WELCOME

Thank you for joining us for this annual performance gathering—the third iteration taking place in this space, located on unceded Dakota land in Mni Sota Makoce. Red Eye holds this space as a community resource that we steward with care, intention, and reciprocity. As a collective of working artists ourselves, each year we have the gift of accompanying twin cohorts of performance makers through their artistic process. As creation developed this year, our urgent attention has been drawn to the ongoing genocide in Palestine, our society’s complicity, and the practice of resistance. Many of the artists in this year’s festival brought forward proposals around futurisms, drawing on multiple contexts and lineages. We invite you, the audience, into this generosity—to imagine our shared futures moving towards transformation and liberation. 

The work that you are experiencing tonight grows out of Isolated Acts, a program that has been nurturing the Twin Cities performance-making community since the early 90s. Isolated Acts annually invites early and mid-career artists to come together for six months of deep artistic inquiry and critical dialogue as they develop and premiere a full new performance work. Artists are curated by Red Eye’s Artistic Directors; each year, we look for artists who are pursuing projects that reflect our core tenets of collaboration, experimentation, and critical discourse (expansively defined) and, collectively, embody a balance of varied artistic disciplines and practices, personal identities, and lived experiences. Throughout the winter and spring, artists are encouraged to take risks in a supportive environment; they develop their work in the same space where it is ultimately shared with audiences; and they have access to Red Eye’s equipment, as well as technical support, marketing support, and modest stipend. We are thrilled to share the fruits of this labor with you tonight, and invite you to share your thoughts with the artists after the performance.

One week remains of New Works 4 Weeks, with one last shared evening of performance! Please be sure to come back and join us for premieres of new interdisciplinary projects by Dameun Strange and Marcela Michelle, as part of the Isolated Acts program. Details and full schedule can be found at redeyetheater.org/calendar.

Thank you for bringing your presence, attention, and reflection to this place, and to the work of the incredible artists in this year’s festival. 

Valerie, Rachel, and Emily
Red Eye Co-Artistic Directors

Benny Olk

A SCHEMA

A SCHEMA could also be A SHAPE could also be A FIGURE could also be A POSTURE could also be A DEVICE could also be A DIVISION could also be A CALCULATION could also be AN INTERMEDIARY could also be AN OUTLINE could also be AN APPEARANCE

Sound sampled from Burst Mode (Edit) Quantec, Dong Il Jong and Shibucho Carl Stone, Vaporwave 02 Dozzy Donato, Page 1 James Ruskin & DVS1, Tenement Stairwell Pauline Anna Strom. 

Many things to Noelle Awadallah, Emily Gastineau, Rachel Jendrzejewski, Masanari Kawahara, Or Levinson, Marcella Michelle, Kaya Morris, Valerie Oliveiro, Pedra Pepa, Kat Purcell, Matt Regan, Dameun Strange, Carlo Antonio Villanueva, Jeffrey Wells.

Benny Olk (he/him) is a performing artist and teacher based in Minneapolis with an interest in contemporizing and contextualizing American modern and post-modern dance. As a member of Lucinda Childs Dance Company, he performed reconstructions of pieces such as Dance and Available Light. He performed in reconstructions of works by Merce Cunningham, and has premiered works by Moriah Evans and Anthea Hamilton. His collaborations with Tristan Koepke have been presented at SPACE in Portland, ME and CANDYBOX Dance Festival in Minneapolis, MN. Benny holds a BFA in Dance from NYU and an MA in New Performative Practices from Stockholm University of the Arts.

Masanari Kawahara

doro doro 

Soundscape: Sho Nikaido

doro doro is a butō piece out of bodies, memories, and experiences. It is ephemeral, and fluid practice, and manifest with the soundscape by Sho, energy/sound from the space and attention you, the audience, would give to the piece. My late father, sister and grandma will be there—in relation to my body and being in space. It will have a beginning, with a piece of clay in hands, and an ending. 

Thank yous to the cohort of IA artists, WIP artists and Red Eye Theater; MOVO Space, and Rosy Simas Danse Artist Residency program; and Gadu Doushin. 

Masanari Kawahara 川原正也 (he/him/his) is a Butoh doer, theatre artist, puppeteer, and arts educator. In connection to Red Eye Theater, he has performed in Lelis K. Brito’s A Binding Strangeness (2022) as part of Isolated Acts and Valerie Oliveiro’s SOFT FREEDOMS at the Cowles Center (2022). His solo piece 8’46” (movement for healing), featuring a soundscape by Sho Nikaido is, was performed as part of Offerings: BareBones 2020. Previously Masanari was a member of the Butoh group Nenkin Butoh Dan, which received a 2015 Sage Award for outstanding dance ensemble for Fu.Ku.Shi.Ma. Other dance projects including Anthea Hamilton’s Cabbage Four Ways (2021) as part of Paradox of Stillness at Walker Art Center; Throw Open the Heavy Curtain (2018) by Sharon Picasso Projects; prairie/concrete (2023), Census (2016), Every Other (2015) and Fold (2014) by Aniccha Arts. Masanari is a Playwrights’ Center McKnight Theater Artist Fellow 2018-2019 and 2010-2011.

Sho Nikaido is a Japanese immigrant photographer and musician in the Twin Cities area. Minnesota State Art Boards, Metropolitan Regional Art Council, and Andy Warhol Foundation support his photo activity. Nikaido has been making soundtracks for films and Butoh performances while working on his rock band, CELICA.