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  Unchilding




Unchilding (2019) is an experimental theater performance, conceived and facilitated by visual artist Joshua Kaufman and a team of creative collaborators, that explores the personal tragedy of lost innocence.

In a traditional theater space cloaked in near-darkness, the audience is immersed in two consecutive short stories that combine ambient soundscape and character dialogue.

The vignettes unravel as the stage is lit to reveal a sequence of visually rich, life-sized dioramas embodied by a sprawling ensemble of 26 performers.

Kaufman’s tableaux vivants occupy an uncanny space between stillness and suspension, displacement and embodiment.

Unchilding approaches the genre of tragedy as a realm of the unknowable and the withheld.
Mark
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Creative Team



JOSHUA KAUFMAN
 (Creator, Director) is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist, interested in creating work that explores tragedy, characterization, the grotesque and embodiment. www.joshua-kaufman.com

ALLIE MAROTTA
 (Associate Facilitator, Creative Consultant) is a collaborative theatre-maker and arts educator based in Brooklyn, NY. A recent graduate from Royal Holloway University of London, she holds a MA in Contemporary Performance Practices as well as a double degree from Pace School of Performing Arts in BA Acting, BA Directing under the International Performance Ensemble program. Allie is the executive director of Sitting Shotgun, an intersectional and equitable theatre production company for emerging artists.
allie-marotta.com

DIWAS GURUNG
 (Sound Designer) is a multi-instrumentalist, music producer, singer and sound editor from Kathamndu, Nepal currently living in Brooklyn, NY. He has scored music for the documentaries Circle of Poison and Mel Milap and currently works as an editor for Rolling Stone Music Now, a weekly podcast by Rolling Stone magazine. He is also widely renowned for his work in the field of Nepalese independent folk music as both a producer and a performer.

JESSICA ELLIOTT
 (Lighting Designer) is based in Boston and New York. She holds a BA in Theatre and Design from The University of Tulsa and an MFA in Theatrical Lighting Design from Boston University. Recent designs include: Cri des Nago (Ayikodans; Pittsburgh and Guadeloupe), and Compound Fractures (Boston). She is also a designer on staff with Arc3design, and was recently the lead designer on the 2019 MCC Miscast Gala at the Hammerstein Ballroom (NYC).

SINGER JOY
 (Creative Consultant) is a musician, theatre-maker, writer and co-founder of Water House Collective theatre company. Sound design and music for theatre credits include The Sunken Cathedral (PROTOTYPE), As You Like It (Hamlet Isn’t Dead), and Dutchman/Stopkiss (Sacred Circle). Music and writing for performance featured by the Music and Erotics Conference, Never Before Never Again Festival, Ithaca College Women’s Works Ensemble, Bennington Children’s Chorus, and Sage City Symphony. Find her work at singerjoy.com
KYLE KUCHARSKI
 (Creative Consultant) is a New York-based writer and visual journalist covering the arts, culture and travel. His work has appeared in New Noise Magazine, Narratively, and Indagare.

EMILY GRACE MAYS
 (Costume Designer in the Development Process) is a costume designer from North Carolina, currently based in the West Village. Her design portfolio can be found at emilygracemays.com. Recently she gained her first professional Broadway credit as wardrobe supervisor for Botswana On Broadway. This spring she constructed custom hats for the featured milliner at the Kentucky Derby, Christine Moore. She wants to thank Joshua for bringing her on to such a unique and exciting piece!

DAKOTA JAMES STEVENS
 (Costume Curator, Wardrobe Stylist) is a Native American microbiologist turned wardrobe designer who created a name for himself as a backstage savant, planning and executing fashion shows for various organizations in the west. He is fresh to NYC and excited to harness the immense energy and growth the city brings. dakotajamesstevens.com

SARAH BEDRICK
 (SFX Makeup Designer) is an NYC-based artist in theater and film. Education: NYU Tisch and The Make-up Designory. Their makeup work includes the Off-Broadway musical Sincerely, Oscar (2019); the Juilliard School’s production of Detroit ’69 (2018); a Mercedes Benz promotional event (2018); an AMC’s “Walking Dead” promotional event (2019); and numerous commercials, music videos, and films. Sarah is a founding member, producer and designer for the queer, experimental Water House Collective. fairyeffects.com

TIAGO VALENTE
 (Production Design Consultant in the Development Process) is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist, production designer, professor and creative consultant. Credits include the film The Lady and the Tiger (Production Design), the TV program Search for Treasure Island (Lead), and a number of art performances around the world. Tiago also teaches storytelling, performance and experiential design at Parsons School of Design. @thisistiagovalente tiagovalente.name