The Other Shore by Gao Xingjian

Swarthmore College March 2008 

To see more photos cut and paste this link into your browser: http://www.swarthmore.edu/x1

The Other Shore by Gao Xingjian

Brown University Spring 2009

FunnyHouse of A Negro

by Adrienne Kennedy

 Brown University Fall 2008

My Business

As both an artist and scholar my work continually questions and often challenges notions of "reality" "identity" and "environment." Born and raised in Manhattan via Panama City, Panama my cultural influences vary wildly. I am attracted to Broadway sized spectacles like "The Lion King" and "Billy Elliot" as much as downtown experimental theatre like that of Ping Chong and Company or Robbie McCauley's solo performances. My early professional career as a stage manager and technician on shows like "La Cage Aux Folles" and "Little Shop of Horrors" have served me well as a director. Consequently, I tend to collaborate successfully with both actors and designers. Generally I see my role as one that functions to serve the play and/or playwright, yet I am always able to bring my unique aesthetic values to the production. "Daring," "visionary," and "stunning" are some of the adjectives used to describe my work. I just love telling stories with images, sound, light and movement. And it's Fun! So why not take a chance on me, you won't regret it I'm sure.

Kym Moore as Director: Reviews

The Other Shore at Brown University by Bill Rodriguez

"This play could wander all over the map, but director Kym Moore knows how to use a compass.  Even if we don't know where it's heading all the time, we know where we are as she keeps things clear.  For example, her framing device is to have a lengthy pre-show in which the 13 (there were actually 12) actors just hang out, sometimes doing acting exercises, sometimes just chatting; correspondingly, at the end they revert to just being themselves, casually conversing as they drift off and away. In other words, this play is just another way of playing and acting, in the larger sense, we do over the course of our lives.

Oh, it's not as dry as all that. The production has lots of juice, plenty of entertaining moments and interesting images...

As in any good staging, plenty is conveyed visually. One example I particularly liked was having the Man (Smothers) walk a stretch of rubber bungee cord (don't worry, it's just few feet off the ground) as a brief reminder of how casually precarious our everyday rambles are.  What made the action marvelous was that a variation was reprised as the play's closing image: this time reclining, using it as a hammock with one foot on the floor, his situation fraught even in sleep. Marvelous.

I may be jaded but many may find the journey of The Other Shore perfectly invigorating, especially in this energetic production.  In not having us arrive at Answer Land, this play keeps us firmly planted in a fascinating and far more honest place-the here and now."

edited from The Providence Phoenix April 11, 2009

Anna Bella Eema at Perishable Theater October 2009

Go to www.motifmagazine.net page 36 to read a glowing review of the show.

—Christian John Wikane

Jomama Jones CD Release Party at Joe's Pub on February 9, 2010 was a night to be remembered!

To View Clips from the Joe's Pub Performance go to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrdanieljones

A Lone Star’s Amazing Flight

“They say don’t call it a comeback, but I say….call it one!” - Jomama Jones.

CD release concerts are always auspicious occasions. However, a CD release concert doubling as an artist’s homecoming carries extra weight.  Such was the premise when Jomama Jones recently took the stage at Joe’s Pub.

The brainchild of Daniel Alexander Jones, this ‘80s soul superstar has traveled the globe for the past two decades, most recently settling in Switzerland. In 2009, she returned to the US and began writing songs with Bobby Halvorson—who also became the musical director of her comeback show.  The result, Lone Star, produced and recorded by Jones and Halvorson, comprises nine original songs, plus an additional contribution from Grisha Coleman.  Thus the ninth of February was consecrated, marking the 21st century re-emergence of Jomama Jones in downtown New York—a long way from her Mississippi roots, even further away from the Swiss mountains, but ever so close to her devoted fans.

Flanked by The Sweet Peaches and a five-piece band, Jomama Jones delivered a 70-minute set that warmed the hearts and souls of bone-chilled New Yorkers. “It is a privilege and a pleasure to be back”, she cooed to the deafening applause that greeted her first two numbers, “Jomamasong” and “Endless Summertime”. Sensitive to a socio-political climate that was “inhospitable to soul,” Jones explained her reasons for fleeing the US 25 years ago. “Black power got turned off”, she said simply. “Somebody didn’t pay the bill”.

With the exception of the house-oriented “Roots in the River”, Jomama Jones performed Lone Star in its entirety. From the soul-stirring “Down Down Down” (a highlight) to the heart-stopping beauty of “Lilac Tree”, the new wave rock of “Uninvited Guest”, and the coy and clever “Show Pony”, Jones worked the sold-out crowd over with an intimate rapport and disarming stage presence.  Bathed in aqua blue light, Jones dedicated “The Mermaid” to the late Ana Sisnett and later thanked Rhonda Ross Kendrick for championing Lone Star from the page to the stage. In between, Jones graciously turned the stage over to The Sweet Peaches (Helga Davis, Grisha Coleman, and Sonja Perryman), whose performance of “Soul Uprising” intersected with “Uninvited Guest” and “Show Pony” as audience favorites of the evening.

“Pin your wish on me, I’ll carry it high”, sings Jones on the title track of her album. If she should make an appearance in your neighborhood, bring your wishes with you and join her for an amazing flight.

(All photos by Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo)