WATERWORKS EMERGING ARTISTS SHOWCASE
Saturday, December 9, 2023, 7:30PM Harlem Stage Gatehouse Address: 150 Convent Avenue at West 135 Street, New York, NY 10031 Phone: 212.281.9240 ext. 19 | Website: www.harlemstage.org
@harlemstage 1
@myharlemstage
ABOUT THE EVENT For nearly 30 years, the WaterWorks Emerging Artists program, formerly Fund for New Work, has supported artists of color emerging in their careers and artistic practice. Today, the program continues this tradition by awarding commissions to five early-career artists of color per year. In this culminating work-in-progress showcase, Harlem Stage presents works by the 2023 WaterWorks Emerging Artists cohort: interdisciplinary performing artist and painter Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson; singer/ songwriter Hannah Lemmons aka LEMMONS; choreographer and dancer Bobby Morgan; interdisciplinary artist, composer, and pianist Mary Prescott; and trumpeter and composer Kalí Rodríguez-Peña.
PERSONNEL Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson Shiloh Hodges Samantha Lysaght
Visual Artist, Dance Performer Performer Performer
Hannah Lemmons Sam Watson Jasiel Lampkin Aaron Ruperto Analea Harris Jason Reese Isaac Gardner Cahleb Derry Logan Lewis
Singer, Songwriter Camera Operator Video playback Guitar Bass Keys Drums Manager Backstage Support
Bobby Morgan Aryelle Morgan Christine Shepard Dana Weiner
Choreographer, Dancer Sound Healing Dancer Dancer
Mary Prescott
Interdisciploinary Artist, Composer, Pianist
Kalí Rodríguez-Peña Trumpet Hery Paz Tenor & Soprano Sax, Flute Armando Vergara Trombone Camila Cortina Piano Raul Reyes Bass Zack O’Farrill Drums Edgar Martínez Percussion Sarah McCaffery Maurice Ivy 2
Q&A Moderator Q&A Moderator
TONIGHT’S PROGRAM Kalí Rodríguez-Peña Untitled Pause
Hannah Lemmons AKA LEMMONS Progress Report Pause
Mary Prescott Ancestral Table (A Work-In-Progress) Pause
Bobby Morgan Remembrance Ritual Pause
Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson Untitled (A Work-In-Progress) Pause
Q&A
Harlem Stage’s WaterWorks Emerging Artists Program is supported by a grant from the Jerome Foundation. Other supporters of the WaterWorks Emerging Artists Program are the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Thompson Family Foundation, and the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Fund. 3
BIOGRAPHIES SHANTELLE COURVOISIER JACKSON
VISUAL ARTIST, DANCE PERFORMER
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ABOUT THE WORK Title: Untitled (A Work-In-Progress) Mentor: Laura Stelmok Shantelle’s work (title TBD) is a ceremony of performance and excavation embarking on the residue of collective repression. The performance is built upon individual experience and the unexpected beauty of co-created temporary autonomous zones in an increasingly unsafe world. The physical investigation is a search for sanctuary and its imprint is marked on canvases that live on as witness.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson (She/Her) is an artist whose performance practice explores collaborative storytelling through improvised physical theater and painting. Her past collaborations include Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, Paloma McGregor, Daria Faïn and The Commons Choir, luciana achugar, Antonio Ramos & The Gang Bangers, Walter Dundervill, Allison Chase, Mia Habib, slowdanger, and Maestro Flux. Her work is influenced by her studies with The Unseen Hand and her teacher Laura Clarke Stelmok. She is a performer, painter, facilitator, and the artistic director of loveconductors. loveconductors is a Brooklyn-based human movement project which composes performance through shared practice across multiple media. The collective arose during Shantelle’s Movement Research Van Lier Fellowship in 2016. Her work has been presented at JACK, Movement Research at the Judson Church, FAB Arts Salon, BAAD, Chez Bushwick (AIR), Brooklyn Studios for Dance, BRIC, ISSUE Project Room, The Kitchen, and Mabou Mines. Shantelle was a 2021 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence, a 2022 Mabou Mines Suite/Space Artist, and a 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Finalist (Jerome Foundation).
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BIOGRAPHIES HANNAH LEMMONS AKA LEMMONS
SINGER, SONGWRITER
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ABOUT THE WORK Title: Progress Report Mentor: Liza Jessie Peterson Inspired by June Jordan and Janelle Monáe, Progress Report is my version of an “emotion picture:” an intimate peek inside my artistic process (and personal growth) through live performance. This 20-minute piece is a mirror of my “artist development”— a constant, cyclical process of stripping oneself naked, to a vulnerable natal form, while striving towards a wisened self in an imagined future. This future: a place of “longing and belonging,” as June Jordan said, where queer Black women and people are “not born to sing the blues.” Progress Report aims to answer: what does that place sound and feel like?
ABOUT THE ARTIST Hannah Lemmons (She/Her), also known as LEMMONS, is a singer/songwriter from Denver, Colorado. She has worked with Esperanza Spalding, Yosvany Terry, Don Braden, and Craig Derry. She is a recipient of the 2021 Emerging Visionary Grant from SheaMoisture x GOOD MIRRORS, and was featured in Raveena’s artist spotlight series in 2021. Most recently, she opened for acclaimed vocalist Amber Riley and was featured in Citizen Magazine Issue 002, covered by Kendrick Lamar. Her debut EP, Like The Fruit, was released on October 15, 2022, and is available on all platforms. LEMMONS hopes her music will empower people who imagine worlds — those who seek to create impossibilities. Her musical inspirations include Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Norah Jones. Her style is characterized by ethereal, layered vocals and bouncy production with an alternative beat, reminiscent of the likes of Moses Sumney, Lianne La Havas, and Ms. Lauryn Hill.
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BIOGRAPHIES BOBBY MORGAN
CHOREOGRAPHER, DANCER
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ABOUT THE WORK Title: Remembrance Ritual Remembrance Ritual takes us on a journey that each human being has experienced, especially within the last two and a half years. Acknowledging nature’s ecosystem of needing moments of rain & downpour in order for life itself to flourish and grow. Using life’s “low” moments as a catalyst for personal growth: spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Rain could be cleansing and purifying, leading to clearing a pathway for inspiration to spark again. We have the power to alchemize our lives and write our own narratives for ourselves, in honor of ancestors that predated us…Remembering that we are them. (DNA connection). My mission with this production is to spark the inspiration and love frequency we all have deep within ourselves. It is up to us to change & evolve this planet. Come join me.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Bobby Morgan (He/Him) is a choreographer and student of life-based in NYC. His dance background includes styles such as: ballet, jazz, hip hop, house, voguing, modern, and contemporary. Morgan’s main source of passion is his love for music. For him, music is usually the source of where movement stems from, along with ancestral connection to rhythm which comes from within. Growing up in concert and commercial dance worlds, one of Morgan’s missions as a choreographer is to curate spaces for those that live in between both of those worlds. Throughout his training, summers were spent at Complexions, Ballet Hispanico (Choreographer’s Lab), and Jacob’s Pillow, while also being on scholarship at commercial dance conventions (Monsters of Hip Hop, Intrigue, ASH). Morgan trained under choreographers such as Dana Foglia, Desmond Richardson, Erica Sobol, Jon Ole Olstad, and many others among the concert, commercial, and underground street worlds.
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BIOGRAPHIES MARY PRESCOTT
INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST, COMPOSER, PIANIST
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ABOUT THE WORK Title: Ancestral Table (A Work-In-Progress) Mentors: Paz Tanjuaquio & Todd B. Richmond Ancestral Table is a shared family meal, interdisciplinary performance, and docuseries that examines the relationships between ecology, migration, cultural inheritance, and maternal legacy through the lens of one woman’s Thai family recipes. The performance this evening is a work-in-progress excerpt from Ancestral Table.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Mary Prescott (She/Her) is a Thai-American interdisciplinary artist, composer, and pianist who explores the foundations and facets of identity and social conditions through experiential performance. The Washington Post describes her work as “masterfully envisioned… a bright light cast forward.” Prescott has received awards from the McKnight Composer Fellowship, NPN Creation and Development Fund, New Music USA, Puffin Foundation, Opera America, and several regional arts councils. Her commissioners include American Composers Forum, Living Arts, Public Functionary, White Snake Projects, The American Opera Project, and Metropolis Ensemble. She has held residencies with Roulette, Lanesboro Arts, Avaloch Farm, Virginia Center for the Arts, and Arts Letters and Numbers, and was a 2022 Mabou Mines SUITE/Space Artist. Mary Prescott is a Steinway Artist. Thai Chicken & Rice Soup Ingredients: Jasmine rice, chicken, chicken stock (water, chicken, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, garlic, black pepper, salt), carrots, celery, ginger, garlic, scallions, cilantro, vegetable oil, sesame oil, salt, pepper, fish sauce, lime juice, Thai chilis *Please be aware: While this soup does not have gluten in its recipe, it has been (lovingly) prepared in a kitchen that processes glutencontaining foods with the same equipment. 11
BIOGRAPHIES KALÍ RODRÍGUEZ-PEÑA
TRUMPETER, COMPOSER
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ABOUT THE WORK Title: Untitled Mentor: Miguel Zenón I want to make music that has social relevance, and that is influenced by the communities the work will talk about. By connecting contemporary popular music to traditional styles, one can bridge the gap between audiences and musicians. For this project, I will write music inspired from interviews with different generations of Cubans. These interviews will be focused on the social developments of the last 64 years in Cuba and how that has brought about the crisis the island is facing. The second part of this project will be to write new works developed from material taken from contemporary Cuban popular music but keeping them rooted in traditional genres. This project will be an opportunity to explore my roots and will allow me to share with New York audiences a unique moment in one of the most influential musical cultures of the past century.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Havana, Cuba, trumpeter and composer Kalí Rodríguez-Peña (He/Him) has played with renowned musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Arturo O’Farrill, Paquito D’Rivera, Chucho Valdés, Michel Camilo, David Murray, and Cándido Camero. In 2016, he was a finalist at the National Trumpet Competition. In Havana, he won top prizes at the JoJazz contest for improvisation. He has performed at the top venues and festivals of the USA and Canada including Montreal Jazz Festival, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Symphony Space, Birdland, Dizzy’s Club, Black Cat (SF), Freight and Salvage (Berkeley), and Dieze Once (Montreal). In 2019, he graduated from the renowned Manhattan School of Music where he studied under the tutelage of Jon Faddis and Stefon Harris. He was a guest lecturer at the University of California, Riverside. Rodríguez-Peña also participated in the albums Familia by Arturo O’Farrill and Chucho Valdés, as well as Michel Camilo’s Essence and Pedrito Martínez’s Acertijos.
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OUR SUPPORTERS
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council. Harlem Stage’s Programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. 14
CREATE FEARLESSLY ABDULLAH IBRAHIM · ADAM W. SADBERRY ALEXANDER DAVIS · AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE BERTHA HOPE · BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE COMPANY BOBBY MORGAN · BORA YOON · CAMILLE A. BROWN CARL HANCOCK RUX · CHLOE DAVIS · CRAIG HARRIS DAFNIS PRIETO · DANIEL FETECUA · DAVID VALBUENA DJ SABINE BLAIZIN (OYASOUND) · FEI-FEI FLOR DE TOLOACHE · GEORGE EMILIO SANCHEZ HANNAH LEMMONS AKA LEMMONS · IAN ISIAH JAMES BLASZKO · JASON MORAN · JOANNE BRACKEEN JOSÉ JAMES · JOYA POWELL · JUEL D. LANE KALÍ RODRÍGUEZ-PEÑA · KIMBERLY NICHOLE LUCIANA SOUZA · MALEEK WASHINGTON MARY PRESCOTT · MATTHEW WHITAKER MAYTE NATALIO · MICAH THOMAS · NORA CHIPAUMIRE PABLO MAYOR’S FOLKLORE URBANO ORCHESTRA PATTY ORTIZ · RICKEY TRIPP RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE SHANTELLE COURVOISIER JACKSON · STEW SUN HAN GUILD · TAMAR-KALI · URBAN BUSH WOMEN VIJAY IYER · YASSER TEJEDA · YUNIYA EDI KWON
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CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 14, 2023
ON & ON: JOSÉ JAMES SINGS BADU
DECEMBER 1, 2023
UPTOWN NIGHTS LATIN MUSIC SERIES PABLO MAYOR’S FOLKLORE URBANO ORCHESTRA
UPTOWN NIGHTS LATIN MUSIC SERIES YASSER TEJEDA & DJ SABINE BLAIZIN (OYASOUND)
OCTOBER 13 – 14, 2023
DECEMBER 9, 2023
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
CRAIG HARRIS TONGUES OF FIRE (in a harlem state of mind)
WATERWORKS EMERGING ARTISTS SHOWCASE FEATURING SHANTELLE COURVOISIER JACKSON, HANNAH LEMMONS AKA LEMMONS, BOBBY MORGAN, MARY PRESCOTT & KALÍ RODRÍGUEZ-PEÑA
OCTOBER 27, 2023
JANUARY 11–13, 2024
E-MOVES RONALD K. BROWN/ EVIDENCE
OCTOBER 20 – 21, 2023
UPTOWN NIGHTS LATIN MUSIC SERIES DAFNIS PRIETO FEATURING LUCIANA SOUZA CANTAR NOVEMBER 3, 2023
IN THE COURT OF THE CONQUEROR BY GEORGE EMILIO SANCHEZ IN COLLABORATION WITH VISUAL ARTIST PATTY ORTIZ
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NOVEMBER 10, 2023
UPTOWN NIGHTS LATIN MUSIC SERIES + CARNEGIE HALL CITYWIDE FLOR DE TOLOACHE
E-MOVES URBAN BUSH WOMEN’S HAINT BLU
JANUARY 26, 2024
UPTOWN NIGHTS IAN ISIAH + KIMBERLY NICHOLE FEBRUARY 16, 2024
UPTOWN NIGHTS: CONVENT TO WYTHE YUNIYA EDI KWON AND SUN HAN GUILD
*Note: All presentations subject to change as COVID-19 conditions evolve.
FEBRUARY 23, 2024
APRIL 26, 2024
UPTOWN NIGHTS AN EVENING OF CHAMBER MUSIC PRESENTED WITH SUGAR HILL SALON & CONCERT ARTISTS GUILD
PIANOS FOR DUKE REIMAGINED: FEATURING JASON MORAN, ABDULLAH IBRAHIM & FRIENDS
MARCH 1 – 2, 2024
ETERNAL SPIRIT: VIJAY IYER & FRIENDS CELEBRATE THE MUSIC OF ANDREW HILL
PIANOS FOR DUKE REIMAGINED: FEATURING JASON MORAN, ABDULLAH IBRAHIM & FRIENDS BENEFIT CONCERT
MARCH 9, 2024
MAY 3 – 4, 2024
APRIL 27, 2024
UPTOWN NIGHTS: CONVENT TO WYTHE BORA YOON AT NATIONAL SAWDUST
WATERWORKS ESTABLISHED ARTIST COMMISSION TAMAR-KALI BLACK DAMASK
MARCH 22 – 23, 2024
MAY 17 – 18, 2024
STEW HIGH SUBSTITUTE FOR THE DREAD LECTURER: BARAKA JONES IN DUB MARCH 29 – 30, 2024
WATERWORKS ESTABLISHED ARTIST COMMISSION AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE BANYAN SEED APRIL 19 – 20, 2024
E-MOVES BILL T. JONES/ ARNIE ZANE COMPANY
E-MOVES NORA CHIPAUMIRE SHEBEENDUB JUNE 3, 2024
HARLEM STAGE 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
JUNE 14 – 15, 2024
E-MOVES CAMILLE A. BROWN & GUESTS: BLACK JOY FEATURING WORKS BY CAMILLE A. BROWN, CHLOE DAVIS, JUEL D. LANE, MAYTE NATALIO, RICKEY TRIPP & MALEEK WASHINGTON Lead support for Harlem Stage’s 40th Anniversary Season is provided by the Mellon Foundation.
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ABOUT HARLEM STAGE Harlem Stage is the performing arts center that bridges Harlem’s cultural legacy to contemporary artists of color and dares to provide the artistic freedom that gives birth to new ideas. For 40 years our singular mission has been to perpetuate and celebrate the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture. We provide opportunity, commissioning, and support for artists of color, make performances easily accessible to all audiences, and introduce children to the rich diversity, excitement, and inspiration of the performing arts. We fulfill our mission through commissioning, incubating, and presenting innovative and vital work that responds to the historical and contemporary conditions that shape our lives and the communities we serve.
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Board of Directors Courtney F. Lee-Mitchell, President Jamie Cannon, Vice President Michael Young, Secretary Mark Thomas, Treasurer Angela Glover Blackwell Jenna Bond Jamila Ponton Bragg
JoAnn K. Chase LaChanze Patricia Cruz Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes Jenette Kahn Rebecca Robertson Tamara Tunie
Staff MANAGEMENT Eric Oberstein, Managing Director
OPERATIONS Rodney Bissessar, Director of Operations Lamont Askins, Operations Associate Acey Anderson Sr., Maintenance
DEVELOPMENT Shamar Hill, Director of Development Shanté Skyers, Associate Director of Development Julianna Friedman, Development Manager
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION NCheng LLC, Accountants/Advisors Jake Lee, Partner Aaron Lam, Supervising Senior Accountant
PROGRAMMING Carl Hancock Rux, Associate Artistic Director/ Curator-in-Residence Sarah McCaffery, Programming Manager and Associate Curator Maurice Ivy, Programming Associate
CONSULTANTS Aon/Albert G. Ruben Company (NY)/ Claudia Kaufman, Insurance Arts Education Consultants: Sobha Kavanakudiyil, Sierra Ray & Wendy Rojas Blake Zidell & Associates, Public Relations Briguel, Digital Video Services DAS, IT Consultant Derrick Saint Pierre/Snugg Studios, Digital Video Services Intrepid Digital, SEO Services JCA, Inc.: Database Consulting Jess Medenbach, Digital Video Services LCM/247, Digital Video Services Lutz & Carr/Chris Bellando, Accountants Madison Consulting Group, Matthew Laurence Manchester Benefits, Greg Martin Marc Millman, Photography Robyn L. Stein, Rl Stein Group, Development Consultant Charles Whelan, The Whelan Group Incorporated
Patricia Cruz, Artistic Director & CEO
MARKETING Deirdre May, Senior Director of Digital Content and Marketing Andre Padayhag, Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer Adrienne Gomez, Box Office Manager EDUCATION Jordan Carter, Education & Community Engagement Manager Bethany Cintron, Education & Community Engagement Associate PRODUCTION Amanda K. Ringger, Director of Production Randi Rivera, Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager: Anna Adams Stark Clarence Taylor, Lighting Operator Orlando Alvarado, Audio Engineer Maxwell Ludlow, Video Operator David Barrett, Julio Collado Deck, Lighting, & Audio Crew
USHERS Toma Carthens. Andy Garcia, Zarif Shabazz Nobar De leon, Miriam Hernandez, Fabian Franco