Aaron Jafferis: Hip Hop Poet and Playwright » Stuck Elevator

Apparently, STUCK ELEVATOR flunked…

aaron — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:12:04 +0000

…our first Sundance Theatre Lab (Spring 2011 in Banff, Canada), so they’re bringing it back to try again. This time, they’re bringing me and Byron, director Chay Yew, dramaturg Polly Carl, music director Vadim Feichtner and company to the 2012 Sundance Theatre Lab at White Oak, a nature preserve in Florida. My mom: “How come your play is being performed at such a venue? Have you added jaguars and okapis to the script?” Good question, mom. Not yet. For the rest of you, here’s an okapi and its tongue, with which it can lick its eye.

We are a pilot.

aaron — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:07:48 +0000

NEFA selected STUCK ELEVATOR as one of their National Theatre Pilot projects, which may help you with $ if your venue wants to be part of our world tour (which begins at HERE in January 2013, then goes to the 2013 International Festival of Arts & Ideas and beyond).

Still stuck.

aaron — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 18:45:50 +0000

STUCK ELEVATOR has been selected for the 2011 Sundance Theatre Lab. Me and Byron’s comic-rap-scrap-metal-music-theatre-craziness will be trapped at Sundance’s 2011 Theatre Institute in Banff, Canada from March 27-April 17.

Elevator Institutionalized

aaron — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:59:03 +0000

STUCK ELEVATOR (music by Byron Au Yong, libretto by me) played two sold-out workshop performances at the 2010 International Festival of Arts & Ideas after being selected for a two-week workshop by the Yale Institute for Music Theater. Director Chay Yew took the “work” part of “workshop” rather seriously. Byron and I were stuck in the lovely Yale rehearsal rooms re-writing every waking hour. It was great. We were churning out new material so last-minutely that someone had to run onstage to make a cameo as a rapping bladder and General Tso. It seems this is no longer a solo show. Heads up for the next workshop, in which our brave stuck deliveryman gets an ensemble of three to torment and delight him.

2009 in review

aaron — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:22:37 +0000

Aaron and composer Byron Au Yong are 2009-2010 Artists-in-Residence at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU to develop STUCK ELEVATOR – including readings at the Museum of Chinese in America (September) and Pearl Studios (November).

Oregon Shakespeare Festival mixes Shakespeare with hip hop theatre artists Rokafella, Rickerby Hinds, the Q brothers, Joe Hernandez-Kolski, Audra Polk, Christopher Edwards, and Aaron at their Mixing Texts workshop in October.

The Old Globe presents a reading of Aaron and composer Ian Williams’ new hip hop musical BLOOD MAGIC (formerly THE WEIRD SISTERS), thanks to a 2009 National Alliance for Musical Theatre Development Grant.

STUCK ELEVATOR excerpts performed at Hand2Mouth’s Risk/Reward New Performance Festival (Portland, OR) and On the Boards’ NW New Works Festival (Seattle) in June.

ReVision Theatre’s production of KINGDOM (Asbury Park, NJ) named Best Musical, Best Book of 2008-09 by Newark Star-Ledger.

World Premiere of KINGDOM – Aaron and Ian Williams’ hip hop / rock musical – at the Tony Award-winning Old Globe in San Diego. KINGDOM is also performed for student and community audiences at Lincoln High School in southeastern San Diego as the centerpiece of a residency in which students work with Aaron to create hip hop theatre connecting the themes of KINGDOM to their community. http://www.theoldglobe.org/tickets/production.aspx?PID=7095.

STUCK ELEVATOR receives a 2009 Creative Capital Award.

Aaron wins the 2009 James Marshall Memorial Poetry Slam at Quinnipiac University.

SHAKESPEARE: THE REMIX produced and toured by the Zachary Scott Theatre (Austin, TX).

Collective Consciousness Theatre in New Haven, CT produces and tours NO LIE and SHAKESPEARE: THE REMIX.

2007 in Review

aaron — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 19:51:39 +0000

Kingdom at 2007 NAMT festival. Aaron and Ian Williams’ hip hop / rock musical KINGDOM receives a 45-minute industry showcase reading at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 19th annual Festival of New Musicals. Directed by José Zayas.

Aaron named one of “50 to Watch” in The Dramatist.

Collective Consciousness Theatre’s touring production of Shakespeare: The Remix, directed by Dexter J. Singleton, is presented by The Arts Farm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in association with Jane Boyd Community House, Urban Theater Project of Iowa, and Theatre Cedar Rapids.

A workshop performance of Stuck Elevator is presented at Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle. Directed by Tom Milewski and starring Xike Xin, the performance is followed by a community dialogue about the show sponsored by the Wing Luke Asian Museum.

Aaron performs his hip hop poetry at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT.

Kingdom is produced by Bregamos Community Theater in New Haven, CT. The six performances, directed by Dexter J. Singleton, culminate in community dialogues about violence and conflict resolution facilitated by Community Mediation, Inc.