USA Projects

“Stephanie Skura constructs new meanings even as she demolishes musical & choreographic preconceptions.” New York Times

  I’m excited to be seeking funds for my first major New York performance in over a decade. Explorations during the past 15 years in writing & theater have allowed me to create new work that extends a lifelong practice in free-associative forms of movement into the realms of script, voice, & narrative. My latest work, Two Huts, will be presented March 15 – 17, 2012 during Roulette’s inaugural season in its newly renovated Brooklyn venue.

            Two Huts is about two women living in alternate universes side by side in two huts.  They dance, rant, chant, conjure their huts & their worlds into existence, & intermittently send love letters to the world. (‘Love’ being a word interpreted loosely).  Two strange-looking men outside the huts come & go:  They foreshadow, comment, dance, reflect, lose & regain structure, & set off on their own journey.

            The women’s & men’s worlds intersect, collide, & sometimes merge. With a radical approach to theatrical language, an athletic approach to the voice, a non-sequitur approach to movement, and a fluid set composed of light, this work  is the culmination of decades of my research into free-associative forms of expression that  reveal subconscious layers  both strange & familiar to us humans.

            Two Huts has been developing since 2010 in residencies at Juniata College, PA. It will showcase in Seattle in February 2012, and be presented at New York’s Roulette in March 2012. For these performances, I’ll happily reunite with Debra Wanner, a founding member of my former NYC dance company, & long-time lighting collaborator ML Geiger. Roulette has long been a center for experimental  rigor in music & performance.  I’m honored to be invited to participate in its first season in the new venue, along with a roster of legendary innovators in several disciplines.

            After directing a successful NYC-based innovative touring dance company for 15 years, I moved to the west coast in the 90’s. Since then, I’ve been directing theater, teaching & training teachers in techniques that empower creative process, working on commissions for companies worldwide, performing in intimate settings, & doing intensive research in language, voice & movement. It feels exciting & essential to now bring my newest work to a larger audience.

            This incarnation of Two Huts is partially supported by Roulette and Seattle’s 4Culture. Funds raised will help pay performers’ fees for rehearsals & performances. Any additional funds raised above our minimum will go toward a quality video document of the work.

            I thank you enormously for your interest & your support!

“In the depths of the ancient theater, no bones were found. No signs of food or human daily life. So we must surmise that this was a ritual place, a spiritual place”   Commentator #2, Two Huts