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History |
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BOOKINGS/PRESS
KIT:
VENUE REQUIREMENTS/AUDIENCE SIZE
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Click
here to download the "Currently Franklin" E-Press Kit,
with booking information Site requirements: - Minimum 30ft x 30ft floor space ideal. Can be modified to 25ft x 25ft. Sound and Lights are self-contained. No tech persons needed from venue. Audience: - Recommended size: up to 300. Other: - Up to four shows per day. Watch the Currently Franklin trailer (Quicktime format). |
“CURRENTLY FRANKLIN” REWORKING SUMMER 2006
Created by Sebastienne Mundheim.
Originally commisioned by Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
Original workshop/development/performance with Fulton Family Ensemble,
Lancaster, PA
Sound Design, James Sugg and Sebastienne Mundheim
CAST/COLLABORATORS SUMMER-FALL 2006
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Karin Bookbinder (Performer) has worked a choreographer and performer with many Philadelphia artists and dance companies including: Leah Stein Dance Company, SCRAP Performance Group, The Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Junto Society, Travesty Dance Group, Myra Bazell, Katherine Livingston, Renee Robinson-Buzby, Kristen Shahverdian, KateWatson-Wallace, and Krystyna Weircioch. Karin received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance Performance/Choreography and Dance Therapy from Goucher College. Her original works have been presented by the Independent Choreographer's Exchange, The Community Education Center, GLUE/Kumquat, 7Dance Festival, and Waxworks in NYC. Karin is also a dedicated yoga instructor. |
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Kate Carr (Performer) received her B.F.A. in Dance in 2002 from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Kate worked with international kabuki master, Isabourah Hanayagi and was chosen to recreate Jose Limon’s A Choreographic Offering, which was performed in Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C. Kate has performed l with Junto Society, Sabrooke Productions and Travis Mesman. From 2003-2004, she worked at UArts along side Dr. Catherine Robert, creating and leading dance history courses. Currently, she teaches yoga to children and adults throughout Philadelphia. |
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Charlie Delmarcelle (Performer) has been
working as a professional director, actor and theatre educator for over nine
years. He devotes much of this time to community outreach and theatre for young
audiences; serving as the associate director of the Fulton Family Theatre
Ensemble in residence at the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, a roster artist
for the PA Council on the Arts, a resident director at the PA Youth Theatre in
Bethlehem and a frequent guest artist at local universities. As a director, he
has worked regionally for the Fulton Opera House, PA Youth Theatre, Vagabond
Acting Troupe, Triangle Theatre, Theatre of the Seventh Sister, PRC Theatre,
University of Pennsylvania, Moravian College and Millersville University. Three
of his productions have been honored in Philadelphia, two with Barrymore
nominations for Outstanding Ensemble (A Christmas Carol in 1999-2000
and The Art of War 2004-2005) and one with a City Paper 2001
critic’s pick for Bravest Production (Desinence: An Evening of Work by
Samuel Beckett). Charlie holds an MA in theatre arts from Villanova
University. |
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Aaron Mumaw (Performer) is a founding member of acclaimed movement ensemble New Paradise Laboratories (NPL), creating and performing roles in all of their Philadelphia shows, including last year's Live Arts hit Planetary Enzyme Blues, 2005's Don Juan in Nirvana, Rose Selavy Takes a Lover in Philadelphia, and Obie Award winner The Fab Four Reach the Pearly Gates. Aaron has performed at such venues as PS122, The Ontological-Hysterical, The Southern (Minneapolis), The Warhol Museum, Philadelphia's Lantern Theater (King Lear), and has collaborated with Mum Puppettheater and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the creation of movement based children's theater (in 1999's The Selkie Boy). Aaron is excited to be working with Sebastienne for the first time since he performed with her in 2003’s Stupor. Aaron can also be seen this year in Ps & Qs (My Kinda Pony) directed by Lee Ann Etzold. |
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Sebastienne Mundheim (Creator/Director/Performer) is a writer, director, designer, performer, educator, and recently filmmaker. She has created 17 original performances commissioned by institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, The Rosenbach Museum and Library, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Franklin and Marshall College. She is known for synthesizing complex, sophisticated academic content into lyrical educational performances geared toward young audiences, appealing to all ages. Using sculptural props, shadow puppets, dancers, actors, and music, her performances teach lessons and ask questions. Her shows have been performed locally and internationally. Performances include: “Were the Sunny Sombreros Somber Somehow: Stories of 20th Century Mexican Revolutionary Painters,” “ Giorgio de Chirico and the Myth of Ariadne,” “Under the Hat: Life and Works of Poet Marianne Moore,” “A Potable Joyce: A Watered-down Version of Ulysses, the Story of James Joyce and his Manuscript,” and “Currently Franklin: the Story of a Paper Boy. “ She has collaborated with other visual and performing artists including, but not limited to: Whit McLaughlin, New Paradise Laboratories, Thaddeus Phillips, Lucidity Suitcase, Madi DiStefano, Brat Productions, Kate-Watson Wallace, Agita Dance, and the Reactionaries, to name a few. Sebastienne has also been a community artist/educator since 1992, creating programming through the Fleisher Art Memorial, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Young Audiences, Big Picture Alliance, and many other organizations and schools in Philadelphia and New Orleans. Sebastienne received her BA/BFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990, and her EdM from Harvard in 2000. |
COLLABORATORS FOR ADAPTATION AND SPECIAL THANKS
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Myra Bazell (Movement Consultant) has been directing theater, choreographing her own work and free lancing as choreographer for major opera companies, music videos, and musical theater for fifteen years. Recent choreography includes: Le Foulard Orange Live Arts Festival, Philadelphia, Bach’s Saint Matthew’s Passion, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, The Trojan Women at the University of Maryland. Recent original full length works: Traces, DownWind, Trapture, Blood line, EndZone, Quiescence. Additional choreography: Myths and Hymns, Pal Joey and Peter Pan and Wendy for the Prince Music Theater, Chicago for Villanova University (Barrymore-nominated for best Choreography) and Pacific Overtures, Arabian Nights and Winesburg, Ohio at the Arden Theater, The Baccai, Ave. X, Three Penny Opera and Arcadia for the Wilma Theater, The Screw Tape Letters for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Pagliacci and Operissimo for the Sylvan Opera. Directing: Year of the Woman, Lantern Theater, Clucks and Whirr and I Stand Before You Naked for Theater Catalyst. Myra has received awards from the PA Council on the Arts 1994,97,99, Dance Advance, The PEW Foundation 1995 thru 2001, the International Woman's Theatre Festival of Russia 1994, Berlin Senate 1994, The Puffin Foundation 2005, The Leeway Foundation 2001,03, The Live Arts Festival 2005, and the Independence Foundation 2004. Myra is co-director of SCRAP Performance Group, a company dedicated to the creation of new dance theater work. |
Madison Cario (Technical Design and Lighting) is an artist who is interested in the spaces in between. She gets her training from the streets and her inspiration from the weeds that grow in the cracks of the sidewalk. Her favorite media are the artists themselves, their art forms and the points where they intersect. For the past ten years she has been lighting the way for artists and is currently the production manager at the Painted Bride Art Center.
Thoughtful Input: Kate Watson-Wallace, Whit McLaughlin, Michael Zuckerman, Jennifer Snead, Travis Mesman.
Production/Research Assistants: Kaitlin Dunn, Sarah Giovaniello, Ali Hanes, Travis Mesman, Malese Schick, Kim Traube, Lindsey Winkler, Zachary Yorke, Elizabeth Zuckerman.
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“Currently Franklin: The Story of a Paper Boy,” has many outreach possibilities. Content connections can be drawn to history, social studies, visual and performing arts, as well as education. Workshops are always designed in conjunction with the presenting organizations, and are taught by Sebastienne Mundheim or cast members. Workshops can range from 1-hour sessions, to semester-long programs. |
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EXCERPTED QUOTES IN SUPPORT OF “CURRENTLY FRANKLIN”, SPRING 2006 “ …Sebastienne is a brilliant performance artist, a genuine visionary. No one else is doing anything like her fusion of movement, puppets, props, narration, and music, least of all when the subjects are very difficult artists and abstract ideas. And no one else I know has her analytic and imagistic and verbal and bodily intelligence, all woven together to amazingly illuminating effect. I've LEARNED from her performances. I can tell you that few scholars and no artists I've ever known have absorbed what I had to say on their subject with her acuity, and responded to my ideas with such penetration. …This is a gorgeous show … …Kids are entranced, and grown-ups are lifted. The performances move with a kind of magic that is as captivating as it is instructive. She is truly special…”
“ …unquestionably one of the most creative and engaging pieces of theatre I have ever seen…. while the individual elements of Mundheim’s shows are familiar---puppetry, simple lighting and sound, dance and movement, handcrafted props, voice, masks, poetry and narrative---it is their seamless and unexpected combination, as well as her wholly original aesthetic sensibility, that create a sense of surprise and revelation. These visual and material effects are anchored in a subtle and intelligent script that is both accessible and challenging to children and adults … I highly recommend it.”
“…As the President of the Friends of Franklin, www.benfranklin2006.org an international organization that promotes and explores Franklin’s legacy I highly recommend “Currently Franklin” to people of any age, and for that matter even if they do not understand English, visually it’s a gem.”
“…an enchanting, original and completely compelling production about Ben Franklin, with a script and set and music design that truly bring Franklin and his many gifts and achievements to life… "Currently Franklin: The Story of a Paper Boy," is a sophisticated reading of Franklin's life and work and a remarkable piece of theatre; at the same time, it is completely accessible, entertaining, surprising, and undeniably educational. The audiences …were amazed -- awed, even -- by the inventiveness and beauty of the set, the movement, the script; children who were no more than five sat marveling for the entire show next to equally students, faculty and staff.”
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES RADIO INTERVIEWS WRTI (Radio) Interview "Currently Franklin", (Aug 2006) VIDEO Currently Franklin Trailer (Quicktime format) TEACHER ENDORSEMENTS |