Hangar Wedge Hosts FUTURENOW FESTIVAL Workshops This Weekend

The Hangar Theatre will offer a series of 3 FREE workshops for community members as a part of the Hangar Theatre Wedge: FutureNow Festival. All sessions are free and open to the public. No previous theatre experience is required, just curiosity, and an interest in trying something new!

The Artistic Mission of the Hangar Theatre Wedge: FutureNow Festival is to provide a theatrical laboratory for artists experimenting with creative identity, artistic leadership, and art in relation to systems of power in our precarious time. The festival plays and workshops will be held at the Hangar Theatre, 801 Taughannock Blvd. in Ithaca, New York, from August 11-13 (see schedule below).

The FutureNow Festival will take place in the Hangar's Outdoor Performance space. During the weekend festivities the directors. of the FutureNow Wedge Festival Mx. Andrew Coopman, Ms. Emily Hartford, and Mx. Logan Schulman will present their productions, to be performed in repertory over the weekend. The directors will also facilitate creative workshops for audience members and the broader community. Festival programming will include receptions with the Hangar Lab Company Design Fellows: Samantha Mastrati (Scenic Design), Hannah S Wolland (Lighting Design), Johnna Presby (Costume Design), and Abby Coppock (Sound Design), along with Performance Fellows from the Lab Company. Additionally, the three directing fellows will host a Partnership Panel to platform community organizations doing significant work in Ithaca related to the content and themes of the artists' works. Tickets will be general festival seating with a suggested donation of $10. Tickets are available at the box office for the Hangar Theatre.

The Workshops include Improv 101, Mission Based Devising, and Clowning for All. Find out more and register for here for these exciting theatrical workshops.

The weekend will also feature a Panel Discussion on Friday, August 12 at 4pm titled: Artists and Activists: Climate Justice in Partnership on the Hangar Theatre Outdoor Stage.. Panel guests include the City of Ithaca's Director of Sustainability Luis Aguirre-Torres, Ithaca Common Council member Jeffrey Barken, and two representatives of the Sunrise Movement, Eden Lewis and Siobhan Hull. Tickets will be general festival seating with a suggested donation of $10. Tickets are available at the box office for the Hangar Theatre.

The FREE Education Workshops include Improv 101, Mission Based Devising, and Clowning for All. Find out more and register here for these exciting sessions.

Improv 101: (Ages 8-18) An introduction to improv and how to think on your toes. This workshop will focus on the fundamentals skills of improv and acting and encourage participants to get creative and use their imagination. Students will play a variety of games with the group and apply new skills to some short form improv. This workshop is great for beginners and young artists interested in theater.

Mission-Based Devising: (Aged 13+) In this hour-long session, participants will engage in acts of theatrical co-creation, and learn how art-making itself can become a tool for values-driven ensemble building. Activities will include evocative list-making, exploring physical movement, writing, and creating site-specific environments. Drawing from Emily's experience co-leading New York City's Flux Theatre Ensemble, these exercises provide inspiring avenues to explore what kind of art you want to make-and, just as importantly, how you want to make it.

Clowning for All: (All Ages) Welcome to the world of theatrical clown where the goal is simple: To fully embrace joy. That's right, joyful theatrical exploration is what clown is all about. Participants should come ready to laugh, be silly, and get creative. This workshop will involve a variety of large group activities and playful games.

Emily Hartford is a Brooklyn-based director, creator, and a Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble. She has developed a unique practice for leading collaboratively-created performance through years of exploration at Flux's Annual Retreats, as well as study with a myriad of ensembles including Pig Iron Theatre Company, The TEAM, Frantic Assembly, Siti Company, and more. Emily has led devising workshops for artists with wide-ranging experience and skill levels. These sessions have contributed to incredibly varied processes-from the creation of a full-length new play, to the conjuring of site-specific interactive installations, to the generation of a renewed set of organizational values.

Andrew Coopman is a Dallas-based Director-Choreographer, Teaching Artist, Playwright, and Devising Artist. They have received an Masters of Arts in Educational Theatre from New York University - Steinhardt and a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of Washington School of Drama. Andrew has been teaching for 15 years at a variety of theaters across the country including Missoula Children's Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, Village Theatre, Seattle Opera, Stages on the Sound, Opening Act in NYC, and at the Hangar Theatre here in Ithaca. They have also been a lead facilitator of KIDSTAGE Originals at Village Theatre and developed Playwriting from SCRATCH in Seattle. Beyond teaching in school and in local theater organizations, Andrew's passion has always resided in supporting artists taking the next step on their personal journey to mastery. AndrewCoopman.com

Logan Gabrielle Schulman (they/them) is a multidiscplinary performance artist: director, playwright, designer, dramaturg, and educator. Their teaching methods aim to primarily focus the confidence and agency of their students, as they gain further tools to use in their artistic practice and/or everyday life. As an arts educator, Logan has lead trauma-informed collaborative performance and improvisational workshops for students of all ages in partnership with Asolo Repertory Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Mental Health Community Center Inc., Resilient Retreat, the Chautauqua Institution, and Easterseals. As a cultural educator. Logan is an adjunct professor of performance at New College of Florida, has served as a visiting guest artist at the University of Pennsylvania and Ringling College of Art and Design, and most recently has been named an artist-in-residence in the first Social Practice Institute cohort of the Greensboro Contemporary Jewish Museu

Find out more at HangarTheatre.org/FutureNowFestival

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