IN PROCESS: MAGIC CIRCLE CYCLE
The Imaginists present workshop showings of their new piece in development
April 11 - 14 on Z Space's Main Stage
A group of women play out an invented ritual that is part song cycle, part folk dance, part sporting competition, and part school yard role playing game.
A self appointed judge sits alone in an office presiding over a hallucinated courtroom and debating whether to hang himself or not, interrupted by the insistent rings of a telephone.
The past catches up with him.
Then the future arrives – unexpectedly early.
Magic Circle Cycle (MCC), a collaboration by Kalei Yamanoha & the Imaginists, is a theatrical event exorcising age old cycles as well as their offspring—current events. Played out in four movements MCC excavates old narratives & invents new stories. Inspired by, and in conversation with, Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle, Genet’s The Maids, the harrowing & magic journeys of female protagonists in fairy tales and the current political moment, the piece continues to evolve into a new hybrid form of storytelling; an invented ritual intervention, song cycle, biting satire and poem-play. Kalei Yamanoha plays the lyrical spine on banjo, piano, accordion and base drum. The songs are spells.
With: Alia Beeton, Liz Jahren, Brent Lindsay, Rachel Quintana, Amy Pinto, Michelle Torres & Kalei Yamanoha.
Founded in 2002, the Imaginists is an experimental theater company based in Santa Rosa, CA. Led by co-artistic directors Brent Lindsay and Amy Pinto, the Imaginists completely re-think theatre: who participates, where it happens, and what it is. Our work is an ongoing conversation that intentionally upsets assumptions and expectations- especially our own. We create contemporary performances with artists across discipline, community members, emerging artists and a core company making work together over time. Our work is supported by the NEA, California Arts Council, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Community Foundation Sonoma County, Network of Ensemble Theatres, Theatre Bay Area, and numerous individual donors ages 7-97. www.theimaginists.org
Kalei Yamanoha (Composer/ Musician) grew up playing traditional Hawaiian music with his father’s band and started his first (punk rock) band when he was twelve. Currently Kalei is the creator & band leader of Oddjob Ensemble, a consortium of multi-instrumentalists and specialists inspired by sounds from around the world. Oddjob Ensemble has performed regionally at the Great American Music Hall, Maker Faire, & Lightning in a Bottle. Kalei is musical director for The Traveling Spectacular, a vaudeville/performance art traveling show, for which he writes and performs original scores. He has been on over ten tours, two national and three international, has recorded over ten albums and has been featured on over twenty albums of bands in the Bay Area (Easy Leaves, The Vivants, The Crux, Frankie Boots and the County Line). He has been working with the Imaginists on various projects for the past five years. www.oddjobensemble.com
the Imaginists’ work in progress showings of Magic Circle Cycle are made possible by a Z Space tech residency. The partnership we are establishing with Z Space will allow us to bring our work to new audiences in San Francisco on a more regular basis. We’re excited to have a “home away from home” and we’re inspired to be working in an art space with an amazing history of radical art making. We’re indebted to the vision and integrity of Z Space to present new work & provide an artistic home to many Bay Area artists. We’re interested in the conversations happening regionally and nationally about contemporary performance and we’re happy to be able to be part of a community of artists making work in these challenging times.
