Skip to content

You are viewing the unstyled version of the Center for Macular Degneration's website. To view the styled version, try turning on Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) support in your browser (if it is off) or upgrading to a newer browser with CSS support.

Home > Hancher > Joe Goode Performance Group

Program - Joe Goode Performance Group (March 31, 2006)

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Program
  3. About the Artists
  4. Joe Goode Performance Group

Introduction

The Joe Goode Performance Group presents grace (2004) and Hometown (2005) with Special Guest Mikel Rouse.

The Company

Notes

Joe Goode Performance Group and the creation of Hometown and grace have been generously funded by the, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Tides Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, James Irvine Foundation, Bernard Osher Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund, Meet the Composer, Columbia Foundation, and Altria Group, Inc. Joe Goode Performance Group New Work Fund Donors and the many Goode Friends of the Joe Goode Performance Group.

Hancher Auditorium thanks Richard and Mary Jo Stanley for support of Joe Good Performance Group.

The generous support of our sponsors enables Hancher Auditorium to bring the world’s finest performing artists to our region.

Back to top

Program

grace

grace was commissioned by the College of Saint Benedict-Benedicta Arts Center, St Joseph, MN as well as the generous support of Joe Goode New Work Fund donors.

Notes from Joe Goode

What is grace? A sense of rightness? A presence of something godly in us? I prefer to think of it as an absence, an empty space that opens up inside of us and let's us see nakedly, clearly. One thing is sure. Grace comes to us as it comes to us. It can't be planned for or orchestrated. It isn't a result of the will, but rather a releasing into some strong current that was already there. It is this aspect of grace that appeals to me—that it is beyond our control. The world seems a more enticing and miraculous place when I consider that a moment of sudden beauty, wisdom or strength can be visited upon us when we least expect or deserve it.

grace is the second piece in a trilogy of works about the extraordinary dimensions of ordinary people. (Folk, grace, Hometown). In each of these works I am seeking a dance/theater language that is conversational and "human" in scale. I would like to thank the incredible members of the Joe Goode Performance Group for contributing so much to the creative process and helping me show the world what a real ensemble can do.

Notes from Mikel Rouse

In 2000, I conceived and produced the first commercially available CDROM of a John Cage Prepared Piano sample library. My interest in this idea was two-fold: to extend the life of Cage’s works for prepared piano and to provide composers, performers and recording enthusiasts the opportunity to utilize these sounds on an electronic keyboard.

The music for The Joe Goode Performance Group began as a series of musical "beds" comprised of prepared piano and acoustic guitar sounds. These sketches were used as models for singing, movement and general improvisation. As the piece progressed, I would go back into the studio to elaborate on the material based on our rehearsal process. The result is a true collaboration between the ensemble and me. I am grateful to Joe Goode for the opportunity to work with his company. I am also grateful to The John Cage Trust for the support of the prepared piano project.

Hometown

Notes from Joe Goode

Hometown is a nostalgic idea. Even though most of us have no first-hand experience with it, we like to keep it in our back pocket—this notion of apple pie on the windowsill and the white picket fence. Hometown is an imagined place of safety, a place where we are known, a place to live and die gently, with comfort.

It has been my great pleasure to put my head together with some teenaged citizens of San Francisco (the participants of TILT) and come up with some alternative ideas for what "hometown" is or is not. The result is the third and final chapter of my Folk trilogy (Folk 2003, grace 2004, Hometown 2005). It also is the culmination of a three-year Meet the Composer residency with the incomparable Beth Custer.

Back to top

About the Artists

Joe Goode is a choreographer, writer and director whose first concern as an artist is to provide a "deeply felt, profoundly human experience" in the theater. He is widely known as an innovator in the field of dance for his willingness to collide movement with spoken word, song and visual imagery. His play, Body Familiar, commissioned by the Magic Theatre in 2003, was met with critical acclaim. Joe Goode’s work has been recognized with numerous awards and prizes including a New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie"), and several Isadora Duncan Dance Awards ("Izzies"). Goode has also been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council and the James Irvine Foundation. He has been honored with awards for excellence by the American Council on the Arts, the Business Arts Council/San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and, the "Heritage" award from the California Dance Educators Association. Goode's work has been commissioned by dance companies across America and his performance/installation works have been commissioned by the Fowler Museum of Natural History, Krannert Art Museum, the Capp Street Project, the M.H. de Young Museum, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The Joe Goode Performance Group, formed in 1986, has toured throughout the U.S. as well as Canada, Europe, South America, the Middle East and Africa. Joe Goode is known as a master teacher; his summer workshops in "felt performance" attract participants from around the world. Goode has joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley in the department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies.

Felipe Barrueto-Cabello is a native of Chile who grew up in the Bay Area. He received a degree in mathematics from Cornell University in 1994. Felipe has been with the Joe Goode Performance Group since 1996.

Marit Brook-Kothlow moved to San Francisco in 1990 after touring with Tandy Beal and Company and receiving her dance degree from U.C. Santa Cruz. Shortly thereafter, she joined the Joe Goode Performance Group and almost 15 years later (which has flown by incredibly fast), she continues to find herself challenged and engaged by the group’s creative process. This rich collaboration has inspired and encouraged her many interests in the arts, which include painting, photography and new adventures in music making.

Elizabeth Burritt received her degree in dance from Loretto Heights College in Denver, CO. She has been a member of the Joe Goode Performance Group since 1986. In addition to the wonderful experience of creating and performing with the company, Liz has been teaching in colleges and universities around the country. She is in her third semester at the University of California, Berkeley. She has also been maintaining a massage and bodywork practice since 1995, and is a recipient of a San Francisco "Izzie" award.

Melecio Estrella is native to the bay area. His early days were spent in the world of competitive gymnastics. Inspired by the athletics and intimacy of contact improvisation, he found his way into the worlds of dance and performance. Melecio has performed in the bay area with Scott Wells, Liz Roman, Rachael Lincoln, Taproot and Project Bandaloop.

Rubén Graciani is a high school graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts. In addition to studying at the Juilliard School, Mr. Graciani received his B.F.A. from SUNY-Purchase in 1994. He has danced with the Kevin Wynn Collection, bopi's black sheep/dances by kraig patterson, the CityDance Ensemble, and the Mark Morris Dance Group among others. He received his M.F.A. from the University of Maryland-College Park in 2005. He is currently an assistant professor at Ohio University. Rubén is overjoyed to be making his debut with the Joe Goode Performance Group.

Rachael Lincoln studied dance and fiction writing at the University of Arizona and in 1996 moved to San Francisco. She has performed with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Jo Kreiter Flyaway Productions, Kathleen Hermesdorf and Project Bandaloop in the U.S., and with Sommer Ulrickson, wee dance company and Jess Curtis in Europe. She has spent the last several years in San Francisco and Berlin teaching, performing and creating her own work. She is pleased to be working with the Joe Goode Performance Group.

Heather Basarab (Production Manager). Heather is delighted to be working with Joe Goode Performance Group. Previous credits include work with Make*A*Circus, the New Pickle Circus, the STOMP company and Thick Description. In addition to Joe Goode, she currently stage manages at Teatro ZinZanni, teaches at Sonoma State, and works as a freelance lighting designer.

Jack Carpenter (Light Design) has designed lighting and scenery for such varied companies as San Francisco Ballet, Chanticleer, San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Kronos Quartet, Oakland Ballet, Flyaway Productions, ODC/San Francisco, Detroit Symphony, Zaccho Dance Theatre, Diablo Ballet, and Eureka Theatre. Notable productions include the premiere of Angels in America, for Eureka Theater Company, Beauty Queen of Leenane for Berkeley Repertory Theater, MLADA for the San Francisco Symphony, and Gender Heroes, What the Body Knows, and grace for Joe Goode Performance Group. This year marks the 15th year of collaboration with Joe Goode starting with the Disaster Series. Carpenter has received four Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and four Isadora Duncan Awards for lighting design.

Beth Custer (Composer) is a San Francisco based composer, performer, bandleader, clarinet teacher, and the proprietor of BC Records. She is a founding member of the notorious silent film soundtrack purveyors the Club Foot Orchestra, fourth world ambient ensemble Trance Mission, the quintet of esteemed clarinetists Clarinet Thing, the trip-hop duo Eighty Mile Beach, and the Latin-jazz-rock influenced Doña Luz 30 Besos. She now leads The Beth Custer Ensemble. As a recipient of 2002 Meet the Composer New Residency Grants, Beth was the composer-in-residence at The Lab in San Francisco through June 2005, composing for and collaborating with the Joe Goode Performance Group, TILT, and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. Beth has been the composer for Joe Goode Performance Group for over 12 years, having composed five of their productions. Recent soundtrack work includes a season of the cartoon "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat" for CBS/Film Roman, Independent View theme for KQED television, as well as many independent films, most notably those of Melinda Stone and Cathy Crane. Theater compositions include productions by California Shakespeare Company, Campo Santos, Magic Theater, and Berkeley and San Diego Repertory Theaters.

Bana Dirar (TILT Video Artist) (17) Galileo High School. Bana is a peer resources class mentor and is a youth outreach in health education through the Galileo Wellness Center. She also works for Youth Cares, providing companionship activities with seniors in the South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods. Her family is from Eritrea, Africa. Bana speaks Tagrinya as well as English. Her interests include video, photography (she won an award from the San Francisco Boys and Girls Club) and African-American Literature. She also attends art class in the Mission District.

Ansel Kehrlein (TILT Video Artist) (16) International High School. Ansel was born in France and has resided in U.S. for a year and a half. He has picked up English very quickly and is fluent in French. Ansel has triple U.S.–French–Italian citizenship. His main interests are film (a great admirer of Hitchcock), photography and drawing. He has won awards for drawing while in France. Ansel is a member of San Francisco Art and Film.

Matthew Neubauer (Prop Design and Builder) has been designing and building props in the bay area for the past four years. He received his BFA in industrial design from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Matt worked for the toy industry for seven years. He is currently employed by Battlebots where he builds fighting arenas and ushers robots in to do battle. Matt is well known as a fine artist, and his work can be seen at galleries in the Bay Area.

Matthew Perifano (TILT instructor) has been involved in community-based arts and education for over 30 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is his sixth year as a TILT instructor. Matthew teaches video, film, and interdisciplinary arts curriculum at International High School in San Francisco. A composer and singer, he has been setting Shakespeare’s poetry to music for some years and is the co-founder of the San Francisco Shakespeare Lab—dedicated to interdisciplinary approaches to Shakespeare in performance and education.

Mikel Rouse (Composer) is a New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist hailed as "a composer many believe to be the best of his generation" (New York Times 2002). His works include 21 records (including the 2005 release of Love At Twenty, including songs from grace), seven films and a trilogy of media operas: Failing Kansas, Dennis Cleveland and The End Of Cinematics. His work has frequently appeared on top ten lists around the country. He has received commissions for new works from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, UCLA Live, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and Meet the Composer/Reader's Digest Commissioning Program. Rouse's compositions have been performed at Lincoln Center, the New York State Theater, and Alice Tully Hall, and throughout the U.S., the Pacific Rim and Europe. More information is available at www.mikelrouse.com. Mikel’s music can be found on iTunes.

Wendy Sparks (Costume Designer) has been designing costumes and clothing in the Bay Area since 1992. Her most recent design credits include Disaster Series and Marat/Sade for U.C. Berkeley as well as dances for the Joe Goode Performance Group and Levydance. Wendy has been a fashion designer for Planet Five Productions and is currently on staff as head costumer for the Department of Theater and Dance and Performance Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

Dan Sweeney (Set Engineer) has been working in the San Francisco Bay Area as a technical director, scenic designer and scenic constructor for the last 20+ years and is pleased to be engineering and constructing for the Joe Goode Performance Group.

TILT (Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools) in collaboration with Film Arts Foundation is a non-profit production based media literacy-training program. Programs are designed to teach underprivileged youth how to critically understand and create media messages. Through a combination of technical training and hands-on experience TILT gives students the means to gain a meaningful voice in media, and to tell their own stories. TILT programs are different because the instructors encourage students to follow their inclinations to write and produce videos with fictional content and narrative structure; TILT trains the students to be their own technicians and insists on high production values because TILT educates about the language of media itself. We live in an increasingly media-driven society. By making movies, students begin to realize that they can have an impact and promote change in their own and other communities.

Jancinta Uperesa (Video Artist) (17) Galileo High School. Jancinta is a member of the Peer Resource Youth Council and is a youth outreach worker in health education through Galileo Wellness Center. Jancinta speaks Samoan as well as English. She is active in the Samoan Christian Pentecostal Church and Catholic Charities. Her interests are music, video, poetry, drawing, photography, cooking and joking around. Jancinta sings, raps, and plays piano and guitar. She has won awards for singing and playing basketball during her school career. Jancinta founded the Girls’ Group, Spoken Word Club and the Samoan Club at Galileo High.

Chris Valtierra (TILT Video Artist) (17) School of the Arts. Chris works for Youth Cares, providing companionship activities for seniors in the South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods. He speaks Spanish and English. Chris interests include theatre, video and drawing, especially, cartooning.

Back to top

Joe Goode Performance Group

Joe Goode, Artistic Director, and Mary Jane Eisenberg, Managing Director.

Board of Directors

Contact Information

1007 General Kennedy Avenue, Suite 209
San Francisco CA 94129
Tel. 415/561-6565
Fax. 415/561-6562
E-mail. joegoode@rcn.com
www.joegoode.org

Public Relations Representative: Encore Communications, Jon Finck and Brenda Hughes, 510.437.9881

Development Representative / Institutional Giving: Jerome Moskowitz Fundraising Group, 760.320.7788

Development Consultant / Major Gifts Campaign: Kathleen Diane Morgen, 707.987.1155

Booking Information, David Lieberman / Artists Representative, 949.251.0001, Liebermand@aol.com

Notes

Photography by RJ Muna.

Hometown season campaign design: Chen Design Associates, SF / chendesign.com

Joe Goode Performance Group gratefully acknowledges the following businesses: RJ Muna Pictures, PH Productions.

Joe Goode Performance Group wishes to thank some very special people: John Sander, Jerry Abrams, Kate Mattson, Frank Ragsdale, Ward Willats, Jason Whitlow, Ali Woolwich, U.C. Berkeley Center for Dramatic Arts.

Back to top

Top of Page | Home

© 2003-2005
The University of Iowa Center for Macular Degeneration
Contact Information