Podcasts about highways performance space

When you think of dance in LA, you think commercial. But there is actually a pretty large community of contemporary dance companies in LA doing amazing things. Today's episode is a Career Spotlight episode and we are highlighting contemporary dance company experiences in Los Angeles. My guests, Michaela Moore and Nicole Hagen, both have a plethora of experience not only as dancers in LA, but also serving in different roles like rehearsal director, community liaisons and marketing. We chat about:the lengthy process of auditioningfiguring out the mutual relationship between company and company memberthe best advice for those looking to be a part of a dance company communityMichaela Moore @__mickmouz was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO. Her dance education has come from Robin's Danceworks, The Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management program at OCU, and the BFA dance program at the University of Colorado-Boulder.  In 2017 she joined AGT's “The Silhouette's” for a 4 month International tour, dancing across Germany and performing in 75+ shows. Michaela is a member and rehearsal director for GEOMETRY dance company, under the direction of Mackenzie Martin, with whom she has performed at MASHUP's International Women's Day Dance Festival, Fiestalonia Sea Sun Festival, Capezio's A.C.E. Awards, Donovan Wood's music video “She Waits For Me To Come Back Down” & Duomo's music video “What About Us”, in collaboration with Netflix's Bridgerton. Aside from performing, her love for teaching and choreographing is expansive and she has choreographed/produced award winning pieces for the past 12 years. You can find her teaching at GENESIS STUDIOS every Tues. Michaela truly believes in the art of dance as a way to globally communicate through movement.Nicole Hagen @nicole_hagen is a LA-based dancer, educator, and choreographer, who has performed works by Elías Aguirre, Gianna Burright, Genevieve Carson, Roderick George, Tess Hewlett, Madison Hicks, Iker Karrera, Kate Hutter Mason, Waeli Wang, and WHYTEBERG. Nicole was a company member with L.A. Contemporary Dance Company and MashUp Contemporary Dance Company, which provided her the opportunity to perform at iconic venues including LA Dance Project, The Odyssey Theatre, ODC Theater, The Architecture & Design Museum, and Highways Performance Space. Commercially, Nicole's credits include Paramore, NBC's This Is Us, Banks, and Netflix's Dear White People.Choreographically, Nicole's work has been seen on a multitude of stages throughout SoCal such as AMDA's Cosmo Theater, LA Dance Project, LA Theater Center, IAF, Bootleg Theater, Sophia B. Clarke Theater at Mt. San Antonio College, McCallum Theatre, Musco Center for the Arts and Waltmar Theater at Chapman University, and ACDA's Screen Dance Festival. She has been a two-time finalist at the McCallum Choreography festival.Nicole is on faculty at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and AMDA College. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance, with a minor in Business Administration from Chapman UniversityHey y'all! I'm Justine, the voice behind the DC:U pod and MNTR MGMT. After 15+ years in the industry as a choreographer, dancer, producer, educator and more, I'm now working closely with dance artists on professional development, business skills and digital enhancement. Curious? Book a free 1:1 Career Call. You can also help support the podcast! Subscribe and receive exclusive member benefits --> Pod Producer/SupporterConnect with me on Insta @mntr.mgmt

SRTN is happy to have THE Dakota Noot back on the show.!Dakota Noot is a Los Angeles-based artist and curator. He uses drawings, paintings, and installations to create animal-human hybrids that explore rural yet fantastical, queer identities. Originally from Bismarck, North Dakota, he continues to show in both North Dakota and Los Angeles, including solo and two-person shows at Highways Performance Space, MuzeuMM, and PØST. Noot has exhibited in group shows at Charlie James Gallery, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Torrance Art Museum, and LAST Projects. His series of cutout drawing-installations have been shown at LA Freewaves, Cerritos College Art Gallery, and Otis College. His work has been featured in Hi-Fructose. Noot graduated with a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of North Dakota (2015) and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University (2017).First SRTN appearance on Episode 92 DakotaSRTN

Whistle While You Work is a platform lead by dancers, choreographers, and artists that calls out harassment, discrimination, and violence towards women and marginalized groups particularly while at work in the arts, especially in professional dance and performance. Initiated in 2017 by writer/artist Robyn Doty and dancer/choreographer Frances Chiaverini, the platform has given Open Forums in the US and Germany; workshops at dance festivals and conferences throughout Germany and has been featured in prominent dance magazines (US, UK, EU). Frances Chiaverini was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and she is based in Frankfurt. She is a performer, activist, choreographer. She was a member of The Forsythe Company in its final seasons and has most recently performed with Adam Linder, Luisa Saraiva, Fabrice Mazliah, and Trajal Harrell. In 2017, she co-creates with Robyn Doty Whistle while you work. She is a 2019-20 Resident Fellow at NYU's Center for Ballet and the Arts. She is a choreographic consultant for Anne Imhof for works at Tate Modern, The Venice Biennale, MoMa PS. 1, Pompidou, Hamburger Bahnhof, Art Basel, and La Biennale de Montréal. Her most recent works include The Body Violent (2017, PACT) Open Carry/Concealed Carry (2018), and she most recently created a new original work called It's my house and I live here. (2019) supported by a grant from the Theaterförderung durch die Stadt Frankfurt am Main with Julia Eichten. Robyn Doty graduates in 2019 with an M.A. from the Goethe University Frankfurt where she studied and was active in Memory Studies and Transcultural Studies. In 2017 she co-organized a weeklong postcolonial studies Summer School about performance at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Since 2016 she has collaborated as a writer and dramaturg with BOHL (Frances Chiaverini and Katja Cheraneva); as a writer and dramaturg for Roderick George's kNoname dance company's DUST, FLESHLESS BEAST (Berlin); and with Katja Cheraneva on Cards Against Contemporary Dance. She has shown her own work at the Goethe University and has had her poetry and photography published by Belleville Park Pages. She is the project manager and dramaturg for Whistle while you work. She collaborated with Chiaverini for the creation of It's my house and I live here., and is Chiaverini's collaborator during their NYU CBA Fellowship in 2020. Julia Eichten danced with Camille A. Brown & Dancers, as well as Aszure Barton & Artists. Julia was a founding member of L.A. Dance Project. Based in Los Angeles, Julia continues to work with Gerard & Kelly as a performer and collaborator. Last year she assisted them on Solange's collaboration with Uniqlo, “Metratronia” as well as a month of performances at Pioneer Works(NY) in, “Clockwork.” Julia is a proud founding member of AMOC* as a dancer and choreographer. Most recently Julia danced in Carly Rae Jepsen's latest video, “Too Much” as well as working as an assistant choreographer for One Republic's yet to be released new music and video, “Wanted.” As well as premiering two new original works, “She is Her,” at the Sweat Spot and “PHRASEHXR” at Highways Performance Space. She continues her daily practice of improvisation and video art and is pleased to have premiered with collaborator Frances Chiaverini earlier this season. Contact: http://www.nobody100.com/contact Website: www.whistlewhileyouwork.art Interviewee: Frances Chiaverini, Robyn Doty, Julia Eichten Concept: Giacomo Della Marina

Roya Carreras is an Iranian-Hispanic artist, choreographer, and educator who works within commercial, film, and theatrical settings from New York City to Los Angeles. On stage, Carreras' work has been presented at the CURRENT SESSIONS, Dixon Place, Baruch Performing Arts Center, and The Green Building in New York City; in California, she has presented at The Odyssey, Highways Performance Space, Electric Lodge Theater, Glenn Wallichs Theatre, Diavolo, Brockus Project Space, and BRAVA. She was a resident choreographer for Columbia Ballet Collaborative of Columbia University in 2015 and in 2018 participated in the MANCC residency funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has taught ballet, contemporary, and improvisation at Harlem School of the Arts, New Canaan Dance Academy, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Peridance, Riverside Ballet Arts, Riverside City College, Pasadena Dance Theater, Norwalk Metropolitan Youth Ballet, East Pointe Dance, and Brockus Conservatory. As a performer, she has worked closely with Barak Marshall at BodyTraffic, Bryan Arias, Danielle Russo Performance Project, and Lux Boreal Danza Contemporanea in Tijuana, Mexico. Carreras holds a BFA in Dance with Honors from UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts, with additional training from The Ailey School and Springboard Danse Montreal. Her most recent work "Naneh," premiered inJanuary 2020, set on the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company.

Dakota Noot is a Los Angeles-based artist and curator. He uses drawings, paintings, and installations to create animal-human hybrids that explore rural yet fantastical, queer identities. Originally from Bismarck, North Dakota, he continues to show in both North Dakota and Los Angeles, including solo and two-person shows at Highways Performance Space, MuzeuMM, and PØST. Noot has exhibited in group shows at Charlie James Gallery, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Torrance Art Museum (FORUM. 2019; MAS-ATTACK, 2016), and “Queer Biennial: What if Utopia?” at LAST Projects. His series of cutout drawing-installations have been shown at LA Freewaves, Cerritos College Art Gallery, and Otis College. Noot graduated with a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of North Dakota (2015) and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University (2017). He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Oxnard College and Orange Coast College. Along with Christopher Velasco, he co-founded the nomadic curatorial project Scream Queen. He was the key artist for the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival.

Kevin is a veteran artist and educator who has dedicated his career to promoting diversity and access to the arts for all young people, and using arts education as a tool for individual and social transformation. He is a long time Angeleno, but originally from the working-class suburbs of Philadelphia. The first in his family to attend and graduate college, Kevin received his Ph.D. in Cultural Studies, with an emphasis in Arts Education, from Claremont Graduate University; an MFA degree in Dance Choreography from the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WAC/D); and a BFA degree in Theatre Arts from Hofstra University. He is currently the Director of the UCLA Visual and Performing Arts Education (VAPAE) Program in the School of the Arts and Architecture, teaches Intro to Theatre classes to 9th graders at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), and designed and directed the award-winning UCLA Summer High School Dance Theatre Intensive program for ten years. As an actor, Kevin portrayed the role of Claude in the European tour of Hair, John Wayne in Making a Disaster at Highways Performance Space, was a featured performer in Flashpoint: Stonewall at the Alex Theater (LA) and Carnegie Hall (NYC), and appeared in several roles in regional and touring companies of A Chorus Line; in addition, he took on featured roles in the film Crazy/ Beautiful and the television program ER, among others. Kevin was also the co-screenwriter for the film Northern Lights, starring Diane Keaton, based on a one person show that he co-wrote and directed. Deeply committed to public education and connected to the Los Angeles Unified School District, Kevin also holds a CA Clear teaching credential and taught English Language Arts, theatre arts and dance for eight years at John Marshall High School, where he founded the Theatre Workshop Program. Through working with hundreds of talented young artists as part of the Theatre Workshop program, Kevin developed unique methods for creating original multidisciplinary performance projects in collaboration with youth. Over the past two decades, Kevin has conceived, created, and presented at least 25 full-length devised, dance theatre, and multimedia video productions that have explored a range of socially relevant themes and topics. #OfLikeMindsPodcast #UCLA #Professor Intro.: 0:00 Check in, being back on campus.: 0:30 Adjusting to Covid.: 2:10 Potential to return to in person learning.: 5:41 Importance of in class learning.: 13:45 Effective teaching styles incorporated via zoom.: 25:08 Story time with Kevin!: 33:29 What it was like growing up? Arts Education's role in your life.: 41:35 What made you want to give back?: 51:52 What would you say to your thirteen-year-old self?: 57:48

This week we are Dancing Through Change with diasporic dance icon, Marina Magalhaes! Join us for this episode as we sway and move through the uncertainty with ease and passion. We can’t wait for you to listen!   MARINA MAGALHÃES is border-crosser, bridge-builder, and dance-and-change-maker from Brazil, based in Los Angeles. Her unapologetically feminist and latinx work has been shared throughout Los Angeles (REDCAT Theater, Ford Amphitheatre, Zipper Concert Hall, Highways Performance Space, UCLA Fowler Museum, Blaktina Festival), San Francisco (CounterPulse, Yerba Buena Night, Dance Mission Theater), New York (Bowery Ballroom), Brazil (Universidade do Rio De Janeiro, Centro de Teatro do Oprimido, and Parque das Ruínas in Rio), Cuba (Teatro Favorito in La Havana), South Africa (The Wits Theatre in Johannesburg and My Body My Space Festival in Mpumalanga), Botswana (Maitisong Festival in Gabarone) and France (University of the Arts MFA program in Montpellier). She was awarded the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Choreography in 2013 for her original work in the pop musical phenomenon “Patty! The Revival”.   In 2014 she received the Pennington Dance Group Space Grant @ ARC and the UCLA Hothouse Residency to create her critically acclaimed work, (UN)BRIDALED. Hailed as "the type of show that keeps concert dance relevant in our lives" by LA Dance Review and "an unrivaled dance theater experience" by Theatre Ghost, (UN)BRIDALED was adapted with a cast of South African women and performed at The Wits Theatre's Human Rights & Social Justice Season 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, it was hailed as "riveting... a physical and emotional feat" by Creative Feel magazine.  In 2017 she began a multi-year choreography residency with the LA-based Viver Brasil Dance Company, who commissioned Cor Da Pele, a dance concert work selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of the top 40 best choreographic works of 2018. Other choreography credits include collaborations with visual artist Carolina Caycedo on the experimental film Apariciones / Apparitions (commissioned by The Huntington Library and officially selected for the Motion Capture series at Highways Space), music videos for the YouTube sensation Watsky (including “Moral of the Story” with over 9 million views), and live tours nation-wide with the rising East LA-based band Las Cafeteras.    Magalhães holds a B.A. in World Arts and Cultures with a Dance Concentration from UCLA, where she was the recipient of the international Moss Scholarship ($76,000) and had the opportunity to study with renowned artists such as David Rousseve, Victoria Marks, Barak Marshall, Susan Foster, Rennie Harris, Ronit Ziv, Maria Gillespie, and Cheng-Chieh Yu. Additionally, she has trained extensively in contemporary dance with  Maria Bauman, House and Hip Hop with Jackie "Miss Funk" Lopez  of Versa-Style, Afro-Brazilian dance with Rosangela Silvestre & Vera Passos of Bahia, Brazil, and conducted separate two-month long apprenticeships with Urban Bush Women in NYC and Gregory Maqoma of Vuyani Dance Theatre in South Africa in 2016. She is also an alum of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) Emerging Leaders Institute (2014) & Director's Lab West (2014).   For seven years, Magalhães worked with CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater as a Performer, Teaching Artist, Resident Choreographer, Director of Arts Education, Assistant Artistic Director and ultimately Artistic Director Interim, playing a crucial role in the company’s development of a unique and powerful dance activist methodology. Magalhães has also performed in works by Victoria Marks (Smallest Gesture, Grandest Frame, voted runner-up in REDCAT Theater’s A.W.A.R.D. show in 2011), Viver Brasil Dance Company (alongside Grammy Award-winning artist Sergio Mendes at the world-famous 18,000 seat theater Hollywood Bowl), as a guest soloist with Maria Bauman's MBDance Company, and as a guest artist with Bessie Award-winning choreographer Joya Powell and her company Movement Of The People.   Magalhães is a dedicated and experienced educator whose unique and inclusive approach to movement has been shared throughout the world. Her on-going movement research is called Dancing Diaspora, based on the fundamental belief that decolonization is inherently a transformative and futuristic process of reinventing and reclaiming tradition, and like the word diaspora communicates, it seeks to embody past and future, tradition and creativity, ancestry and individuality. In 2017 & 2018, Magalhães received the California Arts Council Artists In Communities award to provide the Dancing Diaspora class at Pieter Space free of charge, which she is currently offering a weekly basis. Additionally, Magalhães has taught in over twenty-five K-12 schools and designed dozens of original curricula that introduce young people to yoga and meditation, creative movement, and dance as resistance. Magalhães has taught Latin American Social Dances as Adjunct Faculty at various universities, including California State Polytechnic University of Pomona, Occidental College, Scripps College, and where she currently lectures, UC Riverside. She is a co-founder and faculty of UCLA Department of World Arts & Cultures's Travel Study program, which brings college students to study at the renowned Center for Theater of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is also a certified yoga instructor and a founding teacher of the East LA-based People's Yoga studio since 2014.   While Magalhães is based in Los Angeles, she has special ties to Latin America and especially Brazil, her native country, as she routinely travels to conduct her artistic research and share her work. To learn more about Marina’s work please visit her https://www.marinamagalhaes.com/. Follow her on Instagram @marinamagalicious, YouTube @marinaomagalhaes   Remember, it’s no fun to SHIFT alone so share, review, like, and repost to invite your friends and loved ones along for the ride! Follow us @shapingtheshiftpodcast and host Thea Monyee´ @theamonyee on IG! There are many ways to support this joy-centered, pleasure-focused work! Thea’s Patreon, Ca$h App ($theamonyee), or Venmo (@theamonyee),  so pick your favorite and show us some love!

Choreographer Karen Sherman talks about the politics of applause and the olfactory landscape of the stage. ABOUT THE GUEST: Karen Sherman makes performances that have been presented by P.S. 122, Walker Art Center, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, PICA/TBA Festival, Highways Performance Space, Philadelphia Dance Projects, and many other spaces across the U.S. Her work has been recognized with a Bessie Award, two McKnight Foundation Fellowships in Choreography, several MacDowell Colony fellowships, and residencies through Vermont Performance Lab and the Bogliasco Foundation program in Liguria, Italy. She was a 2016-2017 Hodder Fellow in The Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. More information at karenshermanperformance.org. ABOUT THE HOST: Neil Goldberg is an artist in NYC who makes work that The New York Times has described as “tender, moving and sad but also deeply funny.” His work is in the permanent collection of MoMA and other museums, he’s a Guggenheim Fellow, and teaches at the Yale School of Art. More information at neilgoldberg.com. ABOUT THE TITLE: SHE'S A TALKER was the name of Neil’s first video project. “One night in the early 90s I was combing my roommate’s cat and found myself saying the words ‘She’s a talker.’ I wondered how many other other gay men in NYC might be doing the exact same thing at that very moment. With that, I set out on a project in which I videotaped over 80 gay men in their living room all over NYC, combing their cats and saying ‘She’s a talker.’” A similar spirit of NYC-centric curiosity and absurdity animates the podcast. CREDITS: This series is made possible with generous support from Stillpoint Fund. Producer: Devon Guinn Creative Consultants: Stella Binion, Aaron Dalton, Molly Donahue Assistant Producers: Itai Almor, Charlie Theobald Editor: Andrew Litton Visuals and Sounds: Joshua Graver Theme Song: Jeff Hiller Media: Justine Lee with help from Angela Liao and Alex Qiao

On this episode of the Yay, Norman and I rap with Rondrell McCormick, an actor and director who is a graduate of ACT – he has graced the stages of San Jose Stage Company, SF Playhouse, Center REP, Highways Performance Space and the Sundance Institute, among many others. Rondrell talks about growing up in racially charged North Carolina, his studies at ACT (where he met the great Denzel Washington) and how theatre bay area life is treating him. You can reach him via twitter (@anonymousdrell) SHOUTOUTS: As You Like It (Shakespeare In The Park) Saturday, July 6 https://www.evensi.us/free-shakespeare-in-the-park-as-you-like-it-amador-valley/314452269 Norman Gee is in the show Hairspray (Bay Area Musicals) July 4 – August 11 Victoria Theatre https://www.bamsf.org/hairspray?fbclid=IwAR37NP64VHMhkaBT8-voIqo4ArBfPAfojrOO5w-0n7CEgBlWny5sIdzIYOk Heathers The Musical (Gatehouse Theatre Company) July 5 – July 14th Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason https://fortmason.org/event/heathers-the-musical/ Reg Clay (@Reg_Clay) Norman Gee (@WhosYrHoosier)

Whitney Tai is a singer-songwriter daredevil who creates dream pop on the edge between pop and indie, rooted in emotional honesty and personal integrity.  She is simultaneously totally authentic and other worldly. Tai lost her mother to cancer when she was 10 years old, surfacing her own health issues including severe anxiety, depression and weight loss. But  she channeled her feelings into songs and poems and performing no matter the darkness inside of her. Singles led to albums like her debut Metamorphosis, then the EP Forever, followed by a series of single releases, ‘Truth Be Told” ,”How Was I Supposed To Know” and breathtaking videos and then “Shockwave”.  She is now appearing in venues across LA. Nurit Siegel Smith has been appointed as the new Executive Director Music Forward Foundation of the House of Blues , an organization that contributes over a million dollars year to music programming and education. Smith assumes leadership as the foundation’s Music Forward program embarks on its 25th year as one of the nation’s leading nonprofits creating opportunities for youth in the music industry. She comes to Music Forward after serving as Deputy Director at Grand Performances. She has extensive experience in arts and entertainment social sectors and has held positions within the Blue Man Group and Highways Performance Space and spent over a decade at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. She will join us to lay out her vision for the future of the Music Forward Program, so vital to music in America. Award-wining singer/songwsriter/musical director / producerand voice actor AOEDE  drops by to talk about her forthcoming memoir.

On our next episode, Wesam joined by actor and old friend, RACHAEL FERRERA! They discuss their first musical, WEST SIDE STORY, her REIKI practice and her upcoming play MCCORMICK/DURHAM VOL. 1 A POST RACIAL AMERICA. It premieres at HIGHWAYS PERFORMANCE SPACE in Santa Monica JULY 27TH & 28TH. Along with much more… Enjoy!

On our next episode, Wesam joined by actor and old friend, RACHAEL FERRERA! They discuss their first musical, WEST SIDE STORY, her REIKI practice and her upcoming play MCCORMICK/DURHAM VOL. 1 A POST RACIAL AMERICA. It premieres at HIGHWAYS PERFORMANCE SPACE in Santa Monica JULY 27TH & 28TH. Along with much more… Enjoy!

The Oracle of Los Angeles is the guest. Her name is Amanda Yates Garcia. She is an artist, writer, witch, healer, and oracle. Recent performance rituals include Capitalism Exorcism at Human Resources and Devouring Patriarchy at the Women’s Center for Creative Work. Other venues to feature her work include Side Street Projects, REDCAT, Public Fiction, Highways Performance Space, and the Laband and Ben Maltz galleries among others. Her writing has been featured in publications such as CARLA, Black Clock, the Rough Magickanthology, Entropy, Synema Publikationen (Cinema Magazine), and WITCH. Amanda hosts her bi-monthly show The Oracle Hour on KCHUNG radio; teaches the Magical Praxis monthly mystery school; and performs private rites of healing and empowerment at her magical studio in West Adams. Please support this podcast at http://patreon.com/otherpplpod In today's monologue, I basically just get right to the main event.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hassan Estakhrian is a composer, performer, intermedia producer, and artistic director of Antenna Fuzz. He is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (electric bass, guitar, keyboards, drum set, and other instruments). He has an M.F.A. in Music from University of California, Irvine and currently resides in Southern California. For more visit antennafuzz.com. Zolk Tizzer is a multimedia sci-fi rock opera with its story, music, and words created by Hassan Estakhrian in 2015. It features animation by Greg Schober and dance choreography by Boroka Nagy. Zolk Tizzer episodes 1 and 2 (premiere) will be performed at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica September 16 & 17 at 8:30pm. More info and links to ticket sales are at antennafuzz.com Reve - Art Rock band from Baltimore,MD...New album "La Marionette" out Sept. 20th..Check out their music, tour dates & more @ www.facebook.com/ReveMusicUS September Mourning - Art Rock band from Mortem..New album "Volume II" ft. "Skin and Bones" out now...Currently wrapping up their tour w/ Huntress then out w/ Dead Horse Trauma, Death Division & Everybody Panic..Playing Texas Mutiny & Houston Open Air...Check out their music & more @ www.facebook.com/septembermourning Fire From The Gods - Metal/Hardcore band from Texas...New album "Narrative" out now on Rise Records..Check out their music, tour dates & more @ www.facebook.com/firefromthegods

Four Fathers Tony Abatemarco's award-winning monologue, Four Fathers, developed at Highways Performance Space and Stages Theatre Center, was first produced at the Tiffany Theatre in West Hollywood, directed by Don Amendolia and produced by Suzi Dietz and Paula Holt in 1992. The set consisted of original paintings and sculpture by John Nava. Excerpts are published in Michael Kearns' book, Getting Your Solo Act Together. Tony's work for the theatre includes Cologne, (published by Windfall Press) and the current run of Beautified, (LA Weekly "Pick of the Week") next door at the Skylight Theatre through July 1st. His most recent published story is "Schwinn," which appeared in Volume 4 of Boneshaker. He teaches acting at USC, and is Co-Artistic Director of The Katselas Theatre Company. From the Author: "I guess I'm something of a eulogist. Most of my original work for the theater has relied on a very deep need to honor the dead. My first solo, Four Fathers, did. It was a knee-jerk reaction to my father's death, begun in that very week before we had lowered him into the ground. My father honored things. He lived in gratitude, and before I could allow my grief over losing him to engulf all that he taught me to cherish, I started to put the particulars of his life on paper. He was a great character—one of those 20th-century self-made men who grew out of poverty and little education to build a fiefdom in his birthplace, Brooklyn, significant enough to provide for his heirs. So I sang his song." -Tony Abatemarco "Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead." W. H. Auden. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 10, 2012.