February 14-16, 2020
World Premiere Of Zach Dorn's SPONGE HOLLOW + Special Performance Of Moira MacDonald's SELKIE
Automata presents the World Premiere of
Sponge hollow A live-action graphic novel
Created + Performed by zach dorn
Music Composed + Performed by Danielle Dahl
+ The evening will commence with a Special Performance of
Selkie A double-overhead projector shadow show
Created + Composed by Moira MacDonald
AUTOMATA is excited to present new work by two stellar Los Angeles artists working in the realm of puppet and object performance.
Join us for the world premiere of Sponge hollow, a live-action graphic novel by interdisciplinary artist /performer zach dorn, with original music composed and performed live by Danielle Dahl. Performing in the midst of an elaborately designed miniature train set, dorn is part-storyteller, part puppeteer, part wizard, part memoirist as he recounts (and possibly embellishes) the story of his mother and the Florida swamp where he grew up.
Live feed video brings the full experience to the audience, as tiny cameras within miniature trains film the landscape and characters as it moves through the set. Additional cameras pick up the action at numerous small storefronts, homes, and local attractions. From the window of a moving O-scale train set, audiences travel through the model of a Florida swamp, meeting the world’s largest sponge, a man obsessed with the television drama Gilmore Girls, and witnessing the destruction of a tourist-ridden town. Full of humor, wonder, and pathos, Sponge hollow is a singular experience of live expanded cinema. Sponge Hollow was presented as a work-in-progress to great acclaim at Redcat's New Original Works (NOW) Festival in 2019.
“Dorn reimagines and nails a lower-middle class time capsule, paying homage to the American cultural norms of kids growing up in the 90s.” - Broadway World
Sponge hollow will be preceded by a special presentation of Selkie, a double overhead projector shadow performance by Moira MacDonald. Selkie follows a young woman’s journey as she searches for water during a relentless drought. Performed by MacDonald with puppeteer Jesse Kingsley, Selkie highlights the increasing challenges we face with a once abundant resource, clean available water. Selkie was presented to enthusiastic audiences as part of the 2019 Skirball Puppetry Festival.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
zach dorn was selected as the inaugural Julie Taymor World Theater Fellow in 2016. He spent one year documenting the use of automata in Shinto ritual and studied with psycho-analyst turned theater director Kuro Tanino, founder of the Tokyo-based experimental theater company Niwa Gekidan Penino. Zach Dorn has been recognized for his work by The Jim Henson Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and The Pittsburgh Foundation. His performances have been seen in bowling alleys, abandoned schoolhouses, St Ann’s Warehouse, REDCAT theater, and Ars Nova. He graduated from The University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts Program in 2010. He is currently an MFA student in Experimental Animation at Calarts.
danielle dahl is a non binary composer, singer, sound synthesist, saxophonist, videographer and performer currently based in LA. Their music is a genre defying mix of analogue synths, field recordings, techno beats and nativistic pop, encompassing themes of identity, alienation, BDSM and transcendence. Their debut album «Loosening Orion’s Belt» was awarded by the Danish Arts Council as one of the 10 best releases in 2018. Danielle Dahl's live show has been described as a shamanistic ritual by Kraut-legend Hans Joachim Roedelius, or as an artistic boxing match with the self. They have toured in Europe, Japan and North-America with freejazz trio Tigers Mind and as a solo artist. Their music has been featured in The Wire, Politiken, Passive/Aggressive, I Care If you Listen, LA Weekly as well as a number of underground zines and blogs. They have released 3 full length albums, several cassettes and a 10’’ with Daniel Lercher and Lumpy Space Princess, Tigers Mind and bravura in the face of grief. They also run the Copenhagen-based label Abstract Tits and have curated concerts and performances at Mayhem CPH since 2014.
Moira Lael MacDonald is a multidisciplinary theater artist and filmmaker. Selkie has been performed at the Skirball Cultural Center, Tongva After Dark, and Thymele Arts. Other work includes Svetlana (Blue Waves,) Edwin, Margery and Me, Amaranth, The Life of the Bee, and Letter from the Bees. Her short hand-processed film, The Visible Woman has been screened at Concord Space and the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts. Moira holds an MFA in Puppetry and Integrated Media from CalArts, and a BFA in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She teaches at Pasadena City College, Moorpark College and the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility. Moira was born and raised in Sitka, Alaska.
Shows dates and times:
Friday, February 14th 8pm
Saturday, February 15th 3pm
Saturday, February 15th 8pm
Sunday, February 16th 3pm
General Admission: $15 Members, Students, Seniors: $12
Tickets
seating is limited; advance reservations strongly recommended
at: AUTOMATA
504 Chung King Court
Los Angeles, CA 90012
automata-la@sbcglobal.net
