Production Photos 

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For Immediate Release:

A Bard Walks Into A Bar: Taffety Punk Revamps Beowulf as a Barroom Tale

Absolute minimalism yields epic depth in the retelling of our oldest surviving English story. 

Where:  Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003)
When:  Apr 4 — Apr 19, 2025
Price:  $20 — Tickets available at www.taffetypunk.com

Fresh from their Helen Hayes Awards nominations for last fall’s The Tragedie of Macbeth, Taffety Punk makes the old new again — unearthing the original English epic to examine the idea of the hero. In a bar.

The company — known for highly stylized movement and ensemble devised works, usually with lots of amplified music — takes a decided turn towards minimalism to embrace the storyteller quality of the original poem. Transforming their home space, in the black box at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, into a bar-like environment provides an intimate setting for the work at hand. Hoping to capture the compelling quality of the “bards of old” Marcus Kyd returns to the stage in this fresh adaptation equipped with only his own voice and a guitar.

Directed by fellow company member Chris Curtis, and inspired by a multitude of sources, Beowulf, A Retelling catapults the imaginations of the audience to an epic saga version of 5th century Scandinavia. The story opens with the Danes celebrating a long awaited peace by building a resplendent hall called Heorot. This place of beauty and community is near immediately beset by a monster devoid of anything but appetite which swiftly brings the kingdom to ruin. For twelve years the Danes suffer these attacks. Across the waves in Geatland, a young warrior named Beowulf hears of the trouble and chooses to do something about it. We follow the adventures of Beowulf in Denmark, and his journey back to the Geats, ultimately to the last fight of his long adventurous life.

Director Chris Curtis offers an insight into his motivation when he says: “It occurs to me that modern audiences hear myths through a sheen of fiction. We say ‘the monster represents evil’ or whatever, and that makes it easy to be detached from it. But to the original audiences, that arguably wasn’t true at all. To be sure, there’s always been a degree of myth making—valorizing heroes, exaggerating perils, and such. But the thing is, those people knew: monsters are real. And they hurt and kill people for real.”

Persuaded by the recent translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley who endorses the original poem as a barroom tale, in addition to Seamus Heaney’s version in which he tries to capture the sound of the “big voiced Scullions” of his Irish family, Kyd and Curtis have been tackling how to re-craft the story for modern listeners. Kyd says, “The challenge in adapting it is to make this epic understandable without losing the epic qualities therein.” He says he originally imagined a show where he recited all 3,182 lines of poem from start to finish and laughs now when he reflects on this: “I think by the end of that, I might have been the only one left in the room.”

The Beowulf epic often takes an abrupt turn into other sagas popular among its first millennium listeners. So along the way, Kyd dives into other tales closer to our lives — notably stories of the famed Hawaiian surfer and lifeguard Eddie Aikau, and the Oversteegen sisters in Holland. The ballad of “John Henry vs the Steam Drill” also makes an appearance. Beowulf’s story is here, intact, and all three monsters he faces. Meanwhile, the show looks to capture and contextualize the original impulses of the story for a modern audience, and like the original asks the bigger question, “What makes someone a hero?”

The format of the show is inspired by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s famed adaptation of Homer’s epic, An Iliad. Chris Curtis witnessed this intimate production on two separate occasions and it was Curtis who brought the script to Taffety Punk’s attention which led to the company’s production in 2016, directed by company member Dan Crane. Additionally Kyd cites international performer Xanthe Gresham as a critical inspiration for how a modern storyteller can tackle an ancient text and make it riveting for the audience. With an expansive repertoire, Gresham has brought her adaptations of ancient Persian epics to stages at the Smithsonian, and appears again this year at the Nowruz festival, thrilling audiences with tales of heroes and their trials.

“Chris is right,” Kyd offers. “Monsters are real. We would do well to remember that.”

Taffety Punk Theatre Company as always is committed to making the best possible theatre for the best possible price. Tickets for this show will not exceed $20. In a first for Taffety Punk, there will be reserved seats. Seats at tables will be $20, with barstools and some standing room available at lower prices.

Beowulf, A Retelling opens at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – two blocks from Metro’s Orange/Blue Line stop at Eastern Market) on Saturday, April 5th at 8:00pm and runs on Wednesdays through Saturdays through Saturday, April 19th. All evening performances are at 8:00pm. There is a half-price preview on April 4th. There is an additional “industry night” performance on April 14th, and one Saturday Matinee at 2:00pm on April 19th.

This show is estimated to run 75 minutes in length. Give or take.

Featuring company member and artistic director Marcus Kyd, and directed by company member Chris Curtis, with light design by Elijah Thomas.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

For hi-res photos, go to: www.taffetypunk.com/press

Marcus Kyd (adapter and performer) is an, actor, director, and musician based in Washington, DC. He is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Taffety Punk Theatre Company where he has directed original works including Enter Ophelia, distracted (co-created with Kimberly Gilbert), Fragments of Sappho, suicide.chat.room, and adaptations of Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, and The Phoenix and Turtle, and new plays Phaeton, and Our Black Death. Other directing credits include Adirondack Theatre Festival: The Last Wide Open, and Dial M for Murder; Contradiction Dance Company’s Fashion Victim, in collaboration with choreographer Kelly King; Devised Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theatre Academy, co-directed with Emma Jaster; and Part 3 of Nicholas Nickleby (a reading) at the Theatre Lab. For three years he directed the Folger Shakespeare Library’s touring educational troupe “Bill’s Buddies” who brought Shakespeare to life for hundreds of students every year with a live performance and interactive workshops. As an actor Marcus has performed in his original play The Devil in His Own Words for Taffety Punk, directed by company member and co-founder Lise Bruneau. He has also been on stage at the the Kennedy Center, The Lincoln Center, The Folger Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Round House Theatre, Theater J, Devil’s Isle Shakespeare Company, Center Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Anti-Social Music/WPAS, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Happenstance Theater Company, and many more. He played guitar and sang for The Most Secret Method.

Chris Curtis (Macbeth) is a DC-based director, lighting designer, experimental musician/sound designer, and company member at Taffety Punk. Recent work with the Punks includes Venus and Adonis, This Inherent Echo, Our Black Death, Pramkicker, Mom Baby God, She Rode Horses Like The Stock Exchange, Hamlet Q1, Enter Ophelia, distracted (lights), Phaeton (asst. dir/lights); Oxygen (co-dir.); and many Bootleg Shakespeare shows. Other recent work includes Merchant of Venice with Faction of Fools (lights) and NOW, Objects of Hope, and Code Switch with Contradiction Dance (lights).

Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Founded to establish an actively collaborative company of actors, dancers, and musicians, the company has been at the forefront of theatre innovation, presenting groundbreaking productions that inspire audiences and introducing new playwrights and stories to the stage, new works of choreography, and new compositions of original music. Through its artist-nurturing Generator program Taffety Punk has a rich history of developing original works that challenge theatre norms. Generator projects that have realized full production include the widely celebrated dance plays suicide.chat.room, Fragments of Sappho, and Enter Ophelia, distracted; as well as the world premieres of Liz Maestri’s Inheritance Canyon, and Kelsey Mesa’s La Salpêtrière (nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards in 2024 including Outstanding New Play, and winner of two of those nominations: Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Supporting Actor - company member Kimberly Gilbert). Over the years, Taffety Punk has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for its work and, in fact, won the very first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company from the Helen Hayes Awards. The Washington Post declared the company “The most vital of the city’s small troupes.” The company’s all-female ensemble, the Riot Grrrls, have repeatedly delighted audiences delivering impassioned productions of classical plays while empowering women in theatre. The recent Riot Grrrls production of The Tragedie of Macbeth garnered two Helen Hayes Award nominations: Lise Bruneau for Lead Performer, and Marcus Kyd for Sound Design. The Bootleg Shakespeare is a widely celebrated event the company hosts with the partnership of the Folger Theatre providing the most exciting night of theatre anyone could ask for: an entire Shakespeare play rehearsed and performed in a single day. The company has released albums by its company members and their tangential bands, most notably the indie rock sensation Beauty Pill, the musical home for two Taffety Punk Company Members: composer Chad Clark and singer Erin Mitchell Nelson. Taffety Punk’s music catalog is available on all streaming platforms and via taffetypunk.bandcamp.com where LPs and singles can be ordered. Taffety Punk is thrilled to add company member Teresa Spencer’s book of poetry and short stories to the company’s media catalog. Too Like the Lightning is available at bookstores everywhere. As Taffety Punk Theatre Company moves forward, it remains committed to its mission to ignite a public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful, and affordable. The company is excited to continue its legacy of excellence and making the greatest theatre for the lowest price. www.taffetypunk.com

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Taffety Punk "Hollas Back" with Darts Disguised as Kisses

The Punks’ first foray into book publishing is a comedic F U to catcallers

➤  Book Signing and Reading: Oddyssey Bookstore October 26, 2024 at 6:30pm

115 W Green St, Lower Ithaca, NY 14850 | (607) 269 5800

Available wherever books are sold, or via direct link at www.taffetypunk.com

Taffety Punk Theatre Company returns to antagonizing the patriarchy with the publication of company member Teresa Spencer’s Too Like the Lightning: Prose Poems to My Almost Loves. This riot grrrl’s first published book is, appropriately, a riot. This comic, pro-lady-rage collection is a series of love poems to catcallers, followers home, online trolls, and other sundry unsavory types. Spencer began to pen these delights, framed as “missed connections”, to share with friends in solidarity over the utter nuisance of street harassment. The collection grew, she took requests, and ultimately her home theatre company commissioned her for more.

Taffety Punk will release the book as a print edition featuring pin-up style illustrations by Sydney Schwindt on August 23rd. A full-cast audiobook, narrated by the company’s all-female Riot Grrrls and guests, will follow shortly thereafter.

Flipping the power dynamic between target and harasser, each poem in Too Like the Lightning is a bitingly funny takedown of the harasser’s gaslight: “I was just paying you a compliment.” So what if it were a compliment? Too Like the Lightning imagines love stories whose first sparks are those too-brief missed connections on the street.

Taffety Punk Company Member Teresa Spencer has been collecting true stories of harassment of women in public spaces for close to a decade and turning them into hyper romantic odes to pervs. Spencer says, “Street harassment exists, in a very real way, on the same spectrum of behaviors as sexual violence. The harasser knows what he’s doing: he’s not hitting on her, he’s exercising control. He’s putting her in her place in public. These poems flip that script: the joke’s on him.”

The collection of poems and short fiction in Too Like the Lightning has been evolving since 2016. The series started in that mecca for DIY sass activism: Tumblr. When she began, Spencer expected the series would include no more than a handful of love poems based on the most laughable catcalls from her own life. Very quickly, though, women started sharing their most appalling, obscene, scary, or just weird meet-cutes with harassers, and the collection just kept growing.

And then Spencer’s work took off, as the best underground art does: her poems made appearances in The Establishment and Defenestration; the Cincinnati-based company Walterhoope released five comedy shorts adapted from the collection; and there is even a jazz composition of one poem by the band Fallen Crooner.

Taffety Punk, as ever refusing to be bound by genre, was Too Like the Lightning’s natural home for publication. Excited by the prospect of publishing, Taffety Punk Artistic Director Marcus Kyd asked Spencer to expand the series for an illustrated print edition and a full-cast audiobook. Kyd says, “These are the poems we did not know we needed. Women will bond over its painful truths while man can, and should, learn just how bad things are.”

M.L. Rio, author of If We Were Villains, received an advance copy and has already praised the collection calling the book “a dark delight.” She continues, ”Spencer writes like a vampire bites — with fanged and ferocious wit." 

Too Like the Lightning: Prose Poems to My Almost Loves is available August 23, 2024 wherever books are sold and via Taffety Punk’s website: www.taffetypunk.com.

The forthcoming Too Like the Lightning audiobook will feature the voices of Taffety Punk Company Members and guest artists.

For hi-res photos and a sneak peek at the illustrations, go to: www.taffetypunk.com/press

Author Teresa Spencer is an actor and writer based in Baltimore, Maryland, where she teaches acting at Towson University. She writes from an actor’s point of view: always aware of the sounds of language spoken out loud. Feminism and fart jokes underpin all her work. She has been a frequent Taffety Punk collaborator since 2013. Illustrator

Sydney Schwindt is a nomadic theatre practitioner and illustrator working under the moniker True Edge Art. She directs, fight directs, acts, teaches, paints, and draws. At the time of publication, she will be van-dwelling in Alaska.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Founded to establish an actively collaborative company of actors, dancers, and musicians, the company has been at the forefront of theatre innovation, presenting groundbreaking productions that inspire audiences and introducing new playwrights and stories to the stage, new works of choreography, and new compositions of original music. Through its artist-nurturing Generator program Taffety Punk has a rich history of developing original works that challenge theatre norms. Generator projects that have realized full production include the widely celebrated dance plays suicide.chat.room, Fragments of Sappho, and Enter Ophelia, distracted; as well as the world premieres of Liz Maestri’s Inheritance Canyon, and Kelsey Mesa’s La Salpêtrière (nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards in 2024 including Outstanding New Play, and winner of two of those nominations: Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Supporting Actor - company member Kimberly Gilbert). Over the years, Taffety Punk has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for its work and, in fact, won the very first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company from the Helen Hayes Awards. The Washington Post declared the company “The most vital of the city’s small troupes.” The company’s all-female ensemble, the Riot Grrrls, have repeatedly delighted audiences delivering impassioned productions of classical plays while empowering women in theatre. The Riot Grrrls reunite this year to prevent The Tragedie of Macbeth. The Bootleg Shakespeare is a widely celebrated event the company hosts with the partnership of the Folger Theatre providing the most exciting night of theatre anyone could ask for: an entire Shakespeare play rehearsed and performed in a single day. The company has released albums by its company members and their tangential bands, most notably the indie rock sensation Beauty Pill, the musical home for two Taffety Punk Company Members: composer Chad Clark and singer Erin Mitchell Nelson. Taffety Punk’s music catalog is available on all streaming platforms and via taffetypunk.bandcamp.com where LPs and singles can be ordered. Taffety Punk is thrilled to add company member Teresa Spencer’s book of poetry and short stories to the company’s media catalog. Too Like the Lightning will be released August 23, 2024 and will be available at bookstores everywhere. As Taffety Punk Theatre Company moves forward, it remains committed to its mission to ignite a public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful, and affordable. The company is excited to continue its legacy of excellence and making the greatest theatre for the lowest price.

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 Production Photos 

click any photo to open hi-res / downloadable versions

For Immediate Release:

Riot Grrrls Dare Do All That May Become a Man . . . just Better

Taffety Punk's all-female classical band is back.

Where:  Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003)
When:  Sep 25—Oct 12, 2024
Price:  $20 — Tickets available at www.taffetypunk.com

Fresh from their Helen Hayes Awards win for Outstanding Production (La Salpêtrière) the Taffety Punks bring back the Riot Grrrls to show us how Shakespeare is done.

With a ten-woman cast, director Michelle Shupe brings a fresh and fierce perspective to Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. Shupe invokes the Norns of Norse Mythology as inspiration for the three witches — or “wyrd sisters” as they are called here. The three become the spine of the play as Macbeth and other nobles grapple with their choices against fortune. Shupe says, “Elevating the witches to the Fates asks the question: does fate control you or do you control your fate? Being that wrapped up with destiny, what does the play say about autonomy?”

The Tragedie of Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s more overtly supernatural scripts, wherein a successful thane of ancient Scotland encounters the three wyrd women who prophesy he will be King. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s choices from this point create one of the greatest tragedies of betrayal, self-sabotage, and “over-arching ambition” ever written. While the gruesome plot that plays out seems inevitable, actors delight in the dizzying number of motivations and tactics can be pursued toward the final scene.

Taffety Punk’s company members are known for bringing raw intensity and nuanced interpretations to the stage. In this production, Lise Bruneau and Tonya Beckman (seen together earlier this year as the Narrators in Venus and Adonis) return to take on the title roles, with Bruneau as Macbeth and Beckman as Lady Macbeth. Bruneau delights in the opportunity “to trace the descent of Macbeth into darkness.” She says, “It happens little by little until he is beyond rescue, as he sacrifices his humanity by degrees over the course of the play. One ill choice slowly becomes many, as Macbeth’s access to tenderness and vulnerability converts into bitter and miserable venom.”

Beckman shares some of the inherent challenges in taking on the iconic role of Lady Macbeth: “I think it's tempting, anytime you take on a role that has such a long history and tradition attached to it, to worry about two things: 1. Am I doing this ‘right’? and 2. How can I make my version unique and special? I think both those questions are traps. So I try to ignore the noise and keep my attention inside the play. I always want to know what makes the play matter now. What does Lady Macbeth speak to about today? For me, that question is a lot about what we think about ambitious women.”

Many of the actors take on multiple parts moving swiftly through the story on a set designed by Jessica Moretti, who returns to Taffety Punk after a long hiatus (during which she worked with the Oscar winning design team of del Toro’s Pinocchio). Moretti is transforming the small black box at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop into a space that is simultaneously intimate and full of depth. Utilizing ancient imagery from traditions on either side of the North Sea, a ritualistic significance will emerge from the practical needs of the the scenic elements.

Stage combat is also an element of many classical plays that is ordinarily denied to women — even though women receive the same training and certifications in combat as men. Because of the intimate space at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, fight choreographer Lorraine Ressegger-Slone is focusing on smaller weapons — daggers and knives — for the combat in the show. She explains that she is basing the choreography on Kali, a Filipino martial art: “Kali is both graceful, street-smart, and gritty, which I think is really fitting for the play. I love the fluidity of it, how quick and efficient it can be, but also how beautiful and powerful it looks.”
The women of Taffety Punk began the Riot Grrrls theatre project as a reaction to the lack of gender parity on American stages. They take their name and inspiration from the 90s punk movement that was focused on bringing "grrrls to the front". Women get all the training men do and are often still relegated to the three smaller roles in a Shakespeare play who do not get to enjoy any sword fights. This is an ongoing project to provide opportunities for women in theatre to play the roles ordinarily denied them, and to put women in the position of directors, designers, and stage managers.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company as always is committed to making the best possible theatre for the best possible price. Tickets for this show will not exceed $20.
The Tragedie of Macbeth opens at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – two blocks from Metro’s Orange/Blue Line stop at Eastern Market) on Saturday, Sep 28 and runs through Saturday, Oct 12. Specific showtimes are as follows: Half-Price Previews: Sep 25, 26, 27 at 7:30pm; Opening night: Sep 28 at 8:00pm, Industry Night: Sep 30 at 7:30pm; and then Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm through October 12, with an additional matinee performance at 2:00pm on the last Saturday.

This show is estimated to occupy 130 minutes of show time. Give or take.

Featuring company member Lise Bruneau in the title role with company members Tonya Beckman (Lady Macbeth), and Teresa Spencer (Banquo/Macduff), with Hana Clarice (Ross), Fabiolla da Silva (Seyton), Irene Hamilton (1st Wyrd Sister, Lennox), Ashara Knyshel (2nd Wyrd Sister, Lady Macduff), Rachael Small (3rd Wyrd Sister, Macduff’s Son, Gentlewoman), Dawn Thomas-Reidy (King Duncan, Porter, Murderer, Doctor, Voice of Hecate) and Mallory Trice (Malcolm, Fleance). The Riot Grrrls' Macbeth is directed by Michelle Shupe. Set design by Jessica Moretti; light design by Katie McCreary, costume design by Elizabeth Morton. Movement and Fight Choreography and Intimacy Direction by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone. Stage Manager: Carrie Edick.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – two blocks from Metro’s Orange/Blue Line stop at Eastern Market.

For hi-res photos, go to: www.taffetypunk.com/press

• Michelle Shupe (Director) is one of Taffety Punk’s original Riot Grrrl’s, having played the Friar in the all-female Romeo and Juliet. She has since collaborated with the Taffety Punk several time an actor playing the Duke in Measure for Measure; and as the director of Twelfth Night. A resident of the Windy City, Shupe has been active with The Shakespeare Project of Chicago for many years: acting, directing, assistant directing and serving as dramaturge and associate artistic director. Directing credits with the Project include: Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, Women Beware Women (co-director),“The Dark Lady", Merchant of Venice, and "A Shakespearean Garden" (director and co-adapter). Next exciting assignment: King Lear in 2025. Directing credits outside the Project include guest directorships at Roosevelt University and AD at Venus Theater and the Washington International School.

• Lise Bruneau (Macbeth) is a co-founder of Taffety Punk, where she recently appeared with fellow company member Tonya Beckman as the narrators of Venus and Adonis. She played Iago in the Riot Grrrls: Othello (directed by Kelsey Mesa), and has directed many of the Riot Grrrls, Bootleg Shakespeare, and TPunk shows: notably Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Oxygen, Bloody Poetry, Pericles, King John and Owl Moon. DC Area appearances include her recent Helen Hayes winning performance in Solas Nua's The Honey Trap. Other area credits include Arena Stage: Junk, Watch on the Rhine, The Heiress, Legacy of Light; Shakespeare Theatre Co: Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, Othello; Mosaic Theater Co: Eureka Day, Paper Dolls; Theatre J: Breaking Glass, Mikveh; Round House Theatre: This, The Book Club Play and Center Stage: Mary Stuart, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Blithe Spirit. Outside of DC, Lise has performed in New York on Broadway in Roundabout Theatre's The Cherry Orchard, directed by Simon Godwin; and at the Park Avenue Armory in Hamlet, and The Oresteia, directed by Robert Icke; and at American Regional Theatres such as ACT San Francisco in Sweat, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Angels in America; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in The Revolutionists; Denver Center Theatre Co in Heartbreak House (Henry Award); Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in Merry Wives of Windsor; and Alabama Shakespeare Festival as Margaret of Anjou in Wars of the Roses. As a freelance director, she has helmed the recent Oresteia, and Measure for Measure for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company; 4000 Miles for Clarence Brown Theatre; Hamlet (starring Marcus Kyd) for Nebraska Shakespeare; and Savage in Limbo for MetroStage, among others. Ms. Bruneau trained at RADA. www.lisebruneau.com

• Tonya Beckman (Lady Macbeth) is a company member of Taffety Punk where she has appeared in: Venus & Adonis, Our Black Death, Othello, Pramkicker, Don Juan, She Rode Horses Like The Stock Exchange, The Tempest, The Rape Of Lucrece, Bloody Poetry, Charm, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Owl Moon, Measure For Measure, Romeo & Juliet, the world-premiere of suicide.chat.room, as well as the Bootleg Shakespeare productions of Troilus & Cressida, Two Noble Kinsmen, King John, Hamlet, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Henry VI, and Richard III. DC area acting credits include Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, Round House Theatre, Kennedy Center, Theater J, Ford’s Theatre, Imagination Stage, Mosaic Theater Company, Solas Nua, 1st Stage, and Constellation Theatre. Regional theatre credits include: Cleveland Play House, Cincinnati Playhouse, Fulton Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Totem Pole Playhouse, Public Theatre of Maine, Purple Rose Theatre, and Human Race Theatre. www.tonyabeckman.com

• Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Founded to establish an actively collaborative company of actors, dancers, and musicians, the company has been at the forefront of theatre innovation, presenting groundbreaking productions that inspire audiences and introducing new playwrights and stories to the stage, new works of choreography, and new compositions of original music. Through its artist-nurturing Generator program Taffety Punk has a rich history of developing original works that challenge theatre norms. Generator projects that have realized full production include the widely celebrated dance plays suicide.chat.room, Fragments of Sappho, and Enter Ophelia, distracted; as well as the world premieres of Liz Maestri’s Inheritance Canyon, and Kelsy Mesa’s La Salpêtrière (nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards in 2024 including Outstanding New Play, and winner of two of those nominations: Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Supporting Actor - company member Kimberly Gilbert). Over the years, Taffety Punk has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for its work and, in fact, won the very first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company from the Helen Hayes Awards. The Washington Post declared the company “The most vital of the city’s small troupes.” The company’s all-female ensemble, the Riot Grrrls, have repeatedly delighted audiences delivering impassioned productions of classical plays while empowering women in theatre. The Riot Grrrls reunite this year to prevent The Tragedie of Macbeth. The Bootleg Shakespeare is a widely celebrated event the company hosts with the partnership of the Folger Theatre providing the most exciting night of theatre anyone could ask for: an entire Shakespeare play rehearsed and performed in a single day. The company has released albums by its company members and their tangential bands, most notably the indie rock sensation Beauty Pill, the musical home for two Taffety Punk Company Members: composer Chad Clark and singer Erin Mitchell Nelson. Taffety Punk’s music catalog is available on all streaming platforms and via taffetypunk.bandcamp.com where LPs and singles can be ordered. Taffety Punk is thrilled to add company member Teresa Spencer’s book of poetry and short stories to the company’s media catalog. Too Like the Lightning will be released August 23, 2024 and will be available at bookstores everywhere. As Taffety Punk Theatre Company moves forward, it remains committed to its mission to ignite a public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful, and affordable. The company is excited to continue its legacy of excellence and making the greatest theatre for the lowest price.   www.taffetypunk.com

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Artists for "Venus and Adonis"

click any photo to open hi-res / downloadable versions

Tonya Beckman, Sarina Martinez de Osaba, and Lise Bruneau, in “Venus and Adonis” by William Shakespeare. Photo by Marcus Kyd.

For Immediate Release:

A Goddess, a Hunk, and a Boar Walk into a Bar . . . Forest

Taffety Punk presents Shakespeare’s origin story of frustrated love.

Where:  Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003)
When:  April 18 — 27, 2024
Price:  $15 — Tickets available at www.taffetypunk.com

Taffety Punk is thrilled to present a hybrid concert of the poem that made Shakespeare famous. Venus and Adonis so astounded the Elizabethan world it was reprinted nine times before Shakespeare’s death — much more than any of his plays or other poems. Waiting patiently for us all at the back of any “Complete Works,” this timeless poem grapples with a pendulum of passions between desire and restraint, and remains as vivid and visceral to the modern audience as when it was new. It’s time to put this classic on the top of the playlist, remastered by Taffety Punk.
 
Based on a brief story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, immortal Venus falls for the mortal Adonis and woos him. Astonishingly, Adonis seems indifferent — a first for her! — putting the Goddess of Love at risk of suffering from an unrequited love. Weaving music and dance into this rich tapestry of verse, Taffety Punk amplifies the emotional underpinnings of this unique and riveting story to make it as ardent as a first kiss. The dramatic and thematic revelations in the text focus on love and loss; expectations of roles and status; and the inversion of those expectations.

Embracing the innate storyteller function of an epic poem, Venus and Adonis features two Taffety Punk company members, renowned actors Tonya Beckman and Lise Bruneau, who bring their wealth of vocal experience to bear on the poetry. “One of the things that I’m most drawn to about the poem is that it’s the piece that made Shakespeare a star, yet most of us today don’t know much about it,” says Beckman. “I am excited to have the opportunity to dig into it, just for that reason. That he wrote it in quarantine during a plague feels relevant, as we’re only a couple of years out of our own similar experience. And I love the unexpected comedy that is popping up along the way.”

Company member Kathy Cashel, a stalwart of DC’s punk and indie music scene, provides intermittent sonic fields for the poem to soar over. Choreographer Erin Mitchell Nelson enhances the story with movement impulses drawn from Shakespeare’s imagery performed by dancer Sarina Martinez de Osaba.

Taffety Punk has a proven history of bringing Shakespeare's lesser-known works to life with dynamic adaptations that make the story meaningful to contemporary audiences. The company’s celebrated adaptation of the Bard’s other epyllion, The Rape of Lucrece, features a full rock band and modern dance at play with the actors' narrative. Venus and Adonis is a quieter interpretation, but similar to Lucrece, director Marcus Kyd keeps the text onstage with the actors. Kyd says, “The structure of these poems frees us from the constraints imposed by a play. We are emphasizing the storyteller nature of it, and we have some expressive freedom in terms of sound and choreography to enhance the emotional impact.” He adds, “We are thrilled to give this too-long overlooked poem a sort of modern debut.”
 
Venus and Adonis plays at 8:00pm on a variety of dates between April 18 and 27 at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – two blocks from Metro’s Orange/Blue Line stop at Eastern Market). There is a half-price preview on Thursday April 18. The show will open on Friday, April 19, and then play on April 20, 23, 25, 26, and finally closes Saturday, April 27. There will be cake in the lobby available on April 23 to celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday. In keeping with Taffety Punk’s promise to keep ticket prices low, tickets are $15, and are available at https://www.taffetypunk.com.
 
This show runs 80 minutes without an intermission.
                                                                       
Featuring company members Tonya Beckman, Lise Bruneau, with guest artist Sarina Martinez de Osaba, Venus and Adonis is directed by company member and co-founder Marcus Kyd, with original choreography by company member and co-founder Erin Mitchell Nelson. Lights designed by company member Chris Curtis. Music and sound composed and designed by company member Kathy Cashel.
 
For hi-res photos, go to: https://www.taffetypunk.com/press/.
 
Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Founded to establish an actively collaborative company of actors, dancers, and musicians, the company has been at the forefront of theatre innovation, presenting groundbreaking productions that inspire audiences and introducing new playwrights and stories to the stage, new works of choreography, and new compositions of original music. Through its artist-nurturing Generator program Taffety Punk has a rich history of developing original works that challenge theatre norms. Generator projects that have realized full production include the widely celebrated dance plays suicide.chat.room, Fragments of Sappho, and Enter Ophelia, distracted; as well as the world premieres of Liz Maestri’s Inheritance Canyon, and Kelsey Mesa’s La Salpêtrière (nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards in 2024 including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production). Over the years, Taffety Punk has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for its work and, in fact, won the very first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company from the Helen Hayes Awards. The Washington Post declared the company “The most vital of the city’s small troupes.” The company’s all-female ensemble, the Riot Grrrls, have repeatedly delighted audiences delivering impassioned productions of classical plays while empowering women in theatre. The Bootleg Shakespeare is a widely celebrated event the company hosts with the partnership of the Folger Theatre providing the most exciting night of theatre anyone could ask for: an entire Shakespeare play rehearsed and performed in a single day. The company has released albums by its company members and their tangential bands, most notably the indie rock sensation Beauty Pill, the musical home for two Taffety Punk Company Members: composer Chad Clark and singer Erin Mitchell Nelson. Taffety Punk’s music catalog is available on all streaming platforms and via taffetypunk.bandcamp.com where LPs and singles can be ordered. As Taffety Punk Theatre Company moves forward, it remains committed to its mission to ignite a public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful, and affordable. The company is excited to continue its legacy of excellence and making the greatest theatre for the lowest price.
 
Marcus Kyd (Director) is a director, actor, and musician based in Washington, DC. He is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Taffety Punk Theatre Company where he has directed original works including Enter Ophelia, distracted (co-created with company member Kimberly Gilbert), Fragments of Sappho (based on the translations by Anne Carson), suicide.chat.room, the concert adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Rape of Lucrece, and The Phoenix and Turtle, and new plays Phaeton, by Michael Milligan, and Our Black Death, by Lindsay Carpenter. He directed Adirondack Theatre Festival’s Production of The Last Wide Open (returning there this summer to director Dial M for Murder), and Contradiction Dance Company’s Fashion Victim, in collaboration with choreographer Kelly King. For three years he directed the Folger Shakespeare Library’s touring educational troupe “Bill’s Buddies” who brought Shakespeare to life for hundreds of students every year with a live performance and interactive workshops. As an actor Marcus has performed for the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, The Folger Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Round House Theatre, Center Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Theater J, Anti-Social Music/WPAS, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, and many more. He played guitar and sang for The Most Secret Method.
 
Erin Mitchell Nelson (Choreographer) is a performing artist, choreographer and teaching artist. She is a co-founder and the Managing Director of Taffety Punk, and has created original movement for many Taffety productions, including This Inherent Echo, Enter Ophelia, distracted, and suicide.chat.room, and the dance films “Tulips”, “The Surround”, and “At a Loss”. She was a company member with the Latin Ballet of Virginia (Richmond) and Wellspring/Cori Terry and Dancers (Michigan). She has been on faculty at Western Michigan University Department of Dance, and has worked with Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell, Experimental Film Virginia, and the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival (RADFest). Erin holds a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MA in Arts Management from American University. She is a vocalist for the band Beauty Pill and teaches dance and movement in the DCMetro area.



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The cast of La Salpêtrière

click any photo to open hi-res / downloadable versions

For Immediate Release:

Punk Women Cure Hysteria, Start a Riot, and Leave Hospital in Ruins

Taffety Punk presents a world premiere, set in a 19th Century house of horrors, also known as a hospital for women.

Where:  Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003)
When:  Sep 28 — Oct 14, 2023
Price:  $15 — Tickets available at www.taffetypunk.com

Taffety Punk is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play by Kelsey Mesa. The eponymous 19th-century French hospital, La Salpêtrière, gained notoriety as a treatment center for the that most specious of maladies: hysteria in women. The patients were often subjected to brutal demonstrations of their treatments that were open to the public. These treatments sometimes included repeated punches to the ovaries, or an abusive hypnosis spectacle.

In Mesa's breathtaking new play, we meet Yvette, a new patient, who wakes in the hospital completely unaware of how she arrived. Yvette meets other patients who help her endure the degrading practices employed by the hospital’s doctor. Meanwhile, Yvette discovers a latent inner power which emboldens her and her fellow patients to start a revolt against the hospital to reclaim their lives. La Salpêtrière is a story that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. It draws humor from the absurd realities of the past to deliver a magnificent tale of inspiration for all.

Company member Danielle A. Drakes directs this poignant and timely play in the Black Box theatre at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. With a cast of four, Ms. Drakes takes on the inherent tragicomedy at the heart of the play with Fabiolla da Silva as Yvette, the new patient and hero of the play. Ms. da Silva is joined by Yihong Chen (Didi), Danny Puente Cackley (Le Docteur) and Taffety Punk company member Kimberly Gilbert (Antoine).

Playwright Kelsey Mesa was inspired to write the play after reading about the hospital’s gruesome history, saying, “La Salpêtrière—or, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière as it's now called—has been a gunpowder factory, a women's prison, an asylum, and hospice, and one of the locations of the September Massacres; it was also the hospital where both Josephine Baker and Princess Diana died. The historical facts surrounding this hospital and its centuries-long treatment of women are absurd and grotesque.” Reading Sady Doyle's book, Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear...and Why (which has a chapter about the famous hysterics of La Salpêtrière), led her to hunt down Asti Hustvedt's Medical Muses: Hysterics in Nineteeth-Century Paris. “I kept having to put the book down to laugh or cry or both. Eventually, some very theatrical images started materializing in my mind, so I thought it would make for a good play. I wasn't exactly sure where the story would go, but the characters kept guiding me deeper and deeper to the heart of it, and further and further to the end.”

A company member of Taffety Punk, Mesa workshopped the play through the company’s Generator program, which artistic director Marcus Kyd describes as “an internal artistic combustion engine.” Generator workshops kept the company members working during the pandemic when theatres were closed to the public. Various company members had a hand at the different roles over a couple years. This spring, the company held a workshop reading to give the play its first public airing, and played to a packed house.

Actor Fabiolla da Silva has been with the play for the better part of the year, as she also played Yvette during the final workshopping process. “This show offers audiences an unexpected adventure with a lot of sass, ridiculousness, and gut-punches,” says da Silva. “This script offers such a ride! Kelsey has done such a beautiful job at creating well-rounded characters that live under very insane circumstances. Just when I kept thinking things couldn't get any wilder, they did.”

An important and timeless story, Mesa's play brings to life the struggles of these women who were treated so poorly, while it celebrates the strength and resilience of the human spirit. She says, “I hope it speaks to anyone who has ever felt gaslit by our patriarchal society. You're not crazy, the system is absurd.”

La Salpêtrière opens at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – two blocks from Metro’s Orange/Blue Line stop at Eastern Market) on Saturday, Sep 30 and runs through Saturday, Oct 14 on Wednesday and Thursdays at 7:30pm, and Friday and Saturdays at 8:00pm. There are two half-price previews on Sep 28 and 29 at 7:30pm. There is an additional Monday night (industry night) performance on Oct 9 at 7:30pm, and there is is one matinee on Saturday, Oct 7 at 2:30pm. In keeping with Taffety Punk’s promise to keep ticket prices low, tickets are $15, available at https://www.taffetypunk.com.

This show runs 90 minutes without an intermission.

Featuring company member Kimberly Gilbert (Antoine), with Fabiolla da Silva (Yvette), Yihong Chen (Didi), Danny Puente Cackley (Le Docteur). Curiously, Ms. Gilbert and Ms. da Silva have both won Helen Hayes Awards for separate portrayals of Marie Antoinette — Gilbert in David Adjimi’s Marie Antoinette at Woolly Mammoth directed by Yury Urnov, and da Silva in Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists at Prologue Theatre, directed by Jessica Lefkow. La Salpêtrière is directed by company member Danielle A. Drakes. Lights designed by elijah Thomas. Costumes designed by Johnna Presby. Set and Prop Manifestation by Daniel Flint. Movement, Fights, and Intimacy Direction by Lorraine Ressegger. Sound designed by Marcus Kyd. Stage Manager: Jenna Keefer.

For hi-res photos, go to: https://www.taffetypunk.com/press/.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Founded to establish an actively collaborative company of actors, dancers, and musicians, the company has been at the forefront of theatre innovation, presenting groundbreaking productions that inspire audiences and introducing new playwrights and stories to the stage, new works of choreography, and new compositions of original music. Through its artist-nurturing Generator program Taffety Punk has a rich history of developing original works that challenge theatre norms. Generator projects that have realized full production include the widely celebrated dance plays suicide.chat.room, Fragments of Sappho, and Enter Ophelia, distracted; as well as the world premieres of Liz Maestri’s Inheritance Canyon, and Lindsay Carpenter’s Our Black Death, and the newest of these: Kelsey Mesa’s La Salpêtrière. Over the years, Taffety Punk has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for its work and, in fact, won the very first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company from the Helen Hayes Awards. The Washington Post declared the company “The most vital of the city’s small troupes.” The company’s all-female ensemble, the Riot Grrrls, have repeatedly delighted audiences delivering impassioned productions of classical plays while empowering women in theatre. The Bootleg Shakespeare is a widely celebrated event the company hosts with the partnership of the Folger Theatre providing the most exciting night of theatre anyone could ask for: an entire Shakespeare play rehearsed and performed in a single day. The company has released albums by its company members and their tangential bands, most notably the indie rock sensation Beauty Pill, the musical home for two Taffety Punk Company Members: composer Chad Clark and singer Erin Mitchell Nelson. Taffety Punk’s music catalog is available on all streaming platforms and via taffetypunk.bandcamp.com where LPs and singles can be ordered. As Taffety Punk Theatre Company moves forward, it remains committed to its mission to ignite a public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful, and affordable. The company is excited to continue its legacy of excellence and making the greatest theatre for the lowest price.

Kelsey Mesa (Playwright) Directing credits include Fefu and Her Friends at the University of Maryland, College Park; Crimes of the Heart at Catholic University; The Pavilion, The Magi, and Wish List at the Hub Theatre; and Othello, Antigonick, She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange, Riot Grrrls The Trojan Women, Charm, and dREAMtRIPPIN’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company. She has also directed for The Inkwell, The Source Festival, Rorschach Theatre Company's Klecksography, Young Playwrights' Theatre, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and Theater Alliance’s Hothouse New Play Development Series. Kelsey is a company member at Taffety Punk Theatre Company, as well as the Manager of KCACTF and Theater Education at the Kennedy Center, where she is the Resident Director of the Kennedy Center Directing Intensive. She's an alumna of Directors Lab North. In 2021, Kelsey received the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion, recognizing contribution to the teaching and production of theatre, and to the development of KCACTF. Kelsey grew up in Miami, FL and is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Danielle A. Drakes (Director) is a multi-faceted theatre professional with extensive experience in performance, directing and arts administration. A company member with Taffety Punk Theatre Company, she recently directed Lise Bruneau’s narration of Shakespeare’s epic poem Lucrece to be released early in 2024 as an audiobook. She has also acted for Taffety Punk in the Riot Grrrls productions of Trojan Women, and Othello in which she played the title role — both directed by Kelsey Mesa. Even more recently, she directed two world premiere productions: The Wilting Point at Keegan Theatre and Ghost/Writer at Rep Stage. She developed and directed Paige Hernandez’s solo shows Paige in Full and Havana Hop, both continuing to tour nationally and internationally. Professionally, her work has earned her Helen Hayes Award nods for outstanding direction. Additional professional credits include The Kennedy Center and Ford’s Theatre, where she originated the role of Elizabeth Keckley in History on Foot (recipient of the Helen Hayes, The Washington Post Award). Danielle has dedicated her career to using theatre as a tool for envisioning a more empathetic and equitable society. As an actor, she blends living history with social impact. As an artistic doula she has supported artists on their creative journeys from idea to execution with care. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. She received her BA in Theatre from Goucher College and MFA in Acting from The Catholic University of America. Currently, Ms. Drakes is splitting her time between the stage and the classroom as an assistant professor of theatre arts at Towson University.

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Taffety Punk Premieres New Dance with DC Legends

contact press@taffetypunk.com for media and press requests

Where:  Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003)
When:  May 4 - 6, 2023, 8:00pm, with a 4pm matinee on Saturday May 6.
Price:   $15. Tickets available at www.taffetypunk.com.

Taffety Punk is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new Dance Work by our very own Erin Mitchell Nelson. This Inherent Echo is the culmination of more than a year of collaborative composition that includes some of DC’s finest artists. Nelson’s choreography is known for her unique and collaborative style, and her history of creating visually stunning experiences.

Adding to the dynamism of the performance is live, original music provided by cellist Amy Domingues and drummer Amy Farina, that was written simultaneously and collaboratively with the development of the choreography. Both Farina and Domingues are beloved stalwarts of the DC punk community. Powerful and melodic, the music drives the action of the dance from subtle discoveries to heights of intensity.

Artist Rania Hassan has been a key contributor to the creation of this piece, which includes her artwork as partially a set piece and partially an apparatus which the dancers manipulate or respond to in concert with one another. Hassan’s work, focusing on weaving sculptural stories about our connections, is the perfect material component for this new dance.

Nelson describes the work as a piece about stories, journeys, and intersecting narratives. “It’s a piece about strength and connections, community and support. It’s about the choices we make that become part of our narratives,” she says. “These experiences echo through time and generations. What kind of shadows do we cast, and are shadows necessarily negative?”

Amy Farina says, "If more people communicated through dance, it might allow for a deeper connection to what is essential in our lives, or at least that connection might be more readily available to us. What at first seems abstract may reveal itself to be the clearest way from here to there; this has been my experience with This Inherent Echo thus far.”

To honor their punk roots of inclusivity, diversity, and community each performance will showcase an opening act of original choreography from artists across the DC dance community. On May 4, Corina Iona Denzell opens; on May 5, Katie Sopoci Drake and Malcom Shute; and on May 6, Chloè Richier and Rae Grey.

Tickets are available now and can be purchased online or at the venue box office.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to experience the artistry of Erin Mitchell Nelson’s direction of this incredibly creative ensemble. Get your tickets today!

This Inherent Echo opens at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop on Thursday, May 4 and runs through Saturday, May 6 (Thursday—Saturday nights at 8pm, with one matinee on Saturday, May 6 at 4:00pm. Featuring dance artists Katie Harris Banks, Paulina Guerrero, Safi Harriott, Katie Murphy, and Chloè Richier. Lighting design by Chris Curtis. Costume design by Elizabeth Morton. This Inherent Echo was partially developed during a Local Theatre Residency at the REACH at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The full program is estimated to occupy 90 minutes of show time. Give or take.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company is the resident company at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – two blocks from Metro’s Orange/Blue Line stop at Eastern Market.

For hi-res photos, go to: https://www.taffetypunk.com/new/press/

Taffety Punk Theatre Company won the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the 2008 Helen Hayes Awards. More recently, the company received two Helen Hayes nominations for original choreography in both Phaeton and An Iliad. The company was also a 2010 finalist for the D.C. Mayor's Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts. Taffety Punk's mission is to maintain a dynamic ensemble of actors, dancers and musicians who ignite a public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful, and affordable.

Erin Mitchell Nelson (Director, Choreographer) Erin Mitchell Nelson has been a professional performing artist, choreographer and teacher for over 20 years. She is a cofounder of Taffety Punk Theatre Company, and has created original movement for many of their productions, including “Enter Ophelia, distracted”, “suicide.chat.room”, and dance films “Tulips”, “The Surround”, and “At a Loss”. She has danced with the Latin Ballet of Virginia (Richmond) and Wellspring/ Cori Terry and Dancers (Michigan); faculty at Western Michigan University Department of Dance, Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell, and Experimental Film Virginia. Erin holds a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MA in Arts Management from American University. She is a vocalist for the band Beauty Pill.

Amy Domingues (Composer) is a cellist, viola da gamba player, singer, historical music specialist, and composer residing in Washington, DC. She has released three cello-oriented rock albums under the name Garland of Hours and appears as a recording artist on over eighty rock, pop, and classical albums. Chesapeake Shakespeare Theatre: Winter's Tale (2018). Taffety Punk: The Tempest (2015) Live scoring for Enter Ophelia, Distracted (2014) and Bootleg Shakespeare: Pericles (2014), Love’s Labours Lost (2013). Film: The Weather Underground (2002) Short Film: Harmony (2014). www.amydomingues.com

Amy Farina (Composer) has been an active drum set and orchestral percussionist, performing internationally, composing, and recording since the early 1990's. She is a dedicated student of the drums, and also a music and fine arts enrichment teacher at schools and studios throughout Washington, DC. In addition to the privilege of dance accompaniment, Amy has performed and recorded with numerous groups, including Coriky (with Ian MackKaye and Joe Lally, both formerly of Fugazi), The Evens, The Warmers, Ted Leo, and Lois Maffeo.

Rania Hassan (Artist): Rania Hassan creates site-specific installations that weave sculptural stories about our connections to time, place, and circumstance. The five main themes she works with embody ideas of community, synchronicity, identity, time, and memory. Her work is about levels of interconnectedness. From a single strand of thread, we are all connected. Rania’s artwork is included in the permanent collections of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, MD), Amazon Web Services (Herndon, VA), and the District of Columbia’s Art Bank Collection (Washington, DC). Previous solo exhibitions include The Front (New Orleans, LA), Gormley Gallery (Baltimore, MD), and Artisphere (Rosslyn, VA). She has given presentations about her artwork at area Universities (George Mason University, 2014) and Museums (Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, 2019; Textile Museum, Washington, DC, 2012, 2015), and her work has been featured in publications including the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, and Vogue Knitting. In 2009 she received a Craft Award of Excellence from the James Renwick Alliance and has been awarded multiple Artist Fellowship Program Grant Awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

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