The Emus
Yeujia Low
DUE TO RECENT COVID-RELATED EVENTS,
THIS PROJECT WILL BE PRESENTED
ON YOUTUBE ON JANUARY 28 AT 8PM
AND NOT IN-PERSON.
100% of donations made during the event and/or earmarked with the show title
will go to the artists.
The Emus is a dance theater show loosely based on the real-life incident in which the Australian army was sent to take out a whole bunch of 20,000 emus who were ruining farmers' wheat.
Created by Yeujia Low, in collaboration with the performers
Creator, Director/Choreographer: Yeujia Low
Performers: Paige Cowen, Matti Dunietz, Heather Dutton, Yeujia Low, Hannah McClean, Louisa Pancoast, Patrick Sweeney
Lighting Designer: Jacob Zedek
Costume Designer: Alyse Lamb
Stage Manager: Marianna Hoitt-Lange
Intern: Olivia Ray
Company Manager: Juliet Jewett
(A note to anyone who does not want to offend any Australians: emu is pronounced "ee-myoo" and not "ee-moo"!)
Filmed at Target Margin Theater's The Doxsee by ZANNI Productions
BIOS
Jacob Zedek (he/him) is an NYC based lighting designer. Credits include Anything Can Happen in the Theater (York Theater), Resilience & Enter the Luminous (New York Live Arts), STAGEDREAM (Playwrights Downtown), Times Square (NYU & The Civilians). Assistant Lighting Design: Hairspray (US Nat. Tour 2021), Dreamgirls (Intl. Tour 2019), Last Days of Summer (George St. Playhouse). Website: www.jacobzedek.com.
Alyse Lamb (she/her) has been designing costumes since the age of 8, when she convinced her ballet teacher to let her glue rhinestones onto everyone’s tutus. As both a performer and a creator, her love of live theater knows no bounds. Recent costuming credits include Chroma Key (Title:Point NY), Blood Polaroid (Film), Witness For The Prosecution (TheatreWorks), Honky Tonk Laundry (Seven Angels Theater), Noises Off (Westminster), and As You Like It (Capital Classics). When Alyse's hands aren't consumed with needle and thread she plays guitar in the experimental rock band Parlor Walls. She is also co-founder of the art collective Famous Swords, and a performing member of the experimental theater company Title:Point.
Paige Cowen (they/them or she/her) is a Brooklyn based, cross-disciplinary researcher, performer and creator. Paige has trained and worked with artists and creators such as Jennifer Monson, Mary John Frank, Ben Stamper, Alexandra Beller, Mårten Spångberg, Catherine Cabeen, Elisabeth Motley, Andrea Miller, Laura Aris and more. They have performed works by Ceila Rowlson-Hall, Michael Thomas, Andrea Markus, and Nancy Lushington among others. Since receiving her B.A. in Dance Studies and a minor in Environmental Science from Marymount Manhattan College, Paige has presented their own work as a choreographer with presenters such as The Craft, The Tank, and 7Midnights Physical Research, and their recent short film, “again, it pulls” was presented at Acadia Dance Festival in Maine and the Emotion and Soul festival in New York this year. Paige is in the midst of their first season with contemporary dance company Arsenal Movement Dance Project and is delighted to be returning to the stage with The Emus.
Matti Dunietz (he/him) is a drummer, music producer, and mix engineer based in Ridgewood, New York. He performs and records with several bands ranging from indie-pop to funk and punk rock.
Heather Dutton (she/they) is a Brooklyn based dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. She earned her B.A. in Dance (choreography & education) from Muhlenberg College, where she also minored in Women’s and Gender Studies. The past year, Heather has worked as a freelance dance artist in Philly & NYC with choreographers including Donna Scro, Elizabeth Dishman, Megan Flynn, Stephanie Tolbert-King, Natalie Gotter, and Karen Fuhrman. Her background as a performer ranges from modern dance to theater, comedy, and improvisation. She has presented her choreographic works at the Koresh Come Together Dance Festival, The Craft NYC, the American College Dance Association, and the American Dance Festival. Her choreography utilizes theatrical and comedic devices to explore themes of connection, queerness, and the human experience. She currently works as a teaching artist with the National Dance Institute, through which she has the opportunity to bring dance education into NYC public schools.
Yeujia Low (she/her) is an actor-musician, composer and dance theater maker. As a performer, she has performed in new plays and musicals at the New York Fringe Festival, The Tank, Musical Theatre Factory, The Flea, Dixon Place and in Singapore. She has been nominated for best actress twice in award-winning short films (Singapore’s National Youth Film Awards, Asian American Film Lab) and has danced for Graham alumni Jacqulyn Buglisi. She is also a multi-instrumentalist and has music directed/composed for shows at The Flea, SheNYC Summer Theater Festival, Co/Lab Theater Group, cabarets, dance & film. Her own dance theatre work has been performed at Exponential Festival, Prelude Festival, Triskelion Arts, the Actors Fund Arts Center, Movement Research and Singapore’s RAW Moves. In January 2021, she created a short film Animal Empire, made using Animojis and cutout animation. It was presented at the Prelude Festival (presented by CUNY Graduate Center) and The Exponential Festival. The New York Times particularly enjoyed the “very amusing singing cameos” by a snail and a sloth, and the animals’ insurrection that was “vividly animated like a music video”.
Hannah McClean (she/her) is a Brooklyn, NY based dance artist. Brought up as a competitive gymnast, she has trained in a multitude of dance styles, eventually earning her BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA (Cum Laude, 2017). Recently, McClean has collaborated and performed works for Amirov Dance Theatre, Hokum Arts, and Sommer Ulrickson. McClean has also produced her own works in Phoenix, AZ, Seattle, WA and New York, NY. Additionally, McClean is a movement educator in public and private schools and studios throughout the five boroughs.
Louisa Pancoast (she/her/hers) has had the privilege of performing for such choreographers as Yvonne Rainer at the Museum of Modern Art, Diego Funes, Pat Catterson, Sommer Ulrickson and Alexander Polzin, Cleo Mack and Rock Dance Collective, Pramila Vasudevan, Michelle Thompson-Ulerich, Emily Bufferd, Jacqueline Dugal, Monica Hogan, Yuki Hasagawa, and Joyce King. Louisa has appeared in videos directed by The Kuperman Brothers and Gierre Godley; and has served as performer and movement director for rapper Lando Chill's music video, Light Her and Diego Funes' short film, ABSENCE. Louisa has found a niche in the interdisciplinary art world, collaborating with visual artists to choreograph and perform in their installations. She has had the pleasure of working alongside Melissa Stern for Strange Girl Dances, at Garvey|Simon, and HouseBroken at -the gallery LTD-; and Evan Paul English for Pinch Back at Main Window, DUMBO. Her other choreographic endeavors include an adaptation of W.B. Yeats' play Purgatory produced by Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, and First in Half, Then in Quarters, produced by Mixily Presents. She is also the Associate Director of De Funes Dance, and sits on the Development Board for Smashworks Dance. In addition to performing, Louisa holds her B.A. in English Literature and Art History from New York University.
Patrick Sweeney (he/him) is a New York based actor and graduate of Tisch School of the Arts. He has appeared onstage at Classic Stage Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Kraine Theater, and it is his second time appearing with Yeujia Low at the Exponential Festival. Voice over credits include the video game The Myth Machine, and the podcasts Gay Future, 14 Days with Felicity, and Who Killed Avril Lavigne? Thank you to the Target Margin Theater, The Exponential Festival, Yeujia, and the whole cast and team!!
SPECIAL THANKS
Briana Archer
Kelli Leann Jones
Theresa Buchheister, Marianna Hoitt-Lange, Nic Adams and all the wonderful staff from The Exponential Festival
Adam Kassim, Sophie Aung, David Herskovits and all the wonderful staff at Target Margin Theater
Jason Pu
The Brick