Summer Rental: Prototypes

Susan Marshall (Artistic Director): Choreographing metaphoric worlds that often dwell at the intersection of several disciplines, Marshall’s work investigates the way bodies, in action and response, define themselves in relationship to each other and, in so doing, expose questions of control, power, dependency, support and intention. Her work employs details of touch, initiation and gaze to reveal the complexities of behavioral systems and of interpersonal relationships and patterns. The resulting dances are often densely woven, recursive, human in scale and speak to the negotiations and work of intimacy and memory.

In recent years, Marshall’s dance-making has been driven by her friendships and collaborations with her peer artists in other media, mostly artists from the growing Princeton Community. This has led to hybrid work created collaboratively with visual artists Martha Friedman and Suzanne Bocanegra, composers David Lang and Jason Treuting, music ensembles Sō Percussion and Dither, and engineer Naomi Leonard. Marshall is drawn to the friction and meshing that arises when joining different disciplines, each with their own unique histories, logics, languages, processes, rules, notations, values, and understandings. Using the body as a way to bring these systems into dialogue, Marshall’s dances often reveal the work involved in art making as both process and material.

The New York-based dance group Susan Marshall & Company is an ensemble of dancers and designers working collaboratively under Marshall’s direction. Her many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and three New York Dance and Performance Awards (BESSIES) for Outstanding Choreographic Achievement. Marshall has also created dances for the Lyon Opera Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov– her work has been in the repertory of Nederlands Dans Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Pacific Northwest Ballet, among others. Marshall directed and choreographed the dance/opera Les Enfants Terribles in collaboration with Philip Glass, and provided the choreography and stage direction for Glass’s Book of Longing, and for music ensembles Asphalt Orchestra, and Eighth Blackbird. Since 2009, Marshall has been the Director of Dance at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

Felix Jarrar (Performer) is a 23-year-old composer and pianist whose list of accomplishments includes performances at diverse venues such as Symphony Space, (le) poisson rouge, BAM’s Fisher Hillman Studio and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. His works have been performed internationally by members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra and the duo Unassisted Fold. He is currently working on his fifth opera, Mother Goose.

Guillermo Alonso Contreras (Performer) is an actor based in New York City, originally from Wisconsin. Select credits include: NYU/Playwrights Downtown: César Alvarez’s THE ELEMENTARY SPACETIME SHOW (in collaboration with Pipeline Theatre Company); PHOEBE IN WINTER; the world premiere of AN AMERICAN FEAST (in collaboration with The Civilians); the world premiere of César Alvarez’s NOISE: A NEW MUSICAL (in collaboration with The Public Theater); MACHINAL and more. Outskirts Theatre Company: BARE: A POP OPERA; RABBIT HOLE. He has performed at Joe’s Pub, Triskelion Arts, Adelphi University’s Larson Legacy Concert, The McKittrick Hotel’s The Heath and more in several concerts and readings. In the last year, he completed an internship with Fresh Ground Pepper NYC working closely with their inaugural In-House Artist Program. BFA: NYU/Tisch.

Eileen Thomas (Performer) is a founding member of Susan Marshall & Co. She performed in over 20 original works with the company from 1985- 2000. Eileen has a private practice in massage therapy in Brooklyn, where she lives with her daughter, Olivia. She thrilled to be back in rehearsal and performance for this concert.

Tymberly Canale (Performer) was a member of Big Dance Theater from 1995-2016, where she created many original roles and performed around the world in a number of venues. She recently performed at The Kitchen with Athena Kokoronis/Domestic Performance Agency.

Raven (Choreographer) was born and raised in South Carolina and now works as in New York as a freelance artist and director of Brooklyn based performance company BIRDHOUSE. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University having studied visual art and performance. She has worked with Susan for the past five years, and is grateful to continue to be a part of her wonderful company.

Timothy Stoddard (Performer) has sung the role of Mercurio in Cavalli’s La Calisto and the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Borsa in Rigoletto with Opera in Williamsburg, Song Seller/Gherardo in Puccini’s Il trittico with Utah Festival of Opera, and Martin in The Tenderland with Chelsea Opera. This summer, he will sing the role of Milord Fideling in the American premiere of Salieri’s La cifra. He premiered the tenor roles in Rumplestiltskin with Rhymes with Opera, Flash Operas with Experiments in Opera at Symphony Space and the roles of George Westinghouse and Oxygen Cobalt in Carson Kievman’s operas TELSA and INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS. Outreach engagements have included the Prince in Massenet’s Cinderella with Opera Idaho and Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera Guild. As concertist, he has appeared with the Utah Festival of Opera in Bach’s B Minor Mass, the Choral Society of Grace Church in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the Lucerne Festival Academy in Berio’s Coro, and the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival in Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin. Award highlights include those of the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust, the American Scandinavian Society, and the Arleen Auger Foundation. He holds degrees from the University of Idaho and Roosevelt University.

Darrin Wright (Performer), a Brooklyn based artist, is a native of Los Angeles, California where he started tap dancing at the age of six. His early trainings were taking tap classes which lead into jazz with Ian Gary; learning about choreography and performance in high school with Janet Roston; taking post-modern dance with Rudy Perez. In 1997, Darrin joined The Bella Lewitzky Dance Company as part of its farewell tour. He received his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2002. Since graduation, Darrin has had the pleasure of working with The METopera, Susan Marshall, Terry Creach, Jane Comfort, Bill Young/Colleen Thomas, Yanira Castro, Keely Garfield, Jack Ferver, Tami Stronach, Antonio Ramos, Leslie Cuyjet, Doug Varone, Laura Peterson, Amber Sloan, Nancy Bannon, Linsey Bostwick, Nina Winthrop, Linsday and Jason Dietz Marchant. Darrin teaches master classes in technique, composition and improvisation throughout the country. In 2009, he received a Bessie Award for his work with A Canary Torsi’ Dark Horse/Black Forest.

Mark DeChiazza (Performer) is a director, filmmaker, designer, choreographer, and sometimes performer. Many of his projects explore an expanded expressive potential of music in performance. Investigating the body and its relationships to space, time, and experience remain vital to his process across all disciplines. His work has been presented in national and international venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, John F. Kennedy Center of the Arts, Guthrie Theater, Singapore International Festival of Arts, Les Subsistances, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Cal Performances, Stanford Live, and many more. (markdechiazza.com) Denisa Musilová has been an important collaborator in Mark’s recent works, and he is excited to perform in her work on this program. Prior to his directing career, Mark was a member of Susan Marshall & Company from 1993 to 2004.

Luke Miller (Choreographer/Performer) is a Bessie Award winner and has been involved in the NYC dance scene as student, performer, teacher, repetiteur, rehearsal director, choreographer or faithful collaborator since ’97. He has worked with Susan Marshall & Co. since 2004 and has been teaching movement for actors at Playwrights Horizons Theater School at Tisch over the past five years . Luke recently choreographed Rhymes With Opera’s production of RUMPLELSTILTSKIN which premiered at the Bank Street Theater in May.

Bryn Hlava (Performer) is a freelance movement artist from Portland, OR now living in Brooklyn, NY. Since arriving in New York in summer of 2016 she has worked with Michelle Boulé, Susan Marshall, and Raven White (BIRDHOUSE). Her postgraduate studies include workshops with Sidra Bell Dance New York, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Gallim Dance, Gaga (People/Dancers), Shelley Senter (Alexander Technique) and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Bryn explores improvisation, sensation, texture and sensuality in her movement practice and is interested in the collaborative process with artists of all mediums. Bryn graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Dance & Psychology from University of Oregon, focusing on Developmental Psychopathology. She remains curious. (brynhlava.com)

Shayla-Vie Jenkins (Performer) is a New York based performer, teacher, and dance maker. Jenkins spent a decade performing with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and also serves as a répétiteur and teacher. She has enjoyed working collaboratively in projects with Francesca Harper, Alicia Hall-Moran, Grisha Coleman, Yanira Castro, Rebecca Lazier, and Yara Travieso. She most recently presented a solo work at School for Contemporary Dance and Thought’s HUT series and The Mendenhall Performing Arts Center in Northampton, MA. She is a 2018 graduate of the Master of Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance at Smith College.

Mitch Christie (Performer) is a Australian dancer, creator and educator. He moved to NYC straight out of high school to attend SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Coming from a strict classical background, he is now interested in researching of more experimental forms. Mitch enjoys collaboration across many disciplines and is currently exploring dance on film. Graduating in May ‘17 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Mitch has been performing and making work in New York since. He has performed works by Doug Varone, Aszure Barton, Merce Cunningham, William Forsythe, Stijn Celis, Fernando Melo & Ryan Mason. His most recent performances have been with UNA Projects, 2nd Best Dance Company and BIRDHOUSE. Mitch is currently working on obtaining his O-1 visa to continue his career here in the States.

Denisa Musilova (Choreographer/Performer) is a Czech choreographer and a performer. She has collaborated with Pavel Zustiak, Deganit Shemy, Bill Young & Colleen Thomas, LEIMAY, Tami Stronach, Mirenka Cechova, Ko Murobushi, Netta Yerushalmy, and Lindsey Dietz Marchant, among others. Currently she is dancing at the National Theater in Prague. Denisa has choreographed “Quixote”, a music-theatre–dance piece by Amy Beth Kirsten, commissioned by Peak Performances at MSU and “Savior,” Kirsten’s vocal-theatre work for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She also staged Chekhov’s “Seagull” for the Horacke Theater Jihlava. Denisa’s works have been presented at NY Butoh Festival, SOAK Festival, Czech Center New York, Triskelion Arts, 92 Street Y, and LATEA Theater.

Omri Drumlevich (Perfomer) is a NYC based multidisciplinary artist creating and performing in Dance, Physical Theater, Film, Video Art and Performance Art. Born and raised in Israel, in a kibbutz near Jerusalem, he graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance High School and joined the renowned Batsheva Dance Company from 2010-2017. With the company, Omri performed in venues such as BAM, the Kennedy Center, the Palais Garnier in Paris, and the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg, and many more across the globe. While in the company, he performed works by Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, and Roy Assaf. He has choreographed and produced works for the Batsheva Ensemble and Batsheva Dance Company dancers and created multi-disciplinary works at the Tel Aviv Museum, Princeton University and elsewhere. He is a longtime teacher of Gaga, Naharin’s movement language, teaching in the US and internationally. As a Schusterman visiting Israeli artist, in the year of 2017, he was a guest lecturer in Dance at Princeton University.

Tricia Toliver (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with Susan Marshall again. She currently works in the Barnard College Dance Department as the Technical Director/Lighting Designer. In addition, she was the Director of Production for the Vail International Dance Festival from 2013-2016 and has toured regularly with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project and with Lucinda Childs. She has had the pleasure of working primarily in the dance world for such companies as the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Lar Lubovitch, Doug Varone and Dancers, Donald Byrd/The Group, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, David Dorfman Dance and Complexions. She has a B.A. in dance from UCLA and an M.F.A. in dance from the University of Washington and danced with Donald Byrd/The Group from 1987-1991.

Jeremy D Olson (Co-Choreographer) is a visual artist who works primarily in video, installation, and performance. His work explores the politics of everyday life by focusing on familiar subjects and objects. In restaging everyday scenes, his work brings into question contemporary modes of representation and proposes the commonplace as the grounds for a reorientation of politics. Olson has an MFA from The New School, a BA in Physics from Harvard University, and performed professionally as a dancer in the US and internationally. His videos and installations have been exhibited in group shows and festivals in the US, the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia.

Sophie Andreassi (Co-Choreographer) worked as a dramaturg for Susan Marshall’s TWO PERSON OPERATING SYSTEM (Institute of Fine Arts & Andrea Rosen Gallery) and as an assistant director for the world premiere of FIRE AND AIR (dir. John Doyle, Classic Stage Company). She is currently Marsha Mason’s assistant director for a new play as well as Marshall’s company manager. She graduated from Princeton in 2016.

ABOUT SUSAN MARSHALL & CO

Susan Marshall & Company has performed the work of Artistic Director/Choreographer Susan Marshall in theaters throughout the United States, Europe and Japan since 1985. The company has collaborated with Marshall on the creation and performance of works including Cloudless, Frame Dances, Play/Pause, Adamantine, The Most Dangerous Room in the House, Spectators at an Event, Fields of View, Arms, Interior with Seven Figures, and Kiss. Marshall, her artistic collaborators and company members have received a total of ten New York Dance and Performance Awards (BESSIES) for their artistic achievements. The company’s work has been commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music (seven seasons), Peakperformances@Montclair, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Krannert Center for the Arts, Walker Center for the Arts, On the Boards, Hanscher Auditorium at University of Iowa among others.

International festivals at which the company has performed include the Edinburgh International Festival, International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, the Festival International de Nouvelle Danse in Montreal, Spoleto Festival, the Los Angeles Festival, Vienna Tanz, SpringDanse (The Netherlands), and NY City Center Fall for Dance Festival

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