THE DANCE CENTER AND THE CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL PUPPET THEATER FESTIVAL PRESENT
Photo: Carlos Lema
LOCO7’S LUNCH WITH SONIA January 25–27, 2024
dance.colum.edu
ABOUT We are delighted to welcome the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival back to the Dance Center after last hosting Plexus Polaire’s Chambre Noire in 2019. Tonight is the Chicago premier of NYC-based Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre’s Lunch with Sonia, inspired by Founding Artistic Director Federico Restrepo’s true-life experience with his Aunt Sonia. Dealing with the themes of life, love, and loss through puppets, live actors, music, video and physical theatre, Loco7 will offer optional post-performance movement reflections for audience members to share the weight of this material. Photo by Carlos Lema
CREDITS Lunch with Sonia by Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company CREATOR & DIRECTOR: Federico Restrepo & Denise Greber CHOREOGRAPHER: Federico Restrepo PERFORMERS: Federico Restrepo with Mariana Celander, Aaron Haskell, Hope Kroog, Jorge Ariel Blanco Muñoz, Melissa Álvarez Wilches VOICE OF SONIA: Luz Beatriz Pizano ADDITIONAL VOICE OVER ACTORS: Arthur Adair, Catherine Correa, Zulivet Díaz, Denise Greber, Solvej Lee PERFORMERS IN KITCHEN VIDEO: Alberto Quiroga, with Esmeralda Pinzón, Carolina Restrepo, Federico Restrepo, Natalia Schönwald PUPPET, LIGHT, VIDEO, & SET DESIGNER: Federico Restrepo SOUND DESIGNER & MUSIC: Leonie Bell COSTUME DESIGNER: Becky Hubbert TECHNICAL DIRECTOR & TOUR MANAGER: Juan Merchan PRODUCTION MANAGER: Denise Greber VIDEO CONSULTANT: Hao Bai KITCHEN VIDEO CAMERA: Alberto Sierra Restrepo RESEARCH & SELECTED WRITINGS: Diana Jaramillo & Catalina Restrepo FINAL SONG ARRANGEMENT & VOCALS: Chris Ignacio, Yuto Kanazawa (guitar) SOUND CAPTURE (COLOMBIA): Gabriel Ponce
THE DANCE CENTER PRODUCTION CREW TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Kevin Rechner LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR: Anna Schultz-Breef MEDIA/TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR: Jane Jerardi SOUND OPERATOR: Dante Giramma
BIOS Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company, founded by Colombian born artist, Federico Restrepo in 1985, develops and promotes creative productions of Dance, Theatre, Puppets, Visual Arts, and other forms of artistic expression. Loco7’s cultural policies emphasize pluralism, dialogue, and cultural transformation. Loco7’s artistic mission has been to develop the use of puppetry as an Instrument for the dancer, a style that incorporates dance and design. Utilizing original music, musicians, dancers, body puppets, and larger then life marionettes, the objective is to merge these various elements and weave a choreography which extends beyond the body of the dancer. The undertaking of the ensemble is to deal with themes such as South and Central American Culture and History, the Immigrants’ experience, and New York City Urban Life. Loco7 has premiered many original pieces at La MaMa in New York City, with subsequent tours throughout the world. Most recently Loco7 premiered Lunch with Sonia (2021), Don Quixote Takes New York (2018), Seucy & Boto, epi 2 (2017), Seucy & Boto, epi 4 (2016), Undefined Fraction (2016/2015), Seucy & Boto, epi 1,2,3 (2015), Plunge (2013), Free Falling (2013), Urban Odyssey (2012), In Retrospect (2010), Room To Panic (2008), Open Door (2006), Bokan – the Bad Hearted (2004), 9 Windows (2002), Colores (1998), Aguirre, the Spiral of the Warrior (1996), Cosecha (1990), Loco7 (1989), and two other Gotham fantasies: Locombia (1986), Carrera (1988). In addition Loco7 premiered in Bogotá, Colombia, Piratas de Papel (1994) and Mobile Urbano (1986). Federico Restrepo (Creator / Director / Choreographer / Puppet / Light Design) was born in Bogotá, Colombia and founded his company, Loco7, at La MaMa in 1986 to expand the use of puppetry in Dance Theater. With Loco7 he has created over twenty original productions, acting as creator, director and designer. He has appeared at La MaMa as a member of the Great Jones Repertory Company in Ellen Stewart’s Asclepius, The Raven, Perseus, Antigone, Mythos Oedipus, Dionysus Fillus Dei, Monk and The Hangman’s Daughter, Seven Against Thebes and Draupai. He is a resident puppet designer, choreographer, performer and director of La MaMa. In addition he has designed lights for over fifty professional productions in New York as well as abroad. Selected companies include: Great Jones Repertory, Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, New Stage Theatre Company, Edward Einhorn, and Electric Black Productions. Federico is a teaching artist, teaching puppet, mask design and construction to adults, children and seniors. Residencies
include: Sirovich Center, The United Jewish Council, Grand Street Settlement, Bank Street Head Start, City Lore, PACT, and NYC-area public schools as well as many universities throughout the U.S., including New York University, Trinity College, Hunter College CUNY, Queensborough Community College CUNY, among others. In addition Loco7 has performed and facilitated workshops internationally, in such countries as Colombia, Guatemala, Italy, Poland, Croatia, to name a few. He is the Producing Director of the La MaMa Puppet Series Festival. Denise Greber (Creator / Director) has been a member and managing director of Loco7 since 2001. She has been involved with the creation in Loco7 productions as writer, director, costume designer, and performer: Lunch with Sonia, Don Quixote Takes NY, The Adventures of Seucy and Boto, Urban Odyssey (nominated for a 2012 NY Innovative Theatre Award for best performance piece), In Retrospect, Room To Panic, Open Door, Bokan, The Bad Hearted (for which she was nominated Best Costume Design 2005 Innovative Theatre Awards), and 9 Windows. Denise has been part of the La MaMa Team since 1999, she has held various positions over the years and is currently Director of Artistic Operations. In this role she oversees programming, scheduling, La MaMa international collaborations, the theatre’s marketing initiatives, and various other projects, including programming for the La MaMa Puppet Series / Festival, along with other special projects, such as La MaMa Kids, and Jump Start. Denise has been a teaching artist for children ranging 3 to 18 years old as well as University level students. In addition to her acting background, she was trained in costume design, directing, dance, and voice throughout her education. An active theatre artist, Denise is deeply passionate about theatre, dance, puppetry, and education.
Marina Celander (Ensemble) Marina received the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s Red Socks Award 2014 for her contribution to Asian American theatre. In 2016 Marina was nominated for the Innovation In Performance Award for her solo show Mermaid’s Howl at the Stockholm Fringe Festival. She was then invited to the Tony award-winning theatre La MaMa as part of their solo festival Series Of One 2018. Marina’s solo show Shakespeare’s Sisters was invited to perform at the Estrogenius Festival in NYC 2019. Tree She, a collaboration with Swedish composer Fredrik Söderberg, premiered at Estrogenius Festival 2020. Tree She was nominated for Best Movement Artist by the Young-Howze Theatre Awards. Marina’s and Fredrik’s continued collaboration, Sea She, premiered on The Six Foot Platform in Dumbo Sept 2021; a new form of residency on a small platform hosted by Brooklyn Arts Council and Dumbo BiD. As a hula student Marina has had the honor of studying with notable Kumu Hula (hula master teachers) for the last 20 years, and has then made it her mission to spread aloha and hula in New York City’s public elementary schools. Marina Celander is so delighted to be performing with Loco7 at long last. Melisa Alvarez Wilches (Ensemble) is a dancer, interpreter, creator and professional educator with more than 10 years of national and international experience. She graduated from the Colegio del cuerpo in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and has studied with prestigious companies such as Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and Batasheva in Israel. She also belonged to the Seed’s Junior company in Spain, dancing pieces by emblematic choreographers such as “Hofesh Schechter”, “Anthon Lachky” and “Peter Mika” among others. She is also the winner of a scholarship for professional training at La Nuova Oficcina della Danza, in Torino, Italy, where she received repertoire and technique from various important teachers on the European scene.
Aaron Haskell (Ensemble / Sonia Puppeteer) started working with Loco7 as a dancer/puppeteer in 2004 with Bokan The Bad Hearted (La MaMa NYC and Colombia- Iberoamericano Theatre Festival 2006) where he jump started his life as a puppeteer and puppet maker. Since then, he has toured extensively nationally and internationally with War Horse (Joey/Topthorn), Cirque du Soleil’s Toruk: First Flight (Spirit Puppeteer), as well as other productions. Some credits as a Creator and Director are: Wake Up, You’re Dead (2010 La MaMa), Me_irl: The Crow (2016 Horror Play Festival NYC). In addition, he is in development with two pieces: The Pact (St. Ann’s Warehouse Labapoluza, Dixon Place Puppet Block, international venues), and Dream Sequence 1: Find the Light (Workshopped at Dixon Place). He has worked as a puppet technician for Lion King Broadway, Acheson Walsh Studios NYC, as well as developing and creating puppets/ theatre spectacles for projects around the world. For more info please visit AaronHaskell.com. He is very excited and grateful to be back again with Loco7 developing and performing in Lunch with Sonia! Hope Kroog (Ensemble) is thrilled to be performing with Loco7 and sharing the stage with such a wonderful, creative, and generous group of performing artists. She also originated roles in Loco7’s The Adventures of Seucy and Boto Series and Undefined Fraction. Other credits include Lucky Tongue’s My Generation Show, as well as working with noted dance companies: Dance Visions NY, Sarah Berges Dance and Boulder Ballet. Jorge Ariel Blanco Muñoz (Ensemble) is a theater artist based in Brooklyn via San Juan, Puerto Rico. University of Puerto Rico, B.A., Drama. Traveled Spain as a member of the “Teatro Rodante” performing different theater styles. Spain: Elisava: School of Design and Engineering, M.A. Design and Art Direction (Barcelona). London: Art Director and Performer, CASA Latin-American Theatre Festival. Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR), M.A., Advanced Theatre Studies, (2017). Latest work includes: Grand Panorama by Theodora Skipitares at La MaMa, and Human by Nehprii Ameni.
Luz Beatriz Pizano (Voice of Sonia) is an awardwinner actor/director and playwright. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre in Canada, a company recognized for its unique approach to creation, its daring political work, and its experimentation with multi-language productions. She has received a number of prestigious awards including the John Hirsch Prize, the Chalmers Fellowship, the K.M. Hunter award and numerous Dora awards and nominations as playwright and director. She is the first Latinx actress to win a Toronto Critics award and a Dora for her performance in Blood Wedding. As a playwright she has participated numerous times at the Banff Centre for the Arts Playwright’s Lab and in 2019 she was invited back as the senior playwright in residency. That year Beatriz was also named one of TD’s 10 Most Influential Hispanic Canadians. Most recently Beatriz has appeared in the acclaimed productions of Alien Creature (TPM), Dividing Lines (Aluna Theatre), and Four Sisters (Paradigm Productions/Luminato Festival).
LOCO7 DESIGN BIOS Leonie Bell (Sound Composition and Design) is a German-American theater-maker and sound designer from Berlin, based in New York. Her pieces are bilingual, highly-physical, interdisciplinary landscapes with an absurdist hue, which center matriarchal lineages, imagine nature as a main character, and often endow the audience with more creative powers (where snacks are always served). Leonie also facilitates the performance project LOCAL GRANDMA, a free-form theater project devoted to rigorous play, communal care-taking, and causing a ruckus. LG’s upcoming Sonntags wird Gelogen Or We Only Lie on Sundays will premiere at the Brick Theater in December 2021. Recent sound credits include: Phase One: The Underbrush (New Phase Collective), I Don’t Want to Interrupt You Guys (Mabou Mines), Sing, Goddess! (HERE Arts), Women Screaming (The Tank), Cracked (Theater at the 14th Street Y), An Easy Guide to Time Management (Dixon Place). Leonie also works as one of the sound demons for shows at Target Margin Theater (dir. David Herskovits). Sound design Awards: La MaMa DesignFest 2020, Indie Shorts Awards Cannes 2021 (Phosphor). BA: Bard College, MFA: Sarah Lawrence College. http://leoniebell.org Becky Hubbert (Costume Design) designs and builds costumes for puppets, actors, and dancers in New York City, where she has lived and worked since 1998. Becky is honored to have costumed shows at La MaMa, for various companies in different spaces. With Loco7, Becky has designed for Don Quixote Takes New York (20182019) and Undefined Fraction (2015). Other La MaMa highlights include Ravaged by
Romance (2003), directed by Julie Atlas Muz; The Bad Hostess (2008), directed by Linda Simpson; The Etiquette of Death (2012), directed by Everett Quinton and Julie Atlas Muz; Horseplay: The Fickle Mistress (2014), directed by Elyse Singer for Theater Askew, and The Expanded Unicorn Gratitude Mystery (2017), directed by Karen Finley. Collaborations in film and television include a wide range of commercial work, including a few films and tv shows. As a 829 union member Becky’s work schedule, like everyone, has been interrupted by COVID. She is so happy to be back in the theater after this crazy past year and a half and has enjoyed collaborating with everyone working on this production.
DANCE CENTER PRODUCTION BIOS Dante Giramma is a composer, multimedia artist, and sound engineer from Western Massachusetts. His work spans many mediums including fixed media, generative composition, composition for dance and film, CGI & interactive media, sound sculpture, and multimedia installation. He is incredibly invested in creating artistic experiences that are both playful and impactful, using installation work and collaboration with dancers as a catalyst to explore interactivity and physicality in art and sound. Jane Jerardi serves as the Media/Technology Coordinator for the Dance Center, providing video documentation for both the Presenting Series and its academic programs. As a part of its faculty, she teaches video for dance and choreography courses. In her role, she has documented and edited over 250 performances, workshops, and events, providing essential documentation to artists and adding to the Dance Center’s leading, regional archive of materials dating from 1980 to the present. An artist working in the media of performance, choreography, and video installation, her work has been presented at galleries and theaters in Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC. Kevin Rechner has been Production Manager and Technical Director for the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago since 1996. He has a bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Illinois State University and spent 3 years in Paris, France studying Movement Theatre with Jacques Lecoq and Daniel Stein. He has created four solo performance works including I AM HUGO and performed in Emily Johnson’s Thank You Bar at the Dance Center. Technically, he has worn many hats for The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Daniel Stein, Akira Kasai, Kota Yamazaki, Momenta!, Hedwig Dances, Urban Bush Women, HT Chen and Dancers, Natya Dance Theatre, Mordine and Company Dance Theatre, The Seldoms and many more. Kevin’s work with Lucky Plush Productions includes
Cinderbox 18, The Sky Hangs Down Too Close, Punk Yankees, The Better Half, Cinderbox 2.0,Trip the Light Fantastic: The Making of Superstrip, and Rink Life. Recent lighting designs include Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and Junie B. Jones, The Musical for The Young People’s Theatre of Chicago. Anna Schultz-Breef (she/her/hers) is a Stage Manager for theater and dance, as well as a Theatre Artisan with an adoration for Lighting and Carpentry. Her most recent work consists of: Stage Manager for Owensboro Dance Theater’s Nutcracker, Lighting Designer for Northwestern University’s Emperor of Atlantis, Asst. Stage Manager for the Joffrey Ballet’s Frankenstein, Asst. Stage Manager for Joffrey Ballet’s Chicago and D.C. run of Anna Karenina, the Master Electrician for the Northwestern University Opera department, and Stagehand for Columbia College Dance Center. Anna graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2021 and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts along with a double minor in Theatre Design & Technology, and Asian Studies.
ABOUT THE CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL PUPPET THEATER FESTIVAL The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival advances the art of puppetry by presenting sophisticated programs vital to the cultural life of Chicago. Engaging and inspiring the largest and most diverse audiences for puppetry possible, the Festival is the biggest event dedicated to puppetry in North America and traditionally offers more than 100 activities annually including performances, workshops, artist intensives, free neighborhood events and symposia to audiences up to 14,000 over 11 days each January. The organization is also home to other key initiatives, including the Chicago Puppet Studio and Chicago Puppet Lab, that nurture the development of puppeteers and deepen the field locally, nationally and internationally with the ultimate goal of promoting peace, equality, mutual understanding, and justice locally and globally.
CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL PUPPET THEATER FESTIVAL STAFF Artistic Director, Festival Founder, Chicago Puppet Studio Co-Director Blair Thomas Executive Director Sandy Smith Gerding Business Manager Cameron Heinze Festival & Education Coordinator Taylor Bibat Events & Engagement Coordinator Lucy Wirtz Studio Coordinator Zach Sun Chicago Puppet Studio & Puppet Lab Co-Director Tom Lee Chicago Puppet Lab Co-Director & Catapult Facilitator Grace Needlman Chicago Puppet Studo Project Manager Caitlin McLeod Graphic Design + Website Jess Mott Wickstrom Press Relations Jay Kelly Grant Management Consulting Deidre Huckabay
Festival Production Manager Nic Barnum Festival Production Manager Margaret Nelson Festival Production Manager Frank Rose Symposium Co-Director Dr. Paulette Richards Catapult Facilitator Samuel J. Lewis II Video Production Andy Wickstrom Administrative Support Veronica Timble
ABOUT THE DANCE CENTER Home to the academic Dance Department and the Dance Presenting Series, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago values embodied human expression and nurtures an expansive understanding of dance from the established to the experimental. Centering pluralism, the Dance Center aims to be a nucleus for innovation and creativity—on stage, in the classroom, and beyond. By partnering with local, national, and international dance artists dedicated to transforming the field, the Dance Presenting Series offers live performances and other shared opportunities for students, faculty, artists, and audiences to connect, witness, research, experiment, practice, imagine, and grow. We cultivate an environment and culture that prioritizes respect for self and others, and advances an anti-racist, equitable, and just society.
THE DANCE CENTER PRESENTS
Photo: Steve Pisano
LATASHA BARNES’ THE JAZZ CONTINUUM March 7–9, 2024
THE DANCE CENTER Founder Shirley Mordine
Matthew Hollis
Chair of Dance Lisa Gonzales
Mary Klonowski
Associate Chair Dardi McGinley-Gallivan
Michael McGinn
Dean, School of Fine and Performing Arts Dr. Rosita M. Sands
Jimmy Payne
Faculty Bevara Anderson Lisa Gonzales Susan Imus Darrell Jones Dardi McGinley-Gallivan Kelsa “K-Soul” RiegerHaywood Dr. Ayo Walker Jessica Young Adjunct Faculty T. Ayo Alston Keesha Beckford Malik Camara Zineb Chraibi Shaker Cohlmia Allen Desterhaft Emma Draves Colleen Halloran Carrie Hansen Daniel “BRAVEMONK” Haywood Gina Hoch-Stall
Jane Jerardi Hau Kum Leung Kneip Pamela McNeil Emily Stein Trae Turner Meghann Wilkinson Thomas Zwergel Staff Michael Caskey Music Director, Accompanist Coordinator Dan DiLuciano Director of Facilities and Operations Raynner Garcia Box Office/Reception Caity Gee Administrative Assistant/ Communications Ize Heinzen House Manager Jane Jerardi Media/Technology Coordinator Ambe’r Johnnson Box Office Associate Angelika Lewis Box Office Associate Pamela McNeil Academic Manager
Mia Nelson Box Office/Reception Disha Patel Box Office/Reception Kevin Rechner Technical Director and Production Manager Roell Schmidt Dance Presenting Series Producing Director Meredith Sutton Dance Presenting Series Artistic Director
FRIENDS OF THE DANCE CENTER The Dance Center gratefully acknowledges its donors for their generous support. $1,000 AND ABOVE Taylor and Carrie Olivia Adams
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DANCE CENTER SUPPORTERS
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The Dance Center is a member of Dance/USA, See Chicago Dance, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, and the American College Dance Association. Athletico is the exclusive provider of physical therapy, occupational therapy, sports medicine, athletic training, work rehabilitation, and massage therapy for the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.