There’s a new collective in town. They go by the name of Hybridge Arts. This Monday the 28th they’re kicking off with their first Last Mondays event at 7pm at Broad Street Ministry.

Hybridge Arts was recently formed by all-star alumni of the Headlong Performance Institute (HPI), which is starting its third year of intensive “study-abroad-in-Philadelphia” semesters in interdisciplinary performance (taking students from various colleges as well as post-grads). Marcel Williams Foster, a founding member of Hybridge Arts, explains that the group of young “hybrid” artists (incorporating dance, theater, poetry, music, etc.) wants to create a “bridge” that connects emerging artists to a welcoming audience.

The inspiration for Last Mondays came from HPI faculty member Mark Lord. He and his company Big House (plays and spectacles) used to put on a monthly Last Mondays event where $5 would get you a home-cooked spaghetti dinner and a night of experimental performance by emerging artists, and when Hybridge Arts formed they decided to resurrect Last Mondays.

“The idea of continuing what Mark Lord began was an honor,” says Marcel, “and an amazing opportunity for us to continue working together and to provide opportunities for Philly’s emerging artists in all disciplines.”

HPI fosters the bonds of community that Hybridge Arts’s Last Mondays hope to embody. Lauren Dubowski, program coordinator for HPI, says that of the 30 alums since the program started in 2008, 17 have continued to live and make work in Philly–and will be featured in Philly Fringe shows like Louis DeVaughn Nelson’s Man Bites Dog, Hyphen – Nation Arts’ The Jane Goodall: Experience, Media Res Theater Company’s A Lesson in Dead Language by Adrienne Kennedy, Movement Brigade’s Constants, and Bright Light Theater Company’s PRECIPICE, to name a few.

The first Last Monday (it’ll never get old) will feature Jaamil Kosoko showing material from his upcoming Live Arts piece American Chameleon, Kelly Turner, whose work Marcel calls “one of the most fluid and virtuosic interactions I’ve ever seen between a chorus of dancers and a soloist. Not to mention gut-wrenching, heart-breaking,” Rose Luardo of local band Sweatheart, and Triberious, a Philly trio who Sam Towers, another Hybridge Arts member, says create an experimental quality “through a darkly complex blend of drums, bass, and the extremely talented Mark Allen on the saxophone.” All that and dinner prepared by one of Broad Street Ministry’s chefs sounds like some serious bang for your five bucks.

Hybridge Arts will host Last Mondays at Broad Street Ministry every month from now until July 2011.

–Ellen Freeman

Photos by Lauren Dubowski and Andrew Simonet.