2011/12 Space Grant Recipients
SUMMER: June – August 2011
TARA AHMADINEJAD / PIEHOLE uses puppetry, video, and physical theater to challenge expectations of viewership. Their inaugural show, Tod & I (2008), received praise from The Village Voice at The Brick Theater in NY. That same year, the City Paper chose artistic director Tara Ahmadinejad’s solo show S.H.A.V.E.D. as a Philly Fringe “Best Bet.” Piehole next created Tenticle: a Canticle, a multimedia piece featuring a person-eating, tent-puppet, for Electric Pear’s Synesthesia 2009 at The Wild Project. In Fall 2009, Piehole’s Love & Geography, an interactive show that set a dusty Norwegian play in an old roadside museum, wowed audiences at HERE Arts Center and the Philly Fringe. Piehole recently collaborated with James Rutherford on his Columbia Stages production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Riverside Church Theater in January 2011. In addition to designing puppets and performing as the Rude Mechanicals, Piehole created a show-stopping, silent puppet version of the play-within-a-play. In March 2011, a workshop run of 2 Stories that End in Suicide was included as part of The Brick Theater’s Iranian Theater Festival. Most recently, Piehole presented their work on a panel at Puppetry and Postdramatic Performance: an International Conference on Performing Objects of the 21st Century at the University of Connecticut. — www.pieholed.com
DONNA COSTELLO is a dance artist immersed in process rich work that blurry the lines of dance, theater, performance and the conventions that surround these art forms. As an independent dancer, Ms Costello has built rich relationships dancing for Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance (founding member) jill sigman / thinkdance, Mollie O’Brien and Jimena Paz over the past decade. She has also danced for Stephan Koplowitz, Juliette Mapp, Naomi Goldberg Haas, Pele Bauch, Kelly Bartnik, Barbara Mahler and many others. Her performance in Carrie Ahern’s SeNSATE was picked as a 2009 favorite by writer Eva Yaa Asantewaa. She has taught as a guest artist for Dance New Amsterdam, the Liz Gerring Company during their 09-10 Season and most recently acted as rehearsal assistant for Rebecca Davis. This past summer she taught and performed throughout Germany with the program Dancing to Connect for Aviva Geismar’s Drastic Action. Ms. Costello directs Youthworks, a program through BAX that supports the creation of original performance work by young people with mentoring by professional artists. She is currently working on a new piece with the Human Company and collaborating with composer Anne Hege. This summer she has been awarded a Space Grant at BAX to continue to develop Func-tion.
HEATHER OLSON is a dancer and choreographer based in New York City since 1997. Her choreography has been commissioned by The Chocolate Factory, Dance Theater Workshop, Sugar Salon, and the Olgas Zitluhinas Dejas Kompanija in Riga, Latvia. Her work has been presented by Aunts, Danspace Project, Galapagos Art Space, La Mama, Movement Research at Judson Church, Catch! Solonova Arts Festival (at P.S. 122), the International Computer Music Conference, and Gorillafest and LIT at 100 Grand. As a performer, Olson has had longstanding relationships with Tere O’Connor and Yanira Castro, and has also worked with Jennifer Allen, Karl Anderson, Ivy Baldwin, Faye Driscoll, Stacy Grossman, and Levi Gonzales. Olson has received two BESSIE awards, one for her performance in Yanira Castro’s Dark Horse/Black Forest, and another for her body of work with Tere O’Connor. Her newest work, Shy showoff, will premier at The Chocolate Factory Sept. 21st-214th. www.chocolatefactorytheater.org
FALL: September – December 2011
XAN BURLEY + ALEX SPRINGER, a Brooklyn-based duo, have been making work together since 2006. They have shown work at various venues and festivals in NYC, as well as in Michigan and Chicago. Their first full-length production A Veritable Smorgasbord was presented by Triskelion Arts & Steelhead Entertainment in March 2010. Their work has been hailed as “wittily astute,” and “traumatically effective,” and noted for its “humor, absurdity, …and numerous invitations to laugh.” They also experiment with dance for the camera and recieved the silver award in DFA’s 48-Hour Challenge for their film daylighting. Xan regularly dances for Shannon Gillen & Guests, Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, and Daniel Charon. Alex currently works with Doug Varone and Dancers. Together they have performed for Amy Chavasse, Elizabeth Dishman and Leyya Tawil. They also produce WAXworks and are active teachers and administrators. — www.alexandanceperformance.com
LEE SUNDAY EVANS is a director, choreographer and teaching artist. For CollaborationTown: THE MOMENTUM (FringeNYC 2010 Best Play, Laurie Beechman, Emerging America’s Festival), THE PLAY ABOUT MY DAD (59E59). As Associate Director to Young Jean Lee: LEAR (Soho Rep), THE SHIPMENT (Wexner Center, The Kitchen), CHURCH (Assistant Director, Under the Radar). Other directing credits include: HOISINGTON KANSAS, PRAGUE (The Jam, New Georges), THE NEXT THING, WAYS TO SURVIVE THE WORLD (Williamstown Workshop), HOW I WON THE CAMPBELL PRIZE, THE DROWNED WORLD (Triskelion). As choreographer: FULL (The Tank), BIG MONEY, a new musical by Kyle Jarrow and Nathan Leigh (Williamstown). In addition to her work as a director, Lee has danced at locations around NYC with ann and alexx make dances, taught theater workshops in NYC public schools and was a Teaching Artist with the International Theater & Literacy Project in Arusha, Tanzania. New Georges Affiliated Artist, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. BFA: Boston University.
KATY PYLE is a Brooklyn based Multimedia Performance Artist who has been performing and creating in NYC and abroad since 2002, when she graduated from Hollins University. She has worked with many choreographers and directors, including Faye Driscoll, John Jasperse, Karinne Keithley, Jennifer Monson, and Young Jean Lee. Her own dance/theater works have been presented at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, PS 122, La Mama, Dance Theater Workshop, and many other venues in the city. She has received creative support from Dragon’s Egg in Mystic, CT, and the Rockbridge Artist’s Exchange in Lexington, VA. She teaches Yoga at OM Yoga Center, works as a Integrative Yoga Therapist at Beth Israel PACC, and teaches knitting at Downtown Yarns. — http://cargocollective.com/katypyle
