CoHo SUMMERFEST 2018
June 28 – July 22, 2018
FOUR WEEKS. FOUR SHOWS. NO BOUNDARIES.
Multimedia. Dance. Comedy. Solo Work. Ensemble Pieces. Video Projection. Polyester Pants. Palestine. Memory Movies. Family Facades. Personal Journeys. Strange Bedfellows. Cross-Cultural Understanding. Glass Unicorns. Basements. Movement Narratives. Blue Mountain. Calls From Mom. Silent Film. Waiting in Line. Fake Mustaches. Moments. Algorithms.
Uncomfortable Realities. Refugees. Bubbles.
RESISTANCE. REMEMBRANCE. RUBBER GLOVES.
#CoHoSummerfest2018
Week 1: June 28 – July 1
Win the War or Tell Me a Story
Written and performed by Sayda Trujillo
Directed by Jessica Wallenfels
What does it mean to resist, to win, and to replace the global forces that perpetuate hate and domination in today’s world? Teaching in the West Bank of Israeli-occupied Palestine and growing up in Canada and Los Angeles as the child of Guatemalan civil war refugees changed Sayda Trujillo’s concept of resistance and of herself. A story of loss and waiting in line, Win the War or Tell Me a Story is a one-woman physical theatre piece that spans generations, wars, cultures and continents to explore the far reaching effects of forced immigration on those who seek refuge in unfamiliar places.
RESIST. WIN. REPLACE.
(More information about the artists here.)
Week 2: July 5 – 8
Finding Soul: A Constellation of Stories
Directed by Andrea Parson & Susan Banyas
Featuring Andrea Parson, Megan Dawn and Stephanie Schaaf
A “soul story” is an experience remembered. A journey. A memory. A moment brought to life. That thing where you internally replay what might be the movie of your life, but in multimedia dance narrative. In front of other people. In Finding Soul: A Constellation of Stories, three Portland-area dance artists integrate language and movement onstage, mining their own cosmic cinematic memories for visual and emotional details that give voice to the characters, landscape and actions that have shaped their individual lives. And then they dance it out.
JOURNEY. MEMORY. MOMENT.
(More information about the artists here.)
Week 3: July 12 – 15
#//<EMBEDDED>//#
Created and performed by Pratik Motwani
#//<EMBEDDED>//# is a one-person multimedia piece of devised theatre that examines the condition of a trapped virtual identity through the lens of a cyber celebrity stuck within the regulating algorithms of a social media platform, inside a broadcasting room floating somewhere in the inter-webs of cyber space and time. Or a basement-dwelling computer nerd creates a super-cool virtual identity that keeps him from making real human connections because he can’t disconnect. Film projection, GIF animation, Prezi presentation, physical theatre and polyester pants included.
ALGORITHMS. AVATARS. DIS/CONNECT.
(More information about the artist here.)
Week 4: July 19 – 22
Philip’s Glass Menagerie
Directed by Philip Cuomo
Featuring Sascha Blocker, Isaac Lamb, Murri Lazaroff-Babin and Emily Newton
Family secrets, a collection of fragile glass animals, gender-bending gentleman callers, and memories of Blue Mountain – it’s the Wingfield family you only think you know. Elements of silent film, physical comedy, and the music of Philip Glass highlight this poignant, hilarious and whimsical telling of Tennessee Williams’ story of family facades, dreams of escape, and the reality of the everyday.
“The show combines several elements that don’t on the surface seem to go together: Tennessee Williams, clowning, and drag. But, somehow, these strange bedfellows work in concert beautifully.” – Broadway World Portland
GLASS UNICORNS. GENTLEMAN CALLERS. RUBBER GLOVES.