2008 Mailer
Obsessions and Expressions
The Performance Garage
April 10th, 2008, 7:30
April 11-12,17-19, 2008, 8:00
April 19, 2008, 2:00
Breathless
2005: World Premiere
2008: Re-imagined Premiere with new score by Ellen Fishman-JohnsonIn 1925, Theodore Dreiser published a novel centered around the drowning of an unmarried pregnant woman by the unborn child’s father, who believed life offered him better prospects.
In 1996, a young unmarried Delaware woman was murdered and her body entombed on the ocean floor by her powerful, politically connected lover, who refused to permit her to end their affair.
In 1997, a Philadelphia man drugged and strangled his wife and mother of his young daughter and placed her body in the bathtub, in order to collect insurance proceeds and continue to pursue a professional stripper.
In 2002, a Californian fertilizer salesman murdered his pregnant wife and set her adrift in the San Francisco Bay, culminating a pattern of infidelity.Breathless is informed and inspired by these stories. Their stories move from the happy and hopeful beginnings that mark many relationships that fail, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Spanning many months, the scenes include a pastoral lakeside, room interiors, an insurance company office and a stripper bar.
Choreography: Jeanne Ruddy
Original Score: Ellen Fishman-Johnson
Soprano: Shannon Coulter
Costume Design: Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski
Photographic Projections: Bob Emmott
Video Projections: Jorge Cousineau
Hair design: Ozzie Perez
Performers: Meredith Riley Stewart, Hershel Deondre Horner III, Katharine Savage, Janet Pille, Rick Callerner, Thayne Alexandar Dibble, Ian Dodge, Gabrielle Revlock
Quasi Normal
Quasi Normal is composed of three sections, all informed by the idea that the past contains the building blocks for future works.
The movement vocabulary in the first section is inspired by positions of the body in the Mary Wigman work, Niobe, a kind of mourning-dance.
In the second section, improvisations were extrapolated from the choreographic sketches of Dore Hoyer, a dancer and follower of the Wigman branch of German expressionist dance, or Ausdruckstanz.
In the final section, movement impulses were inspired by the play between opposing forces: yin/yang, permanence /fleetingness, positive/negative.
more info on Guest Artist Susanne LinkeChoreography: Susanne Linke
Guest Artist : Brigitta Herrman
Music: Tomasz Sikorski, Michael von Hintzenstern
Costume Design: Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski
Performers: Alexei Borovik, Rick Callender, Sun-Mi Cho, Thayne Alexandar Dibble, Ian Dodge, Hershel Deondre Horner III, Janet Pilla, Gabrielle Revlock, Meredith Riley Stewart, Katherine Savage, Christine Taylor
Special Guest Artist: Brigitta Herrmann
Board of Directore
Jeanne Ruddy, Artistic and Executive Director
Gregory G. Gosfield, Esq, President
Victor F. Keen Esq, Vice President/Treasurer
Kathryn Keeler, President Emeritus
Gordon Daniels
Jefferson M. Green
La-Taya P. Hackney
Milli Lane-Berg
Norma Romero-Mitchell (on Sabbattical)
Robert Shulman, Esq
Robert J. Wallner, MD
Advisory Board
Mark Dendy
Steven Goff
Denise Jefferson
Eugene Lowery
Martha Myers
Igal Perry
Jill Porter
Susan Rock
Joseph Salkowitz, DMD
Pearl B. Schaeffer
F Randal Swartz
Janet Swartz
Administration
Nan Gilbert, Managing Director
Ron Snitzer, Financial Manager
April Libman, Director of Development and Marketing
Buffy Miller, School Director/Rental Coordinator
Nicole Russ, Development and Marketing Assistant
Lorraine Anderson, Wardrobe Mistress
Christine Taylor, Rehearsal Director
Meredith Riley Stewart, Touring Coordinator
Janet Pilla, Director of Outreach Faculty and Programming
Chloe Davis, Outreach Faculty
Independent Contractors
Nina Zucker & Associates: Press Relations
Caren Goldstein, Concept Factory: Graphic Design
Beth Emmott: Web Design
Bob Emmott: Photography
Carmella Vassor, Wild Child Productions: Video Production
Kim Wolford, Ruotolo Spewak & Co: Accounts
Funders
The William Penn Foundation
Independence Foundation
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Suzanne F. Roberts Cultural Development Fund
Samuel and Rebecca Kardon Foundation
City Wide Capital Arts Fund
Constance Austin and Family Legacy Trust
The Samuel S. Fels Fund
Lida Foundation
Land Services, USA. Inc. (Opening Night Sponsor)
Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzburg & Ellers (2008 Studio Sponsor)
The Hassel Foundation (Outreach Sponsor)
Jefferson M. Green, Susanna Satten, Nick Lotz, Tod Sturza, Ezgi Ottolenghi(Outreach Sponsors)
Advanta
PECO
Philadelphia Citypaper
Rembrandt’s