Marked and Specific: Performance/Meditations on Hegemonic Whiteness

You are invited to a night of original performances:

Marked and Specific: Performance/Meditations on Hegemonic Whiteness

November 3 & 4 @ 7:30 pm

Winship Drama Building, Room 2.180

300 E. 23^rd Street, Austin, TX 78712

Admission is free, but seating is limited; please arrive early.

Marked and Specific asks: how do we stage anti-racist activism? How can performance be a tool for exploring the de/construction of white privilege and supremacy? This two-part performance event culminates in a collaborative discussion about race, memory, and performance.

The first performance, 900 Gallons is Nicole Gurgel’s MFA thesis project and solo performance debut. Over the course of nine vignettes, Gurgel excavates photographs, songs and stories as a way to resist the dangers of dis-remembering oppressive family histories.

Following 900 Gallons, the Performance Lab Ensemble – a multi-racial ensemble comprised of eight women who consider themselves artists, activists, scholars, and teachers – will perform a staged reading of their newly devised work. Collaboratively created through a ten-week writing and performance workshop, this collage of monologues, memories, and an unruly game of dodgeball traces the “lessons” taught about race, nation, and identity.

There will be a brief intermission between 900 Gallons and the Performance Lab Ensemble.

Questions? E-mail me at nicole.gurgel@gmail.com.

Creative/Development Teams

900 Gallons

Rowan Doyle (Design Consultant), M’bewe Escobar (Choreographer), Katie Frank (Stage Manager), Nicole Gurgel (Writer/Performer/Set Designer), Amy Lewis (Lighting Designer), Nikiko Masumoto (Dramaturg), Lydia Nelson (Director/Set Designer), Katelyn Wood (Dramaturg)

The Performance Lab Ensemble

Elida Bonet, Brianna Figueroa, Natalie Goodnow, Diana Grisanti, Natashia Lindsey, Alex Messenger, Sandra Sotelo, Lana Tyson (Writers/Performers/ Co-creators), Madilynn Garcia (Stage Manager), Nicole Gurgel (Faciliator/Director)

Special thanks to Paul Bonin-Rodriguez, Omi Osun/Joni L. Jones and Deborah Paredez for advising both projects.

"Mud Offerings" at National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

Performance/Discussion: International Perspectives IN PLAY 
10/22/2011 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Free. No reservations required.

Georgetown University's Department of Performing Arts partners with NMWA to present an afternoon of performance and discussion centered on music, theater, and dance within an international context.

2–2:15
Welcome and Introduction by Anna Harwell Celenza, Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music at Georgetown University, and Maya Roth, director of Georgetown University's Theater and Performance Studies Program.

2:15–3:30
Staged reading of selected scenes from Trojan Barbie by Christine Evans, winner of the 2007 Jane Chambers Playwriting Contest for Women Playwrights. 

Natalie Marlena Goodnow, winner of the 2011 Jane Chambers Playwriting Contest for Women Playwrights, performs her solo play, Mud Offerings. Then, Professor Roth and Goodnow discuss Mud Offerings, as well as how international perspectives infuse the playwright-performer's art and identity. 

3:30–3:45
Break

3:45–4:45
Panel discussion, featuring a performance of classical south Indian dance. The discussion, moderated by Professor Celenza, considers the ways social and cultural contexts for musical performances influence their reception by audiences. Panel participants include: Jean Cook, musician, producer, and director of programs for Future of Music Coalition; Anya Grundmann, director and executive producer of NPR Music; dancer Aparna Keshaviah; and Professor Roth.

4:45–5 p.m.
Audience Q&A, moderated by Professors Celenza and Roth.

Follow me to "Marfita" at Co-Lab, 7 pm, October 15

LARGE SCALE INSTALLATION RE-MAPS MARFA, TX FOCUSING ON APPARITION OF MARY

OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 29, 2011
OPENING & PERFORMANCE: OCTOBER 15, 7 PM
CO-LAB, 613 ALLEN ST, AUSTIN, TX

A MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION BY ALISON KUO, JOSH T. FRANCO, AND JOSHUA SAUNDERS

During the first night of Marfita's installation at Co-Lab, Natalie Goodnow will lead an interactive procession through the East Austin neighborhood where the space exists, culminating in a ceremonial, participatory prayer at the altar of the Virgen Mary.

For more about "Marfita"...

Visit Co-Lab's website.
Keep up with the show: Follow our tumblr, and Like us on facebook.
Read a conversation about Marfa in 7STOPS between Joshua and Alison, introduced by Josh.

"Mud Offerings" at Women at Work Festival, Stage Left Studio, New York, NY!

I'm thrilled to be bringing "Mud Offerings" (the more fully developed, award-winning version!) back to the Women at Work Festival at Stage Left Studio, New York, NY!

New Yorkers, come see!

Sunday, September 25
noon
Stage Left Studio
214 W 30th Street, 6th floor
New York, NY 10001

Tickets available here.

What I've Been Up To...

I performed "Mud Offerings" at the MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social) Summer Institute at California State University, Los Angeles, on Friday, August 5; I was able to make the trek to LA thanks to the generous, generous support of Kickstarter project backers!  For more details about how it all went, click here.  And for much silliness, my karaoke thank-you videos to Kickstarter backers, check out "Karoke is Goodnow."

And then, the very next week, I accepted the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award at the ATHE (Association of Theatre in Higher Education) Conference in Chicago, Illinois, and got to perform "Mud Offerings" there, too!  There should be some clips of me talking about the play and about playwriting coming out soon on ATHE's YouTube channel; I'll let you know...

I'm so pleased, so proud, and so very, very grateful to exist in such a supportive community, and to all the folks (there are many!) who have helped me to develop "Mud Offerings!"  To name a few: Dino Foxx, kt shorb, Ana Lara, Adelina Anthony, and all the women of the Austin Project.  Thank you!

"Eagle Woman Poems" Installation/Performance at Co-Lab, Saturday, July 30

 Installation/Performance

Co-Lab Project Space

613 Allen St.

Austin, TX 78702

Saturday, July 30, 2011
Installation On View 7-11PM
Performance 8PM
Talkback and Reception 9PM

No reservations necessary.

Eagle Woman lives in a landfill. It is her job to make sense of the mess. This is what women do. It is what words do. These are the poetics of sifting through the filth.

But is an eagle capable of such a task?

This performance art event will consist of an eagle's attempts at poetry in time and space.

Based on Goodnow's collaboration with the Generic Ensemble Company in July 2010: "Eagle Woman Poems: an in-progress showing."

This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.

Site-Specific WIP at Jump-Start Performance Co., San Antonio, TX

Site-Specific Wednesday-in-Performance/Works-in-Progress 

Natalie Goodnow, Movimiento Cihuatl, Dino Foxx

June is Site-Specific W-I-P!

The audience will be taken on a mini performance tour in the Blue Star Arts Space, where the performing artists will perform outside in varying locations within the complex.  Afterward, the audience will be directed inside the theater for a CRP guided discussion with the artists.

June 29, 2011

7 p.m.

No reservations are necessary

$5 general
$3 student/senior

Jump-Start
108 Blue Star
San Antonio, TX 78204
210-227-JUMP (5867)
www.jump-start.org

San Antonio Dance Umbrella

www.sadu.org

W-I-P (Works-In-Progress/Wednesdays-In-Performance) is a long-running collaboration between Jump-Start Performance Co. and San Antonio Dance Umbrella. It is a monthly lab space for new, in-progress dance and other movement-based performance works accompanied by a facilitated post-performance discussion. W-I-P is known for its eclecticism: modern dancers, belly dancers and performance artists have performed in the same evening and been inspired by each other, as well as expanding the audience's perception of performance.

Jump-Start Performance Co. is funded in part by grants from The Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs, City of San Antonio, The Texas Commission on the Arts, and The National Endowment of the Arts.

The San Antonio Dance Umbrella is funded in part by the Office of Cultural Affairs, the Texas Commission on the Arts and by its members who represent the best in the San Antonio Dance Community.

"Mud Offerings" at MALI Women's Film & Performance Arts Conference this weekend!

This just in!  I'm performing excerpts from "Mud Offerings" at MALI's conference this weekend!

approximately 9:15 pm
showcase starts at 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 29
Stompin' Grounds
3801 Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78704
1-512-394-6999

...and possibly at MALI conference showcases on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as well!

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The MALI (Media Arts & Literacy Institute) Women’s Film & Performance Arts Conference is wholly focused on the contributions of all women, with a special emphasis on womyn of Latin, African, African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, European and Indigenous descent.

This conference benefits the MALI Summer Media Camp for at risk teen girls. Help support our efforts by getting your tickets today! Thank you!

"Mud Offerings" at RAW:Austin INTERACTIVE

Thursday, June 16, 2011 @ 8:00PM
Venue 222 | 222 East 6th Street | Austin, TX 78701
21+ event. Cocktail attire. Tickets are $10 via presale.

Purchase tickets here.


RAW events are multi-faceted artistic showcases. Each event features a film screening, musical performance, fashion show, art gallery, performance art and a featured hairstylist and makeup artist. These artists are all local, hand-picked talent who have been chosen to feature at RAW.

RAW events feature a cash bar for cocktails while you enjoy the night. Dress code is cocktail attire, so dress the occasion and get ready for an artistic circus of creativity!

And check out the award-winning "Mud Offerings"!

"Mud Offerings" is the winner of the Jane Chambers Playwrighting Contest 2011!

"We were struck with the feminist Chicana themes, the theatrical poetry, and the complex storytelling that you wove in this solo play. Kudos! And Thank You for sharing this work. Typically the Contest weights toward plays with more roles for female performers in them, so take it as testament to our vivid, shared excitement about your play that it won. We were compelled by this exquisite short work, so embodied and complex in its sense of character, history, sexuality, place, and religion. We are eager to share it with others (theaters and feminists)." 

The JANE CHAMBERS AWARD recognizes feminist plays & performance texts created by women writers that present significant opportunities for female performers. Given in memory of lesbian playwright Jane Chambers, who through her plays such as My Blue Heaven, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove and Kudzu became a major feminist voice in American theater, the Jane Chambers Playwriting Contest welcomes experimentations in form as well as subject matter. Feminism is understood variously, and may cross diverse class, sex, race, national, ethnic, theatrical, and/or geographic perspectives. The Jane Chambers Contest winner receives $500 & a rehearsed reading of the winning play at ATHE’s annual mid-summer conference. First given in 1984, the award is sponsored by the Women and Theater Program (WTP) with generous support from the Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE), private donors, and university friends.

Upcoming Performances: The Austin Project Jam Sessions and "Mud Offerings" at the MACC!

Three Upcoming Performances!

Brand new work at The Austin Project Jam Sessions and Mud Offerings at the Mexican American Cultural Center, as part of A Tribute to Sor Juana.

The Austin Project Jam Sessions

art/activism/scholarship in performance

For the last nine weeks, The Austin Project ensemble members have been meeting for four hours each Sunday for writing, movement and digging for the truth. Please join us for two performances with the 2010-2011 Austin Project Ensemble in which they will tell their truths.

with:

Camille DePrang

Natalie Goodnow

Sruabhi Kukke

Candace Lopez

Nnenna Okeke

Friday April 15 at 8pm - Featuring the Ensemble Performance

University of Texas at Austin

Winship Drama Building 2.180

23rd St and San Jacinto, Austin, TX

Free Admission

Reception following

Saturday April 16 at 2pm - Featuring Individual Performances

Vortex Theater

2307 Manor Road, Austin, TX

Free Admission
 

A Tribute to Sor Juana
Celebrating the life of one of Mexico's greatest writers, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a 17th century Mexican nun who valued the education of women.
 

Sor Juana was a celebrated playwright, mathematician and poet in her own time and considered to be the first feminist of the Americas. The Emma S. Barrientos MACC will present two days of film, theatre, music, and visual arts in honor of her legacy, including...

Mud Offerings

Written and performed by Natalie Goodnow

Directed by Dino Foxx and kt shorb

A Chicanita has it out with the Virgen de Guadalupe. This piece is a solo play unraveling the culturally complicated truths, lies and mythologies of women's spirituality and sexuality in contexts of violence and betrayal.

Saturday, April 16 at 5:30 pm
The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center
600 River Street, Austin, TX
Black Box Theatre
Free Admission

"Mud Offerings" is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.

 

"I was born here." - performance this Thursday in San Antonio!

 

 

Please click on 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8FmTKFkEhg
to receive an extraordinary video invitation to my next performance at Bihl Haus Arts!

Bihl Haus v. The Alamo

“I was born here,” a multi-media tableau, THURSDAY, MARCH 24^th, 6-9 pm

For the fifth year in a row, Bihl Haus Arts, built from Alamo stone, takes on The Alamo through the arts.  In a multi-media tableau, titled “I Was Born Here. Roses are yellow and the Alamo is a blood-tree” produced by Bihl Haus Arts, creator Virginia Grise (2010 Yale Drama Award recipient) re-imagines “Remember El Alma,” Bihl Haus Arts’ crucially acclaimed 2010 Luminaria performance. 

The original poem by Barbara Renaud Gonzalez, also titled “Remember El Alma,” forms the cornerstone of “I Was Born Here,” a recurring poignant line in the poem that has been reinterpreted in multiple forms for this event.  In a new film, edited by Mirasol Riojas, currently a PhD candidate in film at UCLA, with camerawork by award-winning cinematographer Pocha Pena and art direction by Virginia Grise, 6-year-old Inez Barrera charmingly interprets the poem from a child’s point of view  In the live performance at Bihl Haus on March 24^th, an ensemble cast--Marisela Barrera, Monique Cortez, Natalie Goodnow, and Olupero Aiyenimelo—will re-stage the poem to haunting melodies composed and performed live by Rachel Cruz, PhD. 

This live production will be set amid a new site-specific installation by Deborah Kuetzpalin Vasquez that features four large-scale painted tapestries depicting goddesses who symbolize the cardinal directions, with which Bihl Haus Arts aligns perfectly.  Fresh flowers and fronds will transform the gallery space into a dreamlike world situated beneath a canopy of shimmering metallic-toned branches and boughs.

This all-female production, an official CAM event, also celebrates Women’s History Month.  Please arrive at Bihl Haus by 7 pm to enjoy the full performance.  A suggested donation of $5 at the door would be greatly appreciated.

Remember the Bihl Haus!

"Mud Offerings" is Best of Fest!

I was invited to perform "Mud Offerings" at Frontera Fest Short Fringe Best of Fest Wild Card Night!

this Thursday, February 10

8:00 pm

"Tonight is Wild Card night, featuring shows chosen by the FronteraFest staff--our favorites of the shows overlooked by the Short Fringe panelists. This bill plays tonight only."

Thank you FronteraFest!

Hyde Park Theatre

511 West 43rd Street

Austin, Texas 78751

(43rd Street a half-block east of Guadalupe)

Box Office: 512-479-PLAY

www.hydeparktheatre.org

Tickets are still available, and they are going fast!

Buy Tickets Now for Frontera Fest!

I'm putting la frontera back in Frontera Fest. Come see a new and expanded version of Mud Offerings, January 28th, 2011. Buy your tickets now because they are selling out fast! Can't wait to see you there! In the meantime, I'll be making good, now...

Buy Your Tickets Now for Frontera Fest!

Putting la frontera in Frontera Fest:

Mud Offerings
written and performed by Natalie Goodnow
directed by Dino Foxx and kt shorb

A Chicanita has it out with the Virgen de Guadalupe. This solo play interrogates the historical and present-day roles played by women who live between cultures, and their relationships with spirituality, sexuality, violence, and betrayal.

FronteraFest

The Short Fringe

Friday, January 28, 2011

8:00 pm

Hyde Park Theatre

511 West 43rd Street

Austin, Texas 78751

(43rd Street a half-block east of Guadalupe)

Box Office: 512-479-PLAY

www.hydeparktheatre.org

www.nataliegoodnow.com