Collaborators for This is the Mother of That (2011)

Livia Blankman graduated from Tisch School of the Arts and worked with Rosalind Newman and Pat Catterson. She left New York for San Francisco in 1976 where, in addition to producing her own work, she has danced with numerous choreographers and established companies including Margaret Jenkins, ODC Dance, and Joe Goode Performance Group. She was on the dance faculty at Sonoma State College, has taught dance throughout the Bay Area and was a cofounder of the ODC Youth Dance Program.  Livia also works as a landscape designer. 

Willis Bigelow is a senior studying Fine Art at The Cooper Union with a focus in sculpture and photography. In addition to his interest in visual art, Willis spent much of his youth as a dancer. He performed with ODC Dance Jam and toured nationally with the Joe Goode Performance Group.

Collaborators for CLOSE (2010)

Sam Ernst (dancer) is from Minneapolis, where she apprenticed with contemporary ballet innovator, James Sewell Ballet.  She came to New York to attend NYU/Tisch, caught the post-modern dance bug and has since performed with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, Mary Seidman, and Company XIV.

Fiona Evans (dancer) was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She attended the Boston Conservatory, graduating in 2001.  Fiona moved to New York in the fall of 2001 and over the years has worked with Alan Good and Jill Sigman as well as presented some of her own work.

Alessandra Larson (dancer) has danced with Debra Wanner since 2006, in addition to performing with Aviva Geismar/Drastic Action, Matthew Westerby Company, Tennille Lambert/The Ugly Company and Nu Dance Theatre, among others. Originally from Maryland, she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with degrees in dance and psychology. She studied Conflict Resolution and Peace Education at Teachers College/Columbia University.  In her spare time, she teaches, produces programs and manages publicity for many wonderful artists.

Molly Lieber (dancer) graduated from Connecticut College. Since coming to New York she has performed with Gabriella Barnstone/El Gatro Teatro, David Dorfman, Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances for a Variable Population, Amy Larimer and Debra Wanner, Propel-her Dance Collective, and Justin Ternullo.  Her choreography has been presented by Triskelion Arts, Food for Thought at Danspace Project, Newsteps at Chen Dance and in collaboration with Eleanor Smith through the Tank/New Works Series and Movement Research at Judson Church.

Aural Fixation (Sound Artist), founded in 1980 by sound artist/composer Guy Sherman, has been heard for the past 30 years in theater, short films, video, dance, and soundscapes. He received the Drama Desk for "Red Scare on Sunset", and the Obie for "Engaged", both for Sound Design. Other Credits include Six Degrees of Separation, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Heiress, Dinner At Eight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Seascape, A Delicate Balance, Lend Me A Tenor, Sylvia, Surviving Grace, Steel Magnolias, The House of Blue Leaves and Kindertransport (New York and London), for choreographers Stephanie Skura and Company, Tina Dudek, and others.

Galen H. Brown (composer) is a New York based composer of postminimal/alt-classical music, combining the influence of classical composers like Steve Reich and David Lang with elements of the rock music he grew up with.  As a Senior Editor at Sequenza21.com, Galen reviews concerts and CDs, and writes about a variety of issues important to contemporary classical music.  Galen's feature-length experimental film "Command and Control" will be released in 2010, and he is currently finishing a piece for trombone quartet.

Kate Hamilton (costume design) has designed clothes and hats since 1983 under the ETAK label, and has been featured in New York Magazine, Child Magazine and the New York Times. Her costume design work includes Macbeth, Waiting for Godot, and True West at Luna Stage, and the opera Dora at LaMama E.T.C.  She is a founding member of Bluebird Productions in Zurich.  Her most recent production, Sinnlich Verstrickt, premiered this March in Zurich.  She has also designed costumes for the Barnett/Spannon  Inside/Out interactive store window performances in and around 42nd St, New York NY, and in Berlin. Her sculpture has been exhibited at the Dorsky Museum, New Paltz NY, as well as at shows in Montclair NJ, West Kortright NY, and in Brooklyn NY. Kate teaches at Parsons School of Design and at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn.

Kathy Kaufmann (lighting designer) is a native of New York City. Kathy has been lighting dance and performance around the world for over 20 years.  She has enjoyed working with many fine artists including David Parker and the Bang Group, Meredith Monk, Ben Munisteri, Yvonne Meier, Hilary Easton, Amanda Loulaki, Tara O’Con, Neta Pulvamacher, Jacques D’Amboise, David Thomson, Shelly Senter, Gina Gibney, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Jody Oberfelder, Risa Jaraslow, and Kota Yamazaki. Kathy received a “Bessie“ (New York Dance and Performance Award) for her body of lighting design work for the 2004 season. Ms. Kaufmann has been a resident designer for Danspace Project at St. Marks Church for over 10 years.  She was also recently honored to be included in Curtain Call: Celebrating 100 Years of Women in Design at the New York Public Library-Performing Arts Branch.

Layne Redmond (composer). Layne’s music focuses on the hand-held frame drum, the world’s oldest known drum. Layne has been featured at Touch Festival, Berlin; Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle; Institute for Contemporary Art, London; Tambores do Mundo, UFBA Percussion Festival, World Wide Percussion Festival, all in Brazil; Vienna International Percussion Festival; Univ. of Florida’s Health and Spirituality Program; Stanford University; and Marranzan World Festival, Sicily. She has taught or performed at Vassar College, William's College, Bucknell College, Hartford Seminary, Andover Newton Theological Institute, Berklee School of Music, Univ. of North Fla., Penn State, S.U.N.Y., The Knitting Factory, Esalen, Omega, Mt. Madonna, and Kripalu Yoga Center. She and Karen Hopenwasser, MD, presented Therapeutic Rhythmic Techniques at the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. She wrote When The Drummers Were Women, and has made multiple recordings. Also, many articles have been written featuring her. She was the first woman to have a Signature Series of world percussion instruments with Remo, Inc. Layne@LayneRedmond.com.

Ann Sackrider (costume design). This is Ann’s third costume collaboration with Debra Wanner; director My Job Went Where? and Four: A Play (Winchester Little Theatre Train Wreck 24-Hour Theatre, Winchester, VA); actor Brother Ron's Atomic Gospel Hour (Central Park Band Shell NYC, The Kitchen NYC); director and performer Talk to Me Like the Rain (TaDa! Theater NYC, Sackets Harbor One Act Festival NY). Sackrider has also worked on several performance pieces both solo and in collaboration with other artists, and writes fiction.

Peter Zummo (composer/performer) pursues the evolving boundary of music-making and brass culture via his compositions for interactive ensemble, as a bandleader, engineer, and producer, and collaborates with artists in theatre, dance, poetry, film and television. His work is informed by four decades of realizing the work of other artists. He is Senior Faculty Advisor with the New York Arts Program, a program of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and artistic director of The Loris Bend Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit presenter of music, dance, and media. Professional studies were with Carmine Caruso, Stuart Dempster, James Fulkerson, Dick Griffin, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Sam Rivers, and Roswell Rudd. Emerging from the American contemporary classical tradition, his compositions explore methodologies of minimalism, jazz, world music, and rock. Zummo received a Bessie award for Trisha Brown’s Lateral Pass, and has also worked with David Dorfman, Risa Jarsolow, Irene Hultman, and Stephanie Woodard. This is Peter’s fourth adventure composing for Debra.