Source Material Collective to Stage A THOUSAND TONGUES and 'I SHOULD HAVE A PARTY'

Interdisciplinary theater company Source Material Collective is presenting in Portland their new two productions; 'A Thousand Tongues', a love declaration to the human voice and fragility of life; and 'I Should Have A Party For All The Thoughts I Didn't' Say', a love letter to Russian writer Anton Chekhov.

'A Thousand Tongues' is a (work in progress) performance-concert by the Danish performer Nini Julia Bang. With visual and sound tapestry including traditional music from Romania, Bulgaria, Kurdistan, Iran, and Greece, as well as original compositions by Nini Julia Bang herself, the piece sings to the ways in which the power of music and self-expression welcomes us home to ourselves. The visual and musical landscape is created in collaboration with Source Material artistic director Samantha Ravenna Sóley Shay.

This performance is presented as part of the Fertile Ground Festival in Portland, OR from January 22nd-24th, 2016. The full performance will premiere at the Grotowski Institute in November 2016, and will include collaboration with Jaroslaw Fret, founder and leader of Polish theatre company Teatr ZAR, and director of the Grotowski Institute.

'I Should Have a Party For All The Thoughts I Didn't Say' is a theatrical performance, a grief merry-making, a proclamation of radical conformities. It is a ceremony of etiquette and recklessness, a storytelling of delicate customs, of remembrance, of cowardly ceremonies, and secret braveries. It is a love letter to Russian writer Anton Chekhov. It is a funeral party, and a funeral after party.

The piece will take place in February 2016 at the Historic Old Church in Portland to create an immersive, site specific performance.

Source Material is an international collective of artists whose goal is to create artistic work that provokes the aesthetic horizons of contemporary performance through an investment in the wisdom of the intuition. Source Material was founded by Samantha Shay in 2014, and is currently based in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Source Material premiered their first piece, Into The Fog in 2014 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, winning four awards including Best Dance/Physical Theatre Performance, The Duende Distinction, and the Encores! Producers' Award.