Original Information Provided by PearlDamour in Collaboration with Spectrum Theatre Ensemble

This production is general admission, so you may select the seats that feel most comfortable for you. Please note that the front section of the audience will experience more intense sensory moments. Additionally, the “Senate Seats” at the tables in the front rows will have potential audience participation. If you are no longer comfortable in your seats once the performance begins, you may move to a different location at any time.

Triggers will be indicated with a blue warning light about 5 seconds before they occur. The warning light will stay lit until the effect is over.

The following elements occur during the performance:

• Cymbals at the top of the show
• Percussion sounds throughout
• Gavel sounds throughout
• Sudden blackouts
• Abrupt light changes throughout
• Loud sequences throughout
• Scripted shouting from the audience, and overlapping voices
• Lit disco balls in the lobby during intermission

The doors to the theater will be left open and if any moment is too intense, you can leave the theater at any time through any exit to one of the Quiet Areas. If you would like to return to the theater, a staff member can help you.

Ocean Filibuster on Sunday, September 24 at 1 p.m. will be sensory-modified to create a welcoming and comfortable arts experience for people with autism, sensory sensitivities, or other social, learning or cognitive disabilities.

MODIFICATIONS TO THE PRODUCTION INCLUDE:

• House lights will stay at a glow minimum
• Blue lights visible from the audience will indicate that a cue (audio/video/lighting) is about to happen.
• An announcement will be made at the beginning of the show explaining sensory accommodations.
• Free entry and exits will be allowed throughout the performance.

PREPARING FOR THE PERFORMANCE:

Before the performance, please review the Ocean Filibuster Sensory Warnings (see above).

There will be a table in the lobby before the performance where patrons can see and hear selected props as demonstrated by the cast.

Patrons can pick up follow-along booklets for the production, created by “Nothing About Us Without Us” at the University of Houston. Follow-along booklets outline the major plot points of the show for patrons to follow along with during the show to clarify and answer questions. Large-print programs are also available.

To help audience members engage in the performance environment, Duke Arts will be offering a limited number of sensory kits to help personalize performance experiences. These kits can be claimed before or during the performance.

Some of the items included are:

• Over-the-ear headphones to mute loud noises*
• Sunglasses*
• Earplugs
• A pen and notepad to take notes or draw with
• A variety of fidget toys such as fidget spinners and pop-its.

Sensory kits are available on a first-come, first-served basis. If all the sensory kits are checked out, there are a limited number of sensory toys available to individually borrow during the performance.

* Headphones and sunglasses must be returned to Duke Arts at the end of the performance, where they will be sanitized and saved for future events. All other items may be kept and taken home, courtesy of Duke Arts.

Tickets for Ocean Filibuster on September 24 are $35 each for adults, or $10 for Duke students and audiences aged 18 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at dukearts.org.

PROGRAM NOTES

PearlDamour’s: Ocean Filibuster

Written by Lisa D’Amour
Directed by Katie Pearl
Performed by Jennifer Kidwell
With: Evan Spigelman
and
Vritti Chopra
Jessica Flemming
Melissanthi (Meli) Guthold
Matthew Hager
Emily Levinston

Music by Sxip Shirey
Lyrics by Lisa D’Amour and Sxip Shirey
Projection Design by Tal Yarden, adapted by Stivo Arnoczy
Scenic Design by Jeff Becker and Nate Lemoine, original scenic concept by Jian Jung

Costume Design by Olivera Gajic
Lighting Design by Thomas Dunn
Sound Design by Andrew Lynch and Sxip Shirey
Production Stage Manager: Lisa McGinn

This Production of OCEAN FILIBUSTER is based on the world premiere American Repertory production in March, 2022. Diane Paulus, Artistic Director Diane Borger, Producer

OCEAN FILIBUSTER was commissioned and developed by the American Repertory Theater in partnership with the Harvard University Center for the Environment.

Additional Company Credits:
Assistant Stage Manager: Ivy Sun
Associate Lighting Designer and Ensemble Lead: Evan Spigelman
Production Managers: Michelle Kelleher and Carly Levin
Video Supervisor and Programmers: Robin Ediger-Seto and Matthew Deinhart
Music Director and Ensemble Coordinator: Tré Louis
Sound Engineer and Supervisor: Andrew Lynch
Motion Graphics and Animation: Rosane Chamecki, Breslin Siblet-Martin, Marina Zurkow
Augmented Reality: Agatha Park
Tour Manager and Producer: Amanda Cooper
Original sound design concept developed with Mikaal Sulaiman

Local Credits For Intermission

Lobby installation 1: Bryant Holsenbeck, “Plastics at sea.” Assistance from Marya MacNeish.

Lobby installation 2: Artwork developed in response to the question: “Tell a story about a body of water that holds significance for you, personally, and for the area you call home?” Performing Science students, Fall 2023, part of Science & the Public FOCUS cluster.

Durham Lobby Station: “Puzzling Out the Impact of Flooding and Sea Level Rise in NC.” Puzzle conceptualization Performing Science Fall 2022 students. Puzzle design and fabrication, by Alexa Bolin Santiago (Pratt, BME, 2023). Puzzle narrative and ArcGIS story map about North Carolina hog farms, by Gabriel Campos (MEM, Nicholas School of the Environment, 2023). North Carolina resources collection, by Jillian Wisse (Ph.D., Ecology, Nicholas School of the Environment, 2021). Connect with other campus students and scholars about ways to promote ocean sustainability through OCEANS@Duke.

Local Crew:
…

A NOTE ABOUT LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

In the past few years, this practice has come under critique for providing lip service versus action to changing inequities for Indigenous people. Duke’s own Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance (NAISA) wrote an open letter to the university in 2021 requesting specific actions as a condition for collaborating with Duke on a land acknowledgment. NAISA members reiterated Duke’s specific obligation to Native students in 2022, part of a nationwide effort to reckon with the history of boarding schools. In 2023, the Native American Studies Initiative was launched and its leadership has also called upon the Duke community to work towards active engagement with Native faculty, students and staff.

With these considerations in mind, we have embedded links in the narrative above that you can use to learn about concrete steps toward justice and equity that you can support here at Duke.

North Carolina has the largest Native population of any state east of the Mississippi River, with eight recognized tribal nations: the Coharies (co-HAIR-ee), the Eastern Band of the Cherokees, the Haliwa-Saponis (HA-lih-WAH suh-PONY), the Lumbees, the Meherrins (ma-HAIR-in), the Occaneechi Saponis (suh-PONY), the Sapponys, and the Waccamaw Siouans (WOK-uh-ma Soo-uhn). The Triangle Native American Society represents the area’s multinational urban Native community, and Duke’s Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance represents an equally diverse student community.

Thanks to the many people who have helped support this project both at Duke Arts and beyond including: Rachel Karp, James Clem, Julie Huber, Larry Pratt, Elizabeth James-Perry; The Harvard Center for the Environment (Daniel Schrag, Peter Girguis); University of Houston (Rob Shimko, Melissa Noble, Karen Farber, Rachel Bush); Live Arts Miami (Kathryn Garcia, Eddy Davis); ART (Mark Lunsford, Emma Watt, Steven Showalter and Rick Nobel); Quita Sullivan, Derek Schwartz and Meena Malik; Wesleyan University (Fiona Coffey, Suzanne Sadler and the CFA team); Our NOLA friend and the hardworking CAC staff; Jules Odendahl-James, Steve Martin, John Brown, Aaron Shackelford, Paul Kartcheske, Anna Wallace, Marcy Edenfield, Cheryl Edson, Brian Valentyn, Austin Powers, David Berberian, Rich Kless, and the whole impressive Duke Arts team.

Ocean Filibuster would not have been possible without the generous support of:
The New England Foundation For The Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The Harvard University Center for the Environment
The Distracted Globe Foundation
Alternate Roots
The New York State Council for the Arts
The Guirgis Lab
Wesleyan University
And many generous individual donors

We are PearlDamour:

Katie Pearl and Lisa D’Amour, theater collaborators since 1997.  Our first project was a 14-hour shifting tableau of simple scenes in a grove of trees at the side of a busy road in Austin, TX designed to be viewed by passing cars. In the 25 years since, our work has evolved from intimate site-specific theater experiments exploring metaphysical questions about identity into larger scale interdisciplinary performances about the human need to connect with community and the natural world. Our collaborators have included dancers, musicians, visual artists, wrestlers, video designers, animators, and other theater artists–an ever-changing ensemble that allows our projects to evoke wonder by combining disciplines, by using space in surprising ways, by blending fact and fantasy, and provoking performance norms. PearlDamour is the proud recipient of a 2003 Obie Award for our show Nita & Zita (with ArtSpot Productions), as well as 4 MAP fund awards, 2 NEA Our Town grants, a Creative Capital award and a NEFA National Theater and Touring Project award. Our touring history includes Milton, a 5-city 5-year performance and community engagement project in small towns named “Milton” across the U.S. (for which we received two separate NEA Our Town grants) and How To Build A Forest, an 8 hour performance installation where we build and dismantle a fabricated forest on stage, which premiered at The Kitchen in NYC and then toured to universities and art centers in New Orleans, Nashville and Providence, marshaling a team of 35 local participants/performers at each stop. Whatever their form, PearlDamour’s projects create community, build relationships, and investigate what we find most mysterious and pressing in today’s world. You can find see images and videos and learn more about our past work at www.pearldamour.com

Creative Team Bios

Jennifer Kidwell (Mr. M./ O) Jennifer Kidwell is a performing artist. Recent original projects – Those With 2 Clocks, Underground Railroad Game (2017 Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work; 2018 Edinburgh Fringe First Award; Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes nominations) Recent works – Ocean Filibuster (PearlDamour), Eternal Life Part 1, Fat Ham and Antigone (The Wilma Theater), Michelle Ellsworth’s Body on a Table, Jaamil Olawole Kosoko’s Syllabus for Black Love, Geoff Sobelle’s Home (2018 Bessie Award), Adrienne Truscott’s Still Asking for It (Joe’s Pub), Dan Hurlin’s Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, David Neumann/Advanced Beginner Group’s I Understand Everything Better (2015 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production), Being/With and The Octopus and the Interview (Nichole Canuso Dance Company), Superterranean, Fire Burns Hot: Little Reno!, I Promised Myself to Live Faster and 99 Break-Ups (Pig Iron Theatre Company), Dick’s Last Stand (Whitney Biennial 2014, as Donelle Woolford), Zinnias: the Life of Clementine Hunter (Robert Wilson/Toshi Reagon/Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon). Wilma Theater Associated Artist, co-founder of JACK. Published in movement research Performance Journal #45 and at hyperallergic.com. 2020 Visiting Artist Duke University, 2021 Visiting Artist UPenn. 2013 TCG/Fox Resident Actor Fellowship, 2015, 2021 Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant, 2016 Pew Fellow, 2017 Independence Fellowship, 2020 Ruthie Award & Hodder Fund Grant, 2023 FCA Grantee.

Evan Spigelman (Ocean Ensemble leader, Associate Lighting Designer) Off-Broadway: Taylor Mac’s A 24 Decade History of Popular Music (Dandy Minion), The Faghag and Her Friends in the Summer of Love (Various). Off-Off Broadway/Regional: Mouthbrain, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens (Candy Delaney), The Lily’s Revenge (Lily), The Mutilated (Bruno/Maxie), Creep Cuts. TV/Film: “Creep Cuts in Freeze Response” (co-director, Mx. Asa Metric). Constantly stalking around in drag as Mx Asa Metric. Instagram: @evspig

Vritti Chopra (Ocean Ensemble) is a freshman at Duke University, studying Computer Science. She is currently also the Social Programming Chair of her House Council at Duke. From teaching music to children with her nonprofit to discussing the social impact of novels through book clubs, Vritti’s appreciation for the arts encourages her to open-mindedly see the world. In her spare time, you’ll find Vritti cozied up with some coffee and a good book, eager to discover more.

Jessica Flemming (Ocean Ensemble) is an actor, singer, stage manager, and theatre educator. She received her BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Michigan-Flint and has almost 15 years of professional acting and stage management experience. Currently, Jessica is performing for young audiences with Aggregate Theatre Company and Curious Theatre Collective as well as collaborating and fostering community with local creatives and artists.

Melissanthi Guthold (Ocean Ensemble) is currently a junior at Duke! She’s majoring in music and computer science, with a focus in operatic singing and classical composition, in particular. Outside of school, she’s really passionate about her Greek heritage, particularly competitive and recreational Greek folk dancing.

Matthew Hager (Ocean Ensemble)(he/him) is a theatre artist who has performed for many local companies, including NC Theatre, NC Symphony, Burning Coal (company member), Manbites Dog (Indy Award), Deep Dish, Honest Pint, Bulldog Ensemble Theater, Justice Theater Project, and Aggregate. Matthew founded Aggregate Theatre Company in 2017 to help develop the next generation of local theatregoers. For Aggregate, Matthew has written and directed several shows, including currently touring productions of Gazellephant and The Midsummer Experience. @aggregatetheatre

Emily Levinstone (she/her) is a Durham-based actor and musician. She studied classical voice/opera and theater at Duke, graduating in 2017 as recipient of the Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater. Favorite credits: Parallel Lives (National Women’s Theatre Festival); Mr. Burns (Manbites Dog). Gratitude to Jules for calling, Katie for heart-first leadership, and the entire OF family for centering people and values. You cultivate a safe space for collaboration and play, and model what it looks like to do what you love for your life. Thank you for reigniting the joy of theater-making in me. For J, J, & Blossom.

Stivo Arnoczy (Projection Design Adaptation) is a projections designer and programmer from New York City. NYU:TISCH. Recent work includes: Cabaret (Hangar Theatre), Monsoon Wedding (Qatar, as Assoc.), American Jade (Bucks County Playhouse), Space Dogs (MCC, as Assoc.), untitled danceshowpartything (Virgin Voyages), Circle Jerk Live! (As Assoc.), First Down (Noor Theatre), I Am Sending You the Sacred Face (Theater in Quarantine), Broadway: The Rose Tattoo (as Asst.), Be More Chill (as Asst.), The Band’s Visit (International Tour, as Assoc.) http://stivo.video

Jeff Becker (Scenic Co-Design) is a designer, director and sculptor who specializes in audience interactive performances and outdoor spectacles. His work focuses on issues surrounding racism, abuse of power and environmental justice. He has toured extensively nationally and abroad and is the recipient of numerous awards and grants. His current touring projects include Requiem for Stranger with Vagabond Inventions, Ezell, Ballad of a Land Man with Clear Creek Creative and Invisible Rivers in collaboration with Monique Verdin and Mondo Bizarro. Jeff is the co-founder of Catapult, a performance laboratory in New Orleans dedicated to the development of original theater and innovative design. setsalive.com

Lisa D’Amour is a playwright, educator and interdisciplinary collaborator from New Orleans, LA. She grew up in a world of ritual, activism, community spectacle and care, all of which continue to thrive in her work. Her theater company PearlDamour makes interdisciplinary, often site-specific works, that range from the intimate to large scale. Recent work includes Milton, a performance and community engagement experiment rooted in 5 U.S. towns named Milton, and How to Build a Forest, an 8-hour performance installation created with visual artist Shawn Hall. Lisa’s plays have been produced in many theaters across the country, including Manhattan Theater Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater on Broadway, Steppenwolf Theater (Chicago), Children’s Theater Company (Minneapolis), Woolly Mammoth Theater (Washington D.C.), Southern Rep Theater and ArtSpot Productions (both in New Orleans). Lisa’s play Detroit was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn prize. She is the recipient of the 2008 Alpert Award for the Arts in theater, the 2011 Steinberg Playwright Award, and a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. She is a former Jerome Fellow, a Core Alum of the Playwrights’ Center, and an alumna of New Dramatists. In New Orleans, she serves on the artistic advisory committee for No Dream Deferred theater and is part of the collaborative leadership team of the Black and Blue Story Project.

Matthew Deinhart (Video Supervisor) is New York based multidisciplinary designer. Recent design credits include the scenic design for URL vs IRL (Andy’s Summer Playhouse) and Sweat (Brooklyn College), the lighting design for La Folie (Premiere – Brooklyn College), Blackbird (New Ohio), The Sandwich Program (Premiere – The Public), and Tongue Depressor (Premiere -The Public), and the projection design for El Amore Brujo (La Mama) and ANIMUS ANIMA//ANIMA ANIMUS (Premiere – The Public).

Thomas Dunn (Lighting Design) Broadway: Is This A Room. Off-Broadway: The Undertaking, A (radically condensed and expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, House For Sale, Paris Commune, Evolution, 10 Things to Do Before I Die, Gone Missing. Regional: The Little Dog Laughed (Kevin Kline Award). Opera: Powder Her Face. Music: KLANG: The 24 hours of the Day. Dance: Epochal Songs; Nottthing Is Importanttt (Bessie Award).

Robin Abraham Ediger-Seto (Video Supervisor) is a New York-based lighting and video designer. His background in contemporary dance, and his upbringing in Northern India and New Mexico heavily influences his work. Robin has designed at PSNY, The Huntington, The Atlantic, Mabou Mines, National Sawdust, MoSex, The Whitney, etc. and he has collaborated with artists including Ali Cherri, Julie Tolentino, Raven Chacon, Colin Self, Ron Athey, rafa esparza, and Sister Sylvester. Additionally, Robin founded MERDE, an underground performance series in Brooklyn and Queens.

Olivera Gajic (Costume Design) has 150+ theater, opera, dance and film productions to her credit. Among others: Salzburg Festival, Vineyard Theatre, Juilliard School, Here, Pig Iron, CSC, Lake Lucille, Talking Band, Two River, Arden, Trinity Rep, PSF, and many other regional theaters. Olivera has collaborated on four productions with PearlDamour. Olivera is recipient of the 2004 NEA/TCG CDP for Designers, 2010 IT Award, 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, 2012 Barrymore Award, and recently the 2014 Bessie Award. oliveragajic.com

Michelle Kelleher (Touring Production Manager) is a theater worker and writer based out of New Orleans with credits in both New York and New Orleans. As a Stage Manager she’s worked on shows including the New York premieres of She Kills Monsters, Future Anxiety, Heresy and The Vandal (The Flea Theater), Marcellus Shale, ESCAPE! and Wake Up, You’re Dead (La MaMa e.t.c.). Her work has also been seen at The Brick, The Ohio, and many other Off-Broadway venues. She’s been a repeat guest artist at Bard College. Michelle is one of the original designers of Puffs (The Pit and The Elektra Theatre). She studied at Tulane University where she received her Bachelor’s in Theater Production. She is a proud member of Actors Equity.

Nathan (Pierre) Lemoine (Scenic Co-Designer) Nathan’s eclectic background has given him the opportunity to work with numerous independent and commercial artists, theaters and dance companies across the country and internationally. Some of those companies, artists and venues include Baryshnikov Productions, Lviv Theater Voskresinnia, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Big Dance Theater, Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company, Frank Ocean, Christine Jones, Mimi Lien, Bergdorf Goodman, Jeff Becker and ArtSpot Productions, Rebecca Mwase, Tina Satter and Half Straddle, Every House Has A Door, Susan Marshall among many others. Before moving to New Orleans, LA in 2016 he was the Technical Director at Paper Mache Monkey Art and Design Studio in New York. While there he was a lead project manager working with a variety of renowned clients from the worlds of dance, fashion, theater, music and visual arts. Nathan is currently creating a new, NOLA-based design and fabrication startup called SuperGay Design Workshop.

Carly Levin (Production Manager) Is a NYC-based production manager and stage manager. Credits include Waiting for the Sibyl (William Kentridge, international tour), A Marvelous Order, The Good Swimmer (BAM), 4:48 Psychosis (Prototype), Fellow Travelers (GWLT/Prototype)), Anatomy Theater (Bric), Kurt Vonnegut’s Happy Birthday Wanda June (Wheelhouse), Tap and Tom (Jacob’s Pillow), Private Peaceful (US Tour), Please Continue (EST), Powerhouse (SinkingShip). Technical Supervisor GWLT/John Jay ’19-’21, PM & SM for The American Tap Dance Foundation ’12-‘20. Thanks to Seth and the Osnow-Levin clan for the behind-the-scenes support.

Tre Louis (Music Director) is a multi-faceted performance artist hailing from the vibrant streets of New Orleans. Louis fronts his own band VALN with incedible vocal range, abilities as a multi-instrumentalist and thoughtful songwriting. His deep-rooted love for sharing music and theater with the community is realized in the bright futures of the many children he has mentored through his work as a performing arts educator and choir director. Tre stepped into the spotlight in New Orleans, joining the Ocean Ensemble at the Contemporary Art Center. Tre Louis has just begun to embark on a journey that will leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry.

Andrew Lynch (Sound Co-Designer and Engineer) is a composer, sound designer, and performer. Recent projects include A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Director Patricia McGregor at UCSD, Downtown Stories with Directors Morgan Green and Jessica Holt for En Garde Arts, and The Eye Which We Do Not Have created by Kate Brehm developed at Harvard University, The O’Neill Theatre Center and presented at HERE Arts 2022 Puppetopia Festival. He is a cofounder of the Brooklyn art space Cloud City, and last year he was a Mitchell Fellow in Composition and Sound Design at the Mitchell Center for the Arts in Houston, Texas.

Lisa McGinn (Production Stage Manager) Previous PearlDamour credits include How to Build a Forest. Other projects: Geoff Sobelle’s FOOD, Home and The Object Lesson; Those with Two Clocks (Tall Order/Wilma Theatre); On Beckett: An Evening with Bill Irwin Octopus Theatrical/(tour);  Elephant Room: Dust from the Stars (Center Theatre Group); Underground Railroad Game (Jennifer Kidwell, Scott R. Sheppard, Ars Nova, tour); Love (Alexander Zeldin, Park Ave Armory); User Not Found (Dante or Die); Detroit Red (ArtsEmerson); Sleep and Compass (Ripe Time Theatre); Chimera and The Wholehearted (Stein | Holum Projects); This is Reading (Lynn Nottage, Kate Whoriskey);  LA Dance Project (European tour); Jacuzzi (The Debate Society/Ars Nova); The Light Years (The Debate Society/NYSAF); Revolt. She said. Revolt Again, Winners and Losers (Soho Rep); Rememberer and Open House (Steven Reker); Forbidden Creature Virgin Whore; From the Spot Where We/You/I Stand (Stood) (Miller Rothlein Dance); You, My Mother (Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf); Card and Gift, Baby Screams Miracle (Clubbed Thumb); The Seagull (multiple iterations) and Ivanov (Chekhov at Lake Lucille); The Room Sings, The Peripherals; Hot Lunch Apostles (Talking Band).

Katie Pearl (Director, Co-Creator) is a director, educator, and collaborative performance-maker whose work ranges from conventional plays to community-wide collaborations to experimental performance. Her practice and pedagogy is motivated by the conviction that personal encounter and creative exchange are essential to a humane world. As Co-Artistic Director of the Obie Award-winning interdisciplinary company PearlDamour, she creates interdisciplinary often site-specific works both  intimate and large-scale. Projects include Milton, a performance and community engagement experiment made for and with 5 U.S. towns named Milton and Lost In The Meadow, created for a 40-acre meadow at the Longwood Botanical Gardens. Pearl was the 2017 Quinn Martin Guest Chair of Directing at UCSD, a 2016 Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton, and a 2018 visiting lecturer of Socially Engaged Art at Harvard. She currently splits her time between Brooklyn NY and Middletown CT, where she is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Wesleyan University. Drama League, member SDC.

Sxip Shirey (Composer, Sound Co-Designer) is a composer and sound artist based in New York City. He was the composer and music director for the circus arts production LIMBO, produced by Melbourne based Strut N Fret Productions House and London based, Underbelly and South Bank Center. LIMBO toured internationally for six years (2015-2020) including Sydney Opera House, London’s Southbank Center, the Bogota International Theater Festival, and Madonna’s 57th Birthday Day party. Shirey teaches workshops in “Text and Object Oriented Composition” at Norwegian Theater Academy in Fredrickstad which he considers the Black Mountain College of NOW. Shirey’s ongoing immersive choral works, The Gauntlet, developed with his artistic partner Coco Karol, have been performed at Rockefeller Center, The Sydney Opera House, Bard College and for the Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. He is a collaborator of singer and song composer Rhiannon Giddens; released tracks include, “All Babies Must Cry” and  “Woman of Constant Sorrow.” Shirey has presented at TED (2008), is a United States Artist Fellow (2011) and has been artist curator (2016) and artist in residence (2017) at National Sawdust, Brooklyn. Shirey composed for the short Neil Gaiman film “Statuesque” which premiered on Christmas Day on SKY TV, UK (2009). Other compositional highlights include composition for choreographer Dan Safer’s The One You Feed (2019) at M.I.T., and music for Little Amal’s visit with the artist Swoon’s Sibylant Sisters (2002) presented by Saint Ann’s Warehouse. He is currently working a new opera with co-composer Paola Prestini based on a play written by Winter Miller, No One Is Forgotten and for puppeteer Kate Brehm’s The Poacher at MIT.

Ivy Sun (Assistant Stage Manager) is a senior student at Duke University majoring in Theater Studies, and she is excited to see the fascinating showcase produced by this incredible cast and the production crew. She jumped into the world of theater in her sophomore year without ever watching a complete performance before but soon was captivated by the amazingness of performing art. Now, her dream is to be a storyteller and a world creator on stage!

Tal Yarden (Projection Design) – Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George, Network, The Crucible, Indecent, Waverly Gallery; Off-Broadway: Becky Nurse of Salem, I Hate Memory, Enemy of the People, Between the World and Me, King Lear, Lazarus, The Misanthrope, Little Foxes, Roman Tragedies, Antigone, Kings of War: Regional: Passing Strange, A Walk on the Moon; West End: Get Up, Stand Up, Anna X, Hamlet; Opera: Exterminating Angel, Mahagonny, Boris Godounov, Idomeneo, Brokeback Mountain, Macbeth, Salome.  Awards: Lucille Lortel: Network; Moliere: Les Damnés; Nominations: Tony, Drama Desk, WhatsOnStage.

Thank you to our Ocean Filibuster Kickstarter Donors: Adrienne Knight, Aimée Hayes, Alan Salisbury, Alison, Allison DeFrees, Amy Love, Andrea Spigelman, ANDREW PARIS, andrewdoss, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Anonymous, Arnie Pearl, Arthur, ashley sparks, Azamat Makhmudov, Barbara Esteves-Moore, Barry Witham, Bear Hebert, Belinda Mello, Ben Yalom, Beth Lincks, Bill D’Amour, Bill Tresch, Bob Ford & Amy Herzberg, Bob’s your Uncle, Brenda Currin, charlie Kinsella, Chris Damour, Christina Telesca, Claus Sprotte Kofod, Clay Nichols, Craig Wilson, Daniel, David Gordon, David Herskovits, Denise Pilie, Diane Neal, Eily and Anand Raman, Eleanor Savage, Ellen Bates-Brackett, Ellen Di Giovanni, Emma Horwitz, Enrico Grillo, Gabrielle Reisman, Gene D’Amour, Greg Wise, Heidi Romero Gremillion, Hideus Jackson, Jacob Krueger, Jamie Rubenstein, Jana Napoli, Jane and Gibbs LaMotte, Jean Hannah Edelstein, Jeff Sims, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Avery, Jennifer Fox, Jennifer Haley and Matt M. Morrow, Jennifer Sargent, Jennifer Sinche, Jeremy Brady, Jessica Bauman, Jim Walker, Jimmy Don’t Hate, JoAnne Akalaitis, john walch, Jules Odendahl-James, Julia Izumi, Julie, Justin Maxwell, Justine, Karen GH, Kat, Katherine Snodgrass, Kathie Foley-Meyer, Kati, Kim Rubinstein, Kimberly Marcus, Kristin Marting, Kyle Henry, Laryssa Husiak, Laurence McGonigal, Laurie McCants, Lawrence Pratt, Leigh Fondakowski, Lisa Goodman, Lisa Leaverton, Lisa Mount, liz, lizzie Olesker, Luke Leonard, Lynda Paull, Marc Cooper, Maren Berthelsen, Maria Cataldo, Marianna Staroselsky, Marie Lovejoy, Marilyn Sniderman, Mark, Mary Silverstein, Melissa Kievman, Michael Mitchell, Michelle Memran, Migdalia Cruz, Morgan Jenness, Nathalie F. Anderson, Nicholas Ruiz, Nichole Bennett, Nick Kourtides, Nick Slie, Nicki Pombier, Nicole Garneau, Owen Reese, P Carl, Paul Werner, Peter Girguis, Rachel Jendrzejewski, Rebecca Frank, Rebecca Schneider, Rick Burkhardt, Robert Holum, Rodeo, Sabrina Hamilton, Sabrina Peck, Sea Change, Sean LaRocca, Sergey Kochergan, Seth Cooper, shaila dewan, Shelby Siegel, Sherry Kramer, Shonagh Adelman, Slonov, Soline Holmes, Sophia Washburn, Steele Creek, Steve Moore, Susan Bernfield, Susan Linn, Susanne Legerer, Suzan Zeder, The Creative Fund by BackerKit, Timothy Braun, Tlaloc Rivas, Todd London & Karen Hartman, Tory, Tricia Brouk, Una Chaudhuri, Valdemar Zialcita, Vincent Marano, Woolybubs.