Artist Statement
The South Wing's theatrical collaborations use athletic ensemble training, neo-expressionist design, and both live and computer-generated music to engage the imagination of the spectator and to enhance their visceral experience of poignant narratives that reveal the nature of our 21st century global society, where the limits of space, culture and language are rapidly breaking down.
The South Wing's aesthetic is built on a stong belief in company and a shared vocabulary between performers that extends through physical, vocal and musical technique to a deeper encounter with imagination, and collective creation story with the audience. In the creative process, the TSW ensemble works to master non-sequential expressivity: spontaneous shifts in physical, vocal and emotional energy based on strict choreography, sub-conscious impulses and external stimuli. The intensity and spontaneity of this work prepares the actors to unleash their imagination in the midst of physical crisis. The result is a kind of transparency, which serves as a conduit for the audience to viscerally experience a narrative. In this kind of performance, actor and audience separate from the known world, and move towards the difficult problems of the unknown. It is a theatre, that lives in the question, not in the answer.
Biography
The South Wing (TSW) -- an international theatre company composed of artists from Argentina, Belgium, Japan, Mexico and the United States -- been creating innovative performances and adaptations of international, classical, contemporary and original works that embrace and challenge the obstacles of language, culture, genre and tradition.
Kameron Steele (Co-Founder-Artistic Director) After receiving his degree in Performance Studies from Chicago's Northwestern University, he joined Tadashi Suzuki's SCOT company in Toga, Japan, where he worked as an actor, translator and assistant director. In 1998 Mr. Steele began working at Robert Wilson's Watermill Center and has since performed several of Mr. Wilson's productions including Persephone, Woyzeck, DDD III: The Days Before, and the title role in Prometheus (Megaron Mousikis, Athens). Mr. Steele's major work as a director started with Euripides' Las Bacantes which premiered at the Teatro Mendoza in Mendoza, Argentina (susequently produced at Long Island University's Triangle Theatre in Brooklyn NY): and Yukio Mishima's Hanjo which premiered at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico (susequently produced at HERE Arts Center as part of the mexicoNOW Festival and at CRS Studio Theatre, both in NYC). In 2003, he formed The South Wing (TSW) with Ivana Catanese and toured with the company to Mexico, Japan, the US, Spain, Belgium, and Argentina, teaching their unique take on the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. In fall 2006, TSW presented a work-in-progress based on Shuji Terayama's film "Den'en ni Shisu" called DEATH IN VACANT LOT! (DIVL!) at HERE Arts Center and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's 15 Nassau St. Space. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Steele 's first independent feature film, "Hariyo no Natsu" (Summer of the Stickleback) premiered in Tokyo, Japan and at the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea.
Ivana Catanese (Co-Founder / Creative Producer) graduated from UNC, Mendoza, Argentina where founded the alvarez-catanese-ponce company and performed in their adaptation of Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit, which toured to the New Trends Festival in Argentina and to the Casa de las Americas Festival in Havana, Cuba. As a producer in Buenos Aires, she curated the Encontronazo Festival and the Mendoza in Buenos Aires Festival. In 1999 while working at the Festival Internacional of Buenos Aires she studied with director Kameron Steele in his Suzuki Method. Since then she traveled with Steele to further her training, and performed with several international and New York-based companies. In 2003 Steele and Catanese founded The South Wing (TSW) and presented their adaptation of Mishima’s Hanjo @ Teatro Degollado, in Mexico. Since then produced and performed in TSW’s Hanjo @Here as part of the mexicoNOW Festival; Hanjo Redux @ CRS & La Bellone, Brussels; The Bacchae @ Teatro Mendoza, Argentina & Long Island University; Saudade @ HERE; DiVL! a work in progress presented @ LMCC Swing Space. TSW will present AOI! based on Mishima’s The Lady Aoi @ the Japan Society in May 2007. She teaches and assists The South Wing’s training in Argentina, Brussels, France, Mexico, Spain and the U.S.
Gillian Chadsey (Managing Director) is an actress, teacher and playwright. A native San Franciscan, who settled in New York City after a nomadic life that lead her from butoh dance to Tennessee Williams from Michlowice, Poland to the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts. As a company member of Rhodessa Jones’ The Medea Project; Theater for Incarcerated Women she worked with choreographers, videographers, playwrights and incarcerated women to develop collaborative performances for the stage. As a resident artist at The Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts she taught a 2 year curriculum in movement specializing in Suzuki and Theatrical Biomechanics. Since moving to New York she has been seen in such collaborations as: 5th Floor’s ‘K’ at HERE Art Center, Mary Cheney in Inverse Theatre’s “What are you thinking Mary Cheney?” Tammy Faye Bakker in Stillpoint’s Death Might Be Your Santa Claus and Chorus in Aquila Theater's production of Agamemnon. As a TSW company member she has performed in DiVL! @ LMCC Swing Space, NYC, Hanjo Redux @ CRS, NYC & La Bellone, Brussels; and Saudade @ HERE Arts Center, NYC . This spring she will perform as Rokujo in TSW's AOI! at The Japan Society and as the title role in Uncle Vanya with the TEAM at Classic Stage.
Catherine Friesen is most inspired as a performer by the challenges of physically-based work. Catherine acted most recently with The South Wing as Rachel in Death in Vacant Lot! Other theater credits include Cassandra in Agamemnon and Antigone in Fires with the Vortex Theater Company, Marcolfa in Amor de Don Perlimplin at Repertorio Español, and Sister/Fleance/Donaldbain in Macbeth under the direction of Gisela Cardenas. Other New York performances include Apollo in Alcestis, Sofonisba in Virtuosa with the Stolen Chair Theater Company, various roles in As You Like It with Restless Productions, and a composition based on the work of Tadeusz Kantor with The Pool director's collective entitled The Architect. Pittsburgh theater credits include White Marie in The Resurrection of Lady Lester with Kuntu Repertory Theater, Lily in The Skriker with Timespace and Ophelia in Hamlet. Catherine's training includes a degree in Theater and Visual Art from Goshen College, study at the American Conservatory Theater School, Viewpoints with Mary Overlie, Suzuki and Viewpoints with the SITI Company, and continuing Suzuki training with The South Wing.
Jimmy Garver is a sound designer and actor living in Brooklyn. He has performed with numerous experimental and regional theatre companies in New York and throughout the U.S. In 2002 he toured throughout Europe with Cirque du Soleil, portraying the lead character in their popular spectacle, Saltimbanco. As an actor in New York he has created new work with The South Wing, Waxfactory, Pacific Performance Project, and Cirque Boom. He has appeared on Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric stage, in Erik Ehn’s Sweedish Tales of Woe, at Dance Theatre Workshop, SoHo Rep, HERE Arts Center, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Other notable appearances outside of New York City include Seattle Repertory Theatre, On The Boards, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, Empty Space theatre, New City theatre, and a 2004 collaboration with Lacoq-trained performance ensemble Theatre RUN at the Piccolo Spoleto festival. His sound designs have been heard at Joyce SoHo, the World Financial Center’s Word of Mouth festivaL, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, HERE Arts Center, Henry Street Settlement, and Consolidated Works in Seattle. The Tiny Dance film series which Jimmy developed with Peter Kyle Dance will be screened at the 2007 Cinedans film festival in Amsterdam.
