(Un)Touched is a series of short video performances on the absence of touch curated by Julieanne Ehre and Tanya Palmer and commissioned by Pivot Arts. Performing and multi-genre artists were asked to create a short video work about their experience (or lack of experience) with touch under quarantine due to the Coronavirus.
Adam
Written and Performed by David Cale
David Cale is a playwright, solo performer, actor and songwriter. Seven of his shows have been presented at the Goodman Theatre, including the Obie Award winning LILLIAN and most recently his solo musical, WE’RE ONLY ALIVE FOR A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME which subsequently opened in New York City at The Public Theater and received a 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Nomination for Outstanding Solo Show, Cale received a 2020 Outer Critics Circle Award and 2020 Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance.
Red Alice
Created by Irene Hsiao and Vin Reed
Performed by Irene Hsiao
Music “Hang on Little Tomato”
Written by Thomas M. Lauderdale, China Forbes, and Patrick Abbey. Published by Thomas M. Lauderdale Music, Wow & Dazzle Music, and Bug Music from the Pink Martini album Hang on Little Tomato courtesy of Heinz Records.
Irene Hsiao is a dancer, writer, and art enthusiast. Vin Reed is a visual designer in Chicago.
Reaching, Performing, Living
Created and Performed by Olivia Lilley
Olivia Lilley is a playwright, director, and deviser who came up in Chicago’s DIY scene. Olivia is Artistic Director of Prop Thtr. She was the founding Artistic Director of The Runaways Lab Theatre, an Artistic Associate at Pivot Arts, and she’s curated at The Museum of Contemporary Art.
Afraid
Created and Performed by Corey Smith
Corey Smith is a composer, writer, and performer based in Chicago, Illinois. He works in a hybridized performance style— a mixture of original music, text, and movement. His work has been seen at Links Hall, the Detroit Fringe Festival, and numerous venues around the American Midwest.
Halobiont
by Kathryn Hamilton/Sister Sylvester
Kathryn Hamilton, aka Sister Sylvester, is an artist and sometime microbiologist. She is a 2019 Macdowell Fellow and Yale Poynter Fellow. Recent performances include The Eagle and The Tortoise, National Sawdust, NYC; The Fall, Yale University, and Under The Radar, NYC. Her work has been reviewed by Artforum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Performance Art Journal, Telerama, among others.
Questions of Home
Created and Performed by Anna Martine Whitehead
Sound by Anna Martine Whitehead, Jenn Freeman, Jasmine Mendoza and Zach Nichol
Anna Martine Whitehead does performance. Her work considering a Black queer relationship to time and space has been presented by venues across the country and published in a range of publications. Martine is currently artist in residence at Roman Susan and the University of Chicago Arts + Public Life.
I Love You So
Created and Performed by Darling Squire
Darling Squire is a mover who has worked with Erin Kilmurray’s The Fly Honeys of The Inconvenience, Links Hall, Victoria Bradford, Chicago AIDS Foundation, Chances Dances, no small plan productions, The Arts Club, Steppenwolf Theatre, Growing Power Inc., EXPO Chicago, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul Museum, Diana Quinones Rivera, University of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Black Sex Matters and others.
Hearts of Palm
Created and Performed by Vanessa Valliere and John Gregorio
Edited by Vanessa Valliere
Vanessa Valliere is a solo performer who devises her own works and has also worked with groups such as Manual Cinema, Mucca Pazza and Theater Unspeakable. John Gregorio has performed with Lookingglass Theater, Milwaukee Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville and is a founding member of Dad’s Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta.
I’m Full of B.S.
by Aaliyah Christina
A special viewing of our 2020 Arts Incubator artist, Aaliyah Christina’s work in development. Aaliyah curates and makes dances that center mental health and healing of the Black American femme. She often incorporates her cultures coming from both the South (Louisiana) and East coast (Maryland). She founded Catalyst Movmnt (2017) to share spaces with artists and audiences as they negotiate and acknowledge their vulnerabilities as they perform and witness, respectively. Her work has been featured in j e l l o, Links Hall’s CoMISSION Festival of New Works, and Project Tool in SET FREE.