TCG Announces Global Connections Award Recipients

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, has announced the recipients for the latest round of Global Connections. Supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Global Connections encourages reciprocity and cultural exchange through two programs: ON the ROAD grants to foster new relationships with international colleagues; and IN the LAB grants to further pre-existing international collaborations. Now in its fifth year, this round of the Global Connections program awarded a total of $58,990 to eight projects, with over $630,000 awarded to date.

"In a time where international relationships seem defined by violence and mistrust, it's inspiring to see these theatre artists bridging cultural differences to exchange knowledge and collaborate on new work," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "Thanks to enduring support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this round of Global Connections will connect U.S. theatre-makers with peers in over ten different countries, sharing a diverse set of artistic practices."

ON the ROAD

The following four recipients were each awarded up to $5,000 for unrestricted travel support to foster new relationships with international colleagues that will inspire future collaborations:

Boom Arts, Inc., Portland, OR

Boom Arts, Inc., a presenter and producer of socially engaged global theatre, and ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Australia's leading and longest-running Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatre company, will engage in a two-part exploratory exchange. Through an artist talk in Portland by ILBIJERRI's core artists in February 2016, and a trip by Boom Arts' curator and producer to attend the world premiere of ILBIJERRI's newest work Blood on the Dance Floor in Melbourne in May 2016, Boom Arts and ILBIJERRI will begin to envision how ILBIJERRI might make an artistic and social impact in Portland.

Dell'Arte International, Blue Lake, CA

Dell'Arte International's founding artistic director Joan Schirle will collaborate with Norwegian/Danish sculptor Marit Benthe Norheim to conceive Life-Boats, a theatrical performance in/on/around three women-shaped ferro-concrete boats made by Norheim. The boats will be launched in Aarhus in June 2016 and will also be launched into European waterways in 2017 from Aarhus, the 2017 European Cultural Capital. Life-Boats is an international-sailing, social-participatory art project and the final project will involve women actors from the Americas (Mexico, Brazil, Canada, U.S.) in an international cultural exchange, celebrating rivers and artists as connectors of people and independent of borders.

Jason Lasky, Shanghai, China

Jason Lasky will establish a new collaborative relationship with the citizens, artists, and theatres of the city of Murmansk, Russia that will lead to the creation of a new play titled 40 Days of Night. In the first phase of the 40 Days of Night project, Lasky will engage in interviews, Q&A sessions, cultural visits, and workshop exchanges. His goal is to jointly create a full production of the play in Murmansk to mark the city's 100th anniversary that he will present in the United States as a means of furthering the cultural exchange.

Tricklock Company, Albuquerque, NM

Tricklock Company's artistic director Juli Hendren, along with four Tricklock Company members, will travel to Bogotá, Colombia to begin work on a new collaborative performance with Colombian clown master Luis "Lucho" Guzman Cardozo. In addition to working on this new piece, Tricklock members will meet with artists from PortalEscena, a collective of Colombian artists, in an effort to create stronger relationships between Tricklock and Colombian artists. Tricklock will also attend performances at the Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá to meet with producers to further the connection between South American theatre artists, Tricklock Company, and their Revolutions International Theatre Festival.

IN the LAB

The following four recipients were each awarded $10,000 to further pre-existing international collaborations by supporting residencies that advance the development of a piece and/or explore elements leading up to a full production:

Latinos Progresando, Chicago, IL

Latinos Progresando's theatre, Teatro Americano, will collaborate with OPEN Center for the Arts and Teatro La Capilla with the goal that Teatro Americano will be able to learn fundamentals of contemporary Mexican theatre to incorporate into its programming. Members of Teatro Americano will travel to Mexico City, Mexico, where Teatro La Capilla has been promoting contemporary Mexican theatre for over 60 years. Teaching artists from Teatro La Capilla will host the group for one week and provide contemporary Mexican theatre workshops, from which Teatro Americano and OPEN artists will learn components to be incorporated into a performance piece that tours Chicago.

Sage Lewis, Los Angeles, CA

Border Labs is a performance and social exchange between artists, small organizations, and audiences in Los Angeles and Tijuana. The collaborators of this program, including Sage Lewis, will produce a second series of Labs in both cities that expands upon their pilot exchange launched in January 2015. During the weekends of February 12-14 and 19-21, artists will travel to each city, share work and conversation about performance, collaborate in a "portal" between cities, and see local performance. Through home stays and shared meals, Border Labs sets a personal tone for exchange between Los Angeles and Tijuana's thriving experimental performance scenes, and their political, social, and cultural context.

Mabou Mines, New York, NY

Mabou Mines artistic director Terry O'Reilly (???) will engage in a six week residency in Taiwan in the development of his play My Sunshine Book at the Bamboo Curtain Studio in cooperation Taipei Artist Village - Treasure Hill (TAV/TH). The piece originated during a three-month artist residency at TAV/TH with the assistance of the Asian Cultural Council in Taipei, and continued during O'Reilly's 2014-2015 Fulbright in Taiwan. This will be the second phase of the development of the piece in Taiwan with Taiwanese artists and is supported by the Asian Cultural Council in New York. Their work will include intensive rehearsals with a focus on the interplay of the full-scale projection of miniature puppetry with physical performance.

Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA

Machine Project and founder Mark Allen will host a 10-day intensive collaborative script writing workshop with collaborators Jon Rubin and Sazmanab, an independent non-profit art space in Tehran, Iran. Their work will encompass research and formulation of the script for The Sitcom, a transnational theatrical project using the form of a domestic comedy to investigate the cultural misrepresentations that characterize current U.S. relations with Iran.

The Global Connections selection panel included James Haskins, managing director, The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, PA; Erwin Maas, director, teacher, and international performing arts advocate, West New York, NJ; and Joanna Ruf, managing director, The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, Georgetown University.

The next application deadline for the Global Connections program is March 9, 2016. To learn more about the program, please visit www.tcg.org/globalconnections.