A Brief Cuntemplation
Performed by Ilse Zoerb
Music Credits: Ilse Zoerb

This piece uses humor to reclaim women's rights to their voices and bodies. Puns, playful nudity and sight gags invite the audience to reconsider gendered social constructs in hopes of nurturing the empowerment of women. "Theatre is a strong tool to allow audiences to reflect on our current social condition. Hopefully dialogue and action will be sparked surrounding the issues brought up by a politically charged piece. A Brief Cuntemplation challenges people to reconsider gender constructs while continuing to celebrate women's body and voice."

Ilse Zoerb recently studied at the Headlong Performance Institute and is relieved to call Philadelphia her new home. Zoerb's work is strongly informed by her political passions and lived experiences.

Dirt Roads
Performed and Created by Jamarr Hall

Dirt Roads is a piece written about a war veteran who murdered his teenage love after she refused to wait for him to return from war. "There were many factors involved with the creation of this piece; one of them being my ability to impersonate southern characters such as the ones displayed in the piece."

Jamarr Hall, 20, is a poet, actor, director, singer, songwriter and comedian. He says, "If you believe in change then why wait for it? We as a people have to make a difference within ourselves in order to see progression around us."

Dress and Disappearance
Performed by Jessica Morgan
Music Composed by John Huber

Dress and Disappearance is a dance inspired by ghosts, light and a dress. It is a dance of controlled vulnerability and an expression of beautiful unfolding. The movement is ragged and delicate, much like the dancer's dress as she allows herself to disappear and reappear and fade into the world.

Jessica Morgan creates work that exposes somaticized memories and transforms personal and collective history into movement. Her work has been described as "unsettling and transfixing" (Dance View Times). She recently had a new work commissioned by the Estrogenius Festival in November 2011. www.jessicamorgan.org

in the Middle, somewhat aggravated by compani javedani
Choreographed, Designed and Performed by Sahar Javedani

This solo explores emotional territories of allegiance between America and Iran. "This work continues to explore my lifelong investigation of my Iranian heritage—the values that I embrace and those I've left behind coupled with the challenge of allegiance between these two cultures."

Originally from San Diego, California by way of Tehran, Iran, Sahar Javedani has recently moved to Philadelphia after seven years as a New York City-based choreographer, teacher and arts administrator. Javedani continues to re-invent her aesthetic by engaging in numerous creative residencies, conferences and laboratories to further develop and advocate her work as an Iranian-American choreographer.

Lessons for the Lobotomized by The Brothers Beffa
Performed by Justin Rose and Scott Sheppard

Lessons for the Lobotomized is the story of Phineaus Gage, as he is reacclimated to society by a pedantic, abusive psychologist and his pavlovian methods. A railroad construction worker, Gage survived an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, effectively lobotomizing him. Little by little we see Gage as he is driven to the breaking point with each lesson. Inspired by the words of Julio Cortazar.

This performance marks the birth and initiation of a new company: The Brothers Beffa. Comprised of students from the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training, this new company is dedicated to the creation of original, physical, fantastical, playfully tragic, unwittingly didactic and absurdly historical popular performance.

Justin Rose is the former cofounder and artistic director of The Candidato's. Their two-man show I'm Sorry & I'm Sorry was a hit at the New York Clown Theatre Festival, a runner up for best show and best actor at the Dublin Fringe Festival, voted "Best of Fest" at the Minneapolis Fringe Fest by audience and critics, and performed at the Philly Fringe and HERE Arts in New York.

Scott Sheppard has been acting and improvising in Philadelphia for the past five years. He is the Artistic Director of the experimental theater company The Groundswell Players.

Looking for Judy by The Naked Stark
Performed by Katherine Kiefer Stark, Megan Stern, and Barbara Tait
Choreography, Costume Design, Set Design/Construction by Katherine Keifer Stark

Looking for Judy is a series of five duet vignettes that explore the layers of a person, how she remembers and how she is remembered. The work includes five wooden structures that allow for an interchange of walls and floor. "This work emerged out of a search for good memories of a family member who is mentally ill, remembering both from my perspective and trying to imagine hers."

Katherine Kiefer Stark, artistic director and founder of The Naked Stark, is a Philadelphia-based dance artist. The foundation for her work as a choreographer, dancer and teacher stems from her belief that the world is socially constructed and that we create rather than merely discover its significances. This philosophy is the driving force behind her work. In addition to dancing in her own choreography, Stark is working with Eleanor Goudie-Averill/Stone Depot Dance Lab for performances in New York and Philadelphia.