by Jenna Horton in collaboration with Kurt Chiang
Premiered Sept. 29-Oct 9, 2022
A former tour guide gets stuck in an installation from 1982, or 1892, or...? Linear time warps. Shards of a monument scatter, revealing soup cans, a canister of Quaker Oats, a replica of Penn's Treaty in an 8-bit video game console. Dads pose with pens. An armadillo says, "Welcome to Welcome Park, installed inside you since 1982, or 1892, or...?" and scurries down a rabbit hole. The guide trips, and follows. We will not walk anywhere but in circles.
Photo by Sina Tafazoli
Suit made from discarded contact lens containers.
Photos by Jaime Alvarez
Choreographed by Annie Wilson
Co-creators and performers: Christina Gesualdi, Jenna Horton, Ilse ZoerbLighting Design: Andrew ThompsonSound Design: Adriano ShaplinCostume Design: Amy Martin and the creators
“It is amazing that we have bodies. It is amazing our bodies can be seen. It is amazing those bodies can be seen and reach out to you and be reached by you. It's amazing those bodies smell so many different ways: like oysters, or caramelized onions, or root cellars in the fall. Lovertits takes the pro-sex flamboyance of traditional and neo-burlesque and smashes it together with the cerebral and awkward choreographic strategies of postmodern dance.” -Annie Wilson
More info here.
An installation staged as part of an investigation into temporary statues. (2015)
Concept by Jenna Horton
Design by Tuce Yasak and Jenna Horton
Sound by Ethan Philbrick
Filming and Editing by Amelia Golden
Special thanks to the Shakletons and Elliot B. Quick.
Video footage here.
Part-tour, part-essay on its feet, this virtual performance explored the preposition ON. Emerged from Kurt Chiang’s class No One to Blame but You: Generating Conflict in Solo Writing & Performance.
Photo by Johanna Austin, Austin Art.
Directed by Alex Torra
U.S.-Cuba relations and history explored through four chapters. An international collaboration.
Assistant Director Cheryl Zaldívar Jiménez
Choreographer Makoto Hirano
Performer/Creators Lori Felipe Barkin, Benjamin Camp, Jorge Enrique Caballero Elizarde, Jenna Horton, Idalmis Garcia Rodriguez
Set Designer Efren Delgadillo, Jr.
Costume Designer Fabian Aguilar
Lighting Designer Oona Curley
Sound Designer Anthony Martinez-Briggs
Props Designer Alicia Crosby
FringeArts 2018 (premiere)
Swarthmore College 2020
Trailer available here.
Photo by Terrell Halsey
Meet Dale. Born February 2015. Doula-ed onto this planet by expert hands of Deanna Fleysher.
Join Dale in eeking out her obsessions—frogs, heaps, development, decay, cycles, cells, eggs, and frogs.
Scratch Night, April 2015; First Friday, April 2015; Good Good Comedy, May 2016; Wintry Mix, January 2017; Urban Movement Arts, June 2019
2010-2011 | public performance
I slow-walked the distance of Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square once a week for over a year. My rules were as follows:
1) Pay attention to sensation. Maintain focus and fluidity as much as you can.
2) No speaking.
3) Others may join at any point.
4) Resume natural gait at the end; no stopping.
Some recorded responses: “I’ve seen a lot of things in 16 years, but that’s a first.” “Are you in school? Did you write a thesis or a book on this? This is cool.” “Glad to see the acid’s kicked in.” “It’s like we’re in the final scene of Armageddon.” “Pretzels, soft pretzels! Can even buy them in slow motion!”
An intentionally undocumented practice beyond written entries in a journal. Below are two links that show others documenting or participating in the practice.
https://phillytyper.com/2011/02/13/what-is-slow-anyway-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36nEDslX6wg&feature=youtu.be
© James Jackson - raveneyes.com
Directed by Adrienne Mackey
Written by Lillian Hellman
Description: "Lillian Hellman’s renowned play, set in an all-girls boarding school in the 1930s, returns to Philadelphia to launch the season. When one of the wealthy girls does not get her way, she destroys the lives of the headmistresses by accusing them of a secret love. This powerful tragedy that confronts the dangers of sexual prejudice, shockingly, still resonates today. Guest director Adrienne Mackey, of Swim Pony Performing Arts, brings this classic to an exciting new life for EgoPo."
October 2015, EgoPo, Latvian Society
Photos by Plate 3 | Kathryn Raines
Co-directed by MJ Kaufman & Iris McCloughan
Written by MJ Kaufman
Christ Church Neighborhood House, 2017
More info here.
An unofficial walking tour of Philadelphia’s ‘historic square mile,’ asking participants to engage critically around issues of tourism, historical markers, statuary, and interpretation.
Review here.
Photo by Bob Sweeney
A month-long mixed reality game exploring fears about mortality.
More info here.
Photos by Jen Cleary
As of the third iteration in 2019, I personally stepped away from this project, though the rest of the ensemble continues with it.
Directed by Alex Torra
Created and performed by Aram Alan Aghazarian, Benjamin Camp, Rachel Camp, Makoto Hirano, Jenna Horton, Melissa Krodman, and Iris McCloughan
Description: "Seven performers engage in a contemporary ritual of memory and forecasting, tracking time through first-person storytelling, performance art, physical theatre, music and dance.
Iteration #1 premiered at FringeArts in Philadelphia December 2014, with the intention presenting each subsequent installment every two years for the following 24 years. In each evolution of the work, these seven actors engage the same structured performance over time, piecing together a quilt of real lives, memories, and predictions for the future."
Performances: Sincerity Project (2014), FringeArts December 2014.
Sincerity Project (2016), Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Sept 8-18, 2016.
Development: FringeArts LAB, Firs Person Arts RAW Program, assistance from The Orchard Project
More info here.
Sculpture // Photo by Kate Raines
Experiment in public, social space with an object that "doesn't belong." Experiment with cutting out mediators: institution, museum, pedestal, white walls, plaque.
What happens?
Photo by Kate Raines
Temporary installation created at Goldilocks Gallery.
A Short Film by Amy Frear
Directed by Iris McCloughan
Written and performed by Jenna Horton
Description: An 18-minute solo exploring one woman's grief for a past love using absurdist food poetry.
Performances: FringeArts JUMPSTART 2013, Performance Couture in B.I.P.A.F @ JACK
"Horton is Etna, our host for a most unusual gastronomic experience, which includes poetry, sexual double entendres, and even a bit of danger…and, most certainly, laughs. Horton’s ability to deadpan any line, whether it’s the absurdist poetry, instructions on how to “carve” a chicken, or to ask the audience to allow her to watch us eat her cake, was delightful." (Walter Bender, Stage Magazine)
photo by Kate Raines
Photo by Mark Venezuela
Directed by Adrienne Mackey
Performed and created by Robert DaPonte, Leah Walton, Justin Jain, David Johnson, Bradley K Wrenn, Jenna Horton and Tim Sawicki
Description: The ocean's benthic silt holds mysteries some might suggest are best left to lie. Professor Thaddeus Broom is not such a someone. In his terrestrial presentation, he and his team will teach you of the briny deep, bring you to gasp with salty wonder, and coax open your wide pockets to aid in his return journey to the realm of the Giant Squid.
More info here.
Photo by Kate Raines of Plate 3 Photography
Directed by Mason Rosenthal
Co-created and performed by Katie Gould, Scott Sheppard, Alice Yorke, Aram Aghazarian, Alex Bechtel, Dan Higbee, Jenna Horton, Justin Jain, Hannah de Keijzer, Kevin Meehan, Arielle Pina, Justin Rose, and Steve Wright
Description: "Let the Dog See the Rabbit is Lightning Rod Special’s investigation into how we look at animals. Steering clear of pink elephants, paper tigers, early birds and night owls, LDSR refuses to restrict animals to the metaphorical margins. Instead we gaze unblinking into the animal eye and reflect what we see there.
More info here.
Photo by Kevin Chick
Directed by Rebecca Wright
Description: After the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed in its wake, a young general named Napoleon Bonaparte rises to fame through his military prowess and goes on to conquer much of Europe and rule as Emperor of France. Meanwhile, in Vienna, a musical genius named Ludwig von Beethoven experiences his own meteoric rise. Simultaneously, literary star Germaine de Stael invents comparative literature, the wheeling dealing diplomat Talleyrand reinvents political strategy, and Josephine de Beauharnais redefines First Lady style and grace. This large scale historical fantasia imaginatively captures a moment in time, portraying the lives of these five iconic figures and the remarkable people who surrounded them as they fought, rose, struggled, and fell. Featuring a cast of 26 and condensing 20 years of European history into a tautly choreographed action-packed hour, this piece surrounded the audience in a living landscape of epic proportions.
Performances: Christ Church Neighborhood House in March 2012 (with support from the Philadelphia Performing Arts Kitchen) and April 2013
More info here.
Directed by Stephen Buescher
Played a chicken. Enough said.