A multi-sensory, immersive installation exploring intimacy, connection, and Queer community, UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time examines what the future of interactive performance might feel like. In the midst of what may be the most seismic shift in how humankind communicates in our lifetime, many of us are starved for connection. Can technology heighten our emotions and make us feel more connected?
Featuring Up Until Now Collective’s short music film UpUntilNow (commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects) and wearable haptics technology provided by Music: Not Impossible, which translates sound onto the skin through vibrations, midair for some time features the collaborative work of two dozen artists from multiple disciplines. The installation is designed as a 20-minute experience for up to six people at a time, and is fully-accessible to all, including wheelchair users and members of the Deaf and Blind communities.
UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time was developed and workshopped at Center For Performance Research (CPR) in September, 2022 with the support of CPR’s Technical Residency program and a Brooklyn Arts Council Grant, and at HERE in partnership with the Reel Abilities Film Festival in May, 2023. It will premiere fully at JACK in March, 2024.
Cast and Creative Team for UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time at JACK
Creative Team
UP UNTIL NOW
Artist
UP UNTIL NOW is a New York City-based Artist Collective Co-Founded in 2020 by Brandon Kazen-Maddox, Kevin Newbury, Jecca Barry, and Marcus Shields. Committed to inclusive, accessible, and equitable working environments, UP UNTIL NOW develops and produces new interdisciplinary work that explores empathy, intimacy, and connection, and seeks to challenge the status quo by building new structures for artistic creation. Since its inception, UUN has collaborated with over 300 artists.
Brandon Kazen-Maddox
Artist
Brandon Kazen-Maddox (they/them) is a Grandchild of Deaf Adults (GODA) and third-generation native signer of American Sign Language. Brandon is an ASL Artist, choreographer, director, dancer, actor, acrobat, and activist. Brandon was a featured story-teller on the 100th episode of "Stories From The Stage'' (PBS) and they were chosen as one of Gucci and Time For Change’s “22 for ‘22: Visions For a Feminist Future.” Brandon is also the recipient of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) National Dance Production Grant, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation Grant and an awardee of the 2022 cycle of the Creative Capital Award. Brandon holds an MFA in Dance and New Technology from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and has been profiled by The New York Times, ABC News and the PBS NewsHour.
Kevin Newbury
Artist
Kevin Newbury (he/they) is an opera, theater, and film director with over 100 projects to his credit. Career highlights: three PBS Great Performances broadcasts: Bernstein’s MASS (Ravinia Festival), Doubt (Minnesota Opera) & Bel Canto (Lyric Opera of Chicago); dozens of world premieres, including Kansas City Choir Boy (starring Courtney Love, Prototype Festival & National Tour), GRAMMY-winner The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera), and five operas with composer Gregory Spears, including Fellow Travelers (New York Times “Best of 2016”), Castor & Patience (New York Times“Best of 2022”) and The Righteous (upcoming, Santa Fe Opera). Theatre includes the GLAAD Media Award-Winning play Candy & Dorothy. In 2023, Kevin directed Liz Phair’s "Exile in Guyville" 30th Anniversary Tour.
Jecca Barry
Artist
Jecca Barry (she/her) is an independent theatre, opera, film, and music producer. She is the founder and creative producer of Fin Productions, and a co-founder of the Up Until Now Collective. Jecca’s practice focuses on developing work with artists that are challenging the conventions of the performing arts industry. From 2012-2022, she served as Executive Director of the acclaimed production company Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and was a Co-Director of New York’s annual PROTOTYPE Festival from 2017-2022. Jecca has overseen the commissioning, development, production and touring of over 30 new theatre, music-theatre, and opera works, and has toured those works to over 40 national and 20 international venues. Jecca holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in avant-garde flute performance from the Royal Northern College of Music and New York University.
Marcus Shields
Artist
Marcus Shields (he/him) is a visual artist, musician, and stage director working in classical music and new media. His work, which ranges from audio engineering to filmmaking to large scale, multi media performance installations, is all about connecting audiences to classical music. He has created work for major institutions including the The Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, the Metropolitan Opera, The Merola Opera Program, Des Moines Metro Opera and is the co-founder of Catapult Opera, OSSIA productions, and Alexander Jane Creative. Visit marcusshields.com for more information.
Kiebpoli Calnek
Artist
Kiebpoli Calnek (they/them) is a gender-expansive queer Black creative generating nuanced performances and artistic direction seeped in poetic elements. They focus on narratives that reflect the cultural fluidity of Blackness, queerness, and the mental health industrial complex, through relationships interwoven with spirituality, current events, and sociopolitical issues. Kiebpoli’s works received generous funding and support from Elizabeth Streb, Astraea Foundation, Asian Arts Initiative, and The New York Foundation for the Arts. Member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors’ Equity Association. Recent credits include: audiobook narration for How To Get Over The End Of The World by Hal Schrieve; playing “Chief of Staff” in WaxFactory’s D Project- a contemporary retelling of Sophocles' Women of Trachis; directing Nkenna Akunna’s cheeky little brown at Brown University; and playing “Malcolm” in Maggie Cino’s Macbeth adaptation, Unsex Me Here. kiebpoli.com
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