BRAT Productions to present New Work at SoLow Fest

SoLow Festival is an annual event for solo performance held in Philadelphia, PA with the mission of inspiring individuals to make and produce art that would otherwise never be created. During the final weekend of the festival (June 22 - 25), two brand new works produced by BRAT Productions will be presented at Da Vinci Art Alliance (704 Catharine St.) - Jess Conda's Cinematic Human and James Haro's Post-April. All performances are Pay What You Can with suggested donations of $10/per show. Please visit solowfest.com for more details, showtimes, and to see the full SoLow Fest line up!

BRAT Productions is committed to producing new works of rock music based performance art by encouraging collaborations between rock music performers and theater... performers. BRAT Productions strives to embolden and empower young and emerging artists, giving them a creative space that encourages them to take the biggest risks they've ever taken. By hybridizing genres and encouraging new artistic voices, we will change the way that music is seen and theater is heard.

Jess Conda is currently the Artistic Director of BRAT Productions, where she began her career performing in such well known Philadelphia productions as A 24 Hour The Bald Soprano (2007, 2009), Eye 95: Re-tarred (2006) and Haunted Poe (2010). Jess was a BRAT Resident Artist in 2012 and produced the popular Rock and Awe cabaret series. As Artistic Director, Jess' focus is on producing original work that infuses theatrical performance with rock music with an emphasis on providing creative opportunities for emerging Philadelphia artists. As an actor, Jess recently appeared in BRAT's original, neo-futurist clown rock cabaret, Always Coming Soon: The Future (2014, 2015). Jess was also a performer/creator of Pig Iron's 99 Breakups (2014). Cabaret Credits: Get Pegged!, The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret and The Peek A Boo Revue. In 2013, Jess sang backing vocals on two National tours with Peter Matthew Bauer in support of his album, Liberation!, opening for Delta Spirit and The War on Drugs. As a member of Red 40 and The Last Groovement from 2013-2017, Jess sung backing vocals and wrote and performed rap verses under the name Tambo YaYa. The band's performance credits include ANT Fest/Ars Nova, Union Transfer with The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret and Feastival. The band held a monthly performance residency at FringeArts for two years and released their resulting original full length album, She's Keen To Feed in October 2016, which includes two rap verses written and performed by Conda. Jess is a two-time Barrymore nominee for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play, and was one of Philadelphia Magazine's Best Stage Talents to See This Season in 2013. Training: Certificate: Pig Iron's APT program (Fernando Van Reigersberg Award for a Promising Theater Artist) BFA: Arcadia University (Departmental Honors, Shakespeare Award for Excellence and Versatility in Theatre Arts) As a teaching artist, Jess works with The Wilma Theatre's Wilmagination! Program and Independence Charter School, among others.

An Electro-Pop Liberation based on the novel Crime and Punishment

What happens if a woman leaves what is known and expected of her in order to explore what is unknown? What is more Extraordinary, staying or leaving?

A work in progress showing of Jess Conda's first solo show. Conda channels the essence of Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladov, a minor character in Dostoevsky's classic novel Crime and Punishment. Katerina suffers a tragic alcoholic marriage, poverty, consumption, and the heartaches of raising children with not enough means. She learns to cope. She's a badass bitch about it. Part music performance, part call to liberation, the show will weave original rock songs in a concert performance that elevates this character to her unsung greatness.

April Atwater floats face down in a pool. Her neurons have stopped firing, but somewhere else electricity keeps her alive. She wades into this place, sifting through messages, photos, and posts - digital monuments that preserve a version of her self. Will she be buried and forgotten, or will her curated self live on forever?

Post-April is a sister piece to (Stab Play): by James Haro, featuring Minou Pourshariati, Kelly Filios, and Grayce Hoffman, directed by Hannah Van Sciver, and presented at Mascher Space Co-op in December 2016. Post-April is based on characters created by James Haro and co-produced by BRAT Productions.

James is a Mexican-American playwright/producer from Los Angeles, based in Philly. He graduated from Drexel University where he produced/performed in original works MONUMENT and Parts: A Speed-Through (also co-wrote and co-directed). Plays: What It Looks Like (Or, Something Resembling...) produced as part of SoLow Fest 2016 at Plays and Players Theatre. (Stab Play): presented as a stage-reading at Mascher Space Co-Op. He's been lucky enough to work in various roles with Theatre Exile, Theatre Horizon, Applied Mechanics, BRAT Productions, Sam Tower + Ensemble, Mary Tuomanen and Aaron Cromie, Mary McCool, FringeArts, and The Berserker Residents. James is also a proud employee of Camden Printworks. Follow: @jamesdharo

Dani Solomon is a Philadelphia-based theater artist. Most recently she worked on ONE WAY RED (Fringe 2016, SoLow Fest 2015), Parrot Talk, and the Community Garden of Earthly Delights. She trained at the Headlong Performance Institute '13 in contemporary performance making, and Colgate University in physics and theater.

Existing somewhere between a riddle and an explosion, Sarah Knittel is a theater maker, teaching artist, improviser, and self-professed muse. Recent graduate of the Pig Iron School of Advanced Performance Training for Physical and Devised Theater. She is the inaugural resident artist of Automatic Arts, which most recently produced her work peepSHOW, a somatic exploration of the revealing, and The Diviner (SoLow Fest 2017). Sarah has joined with Hella Fresh, Pig Iron, Hedgerow, Philadelphia Shakespeare, Eva Steinmetz, Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, Luna, Manayunk Theater Co., and the Phenomenal Animals among others. She performs with the N Crowd, the longest running short form team in Old City. Sarah's alter ego, Joseph Davenport, can be experienced at a cabaret/place of worship near you soon.

WHO : Cinematic Human

Written and performed by Jess Conda

Directed by Mary Tuomanen

Band: Rachel Icenogle (cello); Chris Sannino (live electronics)

Musical Arrangements by Chris Sannino and Alex Bechtel

Post-April

Performed by Sarah Knittel

Based on characters created by James Haro

Directed by Dani Solomon

Created by Dani, Sarah, and James

FULL SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, JUNE 22

8:00 PM - Post -April

FRIDAY, JUNE 23

6:30 PM - Post-April

8:00 PM - Cinematic Human

9:30 PM - Post-April

SATURDAY, JUNE 24

8:00 PM - Post-April

9:30 PM - Cinematic Human

SUNDAY, JUNE 25

8:00 PM - Post-April

9:30 PM - Cinematic Human

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