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    Artist Profile: Noelle Simone

    Posted on May 29, 2022 by Katie Watkins

    Noelle Simone (Portland, OR): Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown: Mental Health Memoirs of the Black Woman
    Contemporary Jazz/Modern/Hip Hop

    Photo of Noelle Simone
    Photo by curvygrl@mac.com

    Noelle Simone’s dance suite examines the mind of a black woman suffering from anxiety, PTSD, and ADHD and finding a home within herself. Even if it hurts you, young girl, you will find peace.

    PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

    This one-woman dance project is dedicated to exploring the mental health and history of Black women and to uncovering the support we need to flourish and thrive.

    BIO
    Noelle Simone has been performing for over sixteen years. She has received all her dance training at the Joel Hall Dancers & Center, Northside Dance Theatre, and Gus Giordano Jazz Dance School. She has worked with multiple dance companies and youth dance companies throughout the Chicago land area, and loves teaching. She has performed with Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul, and has started a promising career in theatre, after receiving her .B.FA. in Theatre arts with a concentration in Theatre Management and a Minor in Educational studies from the Theatre School at Depaul University. Noelle has worked with Victory Gardens, Sideshow Theatre and Actor Gymnasium Youth Circus, Choreographing various Theatre and dance performances. She was nominated by Broadway World for best non Equity Choreography in 2017 for The Little Princess with Windy City Music Theatre. With only two bag and the love of her life, she has moved to the Pacific NW, and has gone on to chorographer her one woman show with Echo Theatre. Heavy id the Head that Wears the Crown: Mental Health Memoirs of the Black Woman was debuted on Jan 31st 2020 to a sold our audience.

    CREDITS

    Choreographer/Curator: Noelle Simone
    Dancers: Noelle Simone, Mucyo, Jen McCabe
    Music: Jhene Aiko, Billie Holiday, Tea Marr
    Spoken Word: Nigel Birch, Jessica Morrison
    Lights: Lara
    Movement Assistant: Isaiah
    Cultural Advisors: BeeBee Sanchez, Aaron

    VISIT NOELLE SIMONE’S WEBSITE

    BUY TICKETS TO THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL

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    Posted in 2022 Risk/Reward Festival | Tagged

    Artist Profile: Jenny May Peterson

    Posted on by Katie Watkins

    Jenny May Peterson (Seattle, WA): ANVIL
    Dance

    Photo of Hendri Walujo and Jenny May Peterson

    It feels impossible to completely prepare for global climate disaster or war, but in a ridiculous way – entirely possible to train your body to deftly avoid falling construction scaffolding.

    PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

    ANVIL is a dance ritual sourced from internet workout fads, Hollywood death scenes, and trendy self-soothing techniques. Together, we do our due diligence to avoid sudden accidental death and prepare for personal disaster.

    BIOS
    Jenny May Peterson is a former competitive gymnast, licensed massage therapist, amateur furniture maker, and visual and dance artist who has called Seattle home for 13 years. Her multidisciplinary background has given her many tools with which to create compelling visual language while also trying to be an aware and conscientious citizen of the world. Jenny has worked with many local Seattle artists including the Pat Graney Company since 2008. She has a small massage practice and an undying love of plants.

    Hendri Walujo enjoys performing and creating experiences for the audience using his movement-based and improvisational skills. He strives for variety and versatility in life as in performance, and values close collaboration and independent expression. His performances oscillate between the elaborate and the intimate, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

    CREDITS

    Performers: Jenny May Peterson (she/thy) and Jendri Walujo (he/him)

    VISIT JENNY MAY PETERSON’S WEBSITE

    VISIT HENDRI WALUJO’S WEBSITE

    VIEW A SAMPLE OF JENNY’S PREVIOUS PROJECT, UMBIBLICAL

    BUY TICKETS TO THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL

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    Posted in 2022 Risk/Reward Festival | Tagged

    Artist Profile: Kate Duffly & Peter Ksander

    Posted on by Katie Watkins

    Kate Duffly & Peter Ksander (Portland, OR): Apoptosis
    Performance

    Photo of Kate Duffly

    PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

    Taking inspiration from the stories of lost cosmonauts and the idea of the body as spaceship, the performance explores the act of sending messages into the void, listening for echoes, embracing cosmic loneliness, and finding beauty in the unknown.

    BIOS

    Kate Duffly is a scholar-director and community-based theatre artist with a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is Associate Professor of Theatre at Reed College in Portland, OR and is currently working on an edited collection that examines a broad array of performance practices rooted in community and explicitly engaged in negotiating difference and disruption. She is an artist who has worked with a range of community-based theater organizations, from Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles to Theatre Diaspora and Red Door in Portland, as well as the puppet companies Wise Fool and Lunatique Fantastique in San Francisco, and Bread and Puppet of Glover, VT.

    Peter Ksander is a scenographer and media artist who’s stage design work has been presented both nationally and internationally. In 2006 he joined the curatorial board of the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator. In 2008 he won an Obie award for the scenic design of Untitled Mars (this title may change), and In 2014 he won a Bessie award for the visual design of This Was the End. Recent Portland credits include set designs for Beckett Women, Sweat, Arlington a love story, John, Our Ruined House, Teenage Dick, and Uncle Vanya. He holds a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, is an Associate Professor at Reed College and is an associate company member with the Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble.

    CREDITS

    Created by Kate Duffly and Peter Ksander

    BUY TICKETS TO THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL

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    Artist Profile: Wade Madsen & Nancy Cranbourne

    Posted on by Katie Watkins

    Wade Madsen & Nancy Cranbourne (Seattle, WA): This Is It or Mandy Wakes Up
    Movement Theatre

    Photo of Wade Madsen and Nancy Cranbourne

    Performers Wade Madsen and Nancy Cranbourne have created a heady, dark comedy animated by subtle physical antics, quirky language and a mysterious third character.

    PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

    “This is It” is an original creation of Wade Madsen inspired by Wade’s long Performing relationship with partner Nancy Cranbourne, his love of absurdist theater, philosophical meanderings, foreign films and the continuing questions about life, death and the power of art: What is life? Is it performance? Are we all on stage? We follow these two, and realize that maybe ‘Bebe’ has more to do with the inner workings of ‘Mandy’s’, ego or her higher self. They communicate, but only ‘Mandy’ can understand ‘Bebe’ toward her own understanding of a universal human truth.

    BIO
    Wade Madsen, a professor of Dance at Cornish college of the Arts, toured with Tandy Beal, Bill Evans and Dayna Hanson. Madsen has created over 180 works and has premiered many of them for the Cornish dance company since joining the faculty in 1984. For the fall of 2018 Madsen presented in the newly created Solo festival at On the Boards. Madsen has had various commissions throughout the United States and into Mexico. He has received various grants and fellowships from the NEA, Artist trust, 4 Culture, Seattle arts commission, and Bosak Heilbron.

    Nancy Cranbourne is the Owner/Director of One Big Yes Productions, based in Boulder, Colorado. OBY has produced many large scale dance & theater productions over the past 25 years. She is a master teacher in contemporary jazz dance, and specializes in lovingly deepening the development of dancers over forty. Nancy has served on the dance faculties of the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the National Theater Conservatory @the Denver Center for the Arts. Nancy is also an award winning playwright and actress, receiving honors from the Denver Drama Critics Circle, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and Westword Magazine.

    CREDITS

    Performers
    Wade Madsen: Bebe
    Nancy Cranbourne: Mandy
    Eric Pitsenbarger: stage hand

    Written and Directed by Wade Madsen

    CHECK OUT A PREVIEW OF THIS IS IT

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    Posted in 2022 Risk/Reward Festival | Tagged

    Artist Profile: ATOLE

    Posted on May 28, 2022 by Katie Watkins

    ATOLE (Portland, OR): CANELA
    Ritual Performance/Electronic Music

    Photo of ATOLE band

    Photo by Renee Lopez (Miss Lopez Media).

    Performers Amo Reyes and Jacob Soto interweave storytelling and improvised music to publicly tell the story of communal grief. “Love is hard. Nobody said it would be easy or perfect. But nobody said I would be a 38yo brown widow, either.”

    PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

    CANELA is an indigenous herb used to heal the body and delight the senses.

    ATOLE is an ancient Mexican drink that is sweet, ambiguous, and served communally.

    CANELA by ATOLE is a ritual performance. An experimental composition. Synthesizers, samplers, percussion, voice. Three songs thread together using storytelling and humor.

    BIO
    Amo Reyes and Jacob Soto are from Las Vegas, of Mexican descent, have Master’s degrees from Portland State, and are currently education professionals in Portland, Oregon. They have performed together since 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Jacob was the drummer and Amo was the singer for a dance punk band, Flaspar. They both moved to Portland and Jacob joined Amo and Tim’s band, Atole. Amo and Jacob have been performing as Atole since 2008. They have jammed many times in Amo’s basement the last few years, but this will be their first public performance in 5 years.

    CREDITS

    Performers: Amo Reyes & Jacob Soto

    CHECK OUT ATOLE ON BANDCAMP

    BUY TICKETS TO THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL

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    Posted in 2022 Risk/Reward Festival | Tagged

    Artist Profile: James Mapes – Fly Paper Games

    Posted on by Katie Watkins

    James Mapes – Fly Paper Games (Portland, OR): Confluence
    Interactive Installation

    Photo of a game board

    Designer James Mapes’ large-format table-top video game will engage audiences in team play in the theatre lobby.

    PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

    In this interactive installation, Risk/Reward audiences will compete piece-by-piece to build the city of Portland on a giant, digital game board.

    BIO
    James Mapes is a lighting designer, writer, and board game designer based in Portland, Oregon. He has worked with BodyVox, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Portland State University, Reed College, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and – of course – Risk/Reward, all the way since the Someday Lounge. He has been the technical direector for festivals including Portland Playhouse’s Fall Festival of Shakespeare and numerous venues for PICA’s Time-Based Arts festival. He has toured the world. In 2015, he published his first board game via Kickstarter, Saga of a Dying World, and is eager to connect the fine arts with interactive, multimedia experiences. He has a family; they are great.

    CREDITS

    DESIGNER: James Mapes

    VISIT THE FLY PAPER GAMES WEBSITE

    BUY TICKETS TO THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL

    FIND RISK/REWARD ON FACEBOOK

    Posted in 2022 Risk/Reward Festival | Tagged