Download PROJECT: TRANSFORM Application Packet

PROJECT: TRANSFORM
Application Packet
Please return all application materials to Krista DeVellis.
Online: http://hartfordstage.org/project_transform
Email: [email protected]
Fax: (860) 244-0183
Mail: Krista DeVellis, Hartford Stage Education, 50 Church St., Hartford, CT 06103
All application materials must be received by Friday February 24, 2017.
Finalists will be contacted for a phone interview during the week of March 28.
Questions? Email [email protected] or call 860-520-7264.
Initial Application Checklist
€ Student Information Form
€ Writing Sample
€ Educator Endorsement (may be sent separately but must be received by Friday February
24, 2017)
Project: Transform
2017
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Project: Transform will bring together approximately 15-20 high school students from school districts
throughout Connecticut to create and perform a devised piece of theatre under the guidance of guest artist,
Kaneza Schaal, and Hartford Stage teaching artist Krista DeVellis. Students will create their own piece of
performance art, a collage of voices representing themselves, their families, neighborhoods, and
communities, with the purpose of celebrating cultures and inspiring transformation and change. The project
will incorporate theatre, music, dance, spoken word and other art forms, drawing upon the creative interests
of the group. The performance piece will explore the idea of transformation of minds, neighborhoods, and
communities. The program will conclude in a public performance open to families, friends, and the entire
community. Participation in this program is free and open to all high school students in Connecticut.
PROJECT DATES
Participants must make any conflicts clear before program begins.
Program Dates:
(The following rehearsals are from 12pm-5pm unless otherwise noted)
Thursday April 6: 6:30-7:30 Meet & Greet before Hartford Stage Show at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 8
Saturday, April 15
Saturday, April 22
Saturday, April 29
Saturday, May 6
Saturday, May 13
Friday, May 19: 4pm-8pm
Saturday, May 20: 1pm-8pm Rehearsal & Performance
Sunday, May 21: 12pm-3pm Performance & Reception
Schedule is subject to change.
Cast members will see the Hartford Stage production of The Absolute Brightness of Leonard
Pelkey on 4/6
About the piece:
‘Absolute Brightness’ is about the disappearance of Leonard Pelkey, a flamboyant 14-year-old who
has been bullied by his peers. Critically-acclaimed actor and writer James Lecesne (I Am My Own
Wife at Hartford Stage, the writer of the Academy Award-winning Trevor) portrays a tough New
Jersey detective, a withdrawn teenage girl, a brusque yet gentle hairdresser and a dozen other
intriguing characters as they join forces to solve a mystery that will forever change their lives. The
New Yorker called it, "A whodunit with a heart of gold.”
ARTISTS
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Project: Transform
2017
Kaneza Schaal
Kaneza Schaal is a New York City based artist. She came up in the downtown experimental theater
community, first working with The Wooster Group, then with other companies and artists including
Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell/New York City Players, Claude Wampler, Jay Scheib, New
York City Opera, and National Public Radio. Her practice is propelled by collaboration-based process
and experimentation. Her work uses text as a jumping off point to create visual, physical, sonic,
narrative and abstract expression.
Schaal received a 2016 Creative Capital Award for her new work JACK& JILL, a multimedia comedy of
errors that uses the writings of Psychiatrist R.D. Laing to create a play about social codes and training: from
prison re-entry programs to debutante balls. Her recent work, GO FORTH was commissioned by
Performance Space 122 with support from the Jerome Foundation 50th Anniversary Grant. Schaal
was an Artist in Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and received a 2014 Princess Grace Award
grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Process Space residency, Bogliasco Fellowship, Nathan
Cummings Foundation grant, Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant, and Princess
Grace George C. Wolfe Award. She was a member of Kara Walker’s 6-8 Months Space and her video
work appeared in Visionaire.
Schaal is an Arts-in-Education advocate and believes that creativity and learning are inextricably
linked. Her education work has spanned from universities to community centers to public high
schools, from workshops for professional artists, to professional development training for teachers, to
intergenerational collaborations between elders and teens. She developed The Arthur Miller
Foundation’s in-schools curriculum with Institute of Play. This fall Schaal began a new project with
young Syrian and Eritrean refugees through the International Children’s Book Library in Munich,
Germany. This work addresses migration and storytelling through micro-plays. Schaal taught an
Atelier course at Princeton University with Elevator Repair Service and has lectured at Yale
University, Lincoln Center, BAM, the Brooklyn Book Festival, and her alma mater Wesleyan
University, CT.
This work brought her to over 18 countries and venues including Centre Pompidou, Royal Lyceum
Theater Edinburgh, REDCAT, The Whitney Museum, BAM, The Kitchen, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and
MoMA.
Krista DeVellis
Krista DeVellis has been with Hartford Stage Company since 2014, beginning as an Education Apprentice
in 2014, and moving into the position of Resident Teaching Artist in 2015. She is proud to cultivate
students’ understanding and love of theatre through in-school programs, after-school classes, and outreach
initiatives in Connecticut. With Hartford Stage’s diverse programming, Krista works with a variety of
students from kindergarten through high school. Outside of teaching, Krista works with other local Nonprofit arts groups. Most recently, she has been the props master for Bated Breath’s new play Beneath the
Gavel. For the past two years she has also assisted with props and costumes for Night Fall, an annual
community event in Hartford that features storytelling, puppetry, and dance. In the Boston area, Krista has
worked with both the Puppet Showplace Theater and Wellesley Theatre Project. She is a graduate of
Skidmore College and holds a Bachelor of Science in Theater. While abroad, she studied physical theatre at
the Accademia Dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy focusing on improvisation, movement, Commedia dell’Arte, maskmaking, and puppetry.
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Project: Transform
2017
STUDENT INFORMATION FORM
Name: _________________________________________________________________
Phone number: (home) _________________ (cell) _________________ (circle preferred)
Email: ___________________________________________________________________
Nominating Educator: ________________________________________________________
School: __________________________________________________________________
Grade:
9th
10th
11th
12th
Please tell us about your experience with writing, acting, singing, dancing, rap, or any other skills you would
bring to the ensemble? (You may include additional sheets.):
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Why did you choose to apply for this project?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Do you have any conflicts with any of the project dates? If yes, please explain.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
WRITING SAMPLE: Please include a writing sample, less than 500 words. Sample may be in any form
(poem, narrative, spoken word, rap, blog, etc.) and should demonstrate your best work.
VERY IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ!
REHEARSALS:
Rehearsals will be mostly on Saturdays (4/8-5/120), with additional meetings on Thursday 4/6 and
Friday 5/19. Rehearsals are at Hartford Stage rehearsal studios located at 942 Main Street in
Downtown Hartford in the Residence Inn building.
PERFORMANCES:
The dates for the final performances of PROJECT: TRANSFORM are set for Saturday, May 20
(evening) and Sunday, May 21 (afternoon). Time and location TBA.
TRANSPORTATION:
Families will be responsible for student transportation to rehearsals and performances.
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Project: Transform
2017
EDUCATOR ENDORSEMENT
Due by Friday, February 24, 2017
Project: Transform will bring together approximately 15-20 high school students from school districts throughout
Connecticut to create and perform a devised piece of theatre under the guidance of guest artist Kaneza Schaal and
Hartford Stage teaching artist Krista DeVellis. Students will create their own piece of performance art, a collage of
voices representing themselves, their families, neighborhoods, and communities, with the purpose of celebrating
cultures and inspiring transformation and change. The project will incorporate theatre, music, dance, spoken word and
other art forms, drawing upon the creative interests of the group. The performance piece will explore the idea of
transformation of minds, neighborhoods, and communities. The program will conclude in a public performance open
to families, friends, and the entire community. Participation in this program is free and open to all high school students
in Connecticut.
Educator Name: ________________________________________________________
School: _______________________________________________________________
Phone Number: ________________________________________________________
Email: _______________________________________________________________
Name of the student you are nominating: _______________________________________
Why do you believe that this student would be well suited for PROJECT: TRANSFORM? Please include ways in which
the student has demonstrated the capacity for collaboration and creative artistic thought. (You may include additional
sheets.):
Educator Signature
Please return to Krista DeVellis:
Website: http://hartfordstage.org/project_transform
Phone: 860-520-7264
Email: [email protected]
Fax: (860) 244-0183
Mail: Krista DeVellis, Hartford Stage Education, 50 Church Street, Hartford, CT 06103
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