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Jumpstart, A Recap of our Artist Interviews

Posted May 13th, 2013

Jumpstart, a showcase that identifies new and emerging talent, rocked the Painted Bride on Monday and Tuesday nights. We at FringeArts Blog had the pleasure of interviewing each of the lead artists who created and are performing short works. Here’s a quick run down of the artists and shows with some choice quotes and links to the full interviews.

Alyesha Wise. Photo: SP Photography.

Photo: SP Photography.

A Denzel Theory by Ms. Wise

Alyesha Wise: A Denzel Theory is named after my kid brother, Denzel. Growing up in my hometown didn’t necessarily pave an easy road to success. Denzel made it look quite the opposite, remaining focused, engaging in sports and academics, then getting a full scholarship to college. This piece is about how our old city eventually swayed him in the opposite direction. This piece is about how this happens to many youth in environments like ours. This poem is a cry. And it’s a theory. Not sure when it came to me; but it’s one of the fastest poems I’ve ever written. READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

Higher Art by Seth Lapore

Seth Lapore: I started [doing one-man shows] in college. I like being all the characters in a play that I’ve developed, being able to just switch it up all of a sudden and be someone else fully. I enjoy being in a studio and just talking something out, getting to know a character and letting them lead the lines and then furiously writing them down. READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

Hello Etna Mounting!

Mounting, Etna by Jenna Horton

Jenna Horton: The title is intentionally multivalent, as is a lot of the poetry in the show. For starters, there’s the physical action of mounting, as in mounting Etna as if she were a horse—your horse—or a person—your person [as in belonging to you]. Or you could be mounting her on your wall like you would a painting. Or maybe she’s doing that to you. Mind you, I’m also mounting the show of Etna. Not to mention, there’s a volcano on the east coast of Sicily named Mount Etna that’s very active and provides for the fertile soils surrounding the area. My parents also live in Etna, New Hampshire; but that’s more of a coincidence. READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

Scott and JennThe Living History Project by the Groundswell Players

Scott Sheppard: On one level, the piece is a story about a failed pedagogy that glorifies reenactment as a way of understanding historical events more intimately. On another level the piece is about two performers trying to process their relationship to history, to race, to acting, and to each other. One question I’ve been asking myself is, “aren’t we engaged in the very same project of re-living history that our piece seeks to critique?” I think so, and that puts us in the driver’s seat to say something powerful. READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

THe name of this artists is Marina Libel. Photo: Joshua Simpson.

Photo: Joshua Simpson.

The Supervisors by Marina Libel

Marina Libel: In The Supervisors, we had to embody the machine we’re in—the helicopter—and actually be in it. And express who the characters are and how they function as people. We needed both movement and text to do that, there is no other way. It often goes like that for me. I don’t necessarily start out saying I have to have gesture, dialogue, and choreography but I usually end up with some combination of the three. If you think of a gesture as a word or of a dialogue as a movement phrase, the performance can open up new possibilities and very often reveal something very real about human beings that would never be revealed in an ordinary interaction. READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

 

Photo by David Brick.

Photo by David Brick.

Rooster and Snowball by Chelsea Murphy and Magda San Millan

Chelsea Murphy: It’s a great collage of many forms that we’ve both been exposed to. There’s modern dance in there, and the critique of modern dance. We both went to the American Dance Festival this past summer and HATED it. But that’s another conversation. There is clowning and more performance presence stuff, which is important to us—the level of awareness we bring to the performance of each moment, and playing with that level of energy.READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

JUMPSTART
Monday May 13 + Tuesday May 14 at 7pm
Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
$18 / $12 Students + 25 and under
BUY NOW

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