Slumber Party (Portland, OR): Slumber Party (2023)

Theatre/Ritual

Photo of a ghost and sleeping bags

PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

This 20 minute piece deepens from our past explorations of slumber parties as sites of play, risk, and resistance, to explore death—the death of individual human beings and the mass death of climate collapse. The slumber parties of our youth were opportunities to encounter the mystery of oncoming adolescence and changes in our bodies/minds, and practice empowered responses through prank calls, seances, dress up, emotional catharsis, and feats of strength (staying up all night, playing “light as a feather, stiff as a board”). Now, we are asking how these rituals can create supportive connections as we (in middle-age) are caretaking loved ones approaching the end of life, raising children amidst climate chaos, and confronting our own enmeshment in modernity.

BIO

Slumber Party is an ongoing, long-term project of Lucille Dawson, Liz Hayden, Erin Leddy, Jen Mitas, and Maesie Speer, initiated in 2018. Slumber Party began as a group of women taking the night to interrogate our relationship to patriarchy, white supremacy, and the often exploitative and coercive culture of theatre in the US. Slumber Party has become an exploration of ritual and the creative expression of friendship, care, and intention, shared with others. As artists and producers, we have collaborated on over 25 original performances and events since 2006.

CREDIT

Performer/Creators
Lucille Dawson
Liz Hayden
Erin Leddy
Jen Mitas
Maesie Speer

Costume & Scenic Design
The ensemble

Music
Erin Leddy

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Shannon Stewart | Screaming Traps (Detroit, MI): river, river, river
Movement / Theatre / Dance / Performance art

Photo by Ian Douglas

PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

River, River, River addresses bodily, personal, historical, and ecological content, including her
parent’s migration across the United States to clean up nuclear waste and the circuitous way
this weaves into her experience of being a dancer.

BIO
Shannon Stewart was born in the South and came of age as an artist in the Pacific Northwest. A
2023 USA Artist nominee, she/they make work for stage, screen, and galleries that has been
presented throughout the US and Europe, including Tulane University and DOCK 11 Berlin, and
was slated to appear in 2020 at the Kennedy Center.

CREDITS

Writer/Performer: Shannon Stewart
Dramaturg: Iris McCloughan
Movement and Outside Eye: Jody Kuehner
Editor: Amy Lawless

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Marisa Plasencia & Maribel Plasencia (Portland, OR): A Monster and a Metapuzzle
Movement / Theatre / Dance / Performance art

via https://www.marisa-maribel-plasencia.com/a-monster-and-a-metapuzzle-1

PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

In A Monster and a Metapuzzle a character named Elle dreams of seeing a primrose. Will Elle’s
dreams, threatened by an ominous force, come true?

BIO
Marisa Plasencia is currently a Visiting Professor in Dance at Reed College where she teaches
classes in contemporary dance and Dance History. She holds a PhD from the Department of
Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her research examines
discreet forms of protest at the intersection of postmodern dance, visual art, and black social
dance traditions.

Maribel Plasencia is currently based in Houston, Texas, where she teaches dance and leads a
creativity-based book club at Lydia Hance’s Frame Dance studio. Maribel earned a PhD in
clinical psychology from Rutgers University. During her time in the Northeast, Maribel was able
to present two choreographic works at Flux Factory in Queens, NY. Maribel plays drums, and
continually seeks to incorporate these elements into her dancetheatre-making practices.
Marisa and Maribel are currently working on a series of dance pieces that move across artistic
disciplines and explore the complex boundaries between twin bodies. Their work has been
shown in California, New York, New Jersey, and Texas.

CREDITS

Choreographers: Marisa Plasencia & Maribel Plasencia

Performers: Marisa Plasencia & Maribel Plasencia

Musicians: Maribel Plasencia & James Lavery

Composers: Maribel Plasencia & James Lavery

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Claire Rigsby (Portland, OR): POP!
Contemporary Jazz/Modern/Hip Hop

Physical Theater / Clown / Art Installation / Interactive

Photo of Claire Rigsby performing POP!

PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

A plexiglass box, a bunch of balloons, a mysterious creature….and you. POP!
explores trust, how we wall ourselves off, how we expand and contract, and how close we all
are to…bursting.

BIO

Claire Rigsby is a performer, mover, maker & shaker originally from Atlanta, GA. She is a graduate of Emory University and the Institute for Contemporary Performance with additional training with the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts, Dr. Sarah Maines, Jacob Jonas The Company, and more. Creating her own performance has been one of the most rewarding experiences of her life, and while she’d probably still do it without anyone watching, she’s really glad you’re here!

CREDITS

Creator: Claire Rigsby

Performer: Claire Rigsby

Installation/set design: Claire Rigsby

Lighting/costume design: Claire Rigsby

Balloon blower-upper: Claire Rigsby

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Emily June Newton (Portland, OR): Fat Cell
Physical Comedy / Clown / Interactive Performance Art

Photo of Emily June Newton in Fat Cell costume

Photo by Emily June Newton

PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

Literally and figuratively, we live within our own fat cells – physically, mentally, societally. Let’s take a moment to tighten the lens, zoom in, and ask a Fat Cell how they feel about all this publicity and attention. What will be their response to our obsession with all things FAT?

BIO

Emily June Newton is an international multi-skilled comedic performer and visual artist. Originating from Australia, she now resides in Portland, Oregon. Emily has performed both nationally and internationally with companies including Terrapin Puppet Theater (AUS), Oregon Children’s Theater (OR, USA), CoHo Productions (OR, USA), The Children’s Art Theater of China (Shanghai, CHN) and Dell’Arte International (CA, USA). Newton is interested in creating and performing eccentric, fully embodied characters that live in direct contact with an audience. Both her performance work and visual art reflects an ongoing interest in exploring the boundaries between performer and audience. Emily is best known for her characters ‘Frank’ (the world’s most entertaining entertainer), ‘Pat McKensie’ (Australia’s Cultural Ambassador for Australia, self appointed), ‘Maurice Lombardo’ and ‘The Moon’. Recently, Emily collaborated with Portland based visual artist, Mike Bennett, to create an original comedic character that lived within his immersive art experience: Wonderwood. She has been described as ‘comedic gold’ by Broadway World and a ‘standout clown’ by The Mercury PDX. Emily holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Ensemble-Based Physical Theater from Dell’Arte International CA, and is a member of the CoHo Clown Cohort in Portland, Oregon.

CREDITS

Sound Design: Emily June Newton

Costumes: Emily June Newton

Set: Emily June Newton

Devising: Emily June Newton

Performer: Emily June Newton

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Hannah Victoria (Eugene, OR): …everything that has breath
Dance Theatre

Photo of Hannah Victoria

Photo via University of Oregon

PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS

This work is an ode to the voices heard from praise houses built by enslaved African-Americans; a place to meet, sometimes in secret, for prayer and song. It is an exploration of praise as resistance to an oppressive version of Christianity as a way of survival, transformation, and inspiration for old hymns that have inspired us to keep “going on” and “get over” day after day.

BIO

Hannah Victoria (Thomas) is a native of Atlanta, GA, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance and Choreography, along with a teaching artists certificate from Arizona State University. She received her training from DeKalb School of the Arts, Price Performing Arts Center, and McClendon School of Dance. In addition to her studio training, she began dancing in church,
learning from her mother, Charlotte Dudley. In her undergrad experience, outside her studio classes, she was a National Cheer Association (NCA) champion and a captain of a Top 10 finalists Universal Dance Association (UDA) jazz and hip hop competition dance team. In her graduate experience, Hannah has trained and/or worked with Urban Bush Women (host for SLI 2018), Nicole Klaymoon, Michael Sakamoto, Jade Solomon, Joan Rodriguez, Taimy Miranda, Usher’s New Look Foundation, Tina Fears, Tobe Nwigwe, and learned from many artists in the metro Phoenix area, like Mary Fitzgerald, Eileen Standley, and Carley Conder.

Her teaching experience includes adjunct and faculty positions at Grand Canyon University, Arizona State University, and currently, as an Assistant Professor of Dance for the University of Oregon. Her guest teaching or residency positions include the University of Michigan, Arizona State University, the University of Oregon, as a recipient of the 2021 Natalie Glustina Newlove Guest Artist Award, and Grand Canyon University. As a faculty member, she also teaches at the American College Dance Association Festival every year.

In 2019, Hannah premiered an evening-length show, Her Brown Body Is Glory that explored sisterhood, rites of passage through dance, and healing for Black women. Her most recent works (2022) include, …and walk (Grand Canyon University) and …and not faint (University of Oregon & ACDA), and currently (2023) in-process with students exploring endurance, joy, and groove to street and funk styles.

She was invited to the 2022 Restore Festival in Milwaukee, WI to perform … everything that has breath, a new solo dance work exploring historic praise houses and Black spirituality. Hannah was also selected to be a choreographer fellow for the 2022 Next Festival of Emerging Artists in New York City at the Gibney Dance Center.

Her other passions include fashion, dance ministry work for local churches, theatre choreography, sound engineering, and creative directing dance films. In 2021, creative-directed a dance film called, “This must be the place”, which was selected to be featured in the 2022 Arizona Drive-In Dance Festival.

She is a proud member of the illustrious historically Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,
Inc, and the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD).

CREDITS

Dancer: Hannah Victoria
Composer: Hannah Victoria
Costume & Set Designer: Hannah Victoria

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