Lit Crawl is Back!

It's a Bitch to Remember

October 22, 6-6:45pm

For the third consecutive year, TPR is pleased to be a stop along the route for Lit Crawl Seattle. This year,  writers Steven Barker, Jason Schmidt and Allison Ellis tackle The Project Room's current Big Question "How Are We Remembered?" with a series of stories about memory. 

About the Presenters:

Steven Barker is a 2014-2015 Made at Hugo House fellow and is working on a collection of essays that detail the wide range of short-term jobs he’s held over the past ten years. When he’s not working or writing he hosts the arts and entertainment podcast Ordinary Madness (ordinarymadness.org), and he is the co-founder of Cheap Wine & Poetry and Cheap Beer & Prose.

Jason Schmidt was born in Eugene, Oregon, in 1972 and was raised up and down the I-5 corridor — but mostly on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Jason is the author of A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me, a memoir published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a Macmillan imprint. His writing has appeared in Jeopardy Magazine, Cranky Literary Journal, and ZYZZYVA, only one of which has since gone out of business. He took first place in the 4th quarter of the 1998 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest (yes, you read that right), and is the recipient of a 4Culture Art Projects grant. He holds a BA in Creative Writing and a JD, both from the University of Washington. As a law student he received the Frank E. Holman & Judge William Steinert scholarships, and a CALI Excellence for the Future Award. He can make a large cheese pizza in under 40 seconds. 

Allison Ellis is a Seattle-based freelance writer. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, SELF, Redbook, Marie Claire, Fodor’s Travel Guides, ParentMap, and the Seattle Times. She is currently working on a memoir about young widowhood and her tragicomic pursuit of a new husband, and was recently selected as a 2015 Literary Contest Finalist by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association.  

9 OUNCES: A ONE-WOMAN SHOW by Anastacia Tolbert

Photos by Katie Miller for The Project Room

RESERVE TICKETS HERE:

Since October 2014, The Project Room has been following Anastacia Tolbert in the making of 9 Ounces, A One-Woman Show.  Starring the three female characters Alice, Luna & Saraphina, 9 Ounces uses the audience as a mirror to reflect, three narratives crochet themselves around evolving frames. After debuting the work this past July, Tolbert returns to share it once again as it continues to develop.

All performances will be held at The Project Room.  General admission performances are FREE.  Recommended for ages 16+ unless accompanied by a guardian.  Click on the dates below to link to Stranger Ticket Sales.

VIP PERFORMANCE: $25

Thurs. September 10, 6:30-9pm
Special Q & A with the artist after the performance. Wine and hors d'oeurvres will be served! $25 VIP tickets required via Stranger Tickets; available on 5/14/15. Doors open at 6:30pm, performance at 7pm.  Seating is limited.

GENERAL ADMISSION PERFORMANCES: FREE

Fri. September 11 & Sat. September 12, 7-8:30pm
FREE tickets required via Stranger Tickets; available on 7/30/15.
Seating is limited.

Please note: Some posters and postcards were circulated with incorrect dates. The above dates are the final correct dates!

MORE about 9 Ounces:

9 Ounces: A One Woman Show is an unkempt, de-ribbon-ed, narrative braid dangling with cooked parts. It unofficially yogas its way through the unexpected journey of a queer woman of color's mid-life a-ha moment and extreme case of takotsubo's cardiomyopathy. Using the audience as mirror, epiphany and diary, three narratives crochet themselves around evolving frames. Meet Luna, innocent, truth-telling childlike ghost-angel, Saraphina filter-free wise counsel-spiritual matriarch and Alice an artist and writer wedged between four universal questions: Who the hell am I/not? What am I supposed to be doing? Why me? What's for Dinner? Together, the three bravely and vulnerably traverse the what-now with humor, sadness and a longing wish to have a deeper appreciation and longstanding compassion for Alice's 9-ounce heart and a goal to master downward dog.

9 OUNCES: A ONE-WOMAN SHOW

Join us for the premiere performances of 9 OUNCES, A One-Woman Show

VIP DEBUTS: July 30 & September 10.  Drinks @6:30pm. performance @7pm

FREE Public PERFORMANCES: July 31 & Aug 1, Sept 11 & 12 @ 7pm

Alice

Alice

Alice

Luna

Luna

Luna

Saraphina

Since October 2014, The Project Room has been following Anastacia Tolbert in the making of 9 Ounces, A One-Woman Show, staring Alice, Luna & Saraphina. Using the audience as mirror, epiphany and diary, three narratives crochet themselves around evolving frames. This unkempt, de-ribbon-ed braid dangling crooked parts is not to be missed.

All performances will be held @ The Project Room.  General admission performances are FREE. Required tickets available NOW for VIP debuts & free July & August performances;  age 16+ unless accompanied by a guardian.  Click on the dates below to link to Stranger Ticket Sales.

VIP DEBUT Performances: $25

Thurs. July 30 & September 10, 6:30-9pm
Special Q & A with the artist after the performance. Wine and hors d'oeurvres will be served! $25 VIP tickets required via Stranger Tickets; available on 5/14/15. Doors open at 6:30pm, performance at 7pm.  Seating is limited.

 

General Admission Performances: FREE

Fri. July 31 & Sat. August 1, 7-8:30pm
FREE tickets required via Stranger Tickets; available on 5/14/15.
Seating is limited.

Fri. September 11 & Sat. September 12, 7-8:30pm
FREE tickets required via Stranger Tickets; available on 7/30/15.
Seating is limited.

Please note: Some posters and postcards were circulated with incorrect dates. The above dates are the final correct dates!

MORE about 9 Ounces:

9 Ounces: A One Woman Show is an unkempt, de-ribbon-ed, narrative braid dangling with cooked parts. It unofficially yogas its way through the unexpected journey of a queer woman of color's mid-life a-ha moment and extreme case of takotsubo's cardiomyopathy. Using the audience as mirror, epiphany and diary, three narratives crochet themselves around evolving frames. Meet Luna, innocent, truth-telling childlike ghost-angel, Saraphina filter-free wise counsel-spiritual matriarch and Alice an artist and writer wedged between four universal questions: Who the hell am I/not? What am I supposed to be doing? Why me? What's for Dinner? Together, the three bravely and vulnerably traverse the what-now with humor, sadness and a longing wish to have a deeper appreciation and longstanding compassion for Alice's 9-ounce heart and a goal to master downward dog.

Breathing the Water: Short Films about Denise Levertov

Monday May 4th, 6-7pm at The Project Room

View fullsize

Photograph by Christopher Felver

Denise Levertov was a great 20th century American poet who lived in Seattle from 1989 until her death in 1997.  A convert to Catholicism, she wrote about faith, nature and the environment, politics and social justice.

Author Rebecca Brown, Poet Jan Wallace, and The Project Room will host this evening remembering Levertov by introducing her work, screening short films about her and sharing audio and video clips of Levertov reading. 

Breathing The Water is part of a city-wide celebration of Levertov which culminates May 16th, Seattle's official Denise Levertov Day.  Join the final celebration on May 16, 2015, when Coral Arts, a vocal ensemble in residence at St. Joseph Church where Levertov was a parishioner, will present the world premiere of a setting of Levertov's poem "Making Peace." St. Joseph is also sponsoring the city-wide celebration of Levertov's legacy as poet, activist, and woman of faith.  Concert tickets are available through Choral Arts. 

Read more about Levertov in TPR's recent Off Paper Essay,  "Bearing Witness" by Jan Wallace. Information about additional Levertov events online.  Special thanks to Levertov event sponsors: 
 

FULL SCHEDULE OF CITY-WIDE EVENTS

April 27 Introducing Levertov, St James Cathedral, 7 PM
May 4 Levertov films, The Project Room, 1315 E Pine, 6 PM
May 5 Homage to Levertov reading, Sorrento Hotel, 7 PM
May 7 Introducing Levertov, St Joseph Parish Center, 7 PM
May 9 Levertov gravesite visit, Lake View Cemetery, 11 AM
May 14 Levertov evening, Elliot Bay Bookstore, 7 PM
May 16 Choral Arts concert, St Joseph Church, 8 PM
preceded by preconcert conversation, 7:30 PM
Reception, St Joseph Parish Center, 6:15 PM

City of Seattle declares May 16 Denise Levertov Day

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Rebecca Brown. Photo by Andrea Auge

Rebecca Brown is a writer, teacher and literary activist.  She is the author of seven novels, including The End of Youth, The Terrible Girls, and What Keeps Me Here, and her short stories are widely anthologized. Her novel The Gifts of the Body won a Lambda Literary Award and has been translated into several languages. Brown divides her time between Seattle and Vermont, where she is a faculty member in the Master of Fine Arts program at Goddard College.

Jan Wallace, poet and essayist, was a dear friend of Denise Levertov's.  Her poems currently appear in Terrain, A Journal of Built and Natural Environments. Her work has also appeared in ARCADE, Fine Madness, Field and other journals. Read Jan's recent essay about Levertov, "Bearing Witness" in TPR's online journal, Off Paper. 

Legacy Assignment Series 2:

If a Handful of Matches is Thrown to the Floor:

Exploring the parallels between the scientific method and divination with Artist Sierra Nelson.

MondAY, April 27, 7-8pm at The Project Room

Performance Artist and Poet Sierra Nelson invites us into a conversation questioning the roles divination, science, and artistic practice play in our understanding of the past and choices for the future.  She’ll be joined by her longtime collaborator Rachel Kessler to bookend the conversation with some live experiments.

Photography by Rebecca Hoogs

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Photograph by Rebecca Hoogs

Poet, performer, and text-based artist Sierra Nelson (co-founder of The Typing Explosion and Vis-à-Vis Society) is author of lyrical choose-your-own-adventure I Take Back the Sponge Cake (Rose Metal) made with visual artist Loren Erdrich and chapbook “In Case of Loss” (Toadlily Press). Earning her MFA in Poetry from U.W. (2002), she is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and Carolyn Kizer Prize winner, and she teaches in Seattle, Friday Harbor, and Rome, Italy.

On the divination side, she has written poems inspired by the patterns in tarot, created an interactive poetry installation inspired by Nordic runes using Icelandic lava stones ("Runasafn: Rune Library"), and most recently she has written a new interactive manuscript of poems, "I Change," inspired by the 8 elements in the ancient Chinese divination system the I Ching (a.k.a. The Book of Changes).

On the science side, she has written scientifically-vetted poems about fish in collaboration with ichthyologist Adam Summers' "Cleared" photographs of stained fish skeletons, both of which debuted at the Seattle Aquarium; she teaches and works with scientists at U.W.'s Friday Harbor Labs in the San Juan Islands; and science is a core inspiration for her performance and installation work as the Vis-à-Vis Society collaborating with Rachel Kessler under their poet-scientist personas, Dr. Ink and Dr. Owning.

Photograph by Rebecca Hoogs

Rachel Kessler (co-founder of The Typing Explosion and Vis-à-Vis Society) is a poet and essayist who works with comics, video, installation, and performance art. Her work has appeared in Open Daybook, Narrative Magazine, Poetry Northwest, The Stranger, The Frye Art Museum and elsewhere. She works as a teaching artist with Writers in the Schools, Path with Art, Richard Hugo House, and Centrum.

Sierra and Rachel have been collaborating for over 17 years.

Who's Musing Who?

An Intimate Dialog with Interdisciplinary artist Tameka Norris

Sat. April 11, 1-2pm

Interdisciplinary Artist Tameka Norris (aka Meka Jean)  recently had her identity and creative property appropriated while producing her newest film, Meka Jean: How She Got Good.  Join Tameka Norris at The Project Room to discuss intellectual property, authorship, and socioeconomic status as it relates to personal legacy in a digital era and our current topic, Monument. 

RSVP via facebook (optional). 

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Tameka Norris.  Still from her newest video, Recovery.

Tameka Norris (b.1979, Guam) received her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles before graduating with an MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2012. Through her work in performance, video, photography, and installation, Norris has always sought to originate and control the distribution of her own images, delving into themes of authorship and subjecthood. She has participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2009), the Fountainhead Residency (2012) and the Hermitage Artist Retreat (2012). Her group exhibitions include Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art recently at the Walker Art Center and Gifted and Talented, Third Streaming Gallery, New York (2012). Norris debuted her feature length film/installation Meka Jean: How She Got Good at Prospect 3 in New Orleans (2014). Publications include articles in Art News, ArtForum, Art in America, and The New York Times. Norris lives and works in New Orleans, LA and Berlin, Germany

http://www.tamekanorrisart.com/

 

This TPR event is sponsored & supported by:  the neddy artist award.

Tameka Norris will be the featured speaker at NEDDY's 2015 Ned Behnke Annual Lecture on Friday, April 10 at the Frye Art Museum. Her presentation, 'Notes on Failure', will examine the vulnerabilities of being an artist and creating a life/practice after finishing college.
RECEPTION AT 6:00 P.M. PROGRAM BEGINS AT 7:00. 'Notes on Failure' is a FREE ticketed event. 

Legacy Assignment Series 1

10,000 Year Warning System:

A Workshop with multi-media artist Robert Rhee

Saturday, February 28th, 1-2pm at The Project Room

Special Guests include:  Environmental Lawyers Wyatt Golding + Sara Leverette, Linguist Tanya Matthews, and Multi-Media Artist Vaughn Bell. 

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Join Artist Robert Rhee and a group of interdisciplinary thinkers for the first free public workshop in our event series, The Legacy Assignments.

Robert poses this question to participants:  How do you create a warning system to prevent an accidental unearthing of 200 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste? A simple sign, some chain link and a military post might work today. But what about 10,000 years from now? 

In 2002 the U.S. Department of Energy brought together engineers, archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists and asked them this question. What type of warning system can be put in place so people, 370 generations from now, won't open the  glowing door?  What they came up with is hardly inspiring.  Can we do better?

Together with a group of special guests, workshop participants will take a stab at designing this system while asking, "How Are We Remembered?"

Images above from the 2002 U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Waste Storage Plan Proposal.  It includes: a large earthen mound with a salt core and two identical Dr. Strangelove-esque control rooms with a warning message  written in the six official languages of the U.N. and Navajo. Construction of this Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is currently stalled and (in our opinion) in desperate need of a redesign.

Spread the word about the event by sharing our facebook invitation! 

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Robert Rhee is based in New York and Seattle. He is an artist and writer and a professor at Cornish College of the Arts. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including White Columns in NY, the Ilmin Museum of Art in Seoul, and the Ferdinand Van Dieten Gallery in Amsterdam. He is currently represented by Opsis Art in Seoul and has an upcoming essay in the inaugural issue of Heck Magazine.

Rob Rhee (self portrait)

Unseen monuments

Thursday, February 5th at 7p at The Project Room

Author Michelle Peñaloza launches The Project Room's new topic, Monument, with a discussion about the unseen Seattle monuments she uncovered while writing her forthcoming book landscape/heartbreak. 

Over the course of a year, Michelle asked people in Seattle to take her on walks from the Richard Hugo House to places in the city where they’d had their hearts broken. With poems and maps, Peñaloza's chapbook landscape/heartbreak creates a literary cartography of heartbreak in Seattle.

Join us to ask, "How do our ephemeral experiences create monuments?  What kind of story can a city tell if this isn't just the corner of Broadway and John, but the corner where X learned that Y never really loved him? Or if this isn't just the hospital across the street, but the place where Z told her mother she loved her for the very last time?"

landscape/heartbreak book cover (Tessa Hulls)

Photo by Timothy Aguero Photography for Poetry on Buses, King County, WA

About Michelle:

Michelle Peñaloza grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. Her poetry can be found or is forthcoming from The Asian American Literary Review, The New England Review, TriQuarterly, Pleiades, Pinwheel, and INCH.  She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the University of Oregon, Kundiman, Artist Trust, Jack Straw, the Richard Hugo House, and Literary Arts, as well as scholarships from VONA Voices, PAWA (Philippine American Writers and Artists), Vermont Studio Center, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and the Napa Valley Writers' Conference.  She lives in Seattle.  Her chapbook, landscape / heartbreak, is forthcoming from Two Sylvias Press on Valentine's Day, 2015.

Michelle also recently published an essay, "Who Was Your First Hero, Michelle Peñaloza?" on TPR's online literary journal, Off Paper.  Take a peek to learn more about the character that brought her comfort and courage: Muhammad Ali.