As the virtual presentation of our BRIClab commissioning and residency program, BRIClabxHome offers local artists opportunities to explore and expand the possibilities of their work in music, dance, theater, and multidisciplinary performance across digital platforms.
Zhooniyas has fallen from their home in the stars onto Earth, shrouded by light pollution. Interdisciplinary artist Ty Defoe and the All My Relations Collective merge augmented reality installation, performance, and storycircles to explore the intersections of science and sacred knowledge. Utilizing Anishinaabe star maps, astrophysics, and personal narrative, GIZHIBAA GIIZHIG | Revolving Sky creates a lens to view indigiqueerness and the current climate crisis.
Writer and Performer: Ty Defoe
Multimedia Design: Katherine Freer
Costume Design: Lux Haac
Lighting Design: Marika Kent
Artist Bios:
Ty Defoe (Giizhig) is from the Oneida and Ojibwe Nations. He is an interdisciplinary-hyphenated artist, activist, writer, cultural worker, and shape-shifter. He has toured nationally and internationally as a performer from an early age. His theatrical production, Ajijaak on Turtle Island, which he wrote and co-directed, toured the United States in the winter of 2019.
Awards include: GRAMMY Award, NEA/NEFA, First American in the Arts Outstanding Performance Award, First Americans in the Arts Scholarship Award, Indigenous Heritage Festival Award, Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence, 2016-2018 Denison Visiting Artist, 2016-2017 Institute of the American Indian Arts Visiting Artist, 2017 Jonathan Larson Award, 2018 TCG Global Connections Grant.
Ty is a co-founder of Indigenous Direction (w/ Larissa FastHorse). He recently made his Broadway debut in Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men directed by Anna Shapiro.
Katherine Freer is a multimedia artist working in theater, installation, and film. Frequent collaborators include Liz Lerman, Ping Chong, Tim Bond, Kamilah Forbes, Stein | Holum Projects, Talvin Wilks, and Tamilla Woodard. Over the last decade her theatrical work has toured nationally and internationally. Katherine is a Wearhacks NYC award winner, a Helen Hayes Nominee, and an Innovative Theater Award nominee. Her design for Ajijaak on Turtle Island will be featured at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial.
Lux Haac (Choctaw/Pequot) is a New York based costume designer working in theatre, film, opera, and dance. Having grown up overseas, she brings a unique, multi-cultural perspective to her projects. As an artist, Lux is unafraid to push the boundaries of texts to explore the truth and meaning of a story. Upcoming projects include: Well-Intentioned White People (Barrington Stage), Native Gardens (Syracuse Stage/Geva Theatre/Portland Center Stage), and Between Two Knees (OSF). Lux holds an MFA from New York University and is a member of USA 829. For more information, please visit www.luxhaac.com
Marika Kent is a New York City based Lighting Designer of new and classic plays, musical theater, opera, dance, experimental theater, puppetry and site-specific performance. Frequent collaborators include Ping Chong + Company, Theater Reconstruction Ensemble, Little Lord, The Barrow Group, and Ariel Rivka Dance. Her work has appeared in venues including The Pearl Theater, LaMama ETC, HERE Arts Center, The Barrow Group, New York Live Arts, The New Ohio Theater, Abrons Arts Center, The National Black Theater, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, and The Brick. She has received an AUDELCO Best Lighting Design nomination for The Last Saint on Sugar Hill (National Black Theater), and a New York Innovative Theater Award Best Lighting Design nomination for Now Is The Time... (Little Lord). For more information please visit www.marikakent.com