fbpx The National Performance Network Annual Meeting | HowlRound Theatre Commons

Livestreamed on this page Friday 2 December and Saturday 3 December 2016 10 a.m. EST (New York) / 9 a.m. CST (Austin) / 8 a.m. MST (Denver) / 7 a.m. PST (Los Angeles)

Austin, TX, United States
 Friday 2 December and Saturday 3 December 2016

Add to Calendar

The National Performance Network Annual Meeting

 Friday 2 December and Saturday 3 December 2016

 

Thumbnail

The National Performance Network Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 2 December and Saturday 3 December.

To participate in conversation, direct your comments on Twitter to @NPN_VAN and use hashtag #AMAustin and #LiveAndOnStage (for performances).

Livestream Schedule:

Friday 2 December

 

Opening Session
10 a.m.-12 p.m. EST (New York)/9 a.m.-11 a.m. CST (Austin)/8 a.m.-10 a.m. MST (Denver)/7 a.m.-9 a.m. PST (Los Angeles)

9:15 a.m. CST: Welcome: President & CEO Caitlin Strokosch and the NPN/VAN Board Chair Abel

9:45 a.m. CST: Who We Are

Market Out
Facilitators: Stephanie McKee, Artistic Director, Junebug Productions
Addam Garrett, Office Manager, NPN/VAN

10 a.m. CST ArtBurst
Ebony Stewart (Austin, TX)

Introduced by Will Bowling, Program Specialist, NPN/VAN, and Chris Cowden, Director, Women & Their Work

Hunger (excerpt)
Hunger is the award winning solo performance written and performed by Ebony Stewart. The story is always about how to persevere, how to love, how to forgive.

10:30 a.m. CST

Onward! Disruption, Change, and New Measures
In this catalytic moment of social and political turmoil, we will investigate what's at stake and identify individual, organizational, and collective action, both urgent and long-term, necessary for radical survival and change.

Organized by (and order of appearance) Lauren Ruffin, Vice President for External Relations, Fractured Atlas; with co-facilitators Sixto Wagan, Director, University of Houston, Center for Arts Leadership and Madison Cario, Director, Georgia Institute of Technology Office of Arts.

 

Idea Forum: Art Making In And With Community
3 p.m.—4:30 p.m. EST (Boston)/2 p.m.—3:30 p.m. CST (Austin)/1 p.m.—2:30 p.m. MST (Denver)/12 p.m.—1:30 p.m. PST (Los Angeles)

Facilitators: Allison Orr, Artistic Director, Forklift Danceworks, and Krissie Marty, Associate Chorographer, Forklift Danceworks

Participants: Don Anderson, Former Supervisor, Austin Sanitation Dept.
Liliana De Osio, Goodwill Representative
Allen Small, Director of Distribution, Austin Energy

Join Austin's Forklift Danceworks choreographers for a conversation on community-based social practice with a panel of city employees who have performed in the company’s large-scale civic spectacles. Topics will include collaboration, the creative process and impact these projects have had on them personally and on their work environments. Artists and city workers will offer insights and advice on about art making that addresses issues of race, class, culture, and "artistic privilege" (who gets to make art and where). Panelists include a former sanitation worker, a City of Austin forestry tech, and utility employee.

 

Live & On Stage Performances
9:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. EST (Boston)/8:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. CST (Austin)/7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. MST (Denver)/6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (Los Angeles)

Featured (and Austin-based) Artists:
Soomi Kim
: Chang(e), New York, NY
Performance artist and activist Kathy Change (formerly Kathleen Chang) was on a mission to save the world from disaster. As a final act of protest, she self-immolated on the campus of UPenn in October 1996. Chang(e) is a live-staged biographical docudrama that slips between reality and fantasy, plunging viewers inside the mind of Kathy Change. 

Cast:
Kathy Change (Soomi Kim)
Mother, Ensemble (Kiyoko Kashiwagi)
Landlord, Ensemble (David Perez-Ribada)
Brendan McGeever, Ensemble (Ben Skalski)

Charles O. Anderson/Dance Theatre X: (Re)current Unrest, Austin, TX
(Re)current Unrest unites reimagined and original early works by Steve Reich, spoken word, rhythm and blues, and choreography. Inspired by the BlackLivesMatter movement, the piece explores notions of citizenship and personhood. (Re)current Unrest immerses the audience in a sonic landscape, revealing the socio-cultural realities of being black.

Music: "It's Gonna Rain, Part I" by Steve Reich, "Come Out (Ken Ishii Remix)" by Steve Reich, "Die Nigga" by The Last Poets, and "As Yet Untitled" by Terence Trent D'Arby.

Dancers: Gianina Casale, Johnny Chatman II, D'Lonte Lawson, Johnnie Mercer, Kathryn McCarn, Kelsey Oliver, and Erica Saucedo.

Proyecto Teatro: Por Los Mojados, Austin, TX
Set in a stage with half a ton of dirt, Por Los Mojados blends theatre and dance to unapologetically rip apart Latin-American history, and explore the immigration of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America during the summer of 2014. This excerpt travels from the fields of Nicaragua, to the streets of Guatemala, and finally to the US/Mexico border. 

Performers: Brianda Campos, Stephanie Hernandez, Emily Hernandez, Edson Hernandez, Wilson Hernandez, Christopher Jimenez, Diana Milk-Batista, Yashua Batista-Milk, Valeria Smeke, Ariana Tamayo, Daniela Tamayo, Gaby Tamayo, and Natalia Ponce

The Seldoms: Power Goes, Chicago, IL
Power Goes is a multidisciplinary work that explores the nature of political power and its relationship to social action and change. The piece examines President Lyndon B. Johnson as both a subject and metaphor for a broader inquiry about power and its meaning throughout history. Power Goes positions protest culture and the back-door manueverings of LBJ's America with today's social and political gridlock through The Seldoms' signature gestural precision, humor, athleticism, and sheer force.

The Seldoms ensemble: Philip Elson, Christina Gonzalez-Gillett, Damon Green, Matthew McMunn, Cara Sabin, and Amanda Howard (not seen)

Saturday 3 December

9:30 a.m. CST ArtBurst
Rontherin Ratliff (New Orleans, LA)

Rontherin Ratliff, an American artist living and working in New Orleans, is known for his sculptures made from found objects and salvaged materials. His series “Can’t Call Home,” is the result of his investigation of connections and communication, love and loss, nostalgia and yearning, irrecoverable conditions and acceptance, and an overall expression of optimism.

 

Displacement: Imagining New Models for Growth
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. EST/9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. CST/8:30 a.m.-10 a.m. MST/7:30 a.m.-9 a.m. PST

Moderator: Carra Martinez, Director of Community Engagement, Guthrie Theater
Panelists (L-R): Gayle Isa, Executive Director, Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA)
Celso Curi, President, La RED (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Maria Luisa Flores, Chair, Austin Arts Commission
Betelhem Makonnen, Artist
Ron Berry, Artistic Director, Fusebox Festival

Austin has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country for years, leading to a variety of opportunities and challenges for the city. In particular, this tremendous growth has led to the displacement of many long-term residents, the working poor, and communities of color. Austin artists are also being impacted by issues pertaining to displacement, with artists of color disproportionally affected. 

The challenges of displacement in Austin resemble those in many rapidly growing cities across the globe including deepening economic segregation and the eradication of culture. In our opening plenary, we will investigate the issue of displacement, artists' roles in it, and how we might shift our thinking to imagine bold responses and actions with a focus on how the issue is impacting communities locally, nationally, and globally.

 

Lunchtime Slide Jam: Performing & Visual Artists
2:30 p.m.-4 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m.-3 p.m. CST/12:30 p.m.-2 p.m. MST/11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. PST

Artists are making various visual and performance work all across the country and rarely is there a chance for them to come together and talk about their shared languages and ideas. This Idea Forum will be in a Pecha Kucha type format, in which each artist will share images or a short video of their work. The idea is to bring a group of artists from around the country together who work in distinctive disciplines—visual, performing, hybrid, sound—in order to have a conversation about contemporary artistic practice and ideas. 

Rachel Cook, Curator of DiverseWorks, will be moderating the conversation and posing questions to each artist at the end of the presentations. 

Participants include (order of appearance): Chris Schlichting, Choreographer, Performer (Minneapolis, MN)
Sterling Allen, Visual Artist (Austin, TX)
Sean Dorsey, Choreographer, Dancer, Writer (San Franciso, CA)
Beili Liu, Installation Artist (Austin, TX)
Rosy Simas, Choreographer (Minneapolis, MN)
Teruko Nimura, Visual Artist (Austin, TX)

2:15 p.m. CST ArtBurst
Katie Pearl (Brooklyn, NY) 
OK OK OK (excerpt)
OK OK OK is meant to be performed in intimate spaces by Katie and one or more assistants using a variety of small hand props and object-based puppets. As Katie lists everything she knows about the Great State of Oklahoma, she opens up the Pandora's box of her own suburban Tulsa childhood: turns out, the violence, catastrophe, and disconnect simmering throughout Oklahoma's harsh history is also simmering in her. OK OK OK is an unexpectedly biting, hilarious, and radically honest show about finding a way to put down roots in a home state you were raised to reject, in order to accept heritage and move forward with purpose.

kt shorb, Theatre Artist (Austin, TX)
Liz Rodda, Interdisciplinary Artist (Austin, TX)
Jessica Mallios, Visual Artist (Austin, TX)
Kristin Lucas, Transmedia Artist (Austin, TX)
Cristal Chanelle Truscott, Playwright, Director (Houston, TX)

 

Live and On Stage Performances
5 p.m.-7 p.m. EST/4 p.m.-6 p.m. CST/3 p.m.-5 p.m. MST/2 p.m.-4 p.m. PST

Featured (and Austin-based) Artists:
Zell Miller, III
: Oh snap my alien children are trying to kill me, Austin, TX
This solo work pulls the curtain back on what means to be a parent of children of color in this turbulent American landscape. This master storyteller weaves a tapestry of comical and soul-stirring monologues about raising a son who is on the autistic spectrum and daughter who is the definition of a diva. This work also examines the trials and tribulations that come along with being a divorced parent, police brutality, changing diapers, how we define family, raising a young black girl in America, and the emotional rollercoaster of being a parent.

Meg Wolfe: New Faithful Disco, Los Angeles, CA
In this piece, belief is made manifest as energy. A trio of dancers feel it, generate it, and remix it as they prepare to take on something big. Love, faith, impermanence? Pleasure? Power? Soul retrieval? New Faithful Disco builds communal energy into an accumulated whirlwind propelled by nature sounds and disco rhythms. Bodies are the conduit: the site of intersections where dances are generated, transferred, translated, and recycled in an attempt to remix revolution.

Music: Maria de los Angeles "Cuca" Esteves

Dancers: taisha paggett, Marbles Jumbo-Radio, and Meg Wolfe

Dahlak Brathwaite: Spiritrials, Long Beach, CA
Addiction, religion, and the law intersect in a timely and personal exploration of the criminal justice system. Inspired by one of Dahlak's Hip-Hop albums, this multi-dimensional play layers characters, poetic verse, and dialogue over song. Spirituals blurs the lines between Hip-Hop and dramatic performance.

Graham Reynolds and Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol: Pancho Villa from a Safe Distance, Austin, TX
Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance is an experimental chamber opera about the life and death of Pancho Villa. The project is a the third installment of The Marfa Triptych, a genre-hopping trilogy of musical performances. The opera is an insightful examination of the Mexican and Mexican-American impact on the culture and politics of West Texas, contributing to the current and timely conversation about borders and the limitatons of delineated states.

Composer/Pianist: Graham Reynolds
Vocalist: Paul Sanchez

Sunday 4 December

 

Closing Plenary
5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. EST/4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. CST/3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. MST/2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. PST
Moderator: Carra Martinez, Director of Community Engagement, Guthrie Theater

About HowlRound TV
HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre, arts, and cultural community. The channel is at howlround.tv and is a free and shared resource for live events and performances relevant to the world's live arts fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Follow and use hashtag #howlround in Twitter to participate in a community of peers revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field. Our community uses the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). You can become a producer and co-produce with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, contact @HowlRound on Twitter, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.

Bookmark this page

Log in to add a bookmark

Find all of our upcoming events here.

Upcoming Events

Comments

0
Add Comment

The article is just the start of the conversation—we want to know what you think about this subject, too! HowlRound is a space for knowledge-sharing, and we welcome spirited, thoughtful, and on-topic dialogue. Find our full comments policy here

Newest First