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Justine Sedkey and Terminal Moraine in Fluxus Fest Week 3, 2021
The Precipice
(World Premiere)
for our friends:
find a place to watch and look out, a cliff by the beach, an edge in the sunlight
chase that open empty, the feeling of turning a corner, the boundary of now and whenever
this is two parallel lives, this is in and out (and in and out) of love,
this is leaving and jumping and getting lost and maybe moving on
this is our precipice:
"roar, lion of the heart, and tear me open" - Jalal al-Din Rumi
Weaving together text and music from journal entries, poems, and voice memos by Karl Ronneburg and Grey Rose Grant, THE PRECIPICE is a 100-minute abstract chamber-rock opera that tells the story of two parallel journeys of becoming and self-mythologizing, from both a trans/queer perspective and a cis/straight one. The "precipice" itself represents irreversible change–growing up, leaving home, and moving on from past places, relationships, and visions of self. The show asks: is making ourselves a tragic act, a leap from the precipice, a great wrenching? How do the metaphors and myths by which we construct our identity hold us back? How do you leave behind a relationship, place, or vision of self without losing the part of it that made you who you are? And finally, do we do this alone? Is the formation of self an individual act or a collective one?
-Content Warning: some strong language, conversations of sexual assault
-Press CC button for subtitles
Read the Director's Note by Corey Smith and see the full program here.
Production Information/How to Book
FULL LIBRETTO: https://bit.ly/precipice-libretto
Created by KARL
from Text and Music by Karl Ronneburg and Grey Rose Grant
Production by Corey Smith
Commissioned by Contemporaneous
and Fifth Wall Performing Arts
June 27-28, 2024
The Space at Irondale, Brooklyn, NY
CAST in order of vocal appearance:
Grey's Voice Double: Morgan Mastrangelo
Karl's Voice Double: Wayne Arthur
Grey: Grey Rose Grant
Karl: Karl Ronneburg
CONTEMPORANEOUS
David Bloom, Conductor
Madison Greenstone, Clarinet
Josh Henderson, Violin
Titilayo Ayangade, Cello
Brendon Randall-Myers, Electric Guitar
Pat Swoboda, Electric Bass
Milena Gligic, Piano/Toy Piano
Robby Bowen, Percussion
Set Design by Roni Sipp
Lighting by McKenna Ebert
Sound by Charles Mueller
Video by Christopher Smith
Stage Management by David Furney
Fluxus Fest
year 2, live in NYC
A celebration of performance and presence Featuring: Karl Ronneburg, Calvin Hitchcock, Sarah Thomas, Anastasia Shmytova, Hannah McLaughlin, Liana Kleinman, Tyler Cunningham, Ben Murphy, and Alexander Ronneburg.
Evening Program:
FLUXUS pieces performed in a surprise order, including but not limited to: Duet #2, by Anastasia Shmytova and also Hannah McLaughlin (2021); 5 Books, by Anastasia Shmytova; (2021); Air PROMPTUS, by Liana Kleinman and Tyler Cunningham (2021); fluxus piece round 2, by Ben Murphy (2021); Choice 8, by Robert Bozzi (1966); “enmeshment", by Calvin Hitchcock (2021); Selections from the "How not to be chill" performance workbook, by Karl Ronneburg (2020); Selections from 25 Orange Events, by Bengt Af Klintberg (1963-65); Vaseline Symphonique, 1921 Fluxversion, by Tristan Tzara; Bean Snow, by Anne Tardos (1994); # 257, by Bob Lens (Date Unknown); Lessons, by Davi Det Hompson (1969)
year 2, week 3
R
FEATURING Terminal Moraine's performance of "Finding Chaos in Shapes" by Maria Alejandra Bulla, Justine Sedky performing Anne Tardos' "Bean Snow", and James Vitz-Wong's original "Wait for 212".
year 2, rope play (the knee plays)
Welcome to Rope Play. Grey Grant's forthcoming Fluxus play about kink, queerness, the political landscape of the US in 2020, dead friends, tummies, bellies, and drag. Tonight, you'll experience none of the above, but instead will be treated to a special presentation of the knee plays that connect each act of the play together. Each of the three knee plays is composed as a Fluxus score. These three knee plays are performed by Grey Grant.
Black Hearts, Black Voices (year one)
We’re trapped. We’re reaching out. We swiped right on dozens of pretty boys and spun the bottle in a circle of our queers. We moved in with mom and dad. We moved out from mom and dad and were subsequently triggered in Trader Joe’s. We stayed up until 3am, stared at the wall, and tried to imagine an idyllic, domestic future. We woke up next to someone who knows what it means to be black and queer. We broke down our ego for our own sake.
This inaugural episode is led by Executive Director:
Maya Johnson.
Storytellers::
Samantha Williams, Mattea Williams, and Maya Johnson,
Music and sound design:
Sajada Domino.
Michigan Trees: A Guide to the Trees of Michigan and the Great Lakes Region (highlight reel)
Michigan Trees: A Guide to the trees of Michigan and the Great Lakes region is a new folk opera for classical and folk vocalists, steeped in mythos and Michigan, all the while remaining relevant to the present experiences of trans* folks. In the opera we follow the journey of Orna, a trans-woman as she grapples with self-acceptance. She travels to the north of Michigan--guided by the Mother of Trees--to transform into a white-pine that will sit upon Chapel Rock, on the edge of Lake Superior, overlooking it all.
Cast and Creative Team
Allison Prost - Orna, As She Sees Herself
Grey Grant - Orna, As She Feels She is Seen
Kate Moss, Kara Huckabone, Samantha Kao- Mother of Trees (MI)
Hayley Boggs, Zoe Hart, Samatha Kao - Mother of Trees (NYC)
Danielle Gonzalez, Sofia Carbonara - percussion (MI)
Riley Palmer, Tanner Tanyeri - percussion (NYC)
Rehearsal Pianist - Samantha Kao
and with Converge New Music:
Megan Rohrer, Malhar Kute, violins; Ryan McDonald, viola; Hanna
Brooke Rumora, cello
Composer/Librettist - Grey Grant
Producer - Fifth Wall Performing Arts
Director, Music Director, and Dramaturgy - Karl Ronneburg
Sound Design and Operation - Peter Littlejohn (MI)
Lighting Design - Emily Yang (MI)
Front of House Manager - Madeline Endres (MI)
Artwork - Tanner Porter
Einstein in the HOUSE
Einstein in the HOUSE
Einstein in the HOUSE
Highlight Reel from Einstein in the HOUSE
Building
Ann Arbor, MI, April 20, 2017
It's so incredibly beautiful to be part of a community of people who, when you have an idea as insane as "Let's put on a full, free, student production of Einstein on the Beach--in my house", have no qualms about diving in and hopping right on the crazy train/bus/spaceship ride that is this show.
A lot of people (both audience and cast members) asked me at one time or another what I thought the show was about, and I never really found a good way to describe it. But here's one more shot: I think Einstein on the Beach(/in the House) is about how the littlest things (counting numbers, basic human emotions, solfege, musical cells that repeat over and over, the atom) can grow to become complex and twisted systems (nuclear technology, the justice system, commercialism, gender roles)--and about how understanding that duality can lead us to appreciate the things that make life worth living--namely, love and each other.
-Karl
So enjoy our adaption of Phillip Glass and Robert Wilsons' masterpiece!
Directors – Grey Grant and Karl Ronneburg
Conductor - Victor Huls
Choreography – Grey in collaboration with Dancers
Mise en Scene (making cardboard trains) – Levin Kim and Andrew Zick
Lighting - Karl Ronneburg and Sam Burck
Person 1 – Karl Ronneburg
Person 2 - Grey Grant
Train Conductor/Judge /Bus Driver – Phoebe Wu
Crazy Eddie – Thomas Kratofil
Kid Judge- Jacob Rogers
Stenographers – Kayla Mathes, Melanie Holt
Dancers – Melanie Holt, Daz Dandylion, Kayla Mathes, Grey Grant
Einstein -- Teagan Faran
Soprano Soloist – Hayley Boggs
Alto Soloist - Madeline Gotschlich
Soloist for “Building” - Rebecca Rosen
Chorus: Soprano – Christina Swanson, Maya Ballester, Hayley Boggs Alto – Madeleine Gotschlich, Rebecca Rosen, Marty Gray
Tenor – Grant Rossi, Walker Durell
Bass – Walker Durell, Dayton Hare, Thomas Kratofil
Flute 1/picc- Noniko Hsu
Flute 2/sop sax- Lisa Keeney
Bass Clarinet/ Bb clarinet - Jordan Kauffman
Organ 1 - Karalyn Schubring
Organ 2 – Annie Jeng