the Silents | 2007
Ritz Theater, Minneapolis, MN
Choreography and Direction
Vanessa Voskuil
Performers
Ryan Dean, Robert Haarmon, Theresa Madaus, and Vanessa Voskuil
Additional Performances
Crane Adams, Lauren Butler, Dana Buckwald, Hilde De Roover, Jill Foster, Pierre-Gilles Henry, Sarah Jacobs, Neal Jahren, Renee Lapreau, Sarah Russ, Erica Sun, Adel Swan, Kelsey Watt
Composer
Nick Lemme
Musicians
Abbie Betinis, Laura Krider, Nick Lemme, John McDaris, Tony Sofie, Joshua Shank
Recorded by Dave Andersen
Live Sound Performance
Nick Lemme
Additional Sound Design
Vanessa Voskuil
Set Design
Vanessa Voskuil with Erik Paulson
Lighting Design
Vanessa Voskuil with Mike Grogan
Costumes
Vanessa Voskuil and the cast
Taking it impetus from Rainer Maria Rilke’s seminal work, Book of Hours, the silents explores the pursuit of life, the persistence of death and the complexities of the inner human experience of wants, desires, punishments, questions, realizations and fears.
Support provided by Minnesota State Arts Board, the Moore Family Fund for the Arts of the Minneapolis Foundation and private funders
AUDIENCE RESPONSES
“I found myself feeling many visceral reactions throughout….It is a true joy to behold a work…that leads me somewhere even more spectacular than I had imagined possible….like you are speaking a new language that I understand and somehow have always understood, yet never heard before until I saw this work.” – audience member
“What you are creating with this work is a sacred space, an austere and unique environment that is completely separate from the din and relative chaos of the outside world...” – audience member
