Water Thief Performance Demo

Here is a video, edited by collaborator Amy Siegel from our production of The Water Thief at SummerWorks, where we won The Contra Guys Award for New Performance Text.

Co-creation by Sean Frey and Amy Siegel
Performance Direction by Clea Minaker
Choreography by Bee Pallomina
Music led by Daniela Gesundheit


The Water Thief Performance Demo from Amy Louis on Vimeo.

Portraits of An Imagined Past

The Portraits of An Imagined Past explores individual ancestry, identity and memory through the making and performing of a series of “living portraits.” Participants/artists investigated their personal histories, identified a person of interest from their past, and then researched this person to embody them in the present. They use imagination, interpretation and memory as tools to reconstruct the lives and stories of their family members, and in this process reveal their own perspective of who they are, set against the backdrops of their histories.

Concept and Project Leader: Sean Frey
In collaboration with the Community Arts Guild

Lead Artists: Sonja Rainey (design and lead), Beth Helmers (performance and lead), Sharada Eswar (story telling and performance). Arber Makri (painting and building).

Assisting Artists: Thomas Truman John, Andrea Thring, Bill Livingston, Molly McGregor, Dave McNiven

Sulogini S. as Sothynathan, her husband

P. Parameswary as  Sinnappusubramainiam, her father 1951

Yasmeen Safawi as her mother, Adawia Aziz

Afroza Parvin as Anwara Begum, her mother, 1968

Pathma M. as Radnam Thiagarajah, her mother, 1954

Karis Jones-Pard as Joan Phillip, her grandmother, 1969

Komathy Sarah as Subramaniam Arumugam, her grandfather, 1942

The Water Thief

The Water Thief is an interdisciplinary performance project conceived by Sean Frey and Amy Siegel, that layers film, live performance, music and projection art. This “living film” is set in an abandoned East Coast town, where Charon maintains a clepsydra (trans. ‘water thief’), a giant clock run by water. Over three nights, he is visited by a whale and spirits from his past. On the final night, Charon enters the whale and is completely immersed in the vivid and wild world of the afterlife.

Performing at SummerWorks Festival, August 2014.

Funded by The Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.

Bertholet Charron as Charon, film still

Betholet's Shadow, film still

The Water Clock, film still

Small, Sweet And Quiet

Here are some shadow puppets that I created for Lisa Pijuan-Nomura's show Small, Sweet and Quiet. Performed at Theatre Aquarius in 2014.

Lost and Found 1: Coming to Past

This short film follows the journey of a woman lost in a new country, only to come upon memories of a time forgotten. A Community Arts Guild film, directed by Sean Frey and Sonja Rainey. Concept by Sean Frey and Beth Helmers, with vocals by Sharada Eswar, percussion by Sarma Donepudi, strings by Rebecca Bruton. Core performers: Sulogini Sothynathan, Pathma M, Paramesh, Yogeswary Kumarespasopathy, Nages Rajaratnam, Pathini Krishnamourthy, and the Storefront Tamil Seniors.

This is a piece, recorded by an audience member, created by Andrea de Keijzer, Clea Minaker and I, for Weday Saskatoon. I created and performed the projections with the choreography that was created by Andrea. February 2013.

Evening Hymns and Sean Frey at the Winter Blues Festival

Here is a link to some photos of another collaboration with Evening Hymns at the Winter Blues Festival at the University of Toronto in Scarborough in January 2013.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeplive/sets/72157633813949532/

Summerworks: Evening Hymns

I was commissioned by Summerworks to create live projections for the band Evening Hymns. I worked with combining regular 8mm and super 8mm film with shadow, ink and papercuts. Projection artists include Sarah Miller, Matt Clement, Kiersten Tough, Amy Segal.

Photos by Dustin Cordeiro

 

Huntsville Nuit Blanche North

Dan Watson commissioned Sonja Rainey and I to create a light installation as a centrepiece for Huntsville's second Nuit Blanche North. Using historical footage, paper cuts and ink painting, we created visuals that were projected onto the face of the City Hall. We also created a booth that projected individual's faces onto the face of the clock tower.

Platform on the Ocean

On Friday, April 20th, at the Royal Ontario Museum, I collaborated with Tasseomancy to create the show Platform on the Ocean. I created and designed costumes, set and projections with Noah Kenneally, Tessa Jones, Amy Siegel, and Matt Clement.

Photos and video by Eugene Sukharev.

Waving Goodbye

Here is a Super 8mm film that I created with Sonja Rainey, Alexandra Draghici and Leah Houston. Produced by MABELLEarts, this film features the seniors from Mabelle Ave, saying goodbye to past lands, people and loves. Music by Gene Austin and Marion Harris.

Jumblies Theatre's Like an Old Tale

Here are some photos taken by Katherine Fleitas of my projections and design work on Jumblies Theatre's Like an Old Tale.
(Artistic director and head designer - Ruth Howard, Lighting - Trevor Schwellnus, projections - Sean Frey)

Live painting on opera singer, Doug MacNaughton, using overhead projector.

Creating guidance from the moon with Neema Bickersteth.

Sonja Rainey and I turn Doug into a spider.

Glowing sea monsters move through the stars.

King Leontes's madness spreads on overheads - live painting by Helah Cooper, Melanie Brennan and Sonja Rainey.

summer foliage

A Fool's Life

Sonja Rainey and I co-designed Ahuri Theatre's production of A Fool's Life, playing at The Theatre Centre. The play was directed by Dan Watson, work with the writing of Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Design work included set, costume, prop, puppet and projection design, as well as live performance of projections. Lighting Design - Andres Du Toit. Photos by Katherine Fleitas.

Owl painting by Mathew Clement, with actors Haruna Kondo and Derek Kwan

The monks gather for morning prayer

Akutagawa (Julian DeZotti) has a moment to himself

and again (the Fall leaves blow)

3D shadow puppet monkey plays with Claire Calnan:

and the burning of the painter's daughter:

Into The Fall

Here is a super 8 film, made with Jumblies Theatre about going into the dream. Music by Yann Tierson and Elfin Saddle, 2011.

Tessa Jones at the Delaware House

Here, the lovely Tessa Jones performs at the Delaware House. Set Design and creation by me, Sonja Rainey, Helah Cooper and Sasha Tate-Howarth. Sonja and I perform an improvised shadow show for the intimate audience. October 2011.

tessa jones at the delaware house part 3 from inconduit on Vimeo.