THE FUNERAL PROJECT
58 N. 3rd St
8pm, two drink minimum, door $10
to reserve tickets email: funeralproject@yahoo.com

Lisa’s life was an imaginary three ring circus with long bouts of depression, suspicion, and manic upswings that led to some good and some bad ideas. She could carry on three conversations at the same time and sometimes needed an interpreter. She wanted to remove all references to alienate her audience into a collective site specific experience. We are gathered here today to roast and celebrate all the nuances that defined her being, as well as destroy our own misconceptions of self. Buy drinks and tip the bartender. Buy t-shirts and toast the viewing of the death of Lisa, suffocating under the weight of self – a solo involving other people. Some audience participation expected, slide show, and don’t get too close to the performers, they might bite or spit.

The Funeral Project is a solo (involving other people) where the performers rid themselves of the things that no longer serve them and asks the audience to do the same. It will be presented in four installments. This installment (the viewing) is a duet of finding balance within our relationship to self and the outside world. The viewing is performed by Lisa Natoli and Susie Williams

About the company:
Lisas’s Bright Ideas is a performance company that works conceptually in the vertical and horizontal. LBI combines movement and aerial work with their treasure troves of various backgrounds and experience.

Cantina Royal has great food so if you are looking for a place to eat before the show I suggest eating there.

The show The UnderThought performed over President’s Weekend at the Brooklyn Lyceum had a great turn-out. The two shows felt like different shows and lots of changes were made from day one to day two, such as the arrangement of silks on stage and four songs were replaced by other songs.

I approach art with the fear of not being able or vulnerable enough to put it out there in the state is in sometimes without a lighting budget, borrowed span sets, and without money to rehearse in the performance venue. But with that said I feel as though the dancers the music the costumes the choreography are strong enough on their own.

The UnderThought

Feb 20th and 21st
Brooklyn lyceum Sun 7pm and Monday 8:30pm
www.brooklynlyceum.com

The UnderThought
Brooklyn Lyceum Feb 20th and 21st
Concept by Lisa Natoli
Choreographed by Lisa Natoli with Maia Ramnath, Cody Schreger, and Susie Williams
Running time about one hour no Intermission

Lisa’s Bright Ideas was founded by Lisa Natoli in 2008, and has been presenting work that investigates the intersection of dance, circus arts, and physical theater. Natoli creates works rich in concept and daring feats of athleticism. She transforms the performers and audience’s expectations by turning the art form inside out and on its head.

Natoli works collaboratively with the performers to create intimate installations and staged productions. Lisa’s Bright Ideas has presented performances at venues around NYC including The Brooklyn Lyceum, Galapagos Art Space, and MonkeyTown. The performers have included Lisa Natoli, Kristin Young (Cirque Du Soliel,TSNY), Bob Hoffnar (sessions musician, Wayne Hancock), Cody Schreger (The Metropolitan Opera, aerial skills teacher), Susie Williams (The Flying Pages,STREB), Sarah Wollschlager (Grounded Aerial Dance), Laura Sheehy (Cabaret, Mental Head Circus), and Francis Stallings.
Performer Bios
Lisa Natoli attended the Alvin Ailey certificate program before finishing her degree at the University of Iowa in 2000. She moved back to New York where she has performed with Amy Kail, Dawn Poirer, Jill Sigman, Kelly Hayes and Katy Orthwein. Lisa was a full time company member of Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance from 2004-2006 where she still guest performs. Lisa performed with Time Lapse Dance in the opening ceremonies of the International Champions League cricket tournament in Bangalore, India. As an aerialist Lisa has performed with ImaginAerial, Helium Aerial Dance, Cirque-Tacular Entertainment and Kevin O’Connor. Lisa has also performed her own choreography at Above the Belt, CBGB’s Gallery, Cleveland Public Theater, Irondale Theater and S.L.A.M. Lisa is a frequent solo performer at the resident program Floating Kabarette at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York.www.lisasbrightideas.com
Maia Ramnath was in an earlier incarnation a scholarship student at the Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham and Jennifer Muller studios, and performed with various modern dance and aerial choreographers and groups in NYC including Pat Catterson, Rachel Cohen, Jonathan Appels, Elise Knudsen, Jill Sigman/Thinkdance, Cirque Boom, Chalasa Performance Company, and the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group. In her next incarnation she performed in Santa Cruz, CA with Lunacy Aerial Productions and Wide Blue Yonder Dance while attending grad school at the University of California. Maia is also co-founder/director of the Moving Company, which is producing a new aerial-dance-theater project at the Lyceum April 22-23. In her spare time she teaches history at NYU.

Cody Schreger is a New York City based performing artist, choreographer and instructor. She has studied a wide range of creative arts from modern and flamenco dance to clown, Commedia Del’ Arte, traditional theater, gymnastics and aerial arts. In 2005 Cody graduated Bard College with a BA in dance choreography and has since performed with companies such as Cirque Dreams, Cirque Boom, Lumins Circus, the International circus festivals of Albacete, Spain and Latina, Italy. While in NYC she performs and choreographs for local events and shows, and teaches ongoing classes in aerial arts.
Cody recently finished a run as an acrobat in the world premier of Robert Lepage’s staging of “Das Rhiengold “at the Metropolitan Opera. The production returns to the met in the spring of 2011. www.codyjs.com

Susie Williams is a New York based aerialist. She has trained with just about every teacher that has come through NYC but loves Kevin O’Connor the most and isn’t afraid to admit it. She has also trained at the San Francisco Circus Center where she learned to keep her legs straight and how to do a handstand. When she is not performing with Lisa’s Bright Ideas, you can find her performing flying trapeze at your local county fair or teaching at STREB.

We would like to Thank Ann Williams, Anne O’Neil, Uncle Pete and Steve, Casey Moore and family, Barb and Bart Natoli, Mike Cavallaro, Megan Gendell, Jen Choi, Carrie Nutt, Kelly Hayes, David Lewis, Charles Chris Chang, and Kate Hiltz for contributing to our Kickstarter campaign and helping us out.
I would also like to thank the performers for their time and dedication as well as some of the teachers that have helped pave a new path for me. Thank you Kevin O’Connor, Laura Witwer, Terry Beeman, and Janet Panetta. And last but not least thank you Kristin Young and Laura Sheehy for more than I can put into words here.

If you would like to know what the music was I have a few copies of the set list.