Community Participants Selected For DIAVOLO PROJECT: NEBRASK

12 Community Participants and three understudies were selected from more than 35 people who auditioned Monday to take part in a one-of-a-kind extended residency project called The Diavolo Project: Nebraska. This creative and collaborative project between the Diavolo Company, Omaha Performing Arts and the Lied Center for Performing Arts engages Nebraska-based performing artists, educators and communities with Diavolo in an exploration of their unique approach to the dynamic art of movement. The auditions, which were open to any Nebraskan with extensive experience and interest in movement, drew dancers, gymnasts, acrobats, athletes and physical theater artists from across the state.

Selected Community Participants are from Omaha and Lincoln. From Lincoln are Bret Olsen,
Jordan Deffenbaugh, Laura Sedivy, Lucas Sheeler, Monya DeBoer, and Stacy Lynn Leo. From Omaha are Caroline Moore, Corey McKenna, Erynn Nicholson, Jorge Ambriz Villa, Lauren Frederick, and Morgan Haecke. The three Community Participant understudies are Darin Hemmer of Columbus; and Lacey Hannan and Megan Lenihan of Lincoln.

Community Participants and their understudies will work intensely in 5-6 hour daily sessions with
Diavolo from March 30, 2009 through April 10, 2009. During these daily sessions, Community

Participants will work with the project’s eight Teaching Artists and members of the Diavolo Company to create a new theatrical, movement-based dance work that will debut as part of Diavolo’s performances at the Orpheum Theater on April 4, 2009 and at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on April 10, 2009.

For more information about The Diavolo Project: Nebraska, visit www.diavoloprojectnebraska.org.
The project has been made possible through the generous support of the Peter Kiewit Foundation and the Nebraska Arts Council.

Diavolo was founded in 1992 in Los Angeles by Jacques Heim to create large-scale interdisciplinary performances which examine the funny and frightening ways individuals interact with their environment. The company is comprised of dancers, gymnasts and actors who create performances collaboratively under the guidance of Heim. The outrageous and surrealistic sets form an intrinsic part of each piece of work.

Everyday items such as doors, chairs and stairways provide the backdrop for dramatic movement
– leaping flying, twirling – that create metaphors for the challenge of relationships, the absurdities of life and the struggle to maintain our humanity in an increasingly technological world. For more information about Diavolo, visit www.diavolo.org.

Omaha Performing Arts is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing world-class performances to the Omaha metropolitan area. The organization manages two landmark venues, the Holland Performing Arts Center and the Orpheum Theater – the former, which includes the acoustically acclaimed Kiewit Concert Hall and Scott Recital Hall and the latter, which includes Slosburg Hall, a proscenium theater. Omaha Performing Arts also manages Ticket Omaha, a provider of comprehensive ticketing services for the arts within the region.

Omaha Performing Arts’ commitment to the arts extends into its own series, Omaha Performing
Arts Presents, as well as education and community involvement programs that help ensure the arts have a far-reaching impact. In partnership with Broadway Across America, Omaha Performing Arts also brings the finest in touring Broadway productions to Omaha. Omaha Performing Arts performances are supported in part by the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Omaha and the Douglas County Visitor Improvement Fund.