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The E|MERGE Residency at Earthdance in Plainfield, MA was a wonderful experience! It was a very busy time, with new ideas and new ways of thinking of new ideas always at hand. I participated in three project works, as well as holding a workshop (jointly with Davina Cohen) on songwriting for non-musicians. The projects varied from live improvisation, to sound design, to a bit of traditional composition. The process and explorations had all those elements, and everything in between: live playing with other musicians, private practice sessions, drawing, meditating, studying movement. It was a great honor and pleasure to meet and connect with so many talented artists, seeing what they do, how they do it, and learning from the many different processes around me. My world expanded, going beyond any expectations I had for this residency. And the food… words will not do it justice. Simply the best stuff on earth for mind, body, and soul, caringly and exquisitely prepared three times daily (special thanks to Andreas for the nutrition).

Focus now turns back to project-work:

I am currently composing and designing the sound stage for Krista DeNio’s Edith and Me. This is a fast-track project at the moment, and the show is being held on Thursday March 15th as part of the New Dance Alliance’s Performance Mix at the Joyce Soho in NYC. The piece centers on Edith Piaf, and uses her character and voice to tell of the struggles and the perseverance of an artist. Krista is the executive and artistic director at Earthdance, and many thanks go out to her for calling on me to participate in this wonderful, rich piece.

Show dates are March 29, 30, and 31 (Thurs, Fri, Sat) for Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers Beyond the Bones and tickets are going fast, as they always do for the KYL/D show at the Painted Bride.

- Work has begun in earnest for Kun-Yang Lin / Dancers Beyond the Bones at the Painted Bride, the last weekend in March. If you plan to go, get tickets this minute as previous engagements have sold out. I will be sound design consultant of the show, providing transitional elements, and shaping the existing sound track to fit the needs of the company, driven by Kun-Yang’s vision. If you ever found yourself questioning the validity of dance as an art form, this will put all doubts to rest.

- Dead Man’s Cellphone had standing room only crowds for my third project providing sound in a Bootless Arts production. The highlight, for me, was the Cell Phone Ballet, which intertwined urban sound, pomp and circumstance, and randomly recorded indiscernible cell phone conversation bits. A special thanks to Roseanne and Jim at Bootless for keeping me in the loop there, and giving me the platform, as well as the freedom, to narrate through sound.

- Proof is going on tour! If you live near a hosting theater, go! You’ll be glad you went. The run at Walnut Street Theater sold out. I will be providing sound design for those shows as well, and theater sizes will often be in the several hundred to one-thousand seat count range.

2012 is off and running:

SHOUT

I will be designing the sound stage segment for Shout. This is the culmination of Susan DiPronio’s writing workshop which presents as a public performance. The workshop challenged participants to document, narrate, or otherwise perform their stories of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic has affected their lives. The following is the press statement:

“… Commemorating the 30-year anniversary of the epidemic, Witness invites artists to reflect on, explore, and respond to the impact that HIV/AIDS has had on our social, cultural, and political lives. Across boundaries of race, age, gender, and sexual orientation, the multi-media artwork reflects a transformative moment for the artists and our communities.”

This performance is on January 25, 2012 and will cap off the Witness visual art exhibition at the Asian Arts Initiative. Please stop by and see the powerful visual art portion of the exhibit before it closes out on January 27, 2012.

PROOF!

Work has begun designing the sound stage for my second show in Studio 3 at the Walnut Street Theater- Proof directed by Kate Galvin and starring Alex Keiper, Bill Van Horn, David Raphaely, and Krista Apple:

“… Everyone has parents and everyone aspires to be like them in some way. But what happens when there’s a distinct possibility that we may inherit their talent—and their madness? Proof is a remarkable and luminous play about fathers and daughters, genius and insanity, legacy and truth. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, Proof introduces us to a young woman, haunted by her father’s death. She seems to have inherited his talent for numbers. Or has she?”

Proof will run Jan. 17 to Feb 5th at Studio 3, Walnut Street Theater and go on a national tour into March.

E|MERGE

Next, I will be attending the E|MERGE Interdisciplinary Arts Residency at Earthdance, up in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, in February. I am very excited to be able to focus on the mission with this opportunity. It will enable me to dedicate the time, space, and energy to collaborate with more than 30 artists in a variety of disciplines, mostly movement and theater arts, deepening my approach to creating sound and music in conjunction with other media.

I have been signed on to provide sound design for two separate Walnut Street Theater productions. First is Noel and Gertie directed by Will Stutts, based on the lifelong relationship between entertainers Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. The show opens December 1. The second show is Proof! which will be directed by Kate Galvin, portraying the story of a mathematician and his daughter, with both brilliance and insanity at the center of their lives. This show will run late January – early February 2012. Special thanks to Andrew Thompson for introducing me to the Walnut Street staff, and for Walnut Street Theater themselves for bringing me into the action!

Fringe Festival 2011 was a very busy time, providing material for three different shows.

First on the docket was Subtle Manipulation, a spoken word and music improvisation project with Michael Subvert. The Five Minute Follies featured the premiere of this project, and it was well and warmly received. Stay tuned in 2012 for Crazy (The Truth Unscripted), where I will accompany Michael Subvert as he takes you to the darkest and brightest of places on a personal journey about life, death, and all the things that can happen along the way.

Second was providing live music for Vada Dance Collective’s 2011 Fringe show Pattern Recognition. Vada’s Katie Kasari also presented new choreography for The Path of Icarus (performed by Crista Campbell, Krista Armbruster, and Lindsay Murray), which premiered at the 2010 Fringe Festival.  The choreography was beautiful and well-executed, and, as always, it was a real pleasure to perform for Vada’s audience for my fourth Festival in collaboration. The show’s thoughtful, dynamic-yet-contemplative choreography (which also featured New Street Dance Group and Francesca Marinaro) was a fitting and emotionally appropriate backdrop to the somber 10^th anniversary of 9/11.

Last, but certainly not least, was Agnes Falling by keila cordova dances. This modern-day fable told the story of a woman who becomes trapped by inescapable routine, and her journey to break free from the cycle. The soundtrack included seven different musical pieces as well as narration (performed and recorded by my aunt, Judith Neale). This was my first collaboration with Keila Cordova, and it was a real pleasure to be involved in her artistic process and participate in the development of this piece with the company (Kate Abernethy, Sean Rosswell, Kathy Kerner, Melissa Rodis, Heather Cole, and Fatima Adamu).

I can only hope to have such a great Festival next year!