Thrower of Light reveals tales from the hidden corners of the human psyche. Dare to enter the cave of total theater and ride thrill and deception in a chasm of emotion.
The production revisits two dance pieces Wombman and Phallousy from her Momentum show "Return" which had critics cry, "More please." (Camille LeFevre, Star Tribune Year in Review 2007). She continues to illuminate the gender experience with the regional premiere of The Demon Familiar, a journey into the Jungian philosophy of Anima/Animus featuring her own vocals and text in scores composed by 2007 Bush Fellow Matthew S. Smith.
"Wright, who is always unpredictable" (minnpost.com), also travels beyond the deep psychological caverns to a dynamic, brighter side with works Old Man, Feline Fever, and the comical Irish Pirate Madness.
Thrower of Light has an all-star cast including Rachel Barnes, Bryan Gerber, Alex Loch, Debra McGee, Jennifer Mack, Christine Maginnis, Kristin Ostebee, Sharon Picasso, Tim Rehborg, Teresa Tjepkes, Taja Will, and herself executing halting drama and riotous caricature.
This may be Wright's first Fringe performance, but she is no stranger to production. Please visit mnartists.org/Cathy_Wright and cwrightdance.webs.com
for a complete list of work at venues including the Walker Art Center's McGuire Theater, the Southern Theater, Bryant Lake Bowl, the Ritz Theater, Patrick's Cabaret, and many more.
Her ritual gothic-grunge aesthetics brings something new to the MN arts scene.
"Thrower of Light" is a collection of short stories:
Territorial Dilemma (premiere)
The Demon Familiar (premiere)
Phallousy and Wombman from 2007 Momentum Series Return (2007)
I Dream in Red- a short Dance for Camera (2000)
Feline Fever (2004)
Cannibal Mother (2006)
Old Man (2006)
Irish Pirate Madness (2005)
The cast
Rachel Barnes
Role: Dancer
Rachel Barnes started her dance career in Branson, Missouri and has since been dancing her way through Kansas City, Orlando, NYC, Boston, Chicago, St Louis, and Minneapolis. This is the second project she has had the pleasure of working with Cathy in and looks towards the future of more opportunities. Rachel holds a BFA in dance from UMKC and enjoys moving, choreographing, teaching, and working PR for Spencer Dobbs's leather works. She sends her love and thanks to Cathy, the dancers, her family/friends, and bff. Aloha
Dayna Boyer
Role: backstage hand
Dayna is a native to Minnesota and a graduate from Apple Valley High School. She worked backstage all for years of high school, and is interested in technical theatre as a profession. Over the last year she has been traveling the country with Americorps National Civilian Community Corps, working with various non-profit organizations, mostly in the gulf coast area for hurricane Katrina relief. This up coming year she plans to attend Inver Hills College and study political science.
Bryan Gerber
Role: Dancer
Bryan Gerber is a Summa cum Laude graduate in Dance from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Bryan is most recently a new company member with Ballet of the Dolls where he debuted in Romiette and Juleo in June. He has performed with Arena Dances, Jeffrey Peterson Dance, Christopher Watson Dance Company, Cathy Wright, InKline Dance, Kinetic Evolutions, and in Zenon's Block E scholarship program for choreographer Cynthia Gutierrez-Garner. Bryan's work has been presented locally at the Ritz theatre as part of the choreographer's evening "Renovate," Dances at the Lakes Festival, Patrick's Cabaret, and North Hennepin Community College. At large, he has shown work throughout Southern MN in cities like Mankato, Albert Lea, and Austin, MN, and has been a guest choreographer and Ad hoc instructor at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. He has also shown work at the American College Dance Festival in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. An avid Yogi, Bryan has taught Yoga at Zenon, Minnesota State University, Mankato, and for various community education programs and college programs in MN and WI. He'd like to thank Cathy for her inspiring love of dance that is infectious, and looks forward to many more years of dancing, teaching, and creating art.
Alex Loch
Role: Dancer
Alex Loch is freshly graduated from State Cloud State with his degree in English. He’s moving to Seattle the day after Fringe ends and considers himself honored to have danced for John Munger, April Sellers, David DeBlieck, Deborah Jinza-Thayer and the always lovely Cathy Wright. He’ll miss the Twin Cities, but he has a feeling he’ll be back one day, dancing with the kind and talented people he loves. He hopes to forge some Seattle connections so, if you’re in that loop, be sure to let him know. He’s eager to see what will unfold next; he expects something wonderful.
Jennifer Mack
Role: Dancer
Jennifer Mack currently lives in St. Paul, MN and finished her 5th season with the Continental Ballet Company. This past October she was invited to perform in Montreal with Rosy Simas Dance Project and Debra Jinza-Thayer's Movement Architecture. She also appears regularly with the up and coming MN jazz ensemble, Eclectic Edge Ensemble. Jennifer has also had the pleasure of doing guest artist work with companies: Spandrel, Vox Medusa Dance Company and choreographers: Joseph Bingham, Kari Jensen, Anna Resele, Dawn Strom, Sharon Varosh, Vanessa Voskuil, and Cathy Wright. Her own choreography has appeared on various stages in MN in collaboration with local musicians, 'Ada Jane' and Ben Siems. She also teaches at Metro Academy of Dance Education, Summit Dance Shoppe, Janet Lang Dance Studio, and Tonka DanceWorks. Previously she danced with Ray Terrill and Dancers from 2004-2008 and worked as the Assistant to the Director for Rochester Dance Company in 2004. During 2003 she spent time training and performing in Szeged, Hungary and Dublin, Ireland for a little over a year. She holds a B.A. in Arts Administration and Theater Arts-Dance from the University of WI-Stevens Point
Christine Maginnis
Role: Dancer
Christine Maginnis celebrated her final of many years as a member of Zenon Dance Company in 2008. She's now happy to be working on various independent projects including remounting a piece by Mathew Janczewski, reworking My Name is Vincent (a co-creation with Decadance Productions), making a duet for MDT, and showing up as a guest artist with Zenon. She is grateful for so many of the people, places the things that have made the world a better place including rubber rafts, cockapoos, fast freddies, zihuatanejo, van gogh, the beatles, cabaret, cabernet, foot tape, zermatt, gary oldman, julie andrews, the bwcaw, mozart, junior mints, gene kelly, mad tv, basil, garlic and bikes.
Debra McGee
Role: Dancer
Debra McGee returned to Minneapolis after performing, teaching, and choreographing in NY for almost a decade. She holds a B.F.A in dance from Marymount Manhat- tan College. She has toured internationally with Garth Fagan Dance and locally with Orchestra Hall’s Sommerfest, the Capri Theater’s Collidascope, the MN Dance Festival, Debra Jinza Thayer’s Movement Architecture, and Footholds Project.
Kyle Miller
Role: Stage Manager
Kyle is newly graduated from Apple Valley High School, and spent three of his years there as apart of there technical theatre group working on special effects. He is now going to school for graphic design at Brown College and currently has his own design company. After he recieves a degree from Brown he plans on going on to get a degree in teaching, he is also interested in technical theatre as a career.
Rebecca Moncrief
Role: Dance assistant
Rebecca Moncrief has always led a creatively driven life, but it wasn’t until 9th grade that she discovered her world in dance. She was very shy as a child, and probably would never have signed up for something as terrifying as dance had it not been for the inspiration she found in the dancing of her older sister Mallory. Four amazing years in the Apple Valley High School Dance Department later, Rebecca cannot imagine her life without dance. She has found her true artistic voice through choreographing, teaching, and performing a vast variety of dance styles. Next year Rebecca will be following her passion for the arts in the film department at Minnesota State Moorhead, where she will continue to keep dance as a significant presence in her life.
Kristin Ostebee
Role: Dancer
Kristin Ostebee, a Minnesota native, returned to the Midwest after graduating from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a B.A. in dance performance. She currently performs with Cathy Wright, Jennifer Glaws, and Out on a Limb Dance Company. In addition to dancing, she is pursuing her M.S. in library and information science, focusing on youth services
Sharon Picasso
Role: Dancer
Sharon Picasso received her degree in dance and choreography from The Boston Conservatory. In addition to presenting her own work in Boston, she collaborated with a gorilla performance group offering impromptu improvisations along the subway lines. Relocating to Minnesota from San Francisco where she worked with Yee Dance and Abby Crane, Sharon has been enjoying movement and all that it brings with Cathy Wright, Deborah Jinza Thayer, Denise Armstead’s DAdance, Hauser Dance Company, Matthew Smith, Ben Seims, Jen Mack, Dawn Strom and developing her own work with Melissa Brown Guenther in their company, Spandrel Moving Arts.
Matthew S. Smith
Role: Composer
Matthew S. Smith (Composer) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Oberlin College were he studied music and painting. As a painter, Smith has shown his work in galleries across the nation - Ohio, Washington, D.C., New York, and Minnesota (Groveland Gallery). In 1999, he came to a rather sudden realization that his creative expression was no longer served by painting, and switched to his lifelong second passion: music. Co-creator of the American Composers Forum's SALON, a monthly program of new works by contemporary classical composers, Smith has been honored as a Bush Fellow (2007), McKnight Composing Fellow (2004), and Grammy Awards semi-finalist (2006). Building textures of recorded instrumentation like brush-strokes on a canvas, Smith’s contemporary classical compositions are collected in the 2005 audio release Archaic from INNOVA RECORDINGS. Again reaching across artistic disciplines, Smith’s music has been featured in dance/sound collaborations with Peter Witrak, Cathy Wright, Colleen Callahan, and Deborah Jinza Thayer.
Teresa Tjepkes
Role: Dancer
Teresa Tjepkes graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, where she also studied dance. She has since danced for choreographer Erica Pinigis at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, as well as for choreographers Cathy Wright, Justin Jones, and Stephanie Blackmon Woodbeck through Zenon Dance School's Block E Scholarship program.
Taja Will
Role: Dancer
As in independent artist Taja has performed her own work throughout the United States, in Iowa with the Black Earth Collaborative Arts Company, and Cedar Rapids Opera, and in Seattle during SFDI produced by Dance Art Group, and in Minneapolis her work has been seen at Patrick's Cabaret for Kinetic Ktichen, and in 9x22 Dance Lab at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Taja has also participated in Miguel Gutierrez's 'freedom of information 2008'. She has studied and performed internationally in England at the Royal School of Music, in Japan with Yoshito Ohno, and in 2008 and 2009 Taja has taught, presented research and performed in Cholula, Mexico at Foro Performatica. She also currently works with the RAW (Ready At Will) Dance Collective, Body Cartography, Mandy Herrick and Cathy Wright among others. Taja along with her artistic partner, TIm Rehborg, co-direct TAJIMdances, together they have shown work in MInneapolis and Mexico, and have an upcoming performance in September 2009 at Patrick's Cabaret.
Cathy Wright
Role: Director, choreographer, dancer
Cathy Wright studied at the University of Utah for her BFA and MFA pursuit in Modern Dance, before returning to the Twin Cities seven years ago, teaching, directing, and choreographing while completing an MA in Education at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She produced her own concert Dweller on the Threshold in August 2006 at the Bloomington Center for the Arts.
Also active as a performer, her recent choreography has been staged at various Twin Cities venues, including the Walker Art Center’s McGuire Theater, the Southern Theater as part of the Momentum Series, the Ritz Theater for Renovate and Matthew Smith’s production Admittance, Macalester College, Bryant Lake Bowl, Hennepin Center for the Arts as a part of the Block E Scholarship program, Patrick’s Cabaret, and the MN Zoo. Her work has also performed nationally at the University of the Arts and Merriam Theater (Philadelphia, PA), New World School of the Arts and the Gusman Center for Performing Arts (Miami, FL), and at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts, Marriot Center for Dance, art galleries and streets in Salt Lake City, UT. She has directed 24 productions at Apple Valley High School and has taught Pre-K through higher education at various schools across the country.
Tim Rehborg
Role: Dancer
Tim recently graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in English and dance. He has presented work in a variety of locations, including the American Dance Festival in Durham NC, at St. Olaf College in Northfield MN, and at Foro Performatica in Cholula, Mexico. Most recently, he has worked with choreographers Jessica Briggs and Cathy Wright. He also dances with his artistic partner, Taja Will, in the form of TAJIMdances, an improvisational performance duo.
Cathy Wright
Thrower of Light
Thu., Jul. 30 @ 10:00 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 1 @ 8:30 p.m.
Mon., Aug. 3 @ 8:30 p.m.
Thu., Aug. 6 @ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 8 @ 4:00 p.m.
Sun., Aug. 9 @ 8:30 p.m.
Venue Ritz Theater Proscenium
For ages 11+
Choreographed by Cathy Wright
Web site www.mnartists.org/Cathy_Wright
genres Dance, Drama
subjects Relationships
features Multimedia, Regional premiere (Minneapolis-St. Paul), Original script/choreography, Original music, First-time Minnesota Fringe Festival producer
Overall rating
User reviews
Lots of energy
by Eric Meininger Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
Modern dance is not always accessible, and this troupe is the same. As an afficianado of the male form, a thoroughly enjoyed Phallousy - though it was far too short compared to the other numbers. I was a little disappointed that the male cast members were excluded from so many of the numbers - it seemed to drag somewhat in the abstract cacophony that made up Demon Familiar and Wombman. Feline fever was light and Old Man was a little long. Irish Pirate Madness was exuberant!
It's been a good Fringe season! Thank you for the encore!
Lovely, fun, funny
by Chris Kopka Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Quite enjoyable. Five kitties for the Tom Waits piece. Three kitties for the Pirates (but kudos for having a great sense of humor).
A Must See Performance!
by Sean Cackoski Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Cathy Wright brilliantly constructs a show full of captivating dancers peforming extremely well choreographed pieces. From thought provoking to sentimental to downright zany, this show is filled with energy and wonderful performance quality.
In particular, "The Demon Familiar" was quite fabulous. The dancers, Cathy, Rachel, and Sharon, performed a piece in which you could practically feel their emotions bleeding off of the stage. Each piece in the show had this same wonderful feeling. This is one performance you DON'T want to miss.
Completely Captivating!
by Anna Esposito Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I am a frequent fringe go-er and I go to see quite a lot of shows and I usually choose what I'm seeing on the go. I also happen to be a dancer. When I saw Cathy Wright's name and recognized it as a teacher at zenon who I had randomly dropped in and taken a class from once, (I REALLY had liked that class) I thought "WHY not?" and loved. it. As an actor as well as dancer, I enjoy (not literally of course..) being able to imagine a story with music and dance. This show def did both for me. Cathy's choreography had such a dynamic; it kept me engaged, as well as the group of actors i was with, who, I'm not going to lie..weren't too thrilled at the prospect of going to see a dance show but left incredibly impressed! I will definitely continue to follow her work after seeing this phenomenal display. The dancers were all incredibly talented, as well as being incredible PERFORMERS. Which isn't always true for all dance shows. And the whole show just flowed so well. I could talk forever, but I won't. GO SEE IT. seriously.
Cathy Wright & Performers.Yes.
by Jill Foster Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Cathy Wright demonstrates who she is: a stylized chorographer who is well aware of her tendencies in circling, cycles, expressive bodies in motion and emotion. A theme she presents through a story-tell of perceptions. She takes a twist to expose something brighter and lighter; a beginning, one that sheds something new to where she and her able performers are headed, somehow existently twisted in contrast. Note: if you like dance, see this show. (Late, I know.)
Dynamic and glorious
by Fringivitis Vulgaris Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Wonderful show! These are beautiful, well constructed dances performed by talented dancers who know that gravity is useful but clearly optional.
Fun, Beauty and Intensity
by Chaya Laya Goldish Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I have to agree with "More please". The Irish piece is so dynamic and full of life, it was hard to sit still in my chair! And the pieces before it are intriguing and delivered with skill. Enthralling.
Wonderful!!
by Liz Floyd Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I did not know what to expect and it was great! Great pirate ending!
Not expecting this
by Christopher Kidder Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
I expected more of this show to reflect the fun and attitude of the "Irish Pirate Madness". Nope. Disappointed.
For more in-depth thoughts: Fringe By Numbers
Superb. And ending with brilliant juice.
by Lisa Goldish Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Skillful. Beautiful. A real joy.
See it!
Very cool
by Jared Wills Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I love watching Cathy, she is a thrilling performer. All around great cast, and the music was just crazy! The sound reminded me of the experimentation of Radiohead with the passion of Bjork at times. It was a really cool atmosphere they created.
Fringe-tastic!!!
by Ted Roseen Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
i don't want to write too much, because i just want people to GO! go experience how a hand full of dancers can transport you to that place where it is so difficult to pull your jaw off the floor, a place where you don't want to blink out of fear you'll miss something, a place that you want to go back to at least a second time because you know that even without blinking it's impossible to catch the many layers of beautiful in one sitting. GO!!!
Impressive, but a little slow
by Rob Callahan Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
An hour of ballet, modern and interpretive dance set to some unusual musical choices. Dancers create or supplement the music using their own bodies and mouths as percussion. Peppered with a couple of upbeat, energetic numbers, most of this impressive athletic display seams to be meant for fans of the avant-garde.
Not always accessible
by Lee Gehrke Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
The performance was very good, but not always accessible. The dancers were excellent. The choreography was intense, emotional and often abstract. But having failed to memorize the titles before the house lights went down, I didn't always know what I was seeing and what was being expressed. I enjoyed Territorial Dilemma, Feline Fever, Old Man, and Irish Pirate Madness the best. For me, dance is about finding and expressing the humor/drama and movement in music/rhythm.
Not a dance afficionado, but enjoyed it
by Pat Lindgren Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
She has a definition "signature" that was unique from my perspective of not being knowledgeable about dance. I enjoyed it, especially the last number. Nothing objectionable for children, but might be too slow moving.
BethRenee
by beth parkhill Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Superb! The best show I've seen in the Fringe so far. Powerful, energetic, sexy. I will see it again.
Scalding Intensity
by John Munger Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
A lineup of dancers slouches forward into a hand-held baby spotlight. Then bursts into a range of idiosyncratic movement. Welcome to this superb cast. For the rest of the hour they deliver hard-driving explorations of the darker and more challenging corners of human souls. Standouts include the angular specificity of a tortured torso in Cathy Wright’s solo in “The Demon Familiar,” five extraordinary women in personalized light-pools who come together in a brief, harsh small community then separate again in”Wombman,” and a touching but lyrical tribute to Cathy’s father in “Old Man.” Let me also mention “Phallousy,” a male trio of considerable virtuosity and a feeling of WHAM. I’ve never seen a dance on the subject of machismo, especially one choreographed by a woman, that so juicily captures the point without having to lean too heavily on satire, stereotype, and chest thumping. All three of those occur, but only in passing and in the end it’s a great celebration of the young male obsessions about power and speed. And then at the end of the evening we get “Irish Pirate Madness.” This is a closer, a piece of fun, a dessert. It’s welcome, effective, and fun as hell. Arrrrrrrrr. An elaborate sound score, masterminded by composer Matthew S. Smith underlies much of this scaldingly intense dance show. Cathy Wright, as a choreographer, has the rare ability to make virtuosic movement look as natural as walking down the street, and to make ordinary or pedestrian movement look virtuosic. Put this one on your schedule. For more details see my Fringe Dance blog at tcdailyplanet.net
John Munger
Excellent
by Melissa Beukema Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I started off Fringe this year with Thrower of Light - it was a terrific performance. The three guys in particular were stellar. Not only was the choreography interesting, but the costume design, lighting, and music were all in perfect sync.
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