Performance
New Works 4 Weeks Festival 2023
Works-In-Progress 2023
Dates
Fri, May 26, 2023, 12:00 am
Sat, May 27, 2023, 12:00 am
Mon, May 29, 2023, 12:00 am
Sliding scale $15-50 (before Eventbrite fees). If cost is a barrier, please email staff@redeyetheater.org for additional options.
Digital Program Information
Photo: Valerie Oliveiro
Rebecca Nichloson
SUBMERGED Pt. 1
Libretto, vocal arrangement, performer: Rebecca Nichloson
Cello composition: C.B. James
Adapted from a short story by Nichloson, this 15-minute opera centers on a Black woman in the underworld. She remembers a past life as a girl named Sarai from a small Black rural town called Glory Hill. SUBMERGED Pt. 1 is an exploration of grief, loss, and enduring love.
Photo: Valerie Oliveiro
Sam Aros-Mitchell
Ania Bwia Bwia Toochia
In Ania Bwia Bwia Toochia, Aros-Mitchell reflects on the connection between the Southwest, his body, and his ancestors. Invoking sound and movement, the piece explores the human relationship to the natural worlds, or aniam. By bringing awareness to these aniam, the work calls attention to the fact that Indigenous peoples are guardians of 80% of the world’s biodiversity, and the critical response of listening to Indigenous voices, artistic and otherwise, to be in a good relationship with the natural world.
Photo: Valerie Oliviero
Atim Opoka
Bloom when you outta bloom: The roots
This multidisciplinary work reflects on the experience of growing up as a Black immigrant in America through the lens of abstract worlds, stories, and music. Join Atim on a journey of healing, trauma, pain, grief, triumph, Black joy, and self-love that speaks from the heart to the inner child.
Photo: Valerie Oliviero
Margaret Ogas
NIGHTQUAKES (a prelude)
Performers: Libby Herrmann, Ayaka Moriyama, Margaret Ogas
Mask Artist: Sofía Padilla
Nightquakes is a continuation of an ongoing journey into the dream realm, in which a trio of performers encounter dark absurdities, ghostly messengers, and sparkling catharsis. What fears, regrets, and hopes can be filtered through the subconscious? Can you apologize to your ancestors while paralyzed in slumber?
ABOUT NEW WORKS 4 WEEKS
A cornerstone of the Twin Cities performance landscape, the long-running New Works 4 Weeks Festival lights up Red Eye’s new performance space in the Seward neighborhood each summer. This process-driven, cohort-based incubator of new works culminates in a showcase of the freshest experiments from Minnesota’s most risk-taking performing artists.
The 2023 Works-in-Progress cohort includes interdisciplinary artists working with sound, language, movement, and story. Along with their collaborators, they will share original works that explore healing, ritual, grief, dreams, ancestors, nature, and personal and collective joy.
This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from Minnesota State Arts Board.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
This program was supported by a grant from the Jerome Foundation.
Accessibility
Red Eye’s space is fully wheelchair-accessible. Masks are highly encouraged. Some events require masking and masks will be available at the venue if you don't bring your own. Please only attend if you are feeling well, and if not, we are happy to change your tickets to a different day at no charge.
About the Artists
Rebecca Nichloson
Rebecca Nichloson is a playwright, creative writer, and singer/songwriter. She is the author of numerous creative works, including Dear America (libretto & vocals), Mara, Queen of the World (an acapella musical), and The Wild, Bold Enlightenment of Velvet the Mistress, among others. She holds a MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University and an MA in English Literature. She was also the recipient of a 2019 Commission from the Cedar Cultural Center for which she created Multicolored Musings: Jewels of Love, Loss, & Triumph (a three-part collection of songs exploring her Black heritage and passion for genre-eclectic music) and received a 2020 honorable mention from the McKnight Foundation (Spoken Word). In addition, she is the recipient of the Liberace Award, the Howard Stein Fellowship, The Matthew’s Fellowship, an America-in-Play Fellowship and a Many Voices Fellowship from the Minneapolis Playwrights Center (2008-2009). She is also artistic director of Cleveland-Harris Theatre Company. Learn more at www.rebeccanichloson.com.
Sam Aros-Mitchell
Sam Aros-Mitchell (he/him/his) is an enrolled member of the Texas Band of Yaqui Indians. As an art-maker, dancer, and scholar, Aros-Mitchell’s work spans the disciplines of performance, sound/light/scenic design, choreography, and embodied writing. In 2020, he relocated to Mni Sota Makoce and was among the first cohort of Native artist fellows at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis to serve as Native Directing Fellow. As an actor, Aros-Mitchell has performed with Toot Performance in the film The Premise of Gripping the Wall When You’re Upset. Aros-Mitchell has been a core member of Rosy Simas Danse since 2017 as a performer, teacher, and community engagement organizer. He is a writer with articles in academic and art publications such as Native American Research Journal, Dance Research Journal, and Mn Artists. Aros-Mitchell’sabstract, “José Limón, The Unsung and Yoeme Syncretism” was recently accepted for publication in a book that celebrates José Limón's legacy, titled Transcending Amerincaness. In 2018, he founded Aros and Son Publishing, dedicated to publishing the work of Native writers. Aros-Mitchell holds a Ph.D. in Drama and Theater from the joint doctoral program at UC San Diego/UC Irvine, an MFA in Dance Theatre from UC San Diego, and a BFA from UC Santa Barbara. Currently, Aros-Mitchell is a postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University, at the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands, where he teaches and develops speaker-series to engage Indigenous artists and community. www.samarosmitchell.com
Atim Opoka
Atim Opoka is a Ugandan-American songwriter, vocalist, composer, producer and teaching artist who fuses afro-pop and alternative beats while embracing the power of transformative storytelling. She is most recently a 2023 Jerome Hill Fellow, a 2021 recipient of a Waters Grant, as well as an Our Space is Spoken For Fellowship from the Twin Cities Media Alliance. Opoka has performed original works at the Stone Arch Bridge Festival and Powderhorn Park Festival. She has a BA in Vocal Performance from McNally Smith College of Music. www.atimopoka.com
Margaret Ogas
Margaret Ogas is a dance artist working at the confluence of movement, storytelling, and experimental performance. Drawing from Chicana sensibilities, queer theory, and diasporic futurisms, her dances weave personal narrative with playful design to foster tender connections with audiences. Ogas is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and was a 2021 Naked Stages Fellow at Pillsbury House + Theatre. Her choreography has been presented throughout the Twin Cities at spaces such as the Walker Art Center, the Southern Theatre, and the Cedar Cultural Center. Her projects have received support from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2024) and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (2022, 2023, 2024). Beyond her choreographic work, Margaret is a dedicated teaching artist, freelance performer, and grant writer. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.