For Immediate Release: Dance/Theater
Contact: Sarah Fiske
415-347-5332 OR sarah.isenfiske@googlemail.com
CounterPULSE and Collage Theater present as part of the Summer Special program:
Mix Tape For Ophelia
a new performance collage, conceived and directed by Matisse Michalski,
Created in collaboration with Kat Cole, Sarah Fiske and Darl Andrew Packard
[August 19th and 20th 2011]
San Francisco, June 2011— “I made you a mix tape, to try and tell you how I feel”… combining Shakespeare, contemporary music, dance, true stories and a queer twist to explore adolescence, A Mix Tape For Ophelia has been created in collaboration over a six month residency at The Garage in San Francisco. Constantly evolving, this exploration into the world of adolescent girls draws from Shakespeare, our own experiences and Reviving Ophelia by Dr. Mary Piper, one of the few book addressing the issues specific to adolescent girls in contemporary society. The image of Ophelia, drowning in her white dress, has been recreated hundreds of times, forming an achitype of the teen girl, for whom the demands or hurts of the world drive her mad until she falls into a brook and drowns. Is this really what we expect from our smart and sensitive teenagers? This piece works to understand depression and suicide a little better, to shed a light on a very dark subject, and hopefully make things a little brighter for us all.
Collage Theater is working with San Francisco Suicide Prevention as a community partner on this project, reaching out with us, and collaborating to support discussion of such an important issue.
Calendar Editors:
What: A Mix Tape For Ophelia
A New Collage Performance
When: Friday August 19th and Satuday August 20th 2011 at 8pm
Where: CounterPULSE 1310 Mission Street @ 9th, San Francisco
Tickets: $20
Counterpulse.org or 1-800-838-3006
Web: www.counterpulse.org www.collagetheater.org
About the Artists:
The Collage Theater layers performance with classic and current materials from all genres to create new theater works that push artistic boundaries, as they explore important contemporary social issues. Work is created through collaboration, exploration and experimentation, shared with the intention of amplifying the quieter and marginalized voices and strives to both create and sustain dialogue in our community.
Collage Theater is embarking on their first full season in 2011, and is proud to be a part of the Intersection Incubator at Intersection for the Arts.
Sarah Fiske (Company Member, Mix Tape For Ophelia collaborator) grew up in Southern California and studied ballet with the LA Ballet’s school and Ballet Pacifica. At UC Santa Cruz, Sarah studied with and performed in new work by Bay Area choreographer Sommer Ulrickson and practiced creative movement education with Tandy Beal. In her own work, she combined explorations of social dynamics with movement, choreographed works for solo and group performance, as well as founded a dance teaching cooperative. Sarah received her MFA in dance from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied with and was mentored by Sara Rudner, as well as working closely with Emily Devine, Beverley Emmons, Peggy Gould, and Dan Hurlin. Sarah performed for established and emerging choreographers while in New York: Lucinda Child, Deganit Shemy and Janet Werther as well as creating collaborative dance theater works for stage and workshop performances, Sarah moved to San Francisco in 2010 to begin a career in dance, choreography art administration, and technical theater work.
Matisse Michalski (Company Member, Mix Tape For Ophelia lead artist) grew up in Cambridge, MA where she performed in a number of productions and created a program for student directed work at Commonwealth High School in Boston. In 2005 Matisse received her BA in Theater and Peace Studies with honors and distinction, as well as the George Dowell Theater Award from Goucher Collage in Baltimore. Since 2006 Matisse has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area, with The San Francisco Mime Troupe, The Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, San Jose Rep, Just Theater, The Exit, CounterPULSE, ZSpace and Killing My Lobster. Since leaving College her work has been presented at The Garage Theater as part of AIRSpace, and as a Resident All-Star as well as part of Philip Haungs’ International Home Theater Festival and at Turtle Studios in Watertown MA.
Darl Andrew Packard (Company Member, Mix Tape For Ophelia collaborator) Since coming to San Francisco following a stint at the Sundance Theater Lab, he has been heavily involved in the performance community. He has worked as a production stage manager for Josh Kornbluth's Citizen Josh, as the Tour Manager and Touring Technical Director for Word for Word Performing Arts annual National and International Tours and as the Theater Manager at CounterPULSE, which was named best performance art space in 2009 by The Guardian. Additionally, he has found steady work with San Francisco's favorite sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster, as well as with a number of area dance and theater companies including Monique Jenkinson, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Amara Tabor-Smith/Deep Waters Dance, Jesse Hewit/Strong Behavior, Laura Arrington Dance, Hope Mohr, Rapid Decent and the left Coast Leaning Festival at Yerba Buena Center For the Arts.
San Francisco Suicide Prevention: The mission of San Francisco Suicide Prevention is to provide emotional support, assistance, and intervention as necessary to persons in crisis and those impacted by them, without regard to race, age, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. www.http://www.sfsuicide.org SFSP helps thousands of people through personal crises each year and provides a 24-hour, anonymous hotline at 415-781-0500.
About CounterPULSE:
CounterPULSE provides space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators, serving as an incubator for the creation of socially relevant, community-based art and culture. CounterPULSE acts as a catalyst for art and action; creating a forum for the open exchange of art and ideas, catalyzing transformation in our communities and our society. We work towards a world that celebrates diversity of race, class, cultural heritage, artistic expression, ability, gender identity & sexual orientation. We strive to create an environment that is physically and economically accessible to everyone.
About Summer Special:
CounterPULSE is pleased to announce Summer Special, an experiment in offering radically affordable and accessible performance opportunities to a diverse array of emerging performance-makers. Eleven lead artists present nine weeks of contemporary dance, experimental theater, multimedia performance, provocative drag and more. Ranging from raw experiments to polished premieres, this summer is FULL of new performance at CounterPULSE. Featuring: KDUB Dance/Kevin Williamson, Front Line Theater, Maryam Rostami, Samantha Giron Dance, Mica Sigourney, Raya Light, Erika Tsimbrovsky, Collage Theater, and a shared evening between Finley Coyl and Mary Franck with Tessa Wills.
Images:
To download high-res images, visit www.counterpulse.org/press
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