American Apparel T-shirts in English and in Spanish and worn as part of the parade. The T-shirts are being sold online to benefit the project. Visit the Trespass online store in advance of the parade to purchase a T-shirt at http://store.trespassparade.org/category/t-shirts.

Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 –
Trespass’ parade is a Pacific Standard Time opening weekend event. Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 is a collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world.  Exploring and celebrating the significance of the crucial years after World War II through the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 1970s, Pacific Standard Time encompasses developments from L.A. Pop to post-minimalism; from modernist architecture and design to multimedia installations; from the films of the African American L.A. Rebellion to the feminist activities of the Woman’s Building; from ceramics to Chicano performance art; and from Japanese American design to the pioneering work of artists’ collectives.  Initiated through $10 million in grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time involves cultural institutions of every size and character across Southern California, from Greater Los Angeles to San Diego and Santa Barbara to Palm Springs.

Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.

Trespassis the only Pacific Standard Time event held in an outdoor public space featuring new contemporary works from a number of important Los Angeles artists celebrated in the region-wide collaborative project as well as emerging artists from the present. http://pacificstandardtime.org/participants

Trespass Partners –
Trespass’ community partners include the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time as well as American Apparel, Art Platform – Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), Chapman Lofts, Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk, Downtown Properties Holdings, LA Inc., MAK Center for Art and Architecture, The Metabolic Studio, Metro, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), The Orpheum Theatre, ANJAC, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), Sheppard Mullin and s(o)ul.  Media partners include ForYourArt and LA Weekly.  Trespassparty is a Pink Cloud Production.

Arto Lindsay–
Arto Lindsay’s musical career has often involved collaboration with artists. These have ranged from working with Jean-Michel Basquiat on his artist break for MTV to a performance at The Kitchen with Vito Acconci called “Women’s Business” to a parade during Carnival in Salvador, Brasil with Matthew Barney entitled De Lama Lamina. Recent projects of his include collaborations with Dominique Gonzalez Foerster and Philippe Parreno. In April 2008, Lindsay presented I Am a Man, a parade in Frankfurt featuring dancer Richard Siegal, artist/musician Nico Vascellari, percussionist Marivaldo Paim, and students of the Städelschule. In 2009, Lindsay presented Multinatural (Blackout) a parade at the Venice Biennale. He has also presented parades in New York and Berlin. In 2010, Lindsay collaborated with Rirkrit Tiravanija on a parade in Paris for Nuit Blanche. http://www.artolindsay.com

Rirkrit Tiravanija–
Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija is widely recognized as one of the most influential artists of his generation. His work defies media-based description, as his practice combines traditional object making, public and private performances, teaching, and other forms of public service and social action. Tiravanija was the winner of the 2010 Absolut Art Award and the 2005 Hugo Boss Prize, awarded by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. He has also been awarded the Benesse Prize by the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum in Japan and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lucelia Artist Award. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rirkrit_Tiravanija

West of Rome Public Art–
Los Angeles-based West of Rome Public Art (WoR) is an innovative nonprofit art organization dedicated to the realization of artists’ projects, exhibitions, and public interventions that encourage dialogue and community interaction outside of the frame of galleries and museums. Founded in 2005, WoR has curated and produced many notable exhibitions including Women in The City featuring Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman and Jenny Holzer, Mike Kelley and Michael Smith’s A Voyage of Growth and Discovery, and Marnie Weber’s Eternity Forever. Functioning without a permanent exhibition space, WoR is not anchored to any specific location and is therefore free to explore a diversity of urban spaces for its projects. Each show, installation or event takes place in a uniquely chosen site, sometimes off the beaten track, sometimes in the middle of a high traffic street. These unorthodox exhibition sites are dictated by circumstance, time and the nature of each project, and for a designated period of time, become places of discovery for both the casual passer-by and the attentive art visitor. http://www.westofrome.org

January 2012 –
In January 2012, West of Rome Public Art will present Trilogy, a series of new performances curated by WoR’s Founder Emi Fontana, as part of Pacific Standard Time’s Performance and Public Art Festival. Inspired by the legacy of the Los Angeles Woman’s Building, WoR’s series will begin with a piece by Andrea Fraser dealing with issues of identity and diversity in political dynamics inside feminist groups from the 1970s. A new site-specific piece by Vaginal Davis is a poetic meditation on feminist whimsy and gender queerness. Mike Kelley will contribute to the discourse, exploring the influence that the aesthetics of the Feminist Movement has had in his practice. The January festival will transform Southern California over an eleven-day period from January 19th through the 29th. Performances and projects will be located at institutions and sites throughout Southern California in close proximity to more than two-dozen Pacific Standard Time exhibitions.  The Performance and Public Art Festival is organized by the Getty Research Institute and LA>< ART.

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

For Immediate Release:  May 27, 2011

Long Beach Museum of Art Presents
Ray Turner: Population
Hundreds of Portraits by American Artist Ray Turner
Thursday, June 16 – Sunday, September 11, 2011
Opening Reception: June 16^th 6:00 – 9:00pm

LOS ANGELES, CA — Long Beach Museum of Art (LBMA) presents Ray Turner: Population, a solo exhibition of nearly 300 luminous portraits by American artist Ray Turner, opening Thursday, June 16, 2011. The series invites viewers to contemplate identity – individually as well as collectively. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 16^th from 6:00 to 9:00pm.  The exhibition will continue through Sunday, September 11, 2011. Curated by Art Critic Peter Frank and LBMA Executive Director Ron Nelson, the exhibit will also include a selection of photographic interpretations, works on paper, and three-dimensional pieces by Turner. Population will travel to museums across the country and internationally well into 2013 and continue to grow as Turner adds new portraits to the project from each community exhibiting the work. LBMA is located at 2300 East Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90803.  For more information please visit http://rayturner.us.

The portraits in Population, executed primarily in oil paint on glass from models, feature mostly California subjects painted over the last four years, including 60 new works depicting Long Beach community members. The growing project also includes 150 portraits that Turner painted previously for the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) in 2009.  Portraits from the Long Beach community include: the mayor, police commissioner, museum director, harbor commissioner, artists, and local philanthropists.  Also included in the body of work are 28 “homies” – young people affiliated with nonprofit Homeboy Industries looking for alternatives to gang violence.

portraits from Ray Turner: Population

A “population” is the set of beings inhabiting a location – organisms belonging to the same species and living in the same geographical area. The term refers to an objective, scientific accounting of human beings. Turner’s Population, however, does not favor representational precision over interpretation.  His works search for the inner essence and character of his subjects over physical accuracy. Fluid, much like notions of identity, Turner’s textural paintings vacillate between realism and abstraction. Population entices the viewer to decipher each sitter individually – the facial features, expressions, and emotions as captured in Turner’s sculptural brushwork – as well as search for relationships across the entire group of works.

The psychologically powerful LBMA Population installation presents two interconnected series of works by Turner that function together as a conceptual whole.  In the first, Turner has painted the essence of his subjects on uniform glass squares by carefully studying photographic data of his models.  In the complementary “Good Man/Bad Man” series of works, Turner is working expressively from his imagination.

Facial topography informs our opinions of who is ‘good’ and who is ‘bad.’  Co-curator Peter Frank explains, “Our prejudices, Turner deduces, derive from our facial preoccupation, our need to compare one face with another in order to determine everything from superficial beauty to the nature of the soul.”

With underpinnings in occidental art history, most notably Expressionism and Fauvism, Population’s antecedents include the tempestuous works of Georges Rouault and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as the violent disfigurement of Francis Bacon.

An exquisite 168-page, full-color, hardcover monograph published by the PMCA, with essays by B.R. Gilbert, James Scarborough and Roberta Carasso, PhD, accompanies the exhibition along with an all-new, 128-page, comprehensive catalog specific to the current LBMA presentation with an essay written by Peter Frank and foreword by Ron Nelson. Turner’s project is generously sponsored by Thrive Foundation for Youth.

After the Long Beach exhibition, Population, conceived as a five-to-ten year project, travels to Akron Art Museum (OH), Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, WA), Tacoma Museum of Glass (WA), Alexandria Museum of Art (VA), Wichita Art Museum (KS), Huntington Museum of Art (WV), and Missoula Art Museum (MT). Prior to each exhibition, Turner will travel to every location in advance to create new portraits from a cross-section of the populous for inclusion into the growing body of work.

Ray Turner –
Ray Turner lives and works in Pasadena, California. He received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in 1985 where he subsequently taught for 13 years as a professor of painting and drawing.  His work has been exhibited regularly in the United States since 1990.  In 2010, his paintings were shown at the Pasadena Museum of California Art alongside those of Wayne Thiebaud.  Turner is represented in Los Angeles by Rivera & Rivera and by Toomey Tourell Fine Art in San Francisco.

Rivera & Rivera –
Rivera & Rivera is a contemporary art gallery located in Los Angeles, California, housed in a space designed by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s architect, Arata Isozaki.  The gallery represents mid-career and established artists and has helped foster the careers of influential contemporary artists.  In 2011, the gallery’s list of represented artists includes Ray Turner, Marquis Lewis (RETNA), Robert Standish, Miguel Osuna and Jeff Kowatch.  The gallery has hosted a wide range of international exhibitions, from a survey of the Chicano influence on Latin Art including works from Carlos Almaraz, Frank Romero, The Date Farmers, and Ismael Vargas, to a survey of foreign and expatriate British artists including Tobias Keene and Pete Stern.  In addition, the gallery has collaborated on the international exhibition of several urban artists including RETNA, Miles Macgregor (El Mac), Augustine Kofie.  Located in the heart of West Hollywood’s Art & Design District at 454 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048, the gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11:00am to 6:00pm.  For more information please call 310-713-1635 or visit http://riveraandrivera.com.

Long Beach Museum of Art –
Located on a magnificent bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Long Beach Museum of Art features a historic mansion and carriage house, expansive galleries and gardens, oceanfront dining at Claire’s at the Museum, and a unique museum store.  In addition to changing exhibitions, the museum offers extensive educational programs for children and adults, musical programs, festivals, and other special events.  LBMA is open Thursday 11:00am to 8:00pm, and Friday to Sunday 11:00am to 5:00pm.  Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for students and seniors age 62 and older, free for LBMA members and children under 12, and free for everyone on Thursdays from 5:00pm to 8:00pm and all day on Fridays.  Free parking is available in the museum parking lot on Ocean Blvd., one block west of the main entrance. For more information, call 562-439-2119 or visit www.lbma.org.

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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.

work from the "Good Man/Bad Man" series within Ray Turner: Population

Breakdance Project Uganda reaches youth in the slums of Kisenyi, Uganda (photo credit: Nabil Elderkin)

Award-winning film Bouncing Cats, the inspiring documentary of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda through hip hop, is on the festival circuit making its way around North America along with limited sneak peek screenings and benefit events.  Narrated by Common and featuring interviews with Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, the story follows the legendary Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and b-boy Abramz, the founder of Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU), on a journey to unify, empower and inspire youth in the war torn region that has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child.*  The film, by director Nabil Elderkin, recently won “Best Documentary Feature Film” at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York, “Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking” at the Newport Beach Film Festival, and “Audience Favorite Award” at Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival.

For Immediate Release:  October 28, 2010 [updated: 1/17/11]

Inspiring Documentary
Bouncing Cats
Uniting the Children of Uganda Through Breakdance and Hip Hop Culture
Currently Screening at Festivals and Special Sneak Peek Events
Around North America Through Winter 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA – Award-winning film Bouncing Cats, the inspiring documentary of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda through hip hop, is on the festival circuit making its way around North America along with limited sneak peek screenings and benefit events.  Narrated by Common and featuring interviews with Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, the story follows the legendary Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and b-boy Abramz, the founder of Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU), on a journey to unify, empower and inspire youth in the war torn region that has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child.*  The film, by director Nabil Elderkin, recently won “Best Documentary Feature Film” at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York, “Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking” at the Newport Beach Film Festival, and “Audience Favorite Award” at Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival.  To learn more about the film, please visit http://www.bouncingcats.com and http://www.facebook.com/bouncingcats.

“Bouncing Cats is just the sort of work that the world needs to see coming out of Africa, a story of self-reliance and perseverance against immeasurable odds,” said K’naan.

Breakdance Project Uganda started in February 2006 by Abraham “Abramz” Tekya out of the belief that hip hop can be used as a tool to engage and empower disadvantaged youth in Kampala and other areas of Uganda. Its mission is to engage young people in hip hop culture in order to build leadership skills and promote social responsibility for positive change.  The Project has attracted people from every walk of life and acts as a catalyst for building mutually beneficial relationships between people of different social strata across Uganda and the rest of the world. After a trip to Uganda with NGO Oxfam, where he met Abramz, director Elderkin decided to make the film with the hope of shedding light on the situation.  “The work Abramz is doing with the kids of Uganda inspired me,” said Elderkin. “It was something I wanted to capture and share with others.”

Bouncing Cats is screening on the festival circuit and at special sneak peek events across North America.  Key screenings include:

- Apr. 17 – Newport Beach Film Festival – Newport Beach, CA
- Aug. 21 – DocuFest Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival – Atlanta, GA
- Sep. 17, 18 – Urbanworld Film Festival - New York, NY
- Sep. 17-19 -  DocUtah – Southern Utah Int’l Documentary Film Festival – St. George, UT
- Sep. 22 – Manifesto Film Fest – Toronto, ON
- Sep. 23 – Montreal International Black Film Festival – Montreal, QC
- Oct. 8-10 – BendFilm – Bend, OR
- Oct. 16, 17, 19, 22 – Heartland Truly Moving Pictures – Indianapolis, IN
- Oct. 18, 24 – Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival – Hot Springs National Park, AR
- Oct. 30 – MoogFest – Asheville, NC
- Nov. 3 – USC Albert & Dana Broccoli Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
- Nov. 4, 7 – American Film Market (AFM) – Santa Monica, CA
- Nov. 7 - Hartford International Film Festival – Hartford, CT
- Nov. 9 – National Geographic LIVE! – Washington, DC **
- Nov. 11 – Rice University – Houston, TX **
- Nov. 16 – Downtown Independent - Los Angeles, CA **
- Nov. 17 – Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip - Las Vegas, NV  **
- Nov. 19 – Arizona State University – Tempe, AZ **
- Nov. 20 – Decatur High School Performing Arts Center - Atlanta, GA
- Dec. 4 – Northwestern University McCormick Tribune Theatre- Evanston, IL
- Dec. 5 – Bahamas International Film Festival – Nassau, Bahamas
- Dec.  16 – NYU – New York, NY **

** These screenings include Q&A sessions with the filmmakers, Crazy Legs, and other cast members from the documentary.

click to watch trailer

Please visit the Bouncing Cats‘ site for additional screening announcements at http://www.bouncingcats.com/screenings.

Bouncing Cats Cast:
Abraham “Abramz” Tekya:
Abraham Tekya, commonly known as “Abramz,” is the director and founder of Breakdance Project Uganda, an organization launched in February 2006 that uses breakdance and other elements of hip hop culture to promote positive change and social responsibility. A native of Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, Abramz grew up quickly, as most children in Uganda are forced to. At the age of seven, he lost both of his parents to AIDS and was orphaned, shuffled between distant relatives and different homes. Despite these circumstances, Abramz used his life experience and love of hip hop to educate, inspire and unite youth in Uganda and beyond. http://www.bouncingcats.com/cast/tekya.php

Richard “Crazy Legs” Colòn:
To call Richard “Crazy Legs” Colòn a pioneer is an understatement. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation about b-boying without giving mention to the legendary Crazy Legs. Not only is he a veteran of hip hop as a culture, boasting more than 3 decades as the driving force behind the hip hop dance movement, but he’s also an outstanding citizen and role model. He has lent his time, experience, and influence to aiding and encouraging the positive advancement of hip hop culture. http://www.bouncingcats.com/cast/crazylegs.php

Jolly Grace Okot:
Jolly Grace Okot, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was among the first wave of children abducted and forced to be a child soldier in the beginning of Uganda’s civil war. She is the Uganda Country director for Invisible Children (IC) and has been involved with the organization since the beginning. Her guidance enabled Bouncing Cats‘ filmmakers to see and understand the plight of children in Northern Uganda, and her leadership and direction helped create IC’s initiatives on the ground. Okot also runs H.E.A.L.S., a program that provides play therapy for war-affected children.

Additional details on cast members are available at http://www.bouncingcats.com/cast.

Additional Credits & Film Details:
Bouncing Cats was produced by Red Bull Media House and directed by Nabil Elderkin. All proceeds from the film are going to Breakdance Project Uganda.

Nabil Elderkin, Director:
Director Nabil Elderkin, originally a native of Australia, began his photography career when he picked up a camera to shoot portraits of fellow surfers. What started as a hobby, rapidly developed into a working career. From surf portraits, Elderkin began shooting musicians and anyone that inspired him. He later moved to the United States to continue to expand his career. Today, Elderkin lives and works in Los Angeles at his studio downtown. He shoots musicians, sports, fashion, and portraiture. Elderkin has recently published a book titled Glow in the Dark with Kanye West through Rizzoli and has directed several music videos and documentaries from here to Africa. Traveling is his passion. He created the film in order to bring attention to the situation in Uganda as well as support the inspiring work Abramz is doing through BPU.  http://www.nabil.com

- Executive Producers: Amy Taylor, Scotty Bradfield, Karma Gardner, Charlie Rosene
- Producers: Nyla Hassell, George Mays, Claude Merkel, Charles Spano
- Film Editing: Isaac Hagy
- Sound Editor: Andrew Le Guier
- Genre: Documentary / Music
- Runtime: 75 minutes
- Country: USA
- Language: English
- Color: Color
- Filming Locations: Uganda, USA

Awards:
- Newport Film Festival “Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking”
- Urbanworld Film Festival “Best Documentary Feature Film”
- DocUtah – Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival “Audience Favorite Award”
- Bahamas International Film Festival Audience Award for “Best Feature Documentary”

“In short – the movie features some serious hip hop cameos, incredible landscapes, and dancing, and is certain to be one of the most celebrated documentaries of 2010.” –Chris Farone, Boston Phoenix

Bouncing Cats Links:
- Official Site: http://www.bouncingcats.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bouncingcats
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/bouncingcats
- Trailer: http://vimeo.com/12234800

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

Breakdance Project Uganda reaches youth in the slums of Kisenyi, Uganda (photo credit: Nabil Elderkin)

* Former UNICEF head Carol Bellamy has called northern Uganda “pretty much the worst place on earth to be a child;” over 20,000 children – some as young as six years old – have been abducted by the rebel-led Lords Resistance Army (LRA), forced to serve as child soldiers, sex slaves and laborers. http://www.warchild.org/projects/WC_Canada/Uganda/uganda.html

Alex Face graffiti image from Bomb It 2 (photo credit: Jon Reiss)

Jon Reiss, the director of Bomb It, the global graffiti documentary, and his team, have a lot to announce and celebrate this month.  Starting as early as today – November 1, 2010 – Bomb It can be seen in tens of millions of cable, satellite, and telco Video On Demand (VOD) homes.  In mid-November the Bomb It team will be releasing a free geo-location graffiti and street art application (app) for both iPhone and Android operating systems (tentative release date: 11/22/10).  And Bomb It 2, commissioned as a web series exclusively for the digital broadcast network Babelgum, is rolling out new weekly episodes at http://www.babelgum.com/bombit2.

For Immediate Release:
November 1, 2010

Bomb It
The Global Graffiti Documentary
Set To Introduce New iPhone and Android App
In November 2010
+ Bomb It VOD Launch This Month
+ Bomb It 2 Web Series Continues on Babelgum this Month

LOS ANGELES, CA – Jon Reiss, the director of Bomb It, the global graffiti documentary, and his team, have a lot to announce and celebrate this month.  Starting as early as today – November 1, 2010 – Bomb It can be seen in tens of millions of cable, satellite, and telco Video On Demand (VOD) homes.  In mid-November the Bomb It team will be releasing a free geo-location graffiti and street art application (app) for both iPhone and Android operating systems (tentative release date: 11/22/10).  And Bomb It 2, commissioned as a web series exclusively for the digital broadcast network Babelgum, is rolling out new weekly episodes at http://www.babelgum.com/bombit2.  Learn about these and more at http://www.bombit-themovie.com.

Bomb It’s VOD premiere goes out over 75 cable, satellite and telco operators including the following:
- Armstrong
- AT&T
- Atlantic Broadband
- Blue Ridge
- Bresnan
- Charter
- DIRECTV VOD
- DISH Network IPVOD
- Insight
- Mediacom
- RCN
- Service Electric
- Suddenlink
- Verizon
- Wave

Click on Alex Face graffiti image (above) to see Bomb It 2‘s Bangkok episode
on Babelgum (photo credit: Jon Reiss)

The FREE Bomb It geo-location graffiti and street art app will work on both iPhone and Android operating systems when it’s released later this month (11/22/10 tentative but visit the Bomb It site for updates).  This app will allow users to take photos of graffiti and street art in any city in the world and upload images to Google maps.  Simultaneously – anyone in any city will be able to press a button to see on Google maps where others have posted exciting street art. Award-winning director Jon Reiss, named one of Daily Variety’s “10 Digital Directors to Watch,” views this as a natural extension of the Bomb It project – “We are connected with artists and fans throughout the world – how wonderful would it be to have a tool in which they could share a love for this art form with each other.”  The app will also come loaded with Bomb It episodes.

In addition to the VOD launch and upcoming iPhone/Android app, Bomb It 2 launched on Babelgum in October 2010.  Bomb It 2 was commissioned as a web series exclusively for the digital broadcast network Babelgum and expands the global reach of Jon Reiss’ exploration of graffiti and street art into new and unexplored areas of Asia and South East Asia, the Middle East as well as Europe, the United States and Australia.  Reiss traveled by himself to Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank, Perth, Melbourne, Copenhagen, Chicago and Austin.  Artists featured include Klone, KnowHope, GreatBates, Zero, Darbotz, Killer Gerbil, Bon, Alex Face, Sloke, Husk Mit Navn, Ash, Phibs, Stormie Mills, Beejoir and many more.

“I was inspired to explore how and where graffiti and street art had penetrated the globe into some of the most unlikely places – such as Singapore.    I am especially fascinated in how each culture (and each person) takes this art form and makes it their own – and how the local culture affects the development of graffiti in each place that I visited. Tel Aviv and the refugee camps of Bethlehem couldn’t be more different.  The former is on the verge of a street art explosion similar to Barcelona in the early 90s.  In the West Bank, graffiti is much more about a political statement and “art” is often viewed as reconciliation.  At the same time it was interesting to see how some of the constants of graffiti exist nearly everywhere – from Perth to Copenhagen: the need to express oneself in public – and the addictive nature of getting up!”

Read more about the making of the Bomb It 2 web series here: http://blog.bombit-themovie.com/2010/10/loving-the-webseries-form

About Babelgum:
Founded in 2005, Babelgum is a free, revolutionary Internet and Mobile TV platform supported by advertising.  Babelgum combines the full-screen video quality of traditional television with the interactive capabilities of the Internet and offers professionally produced programming on-demand to a global audience.  Babelgum’s goal is to act as an international ‘glue,’ bringing a huge range of professional and semi-professional content to a global audience – like a modern-day Tower of Babel.  Bomb It 2 is the latest evidence of Babelgum’s growing involvement with street art culture, both in terms of its extensive collection of street art feature films and videos and its involvement with events such as the international Meeting of Styles and the recently launched Moniker Art Fair.

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