CURRENT PROJECTS
Updated: Spring, 2008
Marjorie Morgan's Une Lettre (with Jessica Newman) at Tufts University's
ROUGH AND READY Series
Feb 26, 2008, 7:30 pm
Dance Lab, Jackson Gym, 40 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA
(Une Lettre is a brand new piece that I am working on with the wonderful Jessica Newman. Once we give it it's first public showing at Tufts, we will expand it and show it at other locations TBA.)
Marjorie is currently performing with the Caitlin Corbett Dance Company (www.caitlincorbett.org) and with
Brian Crabtree and Dancers. Both of these companies will be performing at
Green Street Studios
April 25 & 26, 2008, 8 pm
185 Green Street, Cambridge, MA
Artist Showcase curated by Daniel McCusker
www.greenstreetstudios.org for more information.
HOCKET: Marjorie Morgan collaborates with Jed Speare
Marjorie Morgan and Jed Speare are artists who work in various media and create visually based performance. In their new collaborative work, Hocket, they are creating overlapping and sequential images in performance, film/video, and music/sound that work off a central theme of visibility and disappearance. The themes and images relate to questions of nationality and identity in globalization; the exigencies of the moment pitted against the unseen desire, compulsion, necessity, or entrapment to be elsewhere; and the urge to travel. Hocket is principally then a metaphor for the human being mapped upon chronological time and its ability to leaven its weight through creative processes and outcomes.
The Wounds of Returning is the first section of Hocket. It is performed by Not Frida (Alison Ball, Jim Banta, Jessica Newman, Janet Slifka, Jody Weber and Marjorie Morgan). The first installment was performed at informal showings on September 14 & 15 at Studio Soto in Boston, MA.
Morgan and Speare have been working on and revising this version for the following upcoming showings:
Open Rehearsal. Saturday, March 7 from 6 to 9 PM at Mobius (725 Harrison Avenue, Suite One, Boston MA 02118 ::: 617.542.7416). Admission is free. Audience members are welcome to visit and witness the work at any point during the three-hour rehearsal.
The Open Rehearsal on March 8th is postponed for the time being due to medical issues. We will post the rescheduling of this event once we know when it will be possible. Thanks for your understanding.
Performance. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 5, 6 and 7. 8 PM at Mobius (725 Harrison Avenue, Suite One, Boston MA 02118 ::: 617.542.7416). Suggested donation $10. Reservations are recommended.
Hocket is a three-part collaboration. Part one consists of each artist leading a work, with the other intensively collaborating within it. The two works are then presented sequentially one after the other, as one. Part two consists of the two works melded and molded together as one work presented in time. Part three consists of the artists appropriating and adopting the others' material and shaping to their own ends, yet molded together as one work.
OTHER CURRENT PROJECTS
L'Anima
A dance theater piece by Marjorie Morgan
In L'Anima ("the soul" in Italian), creator Marjorie Morgan uses movement, text and live music to explore myths about humans and wolves and the contemporary lessons we can learn from these tales. The piece is about fear, mistrust and the need to overcome these destructive forces with fresh solutions. The two ancient tales of Romulus and Remus and Saint Francis and the Wolf are relayed alongside an original version of the oft-repeated urban myth of a child raised by wild dogs. In retelling these stories, we visit the positive aspects of our animal nature and look at the pressing need to learn humility and respect from the animals around us. Much of the music in L'Anima is inspired by the sounding of bells in Italy. Bells ring to mark time, birth, death, marriage and other passages. They are auditory markers for the things that make us human and they touch our animal souls. The music is sung in Italian and English and is accompanied by handbells and double bass.
L'Anima is composed, choreographed and written by Marjorie Morgan. Ms. Morgan is a New England artist whose work combines elements of movement, live sound, music and text. She is fascinated with the territory between composition and improvisation and between narrative and abstraction. With her company of performers, Marjorie is investigating how to sing the body and how to move the voice. Since 1996, critics from the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Phoenix, and Bay Windows have repeatedly cited her work as being among the city's top ten dance events.
L'Anima has three versions. The full concert-length version is performed by Alison Ball, Jim Banta, Ariella Amshalem, Marjorie Morgan, Jessica Newman, Alli Ross, Janet Slifka and John Voigt. The 40 minute touring version is performed by Alison Ball, Jim Banta, Marjorie Morgan, Jessica Newman and guest performers from the community. The 10 minute "teaching" version of the Il Lupo section of L'Anima is performed by Jim Banta, Marjorie Morgan and student performers. The talent, dedication and energy of the performers continue to help shape this original performance piece.
In December 2006, Marjorie finished the first run of L'Anima in Brookline, MA. Read all about it here!
In the Fall of 2007, Marjorie and her dancers performed touring and teaching versions of L'Anima at Salem State College (MA), Holy Cross (MA), and Georgetown Academy (PA). These performances and workshops were a great experience for all involved, and plans for more are in the works!
©2008 Marjorie Morgan