PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATER

Meherabode and Buzzbox present

PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATER + Robert Een

in

The Mystery of You

An outdoor, site-specific dance and music performance. The lush “Old Hollywood” grounds of the iconic Isaac Milbank mansion now known as Meherabode comes alive with dance and music created for this bucolic oasis where echoes of silent film and a “silent” spiritual master meet in the timeless present. This project marks PWDT and Een’s eighth collaboration since 1993.

Saturday, April 27, 2024
2pm  + 5pm

Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
1214 S Van Ness Avenue • Los Angeles, CA 90019

Running Time: ca. 45 minutes

Q&A with the artists following each show

Admission is FREE 

Conceived and directed by Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig

Music composed and performed by Robert Een, joined by Ross Levinson

Created with and performed by Lindsay Gilmour, Angad Kalsi, Tzveta Kassabova, Betty Skeen, Ryan Smith and Connor Voss

Hafiz poetry recited in classical Persian by Roxy Naraghi

Costumes by Sali Treek with Tzveta Kassabova and Connor Voss

Costume technician: Daniel Miramontes

Project produced by Karin Levitas

For Meherabode: Michael Kane, Aaron Hemeon, Sonya Valentine, Tim Wilson, Behnaz Partovi, Rosie Choi, Golnaz Manoucher-pour, Karen Blackmore, Vesta Partovi

Videography/Photography by Mary Kate “MK” Ford

In case of rain the performance will move indoors

Street parking available. Limited handicap spaces on site with placard.

Live more and more in the present which is ever beautiful and stretches away beyond the limits of the past and the future. - Meher Baba

The Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California was officially incorporated on June 21, 1974 and continues today as a thriving community. The Center, affectionately named Meherabode - home of the compassionate one, is devoted to providing a community focus where those who love Meher Baba, as well as those interested in knowing more about Him, can gather together in His name. As such, we undertake to support projects, programs, services or activities that further or make manifest the spiritual values exemplified in the life and writings of Avatar Meher Baba, and to bring the restorative power of divine love into people's lives everywhere. meherabode.org

SARA PEARSON and PATRIK WIDRIG have been choreographing, performing, and teaching throughout the world since 1987. From the Meher Center in Myrtle Beach to Lincoln Center in NYC, from Meherazad’s Mandali Hall to Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, Pearson and Widrig have been creating dance theater works for both the concert stage and site-specific environments. Previous performance locations include the Eiun-In Buddhist temple in Japan, UNESCO World Heritage sites in Germany, Puerto Rico and Cuba, the fern forests of New Zealand and most recently the Vlycha ship graveyard in Elefsina, Greece, the 2023 European Capital of Culture. They have been professors at the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies since 2009.  pearsonwidrig.org

ROBERT EEN is a composer, singer, cellist and teacher. He is a recipient of an Obie Award for music composition, and two Bessie Awards for music composition and sustained achievement, for his work in film, theater, dance and the concert stage. His compositions which showcase extended techniques for voice and cello and feature an eclectic combination of voices and instruments has been presented worldwide.  Een has taught at UCLA for twenty years as well as at professional schools around the globe. He has recorded eighteen albums of genre-defying music and collaborated with a wide range of directors and choreographers including Meredith Monk, Noah Baumbach, Liz Lerman, Brian Selznick and Gregory Colbert.  This is his eighth score for PWDT.   roberteen.com

LINDSAY GILMOUR (PWDT dancer since 2000) is a performer, choreographer, filmmaker, and educator. Her recent works delve into embodying local landscapes and our need for wild untamed spaces. She is the recipient of a Nehru Fulbright Award for Academic and Professional Excellence (2018) and a Hellman Fellowship (2020-2021) in support of her research exploring the preservation, adaptation, and innovation of Ritual Dance in Vajrayana Buddhist Nunneries and Monasteries in India. She is deeply interested in embodied knowledge and exploring what ancient dances might share with contemporary somatic movement practices. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance at University of California Irvine.

ANGAD KALSI (they/he; PWDT dancer since 2019) is an interdisciplinary movement artist and health justice advocate residing on Piscataway and Munsee Lenape land. With movement foundations stemming from hip hop and street styles, Angad graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a dual degree (B.A & B.S) in Dance and Psychology before expanding upon their capacities for concrete and direct community care through a Masters of Public Health at New York University. The constellation of their atypical artistic journey beside public health pursuit has allowed the privilege to collaborate, assist, and perform on stage/film with a number of passionately admired companies and choreographers across the DC area and NYC including Project ChArma, PWDT, Orange Grove Dance, Al Blackstone, and Movement Graffiti amongst others.

TZVETA KASSABOVA (PWDT dancer since 2004) was born in Bulgaria and at different times has been a gymnast, physicist, and meteorologist. As a choreographer, she has received a Metro DC Dance Award, a Prince George's Arts Council grant and the Maryland State Arts Council award, and her work has been presented throughout the US and Europe. As a dancer, Tzveta has been part of Ed Tyler, PWDT, the Shua Group, David Dorfman Dance, and has performed in works of many other choreographers. She holds three Masters degrees. Tzveta is currently an associate professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s Theatre Department. tzvetakassabova.com

ROSS LEVINSON (percussion) grew up in Brooklyn, NY acting, acting out, playing violin and football. Mr. Levinson’s music was featured in American Place Theater, Town Hall and La Mama among others, and his dance scores have been performed all over the world for Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Jennifer Muller, and many others. He recorded and performed with a wide variety of artists including Tom Waits, Harry Belafonte, Joan Jett and his own band Plan B. Mr. Levinson scored the hit television series Midnight Caller and Reasonable Doubts and was nominated for an Emmy for the television series Falcone.  He scored the Peabody Award winning documentary: Black Sky, the Cine Award winning Finding Kalman and the Academy Award nominated Isaac In America. Mr. Levinson is a Professor of Music at California State University Los Angeles, where he is proud to have begun the fabulous Commercial Music Ensemble known as the 444s. 

KARIN LEVITAS has worked with Sara and Patrik as performer and now as producer since before you were born. She met future husband Robert Een when she was cast in a film by Meredith Monk. Dancer, actor, writer, she has performed and taught extensively both nationally and internationally.

ROXY NARAGHI is a poet and educator. Born from a long line of writers and poets, Roxy migrated from Iran as a young teen. Though she studied Farsi only until the 7th grade, her passion for the classical mystical Persian poetry of Hafiz, Attar and Rumi enticed her to remain fluent in her native language. Most of her own poetry is written in English, though there are a few in Farsi. Her first collection of poems will be published this summer.

BETTY SKEEN (PWDT dancer since 2010) holds a BA in Dance from Sweet Briar College and an MFA from University of Maryland, College Park. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Dance at Sweet Briar College and as mother to two extraordinary young children. Her original work has been shown extensively in the Metro-D.C. area as well as in NYC, Brooklyn, the greater Hudson Valley, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Montescudaio, Italy. Her work has been honored with two Metro-DC Dance Awards and has been recognized by the American College Dance Association. She has performed in works by choreographers such as Joseph Poulson, Colleen Thomas, Tzveta Kassabova, Aviva Geismar, Alvin Mayes, Megan Harrold, Angela Foster, Sarah Skaggs, Dahlia Nayar, Sandra Neels, Dawn Springer, Billy Siegenfeld, Gesel Mason, and many others. 

RYAN SMITH (PWDT dancer since 2023) is a movement artist, teacher, and community organizer who is passionate about creating safe spaces for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ communities, and youth. He is currently based in NYC where he is taking on freelance movement work as well as, finding his way through the world of fitness and wellness. In addition to Dance, Ryan is serving as a fitness and wellness coach. Through this work Ryan is able to continue bridging the gap between movement and health, continuing to serve as a catalyst for those who endeavor to learn more about their bodies and how to feel better living, breathing, and moving inside them. He hopes to continue serving as a vessel for change through his artistry, and his work within community spaces. He is passionate about somatic awareness and plans to expand his practice into the realm of Yoga in the coming year. 

CONNOR VOSS (PWDT dancer since 2010) danced in work with Rebecca Patek, Athena Malloy, RoseAnne Spradlin, Kota Yamazaki, Heather Kravas, Juliana May, Mina Nishimura, Neil Greenberg, Raja Feather Kelly, Anna Azrieli and Miguel Gutierrez, including two shows nominated for New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards. His choreography has been presented by CPR, Movement Research, Open Look Festival, Gibney, Cathy Weis, The Brick, Abrons Arts Center and most recently Dance Place in Washington, DC. vossfeldenkrais.com

This project has been made possible by the generosity of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California; the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (Dorothy G. Madden Professorship; Faculty Travel Fund; Faculty-Student Research Award); Buzzbox Productions; and the Friends of PWDT: Carlo Adinolfi, Anonymous, Lisbeth Bagnold, Ed Bailey, Karen Bradley, Janis Brenner, Davana Brown & Eruch Jessawala, Dale & Ross Cameron,Wesley Clark, Maureen Glennon Clayton, Regina & Dennis Cochrane, Kacy Cook, Patrick Cook & Sandy Schwanz, Kristin Crawford, Nicholas Croft, Dorie Dilts, David Dorfman, Gretchen Dunn, Florian Eberle & Family, Ronit Eisenbach, Adriane Fang, Laura Faure, Beth & Bob Ganz,Elizabeth Garren, Gai Gherardi, Pamela & Donald Gilmour, Marilyn Habermas-Scher, Elizabeth Heaney, Joseph Hughes, Paul Jackson, Jane Kahan, Kristin & Charlie Kehler, Marcia & Jim Kelly, Denise Kimak, Sheila Krynski, Amy Lamphere, Philip & Susan Lutgendorf, Brian MacDevitt, Daisy Mae, Paula Marcus-Platz, Rebecca Nordstrom, Jody Oberfelder, Sarah Beth Oppenheim & Oliver Mertz, Carla Perlo, Liz Peterson, Renee Philippi, Miriam Phillips, Jerri-Lynn Pilarski, Cynthia Reynolds, Aadya Sharma, JoAnn Skloot, Robert Small & Phyllis Lamhut, Eric Teperman, Lloyd Vivola, Clare & David Voss, Kewayne Wadley, Bertel & Hans Widrig, Dr. Daniel Wiener, Jon Wiener & Judy Fiskin

Special thanks to Karin Levitas, Robert Een and Roxy Naraghi; to Michael Kane, Aaron Hemeon, Sonya Valentine, Tim Wilson; Sean Hemeon, Ron Holsey, Skyler Tapley, Saba Partovi, Daniel Sumi, Elika Sepulveda, Leo Yang and to all the incredible volunteers at Meherabode; to Lois Jones for decades of dedication; to Mark Hadley and the Country Club Park Neighborhood Association; to UMD/TDPS director Dr. Maura Keefe; to UMD/TDPS costume shop manager Jen Daszczyszak and assistant costume shop manager Lisa Burgess; to Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds of laEyeworks; to Betty Jane Smith of Pentland Graphics; to Ellen Lazeres for pick ups and pick me ups; to Jon Wiener and Judy Fiskin who have helped make this life sustainable in countless ways; and to Meher Baba for making all things impossible, possible.