Coal-burning fire place.  One small room.  More than 60 years inside.  Creating.  When artist Henry Darger died, he left behind complete works no one had ever seen or read: In The Rhealms of the Unreal.  The story of a Child Slave Rebellion.  A war to end all wars.  Seven warrior sisters.  One murdered child leader.  15,000 pages.  Over 300 paintings, murals and collages.

“Darger” explores Henry’s life and creative process (documented in his extensive journals), his writing (which includes fiction, popular culture, religious references), and his stunning visual world (collage, painting, manipulated images).  “Darger” is highly theatrical, exploring the themes central to Henry’s work: children’s rights, war, self-identity, heightened imagination, and a sense of deep play.

Our lens for this piece comes from our experience of discovering Henry’s worlds through transforming his written and 2-D creations into 3-D elements of theatrical language. Like many cultural myths, his work is about real people falling into a fictional world and returning altered. Questions around identity/self in fiction are the primary drivers for our investigation with Brooke Anderson and the American Folk Art Museum.

Creative Team:

Kyra Bowman (Performer) is an actor, creator, teacher, and form-maker specializing in original work. Kyra’s favorite theater memories come from studying at the Moscow Art Theater in Russia where all the fire exits were chained shut and open flame was a central part of many shows. This is both a metaphor and an actuality. Originally from Houston, TX, she received her BA in theater from Macalester College and her MFA from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Debra Disbrow (Performer)recently appeared in My Illustrious Wasteland for the NY Musical Theater Festival (Hopper/Dolores, Choreographer/Assistant director). Her vocals can be heard on the alt country/ rock band Roadside Graves’ EP You Won’t Be Happy with Me (Autumn Tone Records) and performs her indie cabaret Little Debbie and Snack Cake with collaborator Jeremy Williams at NYC venues. She was a resident artist at Earthdance for the EMerge residency where she will return in the fall to co-develop the ensemble movement piece Safe Way and is a founding member of the dance theater company Workshop for Potential Movement based out of Philadelphia where she has written, directed and performed in many new works. MFA in Theater: Contemporary Performance, Naropa University

Kate Gibson (Dramaturge/Performer)

As an artist and creator Kate focuses primarily focused on visual storytelling through the film, theatre and television. In her many years in theatre she has performed, produced, managed, crewed, designed, developed, directed, authored and co-authored. Over the past decade she has collaborated on varied projects with colleagues in Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and New York. During her six years in Austin, Texas, she worked with Austin Shakespeare Festival, The Vortex Theatre and Austin Playhouse.

Kate has written two novels; Ageless (now being adapted for screen) and Synonymously, co-authored with Roslyn E. Hogan. Last year, their co-written screenplay Rebel Starr was selected as a semi-finalist in L.A.’s Blue Cat Screenwriting Competition and as a Second Rounder at Austin Film Festival. 2009 also saw the completion of Kate’s first full-length play, Paramita, now in development. Most recently, she completed work with her collaborator, Ms. Hogan , on a new screenplay entitled Switch.   She values vivid stories and richly discovered characters, with a special emphasis on texts that reexamine cultural stereotypes, illuminate fascinating yet unexplored lives from history, and challenge the notions of what it means to collaborate and create film and theatre. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Scott Parks, and their two cats.

*Susan Ferrara (Playwright/Performer) is an actor and playwright whose plays include The Machine (2010 Leah Ryan finalist, 2009 O’Neil semi-finalist) and most recently F***king Hell which premiered at DR2 in Manhattan.  She was chosen by terraNova Collective as a member of their Groundbreakers playwrights group which staged a reading of her play Suicide on Pennsylvania Avenue as PS 122.  She has written and performed her own solo show peasant at The Zipper Theatre, Theatre Row, and Chashama, Darger (co-created with Jeremy Williams), Buzz, Into Night, among many others.  As an actor, she was recently seen at Theatre Row in The Master Builder and has performed at The Public Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Connelly Theatre among many other NYC and Regional companies.  She can also be seen and heard on The Onion News Network and has been recently awarded for her work on the webseries Then We Got Help written and directed by Julie Ann Emery.  Susan Studied in London, Manhattan, and Chicago and is a member of Actors Equity, Screen Actors Guild, Dramatist Guild, Resonance Ensemble, and Convergences Theatre Collective.

*Erin Layton (Performer/Creator) is originally from St. Louis, MO where she performed with St. Louis Shakespeare Company, International Theatre Collective and Mostly Harmless Theatre Company. NYC theatre credits include PITCH (East Coast Artists, dir. Benjamin Mosse), The Heidi Chronicles, The Pearl Merchant (Threads Theater Company), Let Us Go Then, You and I (UndergroundZero Festival, dir. James Dacre), Breaking Ranks, Blue Ground (New Mummer Group), No Exit, Multitudo Vulgaris, The Weird Sisters (East Third Ensemble); Regional credits: Candles to the Sun (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Erin is currently developing a one woman show about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. Erin has studied with SITI Company, LABryrinth Theater Company and is currently working with Fitzmaurice voice teacher, Ilse Pfeifer and coach, Betsy Capes.

*Cathy McCullough (Puppet Designer/Creator) Originally from St. Louis, Cathy moved to Chicago to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Columbia College. After receiving her BFA in Photography, she worked as the Director of in House Photography for a local corporation, and ultimately went on to work as a freelance photographer. During this time, Cathy also began working to pursue her first love, Puppetry. A class in mask performance introduced her to Blair Thomas and Jim Lasko, Founders of Redmoon Theater Chicago, and their willingness to allow her to be as involved as she could, began her professional journey into puppetry. Eventually, she became a company member, building and performing with them, and was honored to have worked as assistant director on their version of Frankenstein. Cathy then began designing and building for other theater companies, and creating new works of her own. The O’Neill Puppetry Conference was an important next step for her because it allowed her to meet puppeteers from all over the United States, and exposed her to styles of puppetry she had not seen before.

In 1997, Cathy was honored to have received an UNIMA Scholarship to study at the Institut International de la Marionette in Charleville Mezieres, France. Cathy studied with Joseph Svboda, Lezek Madzik, and Claire Heggen during her time there.

Cathy’s work has been seen at Lifeline Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Prop Theater, and The Chicago Park District. Her puppetry performances have been seen in New York at Here Theatre, Don’t Tell Mama, Surf Reality, the O’Neill Theater Center, and the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater. Cathy has been a puppeteer for television on “The Book of Pooh”, and “Between the Lions” on PBS. Cathy also worked for Three years as creative partner with Martin P. Robinson for the Puppet Anarchy section of the O’Neill Puppetry Conference, and with Pam Arciero as Artistic Associate for the conference.

In April of 2002, Cathy completed her first full length puppet piece entitled FACETS in partial fulfillment of her MFA in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut.

Cathy has been worked as a freelance craftsperson and puppeteer in New York, on Little Shop of Horrors, The Frogs, Dora The Explorer Live, Blues Room, and Oobi and Friends.

*Michael Shattner (Cellist/Performer/Creator) appeared onstage at this year’s NY International Fringe Festival playing Banquo, the Porter, MacDuff and an host of other characters in a three-person adaptation of MACBETH.  Favorite past productions have included the title role in SCAPINO, Queen Margaret in HENRY VI, Parts 1, 2 & 3, Nicia in THE MANDRAKE, Touchstone in AS YOU LIKE IT, Stefano in THE TEMPEST, Neal Tilden in THE 1940s RADIO HOUR, Carl in LONELY PLANET and Adam in THE COMPLEAT WRKS OF WLLM SHKSPR (ABRIDGED).  As a cellist, Michael plays in the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and has performed in the pit for various musicals in and around the NYC area.  He is the recipient of a full scholarship to the 2009 SummerKeys music program in Lubec, Maine.

Taavo Smith (Performer) is an actor, dancer, playwright and teacher who has led the creation of more than twenty original pieces produced in New York, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Boulder and Melbourne. MFA: Naropa University Theatre Contemporary Performance; BA: Macalester College; Affiliations: One Continuous Mistake (founding member), Convergences Theatre Collective (founding member). He was an artist in residence with Mabou Mines/SUITE
during the 09/10 season, and his article “On Somatic Acting” was recently published in Perfformio Vol. 1 No. 2.

Benjamin Stuber (Designer/Performer) is a theatre artist working across the disciplines of acting, dance, design, puppetry, direction, choreography and adaptation to create original material for the stage. He also teaches classes in Pilates, Butoh, The Six Viewpoints, and the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. MFA: Naropa University Theatre Contemporary Performance; BA: Oberlin College; Affiliations: One Continuous Mistake (founding member), Convergences Theatre Collective (founding member).

Damaris Webb (Performer) is a performer, director and teaching artist whose work explores the intersection of contemplative dance, improvisational performance art, and contemporary theater. Damaris is a Master Teaching Artist in the New York Public School system through the not-for-profit organization ENACT, and is a founding member of CDP/NYC. Damaris holds an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University, and completed her undergraduate work at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing. She is also a black belt of Mkeka-Do Karate/Kickboxing and is responsible for the longest running Zombie Walk in NYC.

*Jeremy Williams (Director/Creator) has led the creation of over 20 new works.  Selected works: “LM” with Teresa Harrison, “Nina Lacuna” with Ross Pasquale, “Girls of the Pietá”, “Harriet Tubman”, “Off the Wall”, and “African Tales” with composer Lori Isner.  He has also directed national and regional premiers.  He is a graduate of Naropa University’s MFA Theatre: Contemporary Performance where he studied with Wendell Beavers, Barbara Dilley, Steve Wangh, among other distinguished faculty.

* Original creation/performance team