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Watershed (Part I): The Sea Is Not Full

Watershed (Part I: The Sea Is Not Full) (2013).

Watershed (Part I: The Sea Is Not Full) (2013).

Watershed (Part I: The Sea Is Not Full)
a devised work of The LIDA Project*

The first part of a modern performance fantasy that looks at the character of water in a world of radically changing politics and climate. This meta-media work combines elemental water, high tech projection, and human performance that pushes the boundaries of performance presentation and political theatre.

“The nature of the performing arts tends to shy away from topics of environmental concern and a political nature. Artists have the opportunity to make a point and spark important conversations.”
– Brian Freeland

Production History
July 10 – 13, 2013 : The King Center :: Denver, CO

Media Coverage
Watershed, an artistic look at global warming – Westword
My night at LIDA Project’s Watershed – CultureWest

The Company
Direction: Brian Freeland
Text Design: Jeannene Bragg
Stage Manager: Kristen Littlepage
Costume Design: Jeannene Bragg
Lighting Design: Jacob M. Welch
Master Electrician: Kenrick Fischer
Projection Design: Brian Freeland / Tammy Williams
Scenic Design: David Lafont w/ Alex Polzin
Sound Design: Brian Freeland / Anson Nicholson

Ensemble
Rhea Amos, Terry Burnsed, Alexander Tate Freeland, Michelle Hurtubise, Jaime Lujan, Matthew Schultz, Miriam BC Tobin, Clio Torbenson, Dane Torbenson, Tian Torbenson, Allyxandra Townend & Ryan Wuestewald

Video

Images

This production was created with the support and collaboration of Metropolitan State University.

* Development collaborators:  Rhea Amos, Jeannene Bragg, Terry Burnsed, Brian Freeland, Michelle Hurtubise, Kristen Littlepage, Laura Lounge, Jaime Lujan, Matthew Schultz, Miriam BC Tobin, Allyxandra Townend, & Ryan Wuestewald.

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Add It Up

Add It Up. Photo: Erin Preston 2012.

Add It Up. Photo: Erin Preston 2012.

Add It Up
An original interpretation by The LIDA Project inspired by the work of Elmer Rice.

Add It Up is a performance remix as interpreted by six sound, video, and performance artists from The LIDA Project. It is sound. It is light. It is music. It is words. It is images. It is machines. It is humans. It is about love. And hate. And murder. And death. And rebirth. And dancing. And eggs.

Production History
September 14 – October 6, 2012 : work | space :: Denver, CO

Awards
Best Use of Multimedia (Brian Freeland / The LIDA Project), True West Award

Media Coverage
Everything adds up as the LIDA Project embarks on its 18th season – Westword

The Company
Producers: Steven J. Deidel / Brian Freeland / The LIDA Project
Direction: Brian Freeland
Assistant Direction: Rhea Amos
Lighting Design: Steven J. Deidel / The LIDA Project
Sound Design: Lorenzo Sariñana / The LIDA Project
Costumes: Hart DeRose / The LIDA Project
Projection Design: Brian Freeland / The LIDA Project

Ensemble
Hart DeRose: 0
Michelle Hurtubise: Elmer Rice
Heidi Pachner: The Boss
Lorenzo Sariñana: Her
Matthew Schultz: Mrs. 0

Video

Images

 

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Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda

Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda (2011)

Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda (2011)

Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda
a devised work of The LIDA Project*

This original LIDA collaborative work inspired by Max Fritch’s The Firebugs and Albert Camus’s The Just, focuses on American pop culture and attitudes a decade after the Al Qaeda attacks on the United States. An irreverent, bombastic, and controversial examination of American politics and culture post 9-11.

Production History
September 9 – October 8, 2011: work | space :: Denver, CO

Awards
Best Multimedia Integration (Steven J. Deidel) -Denver Post Ovation Award
Best Lighting (Steven J. Deidel) – Denver Post Ovation Award Nomination
Best Sound (Kenny Storms & Max Peterson)– Denver Post Ovation Award Nomination

Media Coverage
Art from the ashes: A decade later, great art inspired by 9/11 is rare
Photo call: Opening night for new LIDA Project
The Terror, the Terror!
The Denver Post Fall Arts Preview

The Company
Producers: Brian Freeland, Steven J. Deidel & The LIDA Project
Direction: Brian Freeland
Dramaturgy: Rebecca Gorman O’Neill
Lighting / Projection Design: Steven J. Deidel
Sound Design: Max Peterson & Kenny Storms
Costume Design: Annette Westerby
Associate Lighting Design: Anna R. Kaltenbach
Associate Lighting Design / Lighting Programmer: G. Austin Allen
Projection Associate / Content Creation: Ryan Gaddis
Pixel Twister: Joe Deats
Camera Operators / Video Technicians: Tommy Sheridan & Alex Polzin
LIVE Sand Artist: Amelia Charter

Ensemble
Patrick Balai: Homeland Security / George W. Bush
Robin Davies: White
Hart DeRose: Anna Lucia
Dan O’Neill: Osama Bin Ladin
Safa Samiezade-Yazd: The Chorus
Matthew Schultz: Sadam Hussain / Bieber
Ryan Wuestewald: Wilson

Video

Images

* Development collaborators: Robin Davies, Hart DeRose, Brian Freeland, & Matthew Schultz. Additional collaboration from Steven J. Deidel, Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, Dan O’Neill, & Kenny Storms

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HOT + WAX: On Being Too Big To Fail (a piece in 8 bits)

Kenny Storms in HOT + WAX: On Being Too Big To Fail (a piece in 8 bits) (2010)

 

HOT + WAX: On Being Too Big To Fail (a piece in 8 bits)
conceived and directed by Julie Rada as devised with The LIDA Project*

A live performance blend of the Icarus story from Greek mythology, the 2009 economic crisis and 1980’s 8-bit video games. Princess Toadstool figures prominently, as does the boy whose wings melted in the sun. Joe Knossos, the head of the troubled financial products division, dodges the Minotaur as meat falls from the sky. The piece is highly-interactive with opportunities for witnesses to play old-school video games and manipulate the direction of the story.

HOT+WAX = flying too close to the sun.
HOT+WAX = getting all the coins.
HOT+WAX = finance porno.
HOT+WAX = 8 bits vs. naughty bits.

Production History
September 24 – October 23, 2010: BINDERY | space :: Denver, CO

Media Coverage
Icarus climbs corporate ladder in LIDA’s video game allegory – The Denver Post

The Company
Direction: Julie Rada
Scenic Design: Erin Ramsey
Lighting Design: Jacob M. Welch
Sound / Video Design: Ryan McRyhew
Music Composition: Ryan McRyhew / Neil Ewing
Costume Design: Annette Westerby
Properties Design: Annette Westerby
Choreography: Kelleen Shadow

Ensemble
Ploughman: Terry Burnsed
Mr. Joseph C. Knossos: Todd Webster
Daedalus: Leroy Leonard
Uncle Sam: Mike Marlow
Cellist: Eizabeth A. Nodich
Pasiphae / Your Mom: Elizabeth Parks
Icarus: Lorenzo Sariñana
Princess: Kelleen Shadow
Bull / Minotaur: Kenny Storms

Video

Images

* Development collaborators: Leroy Leonard, Elizabeth Parks, Julie Rada, Lorenzo Sariñana, Matthew Schultz, Kelleen Shadow, Kenny Storms, & Annette Westerby

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Roller Skating With My Cousin

Chorus (a.k.a. The Large Hadron Collider) in Roller Skating With My Cousin. Photo: Erin Preston (2010).

Chorus (a.k.a. The Large Hadron Collider) in Roller Skating With My Cousin. Photo: Erin Preston (2010).

Roller Skating With My Cousin
a devised work of The LIDA Project*

Part science lab, part disco, Roller Skating With My Cousin combines the mythology and archetypes of the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel with the sexual revolutionary act of roller skating, while simultaneously asking whether we can all create a custom-designed universe in our kitchen sink and, furthermore, why did Ronald Reagan fail as the anti-Christ? This mash-up of themes results in a lively, dark romp in which a synchronized chorus of roller skaters builds a tower under a star-flecked mirror ball sky.

“Roller Skating With My Cousin is a musical love letter from the future, on wheels, with utter disregard for logic and linearity…let LIDA be your guide… For sensible people, the 1980s have long been thought of as a time best forgotten…Then along came the delightfully whacked-out lunatics at the LIDA Project.”
-Kurt Brighton, The Denver Post

“It’s riveting, surprising, a beautiful cross…between theater and life.”
-Juliet Wittman, Westword

Production History
January 15 – February 20, 2010: BINDERY | space :: Denver, CO

Media Coverage
Rolling ’round the 80’s (The Denver Post)
Review: Bob Bows (Colorado Drama)
A Wheel Deal (Westword)

The Company
Direction: Brian Freeland / Tonya Malik-Carson
Stage Management: Tommy Sheridan
Asst. Stage Management: Ryan Gaddis
Lighting Design: Steven J. Deidel / Anna R. Kaltenbach
Projection Design: Steven J. Deidel
Sound Design: Brian Freeland
Scenic Design: Steven J. Deidel
Scenic Charge: Schuyler Burks
Costume Design: Julie Rada
Properties Design: Julie Rada


Ensemble

Ed Cord, Desiree Gagnon, Miriam Suzanne, Melanie Owen, Julie Rada, Matthew Schultz, & Crystal Verdon.

Chorus
Julie Adams, Gabrielle Begeman, Vicky Cruz, Danica Dalezal, Sara Downey, Allison Hakala, Heather Rae Johnson, Jessica Kolacny, Ariel Quigley, & Stacey Spaulding.

Images

Video

* Development collaborators: Ed Cord, Steven J. Deidel,  Brian Freeland, Desiree Gagnon, Tonya Malik-Carson, Miriam SuzanneMelanie Owen, Julie Rada, Matthew Schultz, & Crystal Verdon.

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RAIN/ of terror

rain/ of terror (2009)

RAIN/ OF TERROR (2009)

RAIN/ of terror
Adapted from Georg Büchner’s Danton’s Death by Julie Rada

During the chaos of the Revolution, a man in isolation has left the political scene to languish in sensual delights. Another man at the zenith of power clings to virtue and a hunger for conformity…the citizens are easily roused and swayed…a culture of fear infects the city with the constant threat of execution. Through the lens of LIDA’s unique aesthetic and devised through collaborative process, Georg Büchner’s classic Danton’s Death, gets a new life in this story of the inevitable triumph of humanity and its insatiable lust for life, against the backdrop of sex, violence, corruption, and bloodshed.

“It’s theater of chaos. It’s smoldering, it feels a little dangerous and it’s completely unlike any other theatrical experience you’ll get in this town.” – John Moore, The Denver Post

Production History
February 27 – March 21, 2009: BINDERY | space :: Denver, CO

Awards
Best Lighting Design (Miriam Eric Suzanne), Denver Post Ovation Award Nomination

Media Coverage
“RAIN/ of terror”: A bloody good minireview – The Denver Post
RAIN/ of terror looks at social unrest – Life on Capitol Hill

The Company
Direction: Julie Rada
Stage Management: Frank Cason / Kenny Storms
Lighting Design: Miriam Suzanne
Scenic Design: Julie Rada
Sound Design: Brian Freeland
Original Music: Carrie Beeder / James Han
Costume Design: Julie Rada
Properties Design: Julie Rada
Production Assistance: Melanie Owen / Doron Burks

Ensemble
Nathan Bock, Kestrel Burley, Ed Cord, Eve D’Agosto, Kirsten Deane, Desiree Gagnon, Brandon Kruhm, Leroy Leonard, Elizabeth Parks, Lorenzo Sariñana, Matthew Schultz, and Todd Webster

Understudy: Jose Aquila

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Pussy + 6

Pussy + 6 (2006)

Pussy + 6 (2006)

Pussy + 6
Week 4 of Suzan-Lori Parks’ work 365 Days / 365 Plays

Week four in Suzan Lori-Parks’ 365 Plays/365 Days  series. Each play received full production and was performed on the evening corresponding to its date. With no fixed seating, these short plays were treated not just as performances but also as mediations and installations. Though in some cases, dialogue lasted no more than one or two minutes, audiences stayed in the space for as long as 60 minutes, engaging with the scenographic environment in and around the downtown warehouse space in which pussy +6 was performed.

The eye of God opens and the eye of God closes, and that entire play world happens on that day. The next day, an entirely new play world is born. – Bonnie Metzgar

Production History
December 4 – December 10, 2006: BINDERY | space :: Denver, CO

Media Coverage
365 Days… 365 Plays – The Denver Post

Company
Direction: Julie Rada
Scenic Design: Julie Rada
Lighting Design: Jacob M. Welch
Sound Design: Paul Cure
Costume Design: Julie Rada
Properties Design: Julie Rada
Puppet/Mask Design: Sophie Nimmannit
Projection Design: Brian Freeland

Ensemble
Isaiah Arney
Jena Davis
Ashley Howard
Matthew Schultz
Karen Slack

The Works
Pussy (12/4)
House of Jones (12/5)
Blackbird (12/6)
The Carpet Cleaner on Pearl Harbor Day (12/7)
The View from Here (12/8)
The Presentation of the Grundig Majestic (12/9)
The History Lesson (12/10)

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