Kea Tawana had powerful hands and a long stride. At times she wore a wig and a pink coat. Sometimes she wielded a crowbar, and sometimes a shotgun. She traveled across oceans, deserts, swamps, and roads, reinventing home.
In the 1980s, Kea built a three-story-tall and 86-foot-long ark on the highest point in Newark using materials from abandoned houses, and then deconstructed it after the city ordered it removed.
Join ArtYard and White Box Theatre on May 6 and 7 for the first look at Kea and the Ark, a new multidisciplinary work investigating the life of Kea Tawana employing movement, puppetry, storytelling, and live music. Following the incubator performance, join Mundheim and collaborators for a talkback and discussion on Kea, problems of portraiture, and the creative process.
Kea and the Ark takes us from the Doolittle raid in Japan, across the Pacific, to a Hopi reservation, into Newark in the 60s, and to the quiet of the Passaic River.
ArtYard commissioned White Box Theatre to engage with the mystery of Kea Tawana. During Mundheim’s first residency at ArtYard in 2022, she brought her early research to community engagement workshops in story-writing, object-making, and movement. Kea and the Ark emerged from that residency, and two additional residencies at ArtYard this spring.
Early ideas for this piece were developed in residencies at ArcheDream for Humankind, Theatre Exile, and The Painted Bride. White Box Theatre is currently in residence at the Latvian Society of Philadelphia.
White Box Theatre is a project-based visual and performing arts company founded by Mundheim whose multidisciplinary creations integrate puppetry, dance, storytelling, and installation.
Each year artists take up residence at ArtYard to develop new works and engage with our community through artists’ talks, open rehearsals, performances, or installations. ArtYard’s residency program is centered on the needs of artists. It is process-based, without the expectation or promise of a final exhibition of the new work.
Tickets are $25 for general public and $10 for students, seniors, and industry professionals.
Seating is first-come, first-served.
Get your tickets at https://artyard.org/events/kea-and-the-ark/
