2024 Artists In Residence
Learn More About the Artists
(alphabetical by last name)
Nakia Shalice Avila
Bio
Nakia Shalice Avila she/they (Assistant Stage Manager) is a black afro-latine abolitionist, dreamer, and multi-hyphenate artist. Credits include The Salvagers, Today is My Birthday, the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep); Skeleton Crew, Othello (Trinity Repertory Company); Big River (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Familiar, True West, We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); I was waiting for the echo of a better day (Fisher Center at Bard); The Tempest (Elm Shakespeare Company); the father, the son, and the holy spirit (Yale Cabaret). Nakia holds a B.A. in Psychology from Claflin University and is in pursuit of an MFA in Stage Management from Yale School of Drama. They are excited to join Hogfish this season. They dedicate their work on this production to the black and queer stage managers before them.
This Summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Production Stage Manager
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Production Stage Manager
July 8th, 12th, 15th, 17th, & 19th
Oli Bomann
BIO
Oli Bomann (they/them) is a composer, bassist, and sonic artist based in Ridgewood, New York. They believe that compassion, empathy, and trust are key to understanding their musical and artistic sensibilities. Oli has performed or recorded alongside some of New York and New Zealand’s top artists, including Lenny White (Miles Davis), Will Calhoun (Living Colour), Bernard Wright (Wayne Shorter), Emilio Modeste (Wallace Roney),and Natasha Agrama (Stanley Clarke). Currently, Oli is applying their performance experience in the realm of Stage Management, where they recently managed the 4th Annual Stretto Piano Festival. They have been finding a great deal of purpose and joy in bringing all types of productions to life while fostering empowering environments for marginalised voices and communities.
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
The Breasts of Tiresias
Stage Crew & Sound
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Rockquiem
July 12th at the Portland Conservatory of Music
For many people, the Latin Mass offers a sanctuary of solace and reflection in a fast-paced world, providing a means of escape from the chaos of everyday life. The consolation provided by these historical texts is not so indifferent to the process of composition. This creative endeavor serves as a cathartic release, allowing composers to express themselves authentically and explore the complexities of the human condition.
It is no surprise that composers over the years have created new and contemporary versions of the Latin Mass, using a variety of available technologies at their disposal to breathe life into the text. We aim to honor and continue this tradition by fusing these historical text with bold and new ideas only possible in the digital audio realm. Our regenerative project for this season’s residency will involve setting the text of the Latin Mass to contemporary electronica/pop aesthetics; what we are calling ROCKQUIEM. We aim to utilise digital recording technology and contemporary sound design techniques to compose and develop themes to accompany new melodies and harmonies over the texts.
Matt Cahill
Bio
Matt Cahill (he/they) believes that we all tell stories to help us
make sense of the world, and that stories with multiple diverse
elements like opera and musical theater can make the vastness of the world a little less frightening and a little more full of hope and beauty. Their desire to manifest that harmony for themselves and others has led them most recently to found Hogfish, a regenerative arts production company and residency at the historic Beckett Castle, surrounded by an internationally recognized rose garden on the coast of Maine.
Hogfish is building an artistic sanctuary and body of work dedicated to restoring creative and physical health toindividuals, our communities, and our earth. At Hogfish with his husband and co-founder/director Edwin Cahill, Matt synthesizes nearly two decades of experience as a performer, educator, producer, and administrator of opera. Highlights include starring as Papageno in Peter Brook’s Molière Award-winning Une Flûte Enchanté, teaching for the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera and the Circle in the Square Theatre School, producing the fundraiser concert series “You Are Not Alone” featuring a performance of the title song by Betty Buckley for The Trevor Project, the national suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, and serving as associate artistic director of SongFest and lead artist faculty of Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard’s high school voice and musical theater programs.
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
The Breasts of Tiresias
The Husband
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Re-Sounding History
July 27th at Fort Gorges in Casco Bay
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Everybody Sings: A Community & Nature Based Invitation to Regenerate Through Song
July 19th by invitation only
Both Matt Cahill and Audrey Luna are trained classical singers as well as teachers of singing and the Alexander Technique, a form of mind-body awareness that involves gentle hands-on guidance and verbal instruction. Their shared interest in a more holistic, de-colonized process for cultivating integrated humans and artists has led to the creation of Hogfish’s regenerative arts residency. In this workshop, Matt and Audrey will lead the audience in a community based regenerative arts session - guiding the group to pause, slow down, and enter into living relationship with themselves and the beauty of the world around them, and to let their response resonate through their voice and soul. Part communal singing lesson, part botany exploration, part somatic workshop, part something neither Matt nor Audrey know until you arrive.
Julia Campanelli
Bio
Julia Campanelli (She/her/hers) is an award-winning writer, director, producer, actor, and Raindance Screenwriting Fellow. Founder and Producing Director of Shelter Film, a New York-based independent film company dedicated to changing the cinematic narrative by creating films by and about women and marginalized humans for an inclusive, diverse, world-wide audience. Julia also founded and was Artistic Director of Shelter Theatre Group, a 501c3 company dedicated to equality and inclusion on stage. She directed and produced 13 stage productions in NYC, including the critically acclaimed immersive Macbeth on LES, staged in St. Teresa’s Church in NYC’s infamous five points neighborhood.
Her film, 116, inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, has screened in over 50 festivals world-wide and received 30 awards, including 10 Best Film, seven Best Director, six Best Actor awards among others. Her screenplay THE PAISLEY WITCH TRIAL has received 12 Best Screenplay awards including Raindance, Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope finalist, Academy Nicholl Fellowship Top 15%, Red List Top 1%, and is Black List recommended. THE PAISLEY WITCH TRIAL, the true, untold story of the last witch hunt in Scotland, grew out of Margaret Lang’s story, the subject of Julia’s solo show, FLAME, which she is extremely excited to be developing at the Hogfish 2024 residency.
As an actor, Julia is known for NBCUniversal’s Dementia 13, Shelter Film's 116, Kill the Monsters, and One Life To Live. She appeared as Hecate and Margaret Lang in the OBIE Award-winning show Sleep No More (Punchdrunk).
www.juliacampanelli.com
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
The Breasts of Tiresias
Assistant Director
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - FLAME
July 15th at SPACE in Portland
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
FLAME is based on Margaret Lang, one of the 4000+ people (84% women) who were executed under the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563. For two hundred years, known as the Burning Times, Scotland persecuted more people for witchcraft than any other European country.
Margaret was a pious midwife, accused by an 11-year-old girl to be the “worst witch” of the Paisley 8 who were executed in Paisley, Scotland, June 10th, 1697.
By shining a light on this miscarriage of justice, I hope their names will rise from the flames, receive an official pardon from Scottish Parliament, and set a much-needed legal precedent, that justice has no expiration date. Persecution of “witches” is not in the distant past. A 2020 UN report states that at least 20,000 “witches” were killed across 60 countries between 2009 and 2019.
Margaret Lang is the inspiration for my screenplay THE PAISLEY WITCH TRIAL, recipient of 12 Best Screenplay awards including Raindance and Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope finalist. I intend FLAME and the TPWT film to be memorials to those wrongly persecuted in Scotland and to help address the ongoing witchcraft-related violence in the world.
Thank you to Edwin and Matt Cahill and Hogfish for their support in the further development of FLAME! www.juliacampanelli.com
Michael Laughing Fox Charette
Bio
Michael Charette (Laughing Fox) is an artist, musician, writer and performer and a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe). As a self-taught Native American flute player, he enhances his stories with flute music and storytelling performance. Growing up surrounded by the beauty of Lake Superior and the Woodlands led him to dedicate his gifts as an artist to teaching about Indigenous history, culture, and heritage. His work as both a visual and performance artist is varied and tied together by the traditional wisdom of the Anishinaabe people, which is respectfully incorporated into his work. Laughing Fox captivates audiences with his, relaxed style.
Tales of Laughing Fox Native American Cultural Demonstrations consist of stories, culture, history and music from the Anishinaabe People’s. With over 20 flutes in his collection, each with their own story voices and song. Michael weaves traditional storytelling with his own experiences. Tales of Laughing Fox performs all over Turtle Island and beyond, recently returning from a trip to York, England. Laughing Fox currently has
Native American flute Music albums available
https://laughingfox.bandcamp.com
https://talesoflaughingfox.wixsite.com/talesoflaughingfox
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Monica Chung
BIO
Monica Chung is a concert pianist, producer, music director, and educator. She gave her solo debut with the North Carolina Piedmont Triad Symphony Orchestra at age 10 as a result of winning 1st prize in the Competition. She has appeared as soloist with orchestras in London, Hungary, New York, and St. Petersburg in Russia under the baton of the late Sviatoslav Luther.
An active chamber musician and soloist, she has participated in festivals around the world including: Banff Chamber Music Festival; International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, England; Puigcerda International Music Festival in Spain; Ecoles d’Art Americaines de Fontainebleau in France; Tel-Hai International Masterclasses in Israel; Leipzig International Music Festival; International Keyboard Institute Festival; Beethoven Institute and Festival. Monica is founder of the series A Night of Chamber Music with Ensemble Henrietta. She is a frequent guest artist of the Hawaii International Music Festival, and subs in the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.
As music director, Monica particularly enjoyed Hawaiʻi Childrenʻs Theatre After Dark alumni production of the controversial show Spring Awakening, Kauai Community Players production of Sweeney Todd, Kauai Performing Arts Center Nice Work If You Can Get It, and Hogfish’s new adaptation of Carmen, CarmXn.
She is indebted to her teachers Pavlina Dokovska, Alexander Slobodyanik, Vladimir Feltsman, Olegna Fuschi, and Eric Larsen. Monica has served on piano faculty at the historical NYC landmark Greenwich House Music School, and Bergen Academy of Music & Art. She is Music Lecturer at Kauai Community College, and maintains a private studio of pianists and composers. She is the Director for the Kauai Concert Association, and is enjoying her term as President of the Hawaiʻi Music Teachers Association.
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
Breasts of Tiresias
Pianist & Music Director
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Preparing the Way
July 12th at the Portland Conservatory of Music in Portland
Ty Defoe
Bio
Ty Defoe (Giizhig) is a citizen of the Anishinaabe and Oneida Nation, writer, and interdisciplinary artist. As a sovereign story trickster, Ty has earned the Robert Rauschenberg, MacDowell, Sundance, and Kennedy Center’s Next 50 fellowships and awards for the Jonathan Larson, Grammy, and Helen Merrill Playwrighting. Ty creates work with rural communities, broadway productions, and in the metaverse, fostering relations for indigenous and decolonial futures. A professor of practice at ASU. Resides in NYC and his favorite color is clear and loves to speak plant. Pronouns: Ty/He/We
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Katherine Goforth
Bio
American vocalist Katherine Goforth shares the “thrilling tenor power” (Opera News) of her “noble, colorful and iridescent vocal sound” (Magazin Klassik) in vivid character portraits and heartfelt performances that “[do] not hold back” (The New York Times).
Katherine received Washington National Opera’s inaugural True Voice Award for transgender and non-binary singers, which included a recital performance at the Kennedy Center with pianist Christopher Cano. She received the Career Advancement Award from the fourth Dallas Symphony Orchestra Women in Classical Music Symposium, where she gave a joint recital with classical singer Julia Bullock and spoke in panel discussion. She received critical acclaim for her role in Philip Venables and Ted Huffman’s The F*****s and Their Friends Between Revolutions at Manchester International Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Bregenzer Festspiele. In the past two seasons, she adapted Alfredo in La Traviata and Beppe in Pagliacci to female characters with Opera Bend, sang the tenor solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and the tenor solo in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with Vancouver (WA) Symphony, and gave recitals for Opera Parallèle and Boston Wagner Society.
Katherine’s speaking engagements have included Opera America Conference 2024, the League of American Orchestra’s Anne Parsons Leadership Program, New England Conservatory and Boston Conservatory.
Upcoming performances include a recital with Stanford Live and Das Lied von der Erde with 45th Parallel. Katherine was a member of the International Opera Studio of Oper Köln, received her Bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College and her Master’s degree from the Juilliard School.
katherinegoforth.com @g0furtherr
THIS SUMMER AT HOGFISH
The Breasts of Tiresias
The Journalist
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Wie tot sind uns manche, die leben | a Weimar Cabaret
July 8th at SPACE in Portland
Operatic work rarely embodies my real values, and I don’t feel like I have a place in the field. I want to use my time in residency to experiment with ways that I can put my values on stage, and try to revitalize my artistic practice so that it feels empowering and life-enhancing — to create work that feels like it really matters. I’ve been asked to create a cabaret recital for performance at Stanford during the upcoming season. That program provides a container for the my work during the residency.
Kammy Ibarra
Bio
Kammy Ibarra (they/them) is honored to be welcomed into Hogfish’s 2024 artists in residency. Originally from a small town just outside of Los Angeles, Kammy made the move to NYC in 2022 to attend Circle in the Square Theatre School to further pursue their passion for performance and storytelling. As a proud indigenous-Latinx artist, Kammy’s mission is to cultivate a world (in theatre and beyond!) which honors true diversity, and celebrates the experiences of marginalized communities.
This Summer At Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Fabulous Person
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Carpool
July 15th at SPACE in Portland
Silo and their sister Allison are always the last to be picked up from school. Silo meets Lauren, another student who also waits to get picked up, and together they quickly build a friendly routine. When Lauren breaks the news that they won’t be waiting after school anymore, Silo is forced to face the reality of their hardships and life without Lauren after school. Carpool is a short play about a young person in the midst of learning to navigate adolescence and homelessness.
Julia Jennings
Bio
Julia Jennings is a Maine-based writer/director. She holds a BA in theater & English from Bowdoin College and has also studied at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. She has worked with companies such as the Theater at Monmouth, Hogfish, and most recently at Portland Stage, as a directing apprentice. Her written works include The Wash/In the End, we all go to Providence (2022 Maine State Winner, Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights), What if this Were a Wedding? (workshopped with Melancholics Anonymous, produced by Maine Playwrights Festival 2024), and Goodbye Rhoda.
This Summer At Hogfish
CarmXn
Assistant Director
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - The Poor Clares
July 15th at SPACE in Portland
The Poor Clares, named for the Order of Saint Clare (the Roman Catholic nuns), follows four young women—all named Clare—living together in a small house (or maybe it’s a convent?) not long after their college graduation. An exploration of modern-day queer divinity through the lens of girlhood and the saltwater gothic, this play ventures to ask, how do we identify what is sacred? How do we worship each other? In what ways do the self-mythology and obsession of girlhood take on a spiritual quality? For these five days, we are all Clares, we are together on the Titanic submersible that has gone missing, and we must keep seeking new versions of ourselves or else we will surely perish.
James Lorusso
Bio
Based in the Boston area, James Lorusso is a collaborative pianist with professional experience in everything from art song and chamber music to musical theater and jazz improvisation.
James studied collaborative piano at the New England Conservatory of Music with Cameron Stowe and Jonathan Feldman. At NEC, he worked in the voice and opera department, and appeared regularly in the schools’ Liederabend and Sonata Night series, for which he once performed the complete songs of Rachmaninoff’s magnificent Op. 34. In the summer of 2023, he was a collaborative piano fellow at the Aspen Music Festival’s Opera Theater and VocalArts program, directed by Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers. In addition to performances in the festival’s art song showcase recitals, James played in coachings and masterclasses with Ms. Fleming, Metropolitan Opera coach Pierre Vallet, Tony Award-winning actress Audra McDonald, and Broadway music director Andy Einhorn. As a solo pianist, he attended summer festivals at Brevard Music Center and the New Orleans Piano Institute, where he won 3rd prize in the solo competition and an honorable mention in the concerto competition.
In 2019, James was an accompanist on music staff at the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth MA, where he helped open nine shows in a single summer and played keyboard in the pit orchestra. This past year, he was the rehearsal pianist for White Snake Projects, an activist contemporary opera company, on its 2023 production of Let’s Celebrate—a sequence of four short chamber operas. When the company was invited to appear on WGBH at the Boston Public Library, he joined the cast to perform excerpted scenes. This season, he was involved with NEC’s spring production of Die Fledermaus, and White Snake Projects on the latest premiere in their Opera Through the Looking Glass series.
James holds degrees in piano performance from Ithaca College and McGill University. In addition to his other performance and rehearsal engagements, he holds the post of pianist and organist at St. Irene’s Parish in Carlisle MA and is an accompanist and pianist coach at Wayland Public Schools.
This Summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Pianist
August 2nd at AURA in Portland
Farm to Stage Series
Accompanying Projects
July 8th at SPACE in Portland
July 17th at 317 Main in Yarmouth
July 19th at Beckett Castle in Cape Elizabeth
Audrey Luna
Bio
The regenerative nature of art to nurture and unite the human spirit was the kernel of inspiration that began the conversation some 10 years ago that is now Hogfish. Edwin and Matthew Cahill are engaging in the process of communing with artists, nature, and community with kindness, curiosity, and utmost respect. They are passionate about telling stories with authenticity, courage and hearts that are bigger than Maine! I am thrilled that they have graciously invited me to be a part of this process as a board member, Alexander Technique teacher and performer.
I have had the privilege of performing in international festivals, concert halls and opera houses in the US, Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Five seasons as a fest soloist for Opera Bremen afforded me the opportunity to sing dozens of opera roles. Solo, orchestral and chamber music concerts at the Salzburger Festspiel, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Lucerne Festival, Jerusalem Festival, Shanghai International Spring Festival, Lexington Bach Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and the Konzerthaus Wien, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Queens Hall, the Bach Akademie, the Louvre, St. John the Divine and The Kennedy Center were some of the highlights of my performing career.
What excites me the most about being a musician is the process of creating live events with other artists that are passionate about their vehicle, whether it be music, dance, art, theater or literature. My playground has been repertoire of the 19th, 20th and 21st c., experimental music of John Cage, the avante-garde of Schoenberg, Berg, Eisler and Kurtag, premieres of new works and popular idioms in Chinese folk music, Argentinian Tango and Cabaret. Some composers that I have worked closely with are John Corigliano,Vinko Globokar, György Kurtag, Wolfgang Netzer, Qu Xiao-Song and Chen Yi. I commissioned and produced a monodrama, “Clotho”, based on life of Camille Claudel for percussion and computer generated sound composed by Allen Otte and Mara Helmuth. A close collaboration with Libby Larsen resulted in commissioning, The Birth Project, a song cycle for two sopranos and piano that spans the time from conception to birth.
As well as singing, I was a professor at Miami University from 1998-2021 teaching voice, diction and vocal repertoire. In 2013 when I became certified in Alexander Technique, I taught voice and AT at Songfest, the Schmidt Institute, and Savannah Vocal/Choral Institute and ATSinging workshops in New York and Cincinnati. My focus is the exploration of the voice/body/mind in the service of expression and self actualization.
I grew up in New Mexico, where my family has lived for generations. My ancestors had connections to LatinX and indigenous culture that I ignored when younger, but at this point in my life am eager to explore as a human and artist this summer at Hogfish through “Queen Marinette”.
This Summer at Hogfish
The Breasts of Tiresias
Tiresias
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Re-Sounding History
July 27th at Fort Gorges in Casco Bay
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Everybody Sings: A Community & Nature Based Invitation to Regenerate Through Song
July 19th by invitation only
Both Audrey Luna and Matt Cahill are trained classical singers as well as teachers of singing and the Alexander Technique, a form of mind-body awareness that involves gentle hands-on guidance and verbal instruction. Their shared interest in a more holistic, de-colonized process for cultivating integrated humans and artists has led to the creation of Hogfish’s regenerative arts residency. In this workshop, Audrey and Matt will lead the audience in a community based regenerative arts session - guiding the group to pause, slow down, and enter into living relationship with themselves and the beauty of the world around them, and to let their response resonate through their voice and soul. Part communal singing lesson, part botany exploration, part somatic workshop, part something neither Audrey nor Matt know until you arrive.
Emma Luyendijk
Bio
Emma is a proudly South African pianist and vocal coach, whose work spans a wide range of collaborative settings, from traditional art song and opera, to interdisciplinary dance projects, and contemporary works. She has collaborated with numerous cultural institutions both in New York City and abroad, including The New York City Ballet, Palm Beach Opera, The Berlin Umculo Opera Incubator, and Cape Town Opera. Prominent mentors and collaborators include Elly Ameling, Helmet Deutsch, Barbara Hannigan and Yo-Yo Ma.
Emma’s commitment to community engagement through music has led her to work alongside the international music organization El Sistema in Japan following the wake of the tsunami, and in 2016 she was certified by Musicians Without Borders through the School for International Training’s Graduate Institute’s Peacebuilding Program in Vermont. Emma is deeply passionate about using her education and experience to advise arts-based peacebuilding initiatives, and foster community development in South Africa. In this regard, Emma has made marks in academia for her research into the role of music as a mediator for peace and conflict.
This Summer At Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Pianist
August 1st & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - After the Willow Weeps
July 12th at the Portland Conservatory of Music in Portland
Willows, with their weeping branches and association with water, have captured the imaginations of people around the world for centuries. While willows can symbolize grief and sorrow, their association with water connects them to cycles of life and death, and ultimately, rebirth.
My intent is to use the biological life cycle of a willow tree, and the centuries of symbolism and mysticism of the tree, to explore themes around our own human experience of grief, loss, resiliency, and the reclaiming of joy. I plan on exploring these themes through a mix of narration, art song, and other storytelling devices.
Holden Madagame
Bio
Holden Madagame (ma-DA-ga-mii) is a proud queer, transgender, Indigenous tenor and activist. They are Odawa and a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Peshawbetown, Michigan. In recent years, Holden has established himself as one of the few openly transgender opera singers in the world, and specifically one who has gone through a hormonal vocal transition. He has built a robust resume in traditional operatic repertoire while also being driven to create and perform new works. Holden's artistic accomplishments include performing in the workshop premiere of "Good Country" in Austin, Texas, where he sang one of the first operatic roles written specifically for a transgender voice, marking a deeply fulfilling artistic milestone. Their artistic persona is deeply tied to movement and the pursuit of optimum performance. Holden seeks to connect this experience of optimum performance with the healing and somatic experience of an ‘embodied voice’ involving movement and dance. A recent project representing this is their drag persona ‘Hiss Anklebiter’. His more traditional achievements include winning the Kammeroper Rheinsberg Competition in both 2021 and 2022, where he performed the roles of Hexe in "Hänsel und Gretel" and Zirkusdirektor in "Die verkaufte Braut." Recently, Holden debuted as Mime in "Das Rheingold" and in “Siegfried” in London with Regents Opera as part of the development of their Ring Cycle.
this summer at hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Son (Husband cover)
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Ninishkaadiz - I'm angry
July 17th at 317 Main in Yarmouth
I dance and dance and dance, I sing at the top of my lungs and I wonder if my ancestors can hear me. I’m calling to them over and over again, I’m asking for guidance over and over again. What is my purpose, how I can I help myself, and how can I help others? Ninishkaadiz - I'm angry is a piece about ancestral knowledge, healing, and the experience of ancestral rage and grief as an urban, queer, trans, indigenous person as they find community. This will be done through the voice, movement, dance, and the active transformation of anger and generational trauma to provide the audience an insight into an individual experience resulting from culture and social death and provide catharsis to those who need this transformation as well.
Matthew Maisano
Bio
Known for their “sonorous baritone” (Broad Street Review) and “commanding stage presence," (Miami Herald) Philadelphia native Matthew Maisano (they/them) performs a varied repertoire as an opera/classical singer, actor, and drag queen! Matthew is thrilled to return to Hogfish after appearing in their inaugural season as Wood Sprite/Thomas (cover) in L'arbre enchanté! Most recently, they made their solo debut with Opera Philadelphia as The Sergeant in La Bohème. This September, Matthew joins Portland Opera as one of four Resident Artists for their 2024/25 season! Opera/theater highlights: The title role in Eugene Onegin (Russian Opera Workshop), Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Wilmington Concert Opera), Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Natchez Festival of Music), Morbio in Die schweigsame Frau & Baptista in Kiss Me, Kate! (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), Pandolfe in Cendrillon (Miami Music Festival), Melissa in Alcina REVAMPED (Alter Ego Chamber Opera), Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors (Three Pines Opera), Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief (Opera Tutti!), Strong Man in Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing (Penn Square Opera), Albert in Werther (Temple Opera Theater), and Leporello in selections from Don Giovanni & Schlendrian in Bach’s Coffee Cantata (Lancaster Symphony). Matthew has a vibrant and active 5+ year career as drag persona, Balena Canto (Philly’s song wielding siren with a voice snatched for the gods)! Balena’s mission in life is to bring joy, laughter, and perhaps a tear or two (she is an opera singer after all) to her audiences through song. To learn more about Matthew, please visit https://linktr.ee/matteosings.
This Summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Director & Police
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Coffee C*ntata
July 8th at SPACE in Portland
In addition to my life as an opera singer, I have been blessed with a now 5+ year career as a drag artist and nightlife producer. Drag has given me such a momentous outlet for both self-expression and gender affirmation that the "typical" (and often heteronormative) opera stage has not. Through drag, I was introduced to song parody writing. I began creating my own original parody lyrics to classic musical theater and pop songs for my drag persona, Balena Canto to perform. For example, I once turned Mariah Carey's iconic ballad, "Hero," an inspirational song about believing in yourself, into "Gyro," an ode to a delicious meat filled sandwich of Greek origin. My very first parody was taking Evan Perrone's pivotal speech, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from the hit musical Evita, and reducing it to a not-so-innocent confession of a sorority girl breaking the news to her frat boyfriend that she has an STI in, "Listen Tony, It's Chlamydia." The possibilities are truly endless. And while the above may seem ridiculous and silly, the fact is, I LOVE making people laugh because laughter = joy. And I've found a really fun way of doing just that. Since I've been at this for a while, I now have aspirations of parody lyric writing on a grander scale. I decided to take the libretto from a chamber size work (Bach's Coffee Cantata) and provide my own original translation/updated queer comedic libretto. The story will center around a Drag mother/coffee bar owner and her drag daughter whose "obsession" is distracting her from her on-stage duties. This will be the first time I am adapting lyrics from anything in the classical vocal repertoire (let alone one that is non-english), and also the first time adapting a full work containing multiple movements. I think that it is imperative that we as classical musicians open avenues for new works that relate and connect with a modern audience. This can be done through mounting new music written by living composers, but it can also be done by adapting the classics (like what Hogfish is doing with Poulenc's Mamelles). This journey will be a way for me to claim, rework, and breathe new life into an antiquated text set to some stellar music by one of the most well known composers that ever lived. My hope is that with an updated spin that features all queer characters and shines a light on queer joy/experiences/humor, I can present something that will capture the hearts of today's audience.
Hailey McAvoy
Bio
Recognized as a “gorgeous-voiced” mezzo-soprano (Broadway World), Hailey McAvoy’s operatic roles include, among others, Page of Herodias (Salome, Fisher Center for Performing Arts), Taller Daughter (Mazzoli, Proving Up; Aspen Music Festival), Third Lady (Magic Flute, MassOpera), Third Woodsprite (Rusalka, Opera Ithaca), Zosha (Heggie, Out of Darkness; Eastman Opera Theater), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro; Aquilon Music Festival), and most recently the leading role of Mem, researcher and mother of Kitsune, in Paola Prestini’s Sensorium Ex. Sensorium had its orchestral workshop in December 2023 at the Kennedy Center and will premiere with Vision Into Art and Beth Morrison Projects at Opera Omaha in May, 2025. McAvoy will also join Opera Praktikos, New York City’s first disability-affirmative opera company as Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit in December 2024. McAvoy’s 2023 concert highlights include Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Baton Rouge Symphony under the baton of Adam Johnson, and Molly Joyce’s YouSaidHeSaidSheSaid, presented the Opera Ithaca. In Spring 2024, she appeared in recital with flautist Maron Khuroy of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and pianist Bethany Pietroniro at Downtown Music at Grace in White Plains, NY, and made her recital debut in the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s Greene Space with pianist Alison d’Amato. As a performer with Cerebral Palsy, McAvoy works to amplify the discussion around disability in the arts. She has interviewed with AGMA Magazine, written for Our Singing Bodies, and been a panelist for Opera Ithaca and Opera NexGen’s Accessibility in Opera. To learn more, visit www.haileymcavoy.com/about.
This Summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
The Newspaper Vendor
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Learning to Walk - Third Time’s the Charm
July 17th at 317 Main in Yarmouth
I am developing a full-length, mixed media program that explores ideas around disability, access, queerness, spirituality, and what it means to be a fully embodied person for each of us.
As a performer with Cerebral Palsy, I have wanted to create a piece that could draw from my experiences as a queer person with a disability in the world of the arts for a while now. But I was never sure how I would frame those experiences, or what the ultimate shape of the piece might be. This fall, as I began training to become a teacher of the Alexander Technique, I found myself needing to look, head on, at what embodiment means to me in a new way. As I rode the waves of challenges and joys through my first year of training, it occurred to me that this will be the lens of my piece... In looking at and learning about my own body, my own balance, my own sense of myself through Alexander Technique, I can see a through-line that will give me space to share both the pain and frustration -- of being disabled in a world that often pushes disability under the rug -- and also the hope and profound joy of learning to see and love my own body... the joy of knowing my body is mine, and the parts of it that went unloved for so long are not lost... I can go back and get them, I can include them, I can heal them... I can love them.
Ultimately, this work will weave together original songs, opera arias, monologues, and movement to explore the questions like:
What does it mean to feel at home in your body?
What makes you feel distant from your body?
What does reclaiming your body mean to you?
What can we do to create a world in which all bodies are valued, regardless of ability?
Brian Mummert
Bio
Brian Mummert sings, conducts, arranges, and composes music spanning eras and genres, all in the service of harnessing musical narrative as a mode for deepening mutual understanding. He is the founding artistic director of The New Consort, a vocal ensemble dedicated to exploring the roles musical ritual and community play in our lives; and a co-founder of ChamberQUEER, a chamber music collective highlighting the voices of LGBTQ+ composers and performers, and The Red Ribbon Revue, a World AIDS Day concert featuring HIV+ performers celebrating the legacy of artists lost to AIDS.
Brian has directed world-class ensembles in venues spanning six continents, serving most recently as Music Director of Ars Musica Chorale in New Jersey. Recent engagements include conducting Pro Coro Canada as a Banff Centre Fellow and a season as the assistant conductor of all-star professional Washington, D.C. choir The Thirteen.
As a vocalist, Brian specializes in music of the Baroque, having appeared as a soloist with organizations including Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue, Holy Trinity Bach Vespers, the Academy of Sacred Drama, Opera Essentia, and Bach Akademie of Charlotte. Past operatic roles include Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, Mother in Kurt Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Apollo in both Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Charpentier’s Orphée, in addition to a broad oratorio & concert repertoire ranging from Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri to Pärt’s PASSIO. www.brianmummert.com, @bmumstagram
This Summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
The Bearded Man
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - DEEP LISTENING
July 12th at the Mallet Barn in Freeport
One of my most cherished artistic practices over the last few years has been finding ways to break down audience-performer divides within the classical concert space. In my experience, perhaps the most powerful tool for doing this has been the work of Pauline Oliveros, a composer, tape-music pioneer, accordionist, and founder of the practice of “deep listening.” Her music is designed to be engaged with collectively - trained and untrained musicians alike can take part, building musical soundscapes grounded in the practice of alternation between listening and contributing. We’ll explore one or two of her pieces together as I work to refine my own best practices for sharing this music with new communities.
I’m very grateful to be able to delve into the work of this important composer and musical thinker with you this evening, and grateful to Hogfish for creating a space so welcoming of this kind of artistic experimentation. Looking forward to making music with each of you!
Miguel Ángel Pacheco
Bio
Miguel Ángel Pacheco is a interdisciplinary performer, creator and producer native of Caracas, Venezuela; his works take different forms such as theater, dance, installation, performance art, and circus. He holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Arts & Performance from Bates College and studied physical theatre in Tuscany at Accademia Dell’Arte. Moving images are at the core of Miguel’s work. He has trained and performed with groups such as Double Edge Theatre, TeatrZAR, LaJoven Compañia, Vali Theatre Lab at Nordiskteaterlaboratorium (Odin Teatret). He emphasizes both individual search and collective collaboration. Whether it is his work as a dancer, stilt walker or carpenter, he is committed to exploring ideas in space with presence and witnessing, currently in the realm of memory landscapes and gesture.
This Summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Presto
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Isla Desconocida
July 19th at Beckett Castle
Isla Desconocida intends to be a project of my continued exploration and research in Echoes in Gesture: A Memoryscape. In the use of the specific site of a shore, a voyager asks for a ship to find the unknown island, a journey layered with the ideas of memory and remember the island which cannot be found, only the remains of the echo. This project is important as it focuses on a reimagining of the process of emigrating, a moment where all your life fits in a container, my distance from my home, Venezuela.
Evan Premo
Bio
I am an intrepid explorer of life’s big questions and mysteries. My curiosity is unquenchable, and I love learning about being human and about the universe. When I want to dig deeply into a subject, I find a way to explore it by creating music.
I am committed to creating accessible and affordable concert experiences. I am a founder and co-artistic director of Scrag Mountain Music, a residency-based chamber music series in rural Vermont which over the past 12 years has offered hundreds of pay-what-you can concerts chamber music with an emphasis on new music and community engagement.
I see all music as a representation or microcosm of the vibratory field that unites everything: the vibrations that make up the cosmos, all matter and energy. As a musician, I choose to work with vibrations that are perceptible to the human ear. In doing so, I like to think that I am working with the same vibratory forces that govern all time and space.
This Summer at Hogfish
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Re-Sounding History
July 27th at Fort Gorges in Casco Bay
Amanda Nita Luke-Sayed
Bio
Amanda Nita Luke-Sayed (Production Stage Manager) is a freelance, Indigenous Producer and Stage Manager. She has worked across the country at many theatres including Primary Stages, McCarter Theatre, Seattle Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Yale Rep, Syracuse Stage, The Old Globe, Red Bull Theater, the Houston Ballet and many more. She has produced Drag Shows, Festivals, and other large-scale events. She is based in New York City where she freelances focusing on advocating for Stage Managers as Artistic Collaborators and increasing the visibility of Native Theater Artists. Yale School of Drama MFA.
This summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Production Stage Manager
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Production Stage Manager
July 8th, 12th, 15th, 17th, & 19th
March Steiger
Bio
Born on a small farm in rural Maine, March Steiger has found his passion performing works by underrepresented and underperformed composers.
This spring, he performed Valencienne with Portland State University’s production of The Merry Widow. In 2023, he starred in the academic premier of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant as Zamira. Earlier in 2023, he reprised the role of Queen of the Night in Portland State University’s production of Die Zauberflöte. March has also appeared in scenes as Aminta (Il re pastore), Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), Zdenka (Arabella), Adina (L’Elisir D’Amore), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Marie (La Fille du Régiment), and Adele (Die Fledermaus). March was the second place winner of the Portland State University Aria Competition, winning the Richard Helzer scholarship in 2023, as well as placing first in his division of the Cascade Classical NATS Competition. March was also chosen as an Emerging Artist in the spring of 2022 for Opera Maine’s “Opera For All” program, dedicated to bringing opera to schools across Maine. March holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the Osher School of Music and a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance at Portland State University.
This summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Elegant Person
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Studies: A Visualization of Time
July 19th by invitation only
Title: "Studies: A Visualization of Time" This project will consist of sketches and paintings from rehearsals, photographs, and moments that make up my individual experience at Hogfish.
Isaac Syliboy
bio
Kwe' (hello) My name is Isaac Syliboy. I am 27 years old from Sipekne'katik, Nova Scotia, and Sipayik, Maine. I belong to two nations which are the Mi'k Maq & Passamaquoddy. I currently reside at the Penobscot Indian Reservation in Old Town, Maine, where I have two beautiful children. I have been a Wabanaki artist for most of my life, within the last 10 years taking a step into traveling across the U.S and Canada to showcase my talents. I'm a traditional dancer/singer who takes great pride in educating people about our tribes culture, song, and dance. I have been a carpenter for the last 9 years, doing most of my work in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the coastal regions of Maine. Some of my hobbies include hiking, trail running, crafting, training weights, and harvesting traditional medicines.
This summer at Hogfish
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Re-Sounding History
July 27th at Fort Gorges in Casco Bay
Kate Tsuruharatani
Bio
Kate Tsuruharatani (she/they) is a transgender dance artist and educator from Osaka, Japan. She has performed on Broadway in Jagged Little Pill, The King and I, and Miss Saigon, and has appeared on TV shows such as Good Morning America, Harlem, and the Tonight Show. She has danced at the Metropolitan Opera for 6 seasons and performed with Eastman Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in Belgium.
Kate's artistic expression thrives on the principles of abundance, prioritizing the qualities of softness and sensitivity over mere accumulation and virtuosity. This artistic philosophy is deeply influenced by her background in dance training, her familiarity with Feldenkrais and Noguchi exercises, and her personal practice of Dhamma. Her practice is deeply rooted in the Buddhist tradition of Burma.
Pursuing MFA in Dance at University of Michigan and holding a qualification as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction facilitator, she has diligently crafted and delivered programs that weave mindfulness practices into both everyday life and the performing arts. IG @katekusala
This summer at Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Lacouf & Choreographer
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Layers of Vulnerability: An Improvisational Journey through Movement and Sound.
July 17th at 317 Maine in Yarmouth
This performance piece is an improvisational exploration incorporating movement, sound, and dialogue internally and externally. It invites us to delve into our vulnerabilities through body and mind, using art as both a gateway and a protection for life's dissonance.
Anna Grace Uehlein
Bio
Anna Grace Uehlein (she/they) is an actor, musician, and storyteller from Washington, D.C., currently studying acting at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She is passionate about creating work that truly moves people through a variety of artistic vehicles including acting, playing music, dancing, dramatic writing, and directing for the stage and screen. They are especially inspired by art that intentionally pushes the envelope on political and social issues, and aims to actively create important cultural change. Anna Grace considers her creative work, no matter the medium, to be character-based, or motivated by a deeply empathetic understanding of widely different characters and perspectives. Previous work includes Romeo & Juliet (Juliet U/S) with the Mercutio Troupe, Hookman (Lexi Gellner) with Rareworks Theatre Company, and Pippin (Leading Player) with the Adventure Theatre Musical Theatre Center. She is also a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Arts’ High School Drama program. During her time at UNCSA, she wrote, directed, and produced her debut short film entitled The Shedding of Skin, which was shown in Times Square as a part of the All-American High School Film Festival. Anna Grace is thrilled to be making their professional theatrical debut with Hogfish, and is greatly looking forward to artistically exploring her Indigenous identity, as well as helping build a healing community space for creating cutting-edge new work.
This Summer At Hogfish
Breasts of Tiresias
Chorus
August 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at AURA in Portland
Kegs & Roses
June 29th in the Beckett Castle Rose Garden
Queen Marinette
July 10th at Mallet Barn, Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport
Farm to Stage Series
Personal Regenerative Arts Project - Measure v. Measure
July 15th at SPACE in Portland
In the era of post-Roe America, Shakespeare’s lesser known comedy Measure for Measure is more relevant than ever before. Following the young nun Isabella as she is dragged into a mess of politics, sex, and trickery, Shakespeare makes surprisingly potent commentary on the plights of existing as a woman in a man’s world, particularly under a man’s government. Similar to Shakespeare’s The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure is a deeply serious story at its core, but is shrouded in cheap comedy that is entirely unrelated to the plot in order to market the play to a socially restrictive government and society. When one removes the comedic stone surrounding the play, one finds a shimmering geode of nuanced social commentary. Choosing to produce Shakespeare’s entire original text as if it is scripture tends to bog down modern audiences with entirely too much text and too many plot lines, and in cases like Measure for Measure, a social message that is quite difficult to decipher. Transforming Shakespeare’s text into something suitable for a modern audience and highlighting modern social issues will regenerate this story that I have fallen so deeply in love with, hopefully providing audiences with a nuanced look at the prominent history of male governmental control over the female body, and the shocking similarity between that history and the actions of our so-called “modern” government.