Posted on June 21, 2014 by Katie Watkins
What did you think of this years Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance?
We want to hear your thoughts, reviews, questions, comments and more! Your feedback will help shape future iterations of these artists works.
SOUND OFF BY COMMENTING ON THIS THREAD!
Posted on June 19, 2014 by Katie Watkins
Erin Pike (Seattle, WA) – That’swhatshesaid
The female gender seems to be a topic on everyone’s lips these days, especially in media. What better way to explore that idea than through Erin Pike’s solo performance That’swhatshesaid at Risk/Reward Festival? The festival is next week. We are PUMPED!
BIO
PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS
Erin Pike assigned local playwright Courtney Meaker a challenge: write a one-person performance using only female dialogue from the most-produced plays in America. That’swhatshesaid is a brutal theatrical exercise in isolation. When a female character is left alone with no male protagonists to support, her behaviors gain both chaos and clarity, resulting in a concentrated dose of the modern theater’s intended role for women.
Posted on June 18, 2014 by Katie Watkins
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE) (Portland, OR) – (after thought)
PETE’s work is visual and visceral, and in the past two years, they have hit Portland hard in the gut with their productions of R3 and Song of the Dodo. Their shared language and theatrical prowess comes to life in for this year’s festival through collaborators Amber Whitehall, Jacob Coleman, Judson Williams, Cristi Miles, Mark Valadez, Miranda K Hardy, Peter Ksander, and Jenny Ampersand. Risk/Reward festival-goers are IN FOR IT.
BIO
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble was founded in 2011 by a group of mid-career theater artists dedicated to creating contemporary works of performance. PETE is an artist cooperative dedicated to creating new theatrical events that reify the relationship between audience and artist through original, ensemble-generated pieces and innovative interpretations of classical text. Inspired by a contemporary design aesthetic, inventive storytelling modes, and heightened emotional honesty, their work is visceral, raw and revealing.
PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS
Work-in-progress from a play without words. A story for the image-hungry, designed in rigorous physicality and visceral sound-scape. Boys seeking fresh air chase a radical kind of presence and verity. They hunt an uncompromising experience of aliveness as it is in this room, in this moment. They exist in the space that is after thought.
Posted on June 16, 2014 by Katie Watkins
Laura Heit (Portland, OR) – The Letting Go
Laura’s work transcends the word “puppetry;” her work, seen through the wide lens of film or as small as a circus of matchboxes, is always a surprise. We can’t wait to see what Laura will bring to Risk/Reward Festival next week!
BIO
PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS
The Letting Go is a performance that includes live puppetry combined with projected shadows, animation, and sound. My intention is to build a performance that is constantly transforming our perceptions between live/recorded and the living/departed to create new perpetually shifting in-betweens. I want the audience to leave mindful of the things in our world that we cannot explain and to reawaken our curiosity in the things we cannot see.
Posted on June 13, 2014 by Katie Watkins
ilvs strauss (Seattle, WA) – Manifesto
When we heard the words “California Red Sea Cucumber,” we were intrigued. ilvs strauss (pronounced “Elvis”) is a majorly multi-disciplined artist, working in just about every form of art possible. We are really looking forward to what ilvs brings with her solo performance, Manifesto!
BIO
PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS
Manifesto is a solo show that employs a California Red Sea Cucumber as a vehicle for exploring the topic of womanhood. With no set, minimal costumes and a few handmade, larger than life props, ilvs performs a subtle, detailed dance to the tune of a clear, concise voice over narrative.
Posted on June 10, 2014 by Katie Watkins
The Neutral Fembot Project (Portland, OR) – Untitled #______
Collaboration is the bread and butter of theatre. By bringing these three devisors together, (Grace, Camille, and Anne – established artists in their own rights), we see collaboration in action as these artists push us in and out of our comfort zones. Risk/Reward… Get ready!!
BIO
Untitled # ______ explores the work and process of visual artist Cindy Sherman from a performative perspective. What are the moments in between images? How does disguise reveal vulnerabilities, iconic personas and the “real self?” Through physical language, Untitled # ______ illuminates these themes using posture, gaze, and… wigs! Of course.
Posted on June 7, 2014 by Katie Watkins
Lucy Lee Yim (Portland, OR) – Devastation Melody
Dancer/choreographer Lucy Lee Yim’s works provoke thought, invite you to meditate on an idea. And the Northwest performance world is excited about her – very excited. Her works have been seen all over Portland, the Northwest, and beyond. We can’t wait to see what she’s created for the Risk/Reward Festival this year!
BIO
Lucy Lee Yim is a dance artist who has performed locally and nationally since 2005. Unreliant on old methods of story making, Yim insist on new ways, presenting in‐the‐moment, sensation‐born fragments of thought and imagery. The collaged identity of her work has been described as a marbled fantasy-fable with degrees of fatty narrative intentionally trimmed; a body in constant conversation with the parts that are culturally confused, oppressed, and gendered. Her work nods to more traditional and virtuous forms of dance, but a stranger, more bizarre paradigm is the ultimate objective. Identity is complex; so is our experience of it.
PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS
Devastation Melody looks into sadness and sorrow as if they were provocative objects. The dance starts with one action that evolves with time, rarely resting, even in stillness. Performed by the choreographer herself, Devastation Melody shifts from moments of meaning to moments of wonder, producing a memory, much like a song.