Jillian Sweeney and Jeffrey Cranor's VULTURE WALLY to Play Incubator Arts, 5/31-6/9

Jillian Sweeney's VULTURE-WALLY, with choreography and concept by Jillian Sweeney and direction by Jeffrey Cranor, will run at Incubator Arts Project, May 31 - June 9. The performance will feature: Siobhan Burke, Lydia Chrisman, Tara Willis and Jillian Sweeney. Tickets: $18 general; $14 student.

Jillian Sweeney's Vulture-Wally, directed by Jeffrey Cranor, resurrects the body of Wallburga (Wally) Stromminger, a hero from a popular 19th century serial novel who challenges her small town's moral expectations. Recasting the role amongst four dancers - Sweeney, Siobhan Burke, Lydia Chrisman, and Tara Willis - the work frames and reframes questions (without answers) about who owns our bodies and how we story them.

Constructed in a series of discrete chapters, Vulture-Wally builds a physicalized long-form poem of dance, language, and song. Utilizing melodramatic film scores, social dance, live church hymns, sound effects, and relaxation tapes, each chapter pairs a body part with a component of Wallburga's original story in order to re-contextualize bigger themes of identity and individual control. Vulture-Wally is interested in what pieces make up our whole and what manipulates or motivates our actions.

Sweeney and Cranor invite the audience to move about the theater with the performers as they journey from station to station in a shifting stage space with the potential for multiple, ever-changing points of view. Vulture-Wally features original poetry and text by Jeffrey Cranor, lighting by Vincent Vigilante, set design by Brad Kisicki, costume design by Suzan Eraslan and sound design by Cranor and Sweeney.

Jillian Sweeney's work has been presented by The Chocolate Factory, Danspace Project's Food For Thought, DanceNOW, MAD, WaxWorks, Dixon Place, and Galapagos Art Space. She recently developed two solo-shows-THIS COULD BE IT and IMAGINARY LINES-in collaboration with Jeffrey Cranor. She has been recognized as "a young dancer with a gift for comic frustration" by The New Yorker. Sweeney received her MFA in Dance from Smith College, where she was also a teaching fellow. For more info: jilliansweeney.com.

Jeffrey Cranor writes, performs, and directs plays for the New York Neo-Futurists' TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND. He is also a co-writer (with Joseph Fink) on the bi-weekly podcast WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE. VULTURE-WALLY is his third collaboration with Jillian Sweeney (THIS COULD BE IT at The Chocolate Factory; IMAGINARY LINES at HERE).

For a detailed performance calendar, visit: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/923514.

Tickets can be purchased in advance incubatorarts.org or by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101. Incubator Arts Project (located inside St. Mark's Church) • 131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Ave.) • L to First or Third Ave; R, W to Broadway/8th St.; 6 to Astor Place; N,Q, 4, 5 to Union Sq.

Incubator Arts Project cultivates and presents a multi-generational community of artists who challenge the conventions of live performance by producing original work at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. IAP programs provide access to a fully equipped venue along with personalized career support and strategic investment of resources individually tailored to the needs of each artist.

By providing production opportunities for emerging to mid-career artists, Incubator Arts Project functions as a training ground where formative repertoire is conceived and new work can be constructed as each participant's artistic voice develops a distinct style. In addition to offering artists exclusive access to a theater, technical assistance and administrative support, staff provides professional mentoring and advisement to assist in the process of making well-considered choices in support of artists' long-term stability and success during all stages of their careers.

Core programs include the New Performance Series, Other Forces, Music and Short Form. Incubator Arts Project is fiscally managed by Performing Artservices Inc., a New York based non-profit arts organization, and is artistically led by a team of curators who collectively make programmatic, artistic and organizational decisions.

Since 2006, Incubator Arts Project has presented award-winning work by artists including: Alec Duffy, Banana Bag & Bodice, Bluemouth Inc., Debate Society, Daniel Fish, Half-Straddle, Karinne Keithley, Object Collection, Vampire Cowboys, and Witness Relocation. Incubator artists have seen their work tour nationally and internationally and go on to Off-Broadway runs.

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