Kickstarter

We are Loom. And are fully launched into our second official season, with our first full length production, rehearsal residency at the Field, Hamptons rehearsal retreat this January, and a two week-run booked at LaMama Experimental Theater Club in February. The buzz and momentum building around this project has been thrilling, and we’re delighted to have you on board, helping us make this happen!

Our new piece is called “Erosion: a Fable,” in which look at the familiar world of corporate desk jobs through a surprising aesthetic prism. A homeless woman and an mid-level office exec begin selling dirt on the street together, and calling it Love. We’re using our signature palette of athletic dances, intricate vocal compositions, and traditional storytelling techniques to stage a story of corporate competition, environmental catastrophe and personal transformation.

Come check it out.

So what’s the $8,350 going toward? 

$0 Theater Rental: Based on our work so far, LaMama has curated us into their 50th anniversary season, presenting Erosion: a Fable as a production of their own! Pretty good, huh?—obviously no money is going to this, but we are so excited about it we wanted to share.

$350 Costumes: We've hired Fashion Designer Hannah Richey to design our costumes--they will  help to tell the story and create the world of the show

$500 Props and Stage Design: We are working with Architect Morgen Fleisig for our stage design, he's already got a great start for giving our show a place to live.

$3,500 towards our Press Agent, Graphic Design, Postcard Distribution, etc.: With LaMama’s help we’re planning on reaching a new audience and playing to packed houses. A good review or two wouldn’t hurt.

$4,000 Artist Pay: That’s $500 each for months and months of work, for an 8 ensemble of performers…keeping in mind, we plan to pay our artists more each year.

The rest of the budget (including things such as director/designer pay, set construction, costumes, props, lighting, musical instruments, etc) is being covered by institutional grants, monthly fundraising parties, money from last season, a donation from our fiscal sponsor, and a growing circle of other private donors.

And here’s more about our company:

Loom is a 10 person ensemble that weaves together full-body movement, dense vocal harmonies, and text-based storytelling to make lush, vibrant ensemble performances. At its core, our mission is to use equal parts dance, music and theatre to nourish a sense of basic delight in our audiences, our artistic peers, and ourselves. Loom evolved out of a series of workshops with the TEAM, Pig Iron and SITI Company, and we continue to look to more established, pioneering companies for guidance and support as we build our voice and presence in the field.

Our first season, we came running out of the gate with our show “Every Body,” which toured New York City parks in spring 2011. It was a free, outdoors, 10-person reboot of the Minoan Minotaur myth, combined with a body-systems-based exploration of the physiology of doubt, determination, and celebration, loaded up with dancing and singing and crazy instruments from around the world. We made more than 1,000 unsuspecting park goers smile, learned a lot about our process, and got great feedback on how to grow as a company.

This second season, we’ve stepped everything up a notch. Here’s a taste of what’s going on:

• A longer, more in depth collaborative process
• Working with director extraordinaire, Tomi Tsunoda
• Hour-long company trainings as a part of each rehearsal, to continue to challenge our own technical development as dancers and singers.
• Rehearsal residency at the Field, along with a mentor from the Field to consult on our play-development process.
• Rehearsal retreat at the exclusive Full Moon Arts Center, a private residency program in the Hamptons.
• Premiere at LaMama ETC!
• FUNDRAISING: monthly parties, grant applications, this Kickstarter campaign, and ongoing development our substantial private donor base from last year.
• New website LoomEnsemble.com

Sound exciting? Glad to have you on board. Thank you so much for your support!

Loom is:

Raphael Sacks (co-founder, performer)

Neva Cockrell (co-founder, performer, choreographer)

Michael Bauer (co-founder, performer)

Sasha Bogdanowitsch (co-founder, performer, composer)

Tomi Tsunoda (director)

Katherine Pardue (assistant director)

Zoe Anastassiou (performer)

Andrew Broaddus (performer)

Kate Hamilton (performer)

Helen Joyce (performer)

Morgen Fleisig (set design)

Kayla Goble (lighting design)

Hannah Richey (costume design)

Any questions, comments, or ideas about anything at all? Please contact us at loomensemble@gmail.com

We’d love your feedback.