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STORIES OF THE LESSER
November 30 - December 9 2023
A fusion of classical poetry, shadow puppetry, Nordic folk music, and contemporary ballet, VANAHEIMR reimagines Early Norse sagas from the perspective of the Vanir – deities that existed in Scandinavia long before the Bronze Age altered the continent of Europe forever.
VANAHEIMR debuts November 30 at the Heart of the Beast's Avalon Theater in South Minneapolis.
Photos from our preview production of the show are below, which performed at the Cedar Cultural Center December 22, 2022. Photography by Hal Lovemelt.
VANAHEIMR
CAST & CREW
Nat Allister (Writer, Director)
Nat Allister is a writer, director, storyteller, ethnomusicologist, designer, and clown. He founded the Fox & Beggar in 2014 in North Carolina and has since written, directed, and produced six FBT productions seen by tens of thousands of audience members nationwide. When he's not somewhere else, he's probably making something in Minneapolis.
Kat Parent (Composer, Vocals)
Kat Parent is a St Paul multimedia artist, songwriter and vocalist who spent years learning haunting folk tunes in Norway. Their most recent project, Swampling, is a queer ecohorror exploration of climate despair and resistance inspired by comic book monster stories. She loves folk tales, sewing experimental clothes, and receiving wise counsel from her cats Loops and Gimbal.
Mili Judge-Becker (Vocals, Violin)
Josh Conroy (Vocals, Cello)
Josh Conroy is a musician, whose performing experience includes over a decade of professional work in the Twin Cities. Their specific discipline is voice, but they enjoy playing cello, and piano.They have performed with several local organizations including Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, Bach Society of MN, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Opera Reading Project, and others. They are an accomplished and enthusiastic performer, with a zest for life, and a good sense of humor. Josh lives in South Minneapolis with their dog, Ollie, and their partner Scotty.
Willie Johnson (Bragi)
Born in Detroit. Raised in Chicago. Came to Minnesota to attend Hamline University and stayed. Background in human communication, theatre, and poetry. Loves arts that push "usual" boundaries.
Rhiannon Fiskradatz (Nerthus)
Rhiannon Fiskradatz is a renaissance woman! She writes and sings her own music as MaMa Faerie, is a vocalist with The Argyle Street Trio & 10 Items Or Fewer, performs with a variety of theatre/puppetry troupes, composes music for theatre, and manages a teen choir for VocalEssence. She writes and performs a sketch & song series called Songversations with Shanan Custer. She costumes entertainers & productions of all sorts, having most recently worked with Ten Thousand Things, SteppingStone, Phantom Chorus, Mixed Precipitation, MIXTAPE Collective, BRKFST Dance, the U of M - TC Dance Dept, & Wayward Theatre.
Becca Mellstrom (Art & Puppetry)
Alex Young (Art & Puppetry)
Alex Young is a Minneapolis based puppeteer and speech-language pathologist. Selected original work includes Eurydice in Hell (Puppet Lab 2023) William Taylor (Minneapolis Crankie Fest 2022), Split (NYC International Shadow Puppet Slam 2021), On the Beach (Minneapolis Full Moon Puppet Show 2019), and Library of the Dreamless (Prague Quadrennial 2019 in collaboration with Dream Eaters Collective).
Sofia Padilla (Puppeteering)
Sofía Padilla is a Mexican Theater Artist, Director, Designer and Puppeteer who has participated in over forty national and international theater productions. For television, she was the First Assistant Director of Sesame Street in Mexico City for the 2016 season “Listos a Jugar”. Currently, she works as a touring member of Bread and Puppet Theater and as the Artistic Co-Director of Paradox Teatro, which she founded in 2017 with Davey T Steinman. Paradox Teatro has received three grants from "The Jim Henson Foundation".
Gabrielle Abram (Choreography)
Gabrielle Abram, better known as "Gabby TheBaddie" is a Gary, Indiana native, and a 2020 Momentum New Dance Works Fellow. She is a member of STRONGmovement, directed by Darrius Strong, and Atlantis13 Dance Collective, directed by Peace Madimutsa and Johnathan Van Arman. In 2018 Abram co-produced Listen., at The Lab Theater--a collective of 9 choreographers sharing Pan-African perspectives and personal stories of black identity. In November of 2021, Abram made her choreographic debut with “Release” set on The Threads Dance Project as A Tapestries 5.0 Choreographer. Gabrielle along with business partner Rayna Howard created BGC Productions; a Film and Media Production company dedicated to creating, collaborating, and producing art that elevates and inspires black and POC artists. Abram continues to produce, dance, and create work in the Twin Cities.
Odessa Rain (Freya, Ensemble)
Odessa Rain is a freelance interdisciplinary artist and teacher, and she's brand new to the Minneapolis performance scene! She recently moved here from Boston where she attended the Boston Conservatory on scholarship and was fortunate to dance with companies such as Dance Lab and Dance Currents. During her time in Boston she spent three years teaching a variety of styles to both recreational and competitive students. Prior to college, she attended The Lehigh Valley Charter High School For The Arts as a dance major and spent summers at the Joffrey Ballet School. Excited to be here, she sends warm wishes and gratitude to the cast, director and choreographer of VANAHEIMR.
Kae McMahon (Freyr, Ensemble)
Kae is a dancer, choreographer, organic farmer, popular education facilitator, and mediocre stick and poke tattooer. They recently graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in Dance and Environmental Science and are thrilled to make their Twin Cities dancing debut in Vanaheimr. They look forward to performing in ARENA DANCES upcoming work MERGE and exploring the dance, movement, and ecologic ecosystems of the Twin Cities.
Rachel Lieberman (Ensemble)
Rachel Lieberman has been dancing and choreographing since first convincing her many younger siblings and cousins to comply with rehearsals for holiday routines in the living room. Growing up in and around Chicago, she trained and performed primarily in jazz and contemporary. Since moving to Minnesota, Rachel has most recently performed in works by Contempo Physical, Leila Awadallah, A Cripple’s Dance, Off-Leash Area, and is currently a company member with Alternative Motion Project, Analog Dance Works, and Black Label Movement. In addition to her performance work, Rachel is a Program Director at Cow Tipping Press - teaching and publishing creative writing by adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Ben Siglin (Ensemble)
Ben is a twin cities based theatre and dance artist. Originally from Iowa, they received their BS in Dance from Minnesota State University Mankato. Ben has performed with Collide Theatre, Artistry, Old Log, and Borealis Dance Theatre. When not performing, they can be found teaching at Stages Theatre Company and Dance Xcel.
Allison Durham (Ensemble)
Making her Twin Cities dancing debut, Allison Durham is a dancer, choreographer, and director from the border of Illinois and Wisconsin. A recent graduate from Millikin University's School of Theatre and Dance, she holds great passions for originating new works, improvisation, creative collaboration, arts administration, and productions that intertwine theatre and dance. Some of her choreography and directing credits include Spring Awakening, American Psycho, Into the Woods, and Wavelength, an original production and honors capstone examining the relationship between storytelling and dance. Check out Allison's upcoming works and groovy moves on Instagram @amddanceprojects!
Fenja Frances (Ensemble)
Fenja Frances is best known as a creative busybody– no medium spared. They hold a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle), studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance (London), & began performing professionally while attending St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists here in the Twin Cities. Fenja has made connections & collaborations internationally– performing concert dance works, durational performance art, burlesque, music, original theater, & more. They also work in film, photography, collage, paint, fabric arts, & will likely keep collecting. They currently perform music locally as Blood Bath & Beyond.
Eliana Durnbaugh (Ensemble)
Eliana is a dancer, researcher, and educator based in Minneapolis. She holds a BA in Dance and Microbiology from Carleton College, and has 12 years of training in Bhratanatyam Classical Dance and Graham Modern techniques, touring with Kalaanjali Dance Company in India in 2015. Recently, she has performed with Semaphore Repertory Co. and with Mary Willmeng in the 2023 MN Fringe Festival. Currently, she is a Teaching Artist with Young Dance and Zenon Dance School.
Danielle Ricci Cheng (Ensemble)
Danielle Ricci Cheng is an educator, choreographer, collaborator, director, and dancer. She received a BFA in Dance Performance from University of California, Irvine, graduated with an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from St. Mary's University of Minnesota and earned an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. She also studied at the Ailey School as part of their certificate in dance program. Danielle was the founding Artistic Director of Borealis Dance Theatre and is currently the AD of Dance Camera North- International Dance Film Festival. Danielle teaches dance at PiM Arts High School in Eden Prairie. www.daniellricci.net
Rachel Eilts (Set Design)
Rachel Eilts has a passion for site specific design, conceived and colored with intentional, immersive installations. She graduated from The University of Kansas with an emphasis in painting, installation and performance art. Rachel's more recent creations have been experienced at OTHERWORLD Philadelphia, Quixotic's TERRA LUNA, DARK FOREST, URBAN OASIS and SENSATIA; The Fox & Beggar Theater's OMEN; and Eva Louise Hall's MIRA: An Immersive Film Exhibition and Gala.op
Kathy Kohl (Costumes)
Kathy has designed costumes for most Twin Cities theaters, a number of regional academic theaters, and venues in her home state of Vermont during her nearly 50 years of costuming. She has won "Best of " notice for her work in local newspapers and magazines. Retired from Norcostco in 2018 after 20+ years as Head Costumer, Kathy has now turned her focus to Nordeast Minneapolis, where she is a founding member of The Costume Collective, the area's newest costume rental business.
Vidya Neni (Communications)
Vidya is a full-time information technology professional who freelances in the arts and activism. She works for a wide array of theaters and social welfare nonprofits in a number of roles—communications/publicity, web design and development, and organizational support. Vidya loves helping mission-driven organizations expand their reach and community base.
Ches Cipriano (Stage Manager)
Ches (they/them) is a Filipino, Queer, first-generation American. They operate as a community cultivator, producer, and multi-media collaborator. Their artistic practice is rooted in puppetry, animation, and tickling curiostites. They have had the honor of working with Heart of the Beast, Open Eye Theater, Mixed Blood, and Theatre Mu. Outside of theater, they are passionate about being surprised, aerial arts, and movement.
Trevor Zapiecki (Light Design)
Hailing from Grand Rapids, OH, Trevor came to Minnesota to attend Macalester College, graduating in 2019. They work as a freelance theater technician/designer/handy-person in the Twin Cities, and struggle with the constant temptation to run away to a clown school. Jack of all trades (master of none?), they love to make weird and new art and are grateful to be part of Vanaheimr!
Richard Lee Graham (Sound Design & Ops)
Richard Graham (he/him) is a freelance sound designer and engineer. Recent credits include Guthrie Theater, Latte Da, Children's Theatre Company, Walking Shadow, Theater Mu, Park Square, Mixed Blood, Artistry, and Great Northern Festival. More at richardgraham.net
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