Saturday, May 13, 2023 Sunday, May 14, 2023
6 pm (PST) 6 pm (PST)
For the past 9 years, Inferno Theatre has presented an interdisciplinary, multicultural performance and arts festival colloquially known as the Diasporas Festival. This year we are celebrating our 10th Anniversary Festival. Rooted in Inferno’s mission to link cultures and explore human relationships, the festival has brought artists together, year after year, who are now based in the San Francisco Bay area but whose roots extend across the globe. This year’s Diasporas Festival includes works by local theatre, dance, music, and performance artists.
The 10th Annual Contemporary Diasporas Performance Festival - Roots in Movement was made possible thanks to the Civic Arts Grant Program of the City of Berkeley.
The Artists
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023 AT 6 PM
A Musical Offering
Marci & Ricardo Valdivieso Manriquez
Since their return to the Bay Area in 2011, Marci and Ricardo have hosted and produced more than 30 studio concerts at their home, presenting Latin American and North American artists in support of the local art scene. This year, Marci began her first vlog on YouTube and SoundCloud, called “Tecito con Marci, Marci’s Cuppa…” which will blend her social activism, research and artistic endeavors in music and linguistics.
Breathe to Move Again
Christina Spiteri, music by Bootstrings
An aerial dance piece choreographed and performed by Chris Spiteri on rope and harness to the original work "Teach your feet to fly" by Bootstrings. This piece is a reflection on healing from trauma. Beginning from a place of darkness, immobile, trapped under the weight of your own emotions until you slowly start to dig yourself out, creating tiny spaces to exist, each moment building on the last, until there is finally enough space to breathe again. Once you can breathe, you can laugh. It comes in tiny unexpected trickles at first, a sound you forgot you could make until that laughter suddenly finds the opportunity to burst forth! That laughter propels you, you are moving again toward happiness. It has been so long since you were happy.
"What Had Happened Was..."
US in the U.S.
Tyler Jeffreys, Writer
Shelby Broadnax
Korinne Nickings
Being Black in America is like being an orphan. "What Had Happened Was..." follows a young African American orphan as she sheds the past, takes advantage of the present and explores the future. What would happen if were to choose your own identity or choose not to have one at all! Get ready to create your own "`What Had Happened Was..." story with US in the U.S. Come with US on a journey through the Past, Present and Future. Explore generational trauma, making choices in the present moment, and navigating the future after shedding identities.
ROSALIE
Rachael Richman, writer/performer
I grew up hearing stories about my great grandmother Rosalie, who immigrated with her husband to New York from Sicily in the early 1900’s. I was drawn to her almost mythological strength and love, and learned everything I could about her, eventually journeying to Sicily, to the small town she grew up in. I wanted to call on this powerful woman in my ancestry, to in some way “find” her in myself. This is an evolving piece from that searching, in poetry, storytelling, movement, and song.
Molinete
Robert Fields, composer/arranger/guitar
Carol Braves, violin
Nancy DeRoche, cello
Steve Heckman, reeds
Suzanne Schrift, bass
Molinete is a Spanish word meaning to wind or spool around a center point as in the reel of a fishing rod or the sails of a windmill. In Tango Argentino, a molinete is one of several fundamental elements of the dance. In this dance form, one person holds the center space while their partner dances one of several possible rhythmic patterns around them. Molinete breathes and expands like a living organism and is inspired by many different musical genres.
Ground Cube
KC Hyland, with Anna Yanushkevich- Director, Cirque de la Luna
Ground Cube brings an aerial acrobat down to the earth and forces her to ground and center and balance. This work blends elements of butoh, contemporary dance, and contortion into something otherworldly and haunting.
The Tempest (excerpt)
Inferno Theatre
Playwright, William Shakespeare: Adapted by Giulio Cesare Perrone
Giulio Cesare Perrone, Director
Mayou Roffe’, Musical Director
Cast
Casey Anderson
Lauren Dunagan
Erica Flor
Liddi Freeman
Julie Lamb
Tiffani Lisieux
Gioconda Mirra
Michael Needham
Mayou Roffe’
Andre Szarmach
Canberk Varli
The Tempest investigates the destiny of theatre as it pushes theatricality to the limits, inviting the audience to abandon themselves to the magic of the island and its inhabitants. We create this imaginary island using live music, movement by the ensemble, and Shakespeare’s own poetic words and imagery, transporting the audience to an enchanted, magic world.
Wondertown Improv
The Wondertown Performers
Bill Stahl, Director
Christina Shonkwiler
Fred Chung
Mary Matabor
The Wondertown performers create an improvised story based on audience suggestion.
original world music & jazz
Michael Smolens
The first piece is West-African based and uses the voice to elicit percussion, drum set, and bass, along with vocal parts and an actual West-African marimba. The second piece is a ballad written in the style of "Oregon” reed player/composer Paul McCandless.
SUNDAY, MAY 14, 2023 AT 6 PM
"What Had Happened Was..."
US in the U.S.
Tyler Jeffreys, Writer
Shelby Broadnax
Korinne Nickings
Being Black in America is like being an orphan. "What Had Happened Was..." follows a young African American orphan as she sheds the past, takes advantage of the present and explores the future. What would happen if were to choose your own identity or choose not to have one at all! Get ready to create your own "`What Had Happened Was..." story with US in the U.S. Come with US on a journey through the Past, Present and Future. Explore generational trauma, making choices in the present moment, and navigating the future after shedding identities.
The Tempest (excerpt)
Inferno Theatre
Playwright, William Shakespeare: Adapted by Giulio Cesare Perrone
Giulio Cesare Perrone, Director
Mayou Roffe’, Musical Director
Cast
Casey Anderson
Lauren Dunagan
Erica Flor
Liddi Freeman
Julie Lamb
Tiffani Lisieux
Gioconda Mirra
Michael Needham
Mayou Roffe’
Andre Szarmach
Canberk Varli
The Tempest investigates the destiny of theatre as it pushes theatricality to the limits, inviting the audience to abandon themselves to the magic of the island and its inhabitants. We create this imaginary island using live music, movement by the ensemble, and Shakespeare’s own poetic words and imagery, transporting the audience to an enchanted, magic world.
Ground Cube
KC Hyland, with Anna Yanushkevich- Director, Cirque de la Luna
Ground Cube brings an aerial acrobat down to the earth and forces her to ground and center and balance. This work blends elements of butoh, contemporary dance, and contortion into something otherworldly and haunting.
ROSALIE
Rachael Richman, writer/performer
I grew up hearing stories about my great grandmother Rosalie, who immigrated with her husband to New York from Sicily in the early 1900’s. I was drawn to her almost mythological strength and love, and learned everything I could about her, eventually journeying to Sicily, to the small town she grew up in. I wanted to call on this powerful woman in my ancestry, to in some way “find” her in myself. This is an evolving piece from that searching, in poetry, storytelling, movement, and song.
Breathe to Move Again
Christina Spiteri, music by Bootstrings
An aerial dance piece choreographed and performed by Chris Spiteri on rope and harness to the original work "Teach your feet to fly" by Bootstrings. This piece is a reflection on healing from trauma. Beginning from a place of darkness, immobile, trapped under the weight of your own emotions until you slowly start to dig yourself out, creating tiny spaces to exist, each moment building on the last, until there is finally enough space to breathe again. Once you can breathe, you can laugh. It comes in tiny unexpected trickles at first, a sound you forgot you could make until that laughter suddenly finds the opportunity to burst forth! That laughter propels you, you are moving again toward happiness. It has been so long since you were happy.
Devotion Through Sarcasm
Siddi Creative
Surabhi Bharadwaj, Artistic Director
An adapted of Vazhuvoor Ramaiyah Pillai's Choreography
Swati Pramod Hegde, performer
There are so many ways one can express love and devotion. One of them is also blaming in a sarcastic tone. This composition is about a devote of God Krishna who says - Oh Lord you are an opportunist. You falsified your own preachings of tolerance in the face of adversity, freedom from anger, patience, and more... You spontaneously come up with excuses to avoid trouble. I remember that time, as a toddler, you sneaked into the kitchen and ate up an entire pot of freshly churned butter. And when your mother caught you red-handed, you cooked up a story saying - "I lost my baby cow. I looked for it everywhere but I couldn't find it. Suddenly my eyes fell on this pot and I thought my baby cow must be hiding in here. I had make sure, so I had no choice but to eat all the butter..." Krishna, you've been such a prankster even as a baby. My only wish is to see you just for a moment. Why don't you come? Steadfastly I've been praying to you and you've been ignoring me. Haven't my prayers reached you? Or is this yet another prank of yours.
Betrayal of Wildness
Indigo Jackson
"Betrayal of Wildness" is a moving poem written in response to wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold's 1949 "Land Ethic" that called for an ethic of (hu)man that includes the Earth as part of our community.
Molinete
Robert Fields, composer/arranger/guitar
Carol Braves, violin
Nancy DeRoche, cello
Steve Heckman, reeds
Suzanne Schrift, bass
Molinete is a Spanish word meaning to wind or spool around a center point as in the reel of a fishing rod or the sails of a windmill. In Tango Argentino, a molinete is one of several fundamental elements of the dance. In this dance form, one person holds the center space while their partner dances one of several possible rhythmic patterns around them. Molinete breathes and expands like a living organism and is inspired by many different musical genres.
original poetry
Michael Smolens
While better known as a musician and teacher, Michael has created 130 poems which cover a wide range of topics (music, home, pandemic, technology, Buddhism, fire circles) and styles (casual, political, Sufi, and Old English). Often satiric, sometimes stoic, frequently wistful, his most significant influences are Poet Laureate Billy Collins and Sufi poets Hafiz & Rumi. He’ll be reading from his first volume of poetry (due out later this year), including a work befitting Mother’s Day.
Busk or Bust
Liddi Freeman & Ben Élie
You want to make art. You want inspiration, to be inspired. You've got a job to do. Is that one and the same? Regardless, life is costly. Yep, you've heard this before. So why is it still this way? Let's investigate, and not be dull. Let's have some fun - together. This is a short piece about the contradictions we find ourselves dealing with when we search to connect, to be relevant, to be busy artists. When our ideal is to dream big and to rise above the fray, it can still happen that we squabble in the mire. We'd like to use our talents for good, but sometimes we're not so sure if those talents are any good or good is what we think it is at all.
The Art of Proselytizing
Sinjin Jones
Storytelling is universal. Especially powerful when combined with the art of preaching. But the reality is that any text can be knowledge. Any text is preachable. In this piece, we explore what makes language so powerful, what makes speech so powerful. And how we become so easily entranced in the words of those who speak nonsense.
Yellowed Dramaturgy
A performance poem by Pierce Delahunt
Happened Change
Nan Busse, Creative Coordinator and Producer
Tobey Kaplan
Heikki Koskinen
....plays with changes fueled by words, harmony and heart. Stripped down like an old onion —layer by layer — in the end, at the core, what is left? What do you hold in your hands as you peer through the onion tears?
Imagine a friend. Up the stairway, you walk into the house. Your mind is as empty as air filled with poems, movement and haunting music Breathe!