Personal Bio: Kate Bergstrom is a west coast director and performance artist whose eclectic work has been seen at Ars Nova, Rattlestick, REDCAT, UCLAlive!, Highways Performance Space, UCLA, La Mama Umbria, Theatre at Monmouth, LACMA and more. Founding Artistic Director of On The Verge Summer Repertory Company in Santa Barbara, Kate was named 2016 Central Coast BroadwayWorld.com’s Person to Watch.

Featured projects include The Children’s Hour: a Queer Explosion (operetta -Granoff Center for the Arts), The Taming of the Shrew, A Map of Virtue a nd Neva at Brown/Trinity, WHOLED at REDCAT and HOTBOX (also co-creator/performer) for Ars Nova’s Ant Fest, + the Explosions From the Other Canon project.

Other: Three Days of Rain and Enchanted April- Theater at Monmouth, At the Table (West Coast premiere; Best Play 2017, Broadwayworld.com,) Sometimes the Rain (nominated Best College Play 2018 Motif Magazine), Caridad Svich’s Red Bike - Rattlestick’s TheatreJam + The Wilbury Group. Recent: A.D. for Sky on Swings at Opera Philadelphia. Kate is also a professor at RISD. MFA, Directing: Brown University/Trinity Rep BA: UCLA.

Website: www.katebergstrom.com

Title of Piece: QUAKE

Description: In 2010, 7 out of 10 senior executives in the United States were white men. One day, a female colleague presents a pitch to her team and a board of executives for a new product line. As her presentation begins, a 4.0 magnitude earthquake hits.

The building begins to shake. Chaos. Evacuation. The men rise to flee. This woman does not. She continues presenting.

The room: torn, afraid, suspended. The woman continues forth with her slides. A man changes his career... and what else?

A Natural Disaster, a fight for a system that subsumes and disregards ones corporeality, the suspension of reality through performance, persistence and power, high stakes gambling. Music, media and subversive queer joy... The story re-calibrates and investigates the narrative of victimization of women, specifically women of color in the the subtle and deadly politicized mechanization of corporate america.

Cast/Creative:

Co-writer: Octavia Chavez-Richmond

Composer + Performer: Martim Galvâo

Digital Poet + Perfomer: Todd Anderson

Guitarist + Performer: Alex Dupuis

Design consultant: Josiah Davis

Collaborators: Octavia Chavez-Richmond, Martim Galvão and Todd Anderson, also featuring Jayne Katherin

Personal Bios:

Carmen Caceres (Choreographer) is a dance artist, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her dance works have been presented in several venues in NY such as Dixon Place, Green Space Studio, Triskelion Arts Center, and Center for Performance Research. Her company, DanceAction has participated in international dance festivals such as the First International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City (FIDCDMX) in 2016, and the Contemporary Dance Festival Ticino in Danza, in Switzerland on July 2018. As a dancer she worked with artists Isabel Lewis, Jillian Peña, Elia Mrak, Lisa Parra, Jody Oberfelder, and Sarah Berges among others.

Website: www.carmencaceres.com

Devin Southard is a filmmaker originally from Baltimore, Maryland. After receiving her BA in Media Production at Temple University, Devin worked on a number of documentary and sports projects before starting her current job at MTV in New York City. Devin continues to work on a variety of television and film projects and is currently in pre-production on a documentary.

Sriya Sarkar is a digital media producer, comedian, and filmmaker working at the intersection of digital media, comedy, and activism. She is the producer of Speakout Laughout , a comedic storytelling show about abortion, as well as lolvote, a comedy variety show and accompanying Twitterbot encouraging youth voter turnout. She's worked with Upworthy, Lady Parts Justice, and Hillary for America, and performed in a variety of bar basements and stages of all sizes. More juicy details can be found at sriyasarkar.com

Title of Piece: 2 Minutes Hate

Description: "2 Minutes Hate" is a movement narrative inspired by George Orwell's 1984. It explores our participation in a system that rewards us for enabling its power to destruct. What happens when we're hit with that realization?

Cast/ Creative:

Talent: Carmen Caceres, Nicole Rae Jones, & Thomas Gunderson

Bond Musician: Eran Fink

Other Collaborators: Paige Louise Stella & Samsam Yung

Personal Bio: Joey Lorraine is a dance artist who showcases her work through experimental theatre, video, and film. As a dancer, Ms. Lorraine has performed with the Morgan Scott Ballet (formerly Joffrey II) and presented her own choreography for Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, aka. BAAD!, Balasole Dance, and Flexicurve Dance, among others. Her short films have been presented at film festivals nationwide, most notably “Pigeon Hole” inspired by the tragedy of the Venus Hottentot, which received an Honorable Mention Award by the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Ms. Lorraine is also a Teaching Artist for Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Videographer for Classical Indian Dance Company, Jiva Arts. She is from Bear Valley, a suburb of Denver, CO, and has been a resident of East Harlem since 1998. Ms. Lorraine holds a BFA in Film and Television Production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Title of Piece: Black Girl Rising

Description: Black Girl Rising is a choreopoem that juxtaposes the matriarchal lineage of a bi-racial suburban born woman and the Mexican women of her current community in Spanish Harlem. Themes of motherhood, parental separation, racial awareness, and social standing emerge through a story of the pain of being abandoned by a parent, and the journey of discovering one’s identity and embracing one’s cultural heritage. Dance, poetry, music, and theatre meld into a stream of conscious dramatization of a fractured human experience that blossoms into feminine power.

Cast/ Creative:

Dancer & Actor: Joey Lorraine

Orator & Actor: Valerie Alexander

Composer: Moise Mamouzette

Personal Bio: Michele Jones, a native of Washington, D.C. Currently the Director of Works/Artistic Resident of INCARN at the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Brooklyn. Michele has developed stories and directed original work that teaches African American history. Nat Turner, Thurgood Marshall, Honorable Distinction, Emancipated Glory, Resurrection and MAAFA to name a few, Michele has trained and worked with artists that are currently seen in Cloak & Dagger, Hamlet, Fences, Lion King and more. Only movie credit Salina P! An acting coach/teacher she is passionate about working with children and developing those with the heart for theatre. Privileged to work with an amazing team, the future is bright! She is a member of SDC, Lincoln Lab ‘09/’10.

Michele can be reached at michele.ivory@gmail.com. Namaste.

Title of Piece: In This America

Description: In this America is a twenty minute theatrical experience that examines the history of Black people from the early 1800’s slavery until now. This piece starts out with old Negro spirituals and progresses into songs of the 60’s 70’s 80’s and beyond. It forces us to remember the cruelty of a people kidnapped from their country while also celebrating the triumph obtained by these same people such as the election of President Barack Hussein Obama. We are reminded of Shaft and Action Jackson as well as the Panthers and Aretha. We are saddened with the pain of remembering the assignation of Malcom and Martin. It is accentuated with dialogue, song and movement of these different eras. It is wrapped neatly in a package and delivered into this dramatic presentation. The project explodes with facts and messages that leads to a shocking conclusion. In this America is not only entertaining but it is education as well.

Cast/ Creative:

Director: Michele Hawkins Jones

Asst: Kenya Cagle

Musician: DaVaughn Screen

Lights: Ulric flaherty

Stage Mgr: Demetrya Ford

Costumes: Pamela Blount

Props: Molisha Jones

Sound: Kim Brothers

Carl Grant, Ivan Rawls, Aboti Kaseem Waters, Roseanne Rock, Michele Houston, Kendra Williams, Celestine Jones, Sharon Brothers