Shows are:
Thursday and Friday, May 7 and 8, at 7:30 PM.
Saturday at 2:30 and 7:30.

McCrary Theatre.

Get your tickets! VIBE will be $12 for non-Elon students and free for those with an Elon ID.

Read about tonight on E-Net here!

Born in Holmdel NJ, J. graduated from Elon college in 2000.  J. Has produced several documentaries from professor portraits to a series on AIDS in Namibia Africa.  During his Graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro he directed several experimental, documentary, and Narrative shorts.  J. also is also a photographer and has traveled to several countries to photograph service projects. J. spends the summers in Los Angeles as Director of the Elon in Los Angeles Program and is an instructor and coordinator of Video Projects for the School of Communications.

When asked about I Live Here, J. said:

“This will be a breakthrough for the elon stage and screen, it will be dancing with video, graphics, live music and the total visual experience.  VIDEO + Dance = unbelievable .This project is made possible because of many students, faculty and staff coming together to collaborate with art.  The school of Communciations freshman fellows have been there every step of the way.  They are producing photos, videos, blogs, invitations, twitters, articles, and much more.  They are producing them at a high professional level and I am very proud of their work. We are pushing the freshman fellows very hard and they are exceeding our expectations.”

Talk a little bit about how all of this came together, the collaboration, the grant, etc. 

Lauren Kearns and I collaborated on a work entitled “Cubed” last spring in which we incorporated scenic elements as well as some basic projections.  It was a great experience and we started to talk about another piece she was conceiving based on the notion that your body is a neighborhood, the piece was called “I live Here”.  We felt that this would be a great work to incorporate video into.  It was at this point that J Mcmerty got involved, and the creativity exploded.  We realized that a collaboration of this nature was a great candidate for a fund for excellence grant, and the rest is history.
 
Have you ever done anything like “I Live Here” before? If so, how is this similar/different? 

Like this,  not really.  I have used projection in many production including musicals, dramas and dance, but have never gone to this level.  Usually we will use a slide show of some kind, or one or two prepared videos. This production relies on many different forms of artistic expression, and will rely on a large group of artisans. From a logistical standpoint,  there are a lot of things that are unique with this project.  We will put a lot of equipment into McCrary Theater, and will convert the stage and theater into multiple projection areas.  “I Live Here” promises to be like no other performance McCrary Theatre has put on before.
 
What has been the biggest challenge, and what are you most looking forward to seeing come to life? 

The biggest challenge will come during the technical rehearsal process.  There will be a lot of elements involved (lighting, scenery costumes, live video, imag, still photography etc…), and the timing and coordination of them all will be time consuming and complex. I look forward to the Monday of technical rehearsal week, and opening night.  The Monday of tech week is when we will sit back and watch the piece, in real time, without stops for the first time.  It is the night that the designers hand the show over to the production personnel, and it is a night when I feel a scenes of  artistic fulfillment. I look forward to opening night because it will be the first time an audience see’s the finished project, and in the case of “I Live Here” they will see something they haven’t seen on McCrary’s stage before.
 
What has it been like working with all of these different schools/departments that are involved in this production? 

I have enjoyed this process greatly.  It has been a truly collaborative gathering of great creative minds, and is in the sprit of academic freedom and expression that is at the heart of Elon’s character.

Parker Brown’s article on the project is in today’s Pendulum! Read the online version here.

Here are some of the responses:

Allie Lochary:

“We had our first meeting for “I Live Here” before fall semester ended. Rehearsals started in the first week of February, and we finished learning the dance within two weeks. I also spent extra rehearsal time and a separate class period working on my solo for the first month. It was imperative that we learned the dance as quickly as we did so we could alter the movement as the set was being finalized, and so ideas could evolve in terms of the multimedia component.”

Caitlyn Juengel:

“We started learning the choreography for this piece sometime back in February after Winter Term.  Since then, we have met every week, twice a week, each for about three hours at a time.  We have also had a few video and photo shoots outside of rehearsal times, including a couple 7:00am shoots!  Beyond that, we basically just have to keep ourselves healthy and our minds and bodies prepared for rehearsal every week.  We must keep the quality of our dancing at the same level or an increased level at every rehearsal, which means practicing and preparing on our own.”

Kara Griffin:

“This cast has been working on the piece since February of Spring semester. We rehearse twice a week for about 3 hours every rehearsal. The video and photo shoots have been scheduled additionally. It’s not just about the dancing in this piece. It’s also about us embodying our characters in another medium, being ready for the camera and telling the story that way.”