CultureHub and Chaotic Sequence Productions present
the World Premiere of “turning your body into a compass”
A 360˚ Livestream Web Story by playwright Catherine Filloux
May 13, 3pm, Eastern Standard Time, with Live Chat to follow
(New York, NY) CultureHub and Chaotic Sequence Productions are thrilled to announce the premiere of turning your body into a compass, by award-winning human rights playwright Catherine Filloux. Shot as a 360˚ LiveStream Web production, it tells the urgent story of two women who understand that the question of a child’s right to survive and thrive is one we all need to confront every minute of every day.
turning your body into a compass will be livestreamed by CultureHub
on May 13, 2019, at 3pm, Eastern Standard Time, at this link:
Subsequently the web story will be archived.
Directed by Daria Sommers
Produced by Daria Sommers and Arthur Vincie
Theater Director: DeMone Seraphin, The New American Theatre Company, NY
Associate Producer and Outreach Coordinator: Alexa Jordan
Livestreaming and video production by CultureHub
The cast includes: Nadia Bowers, Chelsea Davis, Lori Hammel, Belén Moyano, Felipe Salinas, and others to be announced.
Casting Director for the children’s roles: Susan Rybin, Rybin Talent Management
turning your body into a compass – story summary
Set against the backdrop of this country’s escalating crackdown on immigrant families and children, Jean Hatch, a human rights advocate, finds herself at a crossroads. Desperate to expose the trauma our immigration policies inflict on innocent children, she aches for a fresh approach. When Jean meets Sophie Goldman, a neuroscientist whose work documents how the stress of deportation and separation alters a child’s brain development, the two women decide to combine forces. As Jean and Sophie fight an uphill battle to make those in power understand the consequences of their actions, the two women must hope against hope that their work will make a difference and one day change, even humanize, our current immigration policy.
turning your body into a compass is the newest work by Catherine Filloux, who has been writing about human rights and social issues for 25 years, including such works as whatdoesfreemean?, Kidnap Road, Selma ’65, Luz, Killing the Boss, Lemkin’s House, Eyes of the Heart, and The Beauty Inside. Filloux was the recipient of the 2017 Otto Award for Political Theatre. Previous recipients include director Emily Mann and playwright Kia Corthron. Presented by Castillo Theatre, the Otto Awards recognize and connect theater artists engaged in creating political, experimental and community-based theatre.
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Catherine Filloux is an award-winning playwright who has been writing about human rights and social justice for twenty-five years. In New York City, Catherine was honored with the 2017 Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theatre and with the 2015 Planet Activist Award. Filloux’s new play “whatdoesfreemean?” produced by Nora’s Playhouse, premiered in New York in July, 2018. Her play Kidnap Road premiered at La MaMa and was presented by Anna Deavere Smith as part of NYU’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. Catherine is the librettist for three produced operas; and her most recent is Olga Neuwirth’s new opera, Orlando to premiere at the Vienna State Opera in 2019. She is developing a new musical, All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go, with composer Jimmy Roberts, and John Daggett, which is a 2018 NAMT finalist. www.catherinefilloux.com
Daria Sommers is a director, writer and producer whose work includes both fiction and non-fiction. Her multiple award-winning films include the feature-length documentary Lioness, winner of Duke’s Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award at the Full Frame Film Festival, the half-hour 35 mm drama Ready to Burn, winner of Panavision’s New Director Award and Three Trembling Cities, a web series on immigrants in New York City, winner of Best Drama at UK WebFest and Philly TV Fest. Daria’s work has garnered support from the NEH, the NEA, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Fledgling Fund, Chicken and Egg Pictures, NYSCA and the John Whitney Payson Fund among many others. She has written extensively on arts and culture for multiple publications and been an artist-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony and Mass MoCA, served on the Metropolitan Museum’s Program for Art on Film and the UN’s One In A Billion Film Series. www.dariasommers.com
Arthur Vincie (Chaotic Sequence Productions) has over 10 years of film and television production experience as a writer, producer, and director. He recently wrote and directed Three Trembling Cities, a fictional web series about the inner lives and daily struggles of NYC immigrants. The show is available on several platforms, and won Best Diverse Representation at Toronto Webfest, Best Drama at the Minnesota Webfest, Philly TV Fest and the UK Webfest, the Made In NY award at the Brooklyn Webfest, and the Best Multicultural Webseries at the Baltimore New Media Festival. It has played in over 20 festivals across the world, and has been invited to several special events, including Irondale Theater’s ‘Not Normal’ program and the New York Public’ Library’s Immigrant Heritage Week. Arthur also wrote and directed Found In Time, a sci-fi feature, which won Best Feature Film at Art of Brooklyn and the Space and Time film festivals, and Best Sci-Fi Feature awards at the Shriekfest, Shockerfest, Intendence, Genre Celebration, Phoenix Comic-Con, and ZedFest festivals. It went to 28 festivals, and was released on Amazon, Vudu, Dish, and other platforms. www.chaoticsequence.com
DeMone Seraphin is founding artistic director of The New American Theatre Co. New York and is excited to share creative space with this incredible crew! Selected directing credits include Topdog Underdog, The Exonerated, Dutchman, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Jitney, Split Second, Endangered Species (world premiere), The Mountaintop, Runaways, Winter’s Tale, and Barnum. As an actor DeMone’s credits include Miss Saigon, Ragtime, Rent, J.C. Superstar, Sideshow, Big River, Elf, A Fairytale Christmas, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Once on This Island. DeMone is the recipient of a regional Emmy Award and the Joseph Jefferson Award.
Alexa Jordan, a recent graduate from Vassar College, is an actress, and playwright. Her first full length play, Fine, a drama about a therapist and her patients, was awarded the Marilyn Swartz Seven award. Alexa also recently produced and performed in Fine at The Wild Project theater. She currently works with The Mustique Charitable Foundation, as their development assistant. As a passionate mental health advocate, Alexa couldn’t be more grateful to be working on turning your body into a compass. (Alexa has also worked on Kidnap Road, and All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go, with Catherine Filloux.)
About CultureHub: CultureHub is a global art and technology community with locations in New York, Los Angeles, Korea, Italy, and Indonesia founded in partnership with La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Through artist residencies, professional services, and creative collaborations, CultureHub advances the work of artists experimenting with emerging technologies and fostering new artistic forms. CultureHub’s residency program brings artists from diverse backgrounds to its global sites to develop interdisciplinary projects, teach workshops, and present works-in-progress to audiences. CultureHub serves the global arts and technology community by offering services such as livestreaming, telepresence, and video and projection design. In association with founding partners, the Seoul Institute of the Arts and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, CultureHub regularly presents original work that explores new forms of storytelling often in collaboration with artists and companies who have been in residence at one of CultureHub’s global sites. The resulting projects range from newly developed and accessible telepresence softwares to full scale performance art projects that tour the world. CultureHub’s designs have been nominated for Outstanding Innovative Design by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards.
