A Tonic for Desperate Times – Development History

Spring 2020

With our initial plans for beginning this project scuttled by COVID we held our first development phase in the spring of 2020 on Zoom. Adapting our creative methods for isolation, we focused on creating stories of hope and exploring the language and patterns of hope.

L to R: Michelle Polak, Jacquie PA Thomas, Diane Niec, Teiya Kasahara, Michael Spence, Asitha Tennekoon, Madison Robinson, & Francois Macdonald

Featured Artists:

Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野
François Macdonald
Diane Niec
Michelle Polak
Michael Spence
Asitha Tennekoon
Jacquie PA Thomas

Fall 2020

We undertook a 6 week development process that culminated in a week-long, in-person, socially distanced workshop where we finally applied choreography to the elements we had been creating individually in our virtual bubbles.

Featured Artists:

Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野
François Macdonald
Laird Macdonald
Thomas Ryder Payne
Michelle Polak
Christina Sousa
Michael Spence
Asitha Tennekoon
Jacquie PA Thomas

Spring 2021

This spring we had four rounds of writing sessions to develop the script, movement, and vocals work for this as well as the design and music compositions moving forward. At first, we were once again on Zoom for four rounds with our artists where we strung together our material into an early draft of what the show could be. We also had two in-person rehearsals, one outdoor and one indoor as public health regulations allowed.

Featured Artists:

Brenton Lalama
François Macdonald
Michelle Polak
Michael Spence
Tahirih Vejdani
Jacquie PA Thomas