Tag Archive: Ghostbridge Theatre

  1. Valure Finale: Featuring Ghostbridge Theatre

    Comments Off on Valure Finale: Featuring Ghostbridge Theatre

    OpenHouse_Web

    [bscolumns class=”one_half”]

    Jeff Nichols’ original play, Mannequin’s Daughter told the tale of Iris, a character who – from viewer perspective – struggles with an eating disorder, but claims what she truly devours is the inorganic items of our modern consumerist culture. Appealing to Aphrodite for help, she spirals into the surreal depths of her own mind. Encountering opposition from the figures of her life obstructing her journey to health, each adjunct character distorts and challenges her version of reality. Ghostbridge Theatre highlights concepts of blind consumption, addiction and body image through a dark and thought-provoking dramedy about self-identity. Juxtaposing the concepts of rampant materialism in our modern age, Mannequin’s Daughter examined how sexuality is used as a marketing tool to sell products to consumers at the expense of contributing to the misrepresentation of the “ideal” body type.

    The perfect companion to close out our inaugural exhibition of the year Valure – an all women show – Mannequin’s Daughter dived into consuming vs. consumerism, and the very thin line tread between the two in a society which places a taboo on aging and a fascination with youth. Both performance and exhibit set out to deconstruct the confines of the idealized “feminine” and explored what it means to value the self despite the various ways society, culture, upbringing and our own subconscious bias shape and often distort identity.

    Director: Jeff Nichols
    Choreographer: Tera Kilbride
    Performers: Karen Massey, Jeff Nichols, Tera Kilbride, Angela Olson and Maggie Danger
    Costumer: Michael Hearn

    ABOUT GHOSTBRIDGE THEATRE
    Ghostbridge Theatre is a Minneapolis-based company dedicated to the performance of original work. Challenging audiences to transcend societal, personal, and spiritual boundaries, we aim to illuminate connections and obscure certainties. Creating landscapes of imagination, our work utilizes ambiguity to empower audiences to make their own personal decisions – sparking debate and revealing the validity of multiple perspectives.
    www.ghostbridgetheatre.org

    [/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”one_half_last_clear”]

    [/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”clear”][/bscolumns]

  2. Valure: (Va’ lure: to value)

    Comments Off on Valure: (Va’ lure: to value)

     

    [bscolumns class=”one_half”]

    FEATURED ARTISTS
    Bethany Birnie, Bunny Portia, Caitlin Karolczak, C.L. Martin, Jane Wunrow, and Serah Sauser with a video installation piece from Jade Patrick

    Amidst the upheaval of 2016, one of the many things that remained uncertain as we entered a year with the new President-elect is how women’s rights would be affected. With this in mind, our inaugural show, Valure, highlighted a group talented female artists whose work was a challenging, powerful and visible reminder that women will not be silenced or devalued in the art world and beyond.

    The seven artists set out to deconstruct the confines of the idealized “feminine” and explore what it means to value the self while living within a society which places a taboo on aging and an endless fascination on youth. Influenced by dreams, individual identity and the metamorphosis of the body, this collection of work honored the physical, valuing life outside of the scope of the day-to-day.

    Wunrow’s abstract works created a collage fluidity, jumping between the physical world and the Divine ambiguity. In the same vein, Karolczak’s soft-lensed, anatomical disfigurations acted as the connective tissue between the somatic and the caprice. In both, the ephemeral was present but the outcome of death loomed like an ominous apparition, lightly-hued and visually arresting.

    Highlighting demonstrations of beauty through a voyeuristic gaze, artist Serah Sauser’s photographs invited us into a couture fantasy dipped in aberrancy. While Bethany Birnie’s whimsically macabre taxidermy pieces took callously discarded, ordinary roadkill and – with Frankenstein-esque creativity – reconstructed them into something dreamlike. By honoring the mortal chassis of these displaced animals, she placed worth on their life, both past and in their fantastical metamorphosis.

    A series of reflective, autobiographical paintings inspired by her summer job as a Playboy Bunny in the 70’s, Bunny Portia’s works were of the genre “Memento Mori,” which loosely translates into “remember that you will die.” Through photos of the “ideal figure” overlapping medical x-ray imagery, her paintings were intended as a symbolic reminder of the impermanence of beauty, including the arc of aging and mortality.

    Though each artist’s unique experience was apparent, their visual connection was a transcendent journey into the various ways society, culture and our own bias shape and often distort identity.

    [/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”one_half_last_clear”]

    OPENING RECEPTION
    Friday, January 27th 2017
    With live experimental dub music by local female electronic music producer Aimerie

    CLOSING RECEPTION
    Friday, February 17th  2017 – $10
    Featured “Mannequin’s Daughter,” an original dance performance piece from Ghostbridge Theatre

     

    [/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”clear”][/bscolumns]

  3. Stork and Raven // #FolkloreRemix Performances Presented by Ghostbridge Theatre

    Comments Off on Stork and Raven // #FolkloreRemix Performances Presented by Ghostbridge Theatre

    Folklore_remix_FB

    #FolkloreRemix-Inspired Performances Thursday, July 28th, 2016
    Doors at 8pm, Performances at 8:30pm / $10 admission
    Music pre & post-performance by James Patrick

    Step inside the magical world of The Unwinged Flock, as this refugee tribe of birds presents a fresh mix of performances styles, from opera and improvised music to modern dance and performance art. Riffing on the numerous folklore stories told about winged creatures, these actors and musicians will cross cultures to weave together a new story of bird vs. man.

    Hailing from the “Great Nest” where all the legendary folklore birds once resided – the stork who brings the baby; the very first cardinal, who flew through the red of the rainbow; the crow, who was manipulated by the sly fox for his wedge of cheese – these and all the famous birds resided in the Great Nest until they were shot down by humans from the sky. No longer able to fly, The Unwinged Flock are now on journey to find a new home to tell their stories.

    Inspired by Gamut’s on-going exhibit featuring cross-cultural original artwork by Rodrigo Oñate, Luis Fitch and Repo, Ghostbridge Theatre’s enchanting storytelling will challenge viewers to reexamine perspective and invites modern-day interpretation into folklore. James Patrick will open and close the evening with a world beat DJ set.

    PERFORMERS: Tera Kilbride, Nico Swenson, Sonja Johanson, Jeff Nichols, Karen Massey, Vanessa Christian, Sheila Regan, Emily Dantuma (cello), Aaron Neumann (flute and banjo), with costumes by Michael Hearn.