The Center at West Park presents

CREATIVE TEAM

Shannon Yu 余香儒 (Director/Choreographer)
Sarah Zucchero, Shannon Yu 余香儒 (Dancers)
Arabelle Luke aka AirLoom Beats (Sound Maker)
Matt Morris (Lighting Designer)
Andrew Garvis (Lighting Design Assistant )

PRODUCTION TEAM

Madelyn Paquette (Production manager)
Amanda Kettell (Stage manager)
Joe Bilello (Technical director)

CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM BIOS

SHANNON YU 余香儒 is a Brooklyn, New York-based artist from Taiwan. She holds an MFA in Performance and Performance Studies from Pratt Institute and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University.

Shannon’s art-making process involves observing, envisioning, problem-solving and sharing. Shannon seeks a path that is original and aligns with the present moment. Space, sound, movement, texture, and imagery interest her and call for her to make art that inspires, that speaks her truth. As a queer Taiwanese who practices breaking, hip hop, contemporary floorwork, and Wing Tsun Martial Arts, Shannon is able to view inward and outward with multiple perspectives; reflect, and challenge to find harmony.

SARAH ZUCCHERO is a freelance artist who is enraptured by the metaphysical background of life. All of her recent art making has been informed by her Reiki (and other healing) practice(s). Some of her recent art endeavors include a dancing tour with long-time friend Kalyan Sayre to Martha’s Vineyard, a sea monster solo that premiered in June of 2022, and ongoing 2D/3D (and hell ya 5D) projects which take various physical and ethereal forms between paper, sculpture, bodies, movement, and consciousness. Sarah is so grateful for the support of her friends.

ARABELLE LUKE, aka AirLoom Beats, is a Brooklyn-based beatboxer and educator featured in publications such as Elle and BET. Airloom strives to showcase the dynamics within her art form while emphasizing a sense of community. Working with organizations like Get Empowered and Kids Creative, she facilitates professional development, workshops, and classes in beatboxing, loop station song production, and hip hop culture with special needs populations and participants of all ages across the tri-state area. When AirLoom isn't teaching, she incorporates her melody-driven beatbox style into original music for plays, media content, beatbox battles, and improvised performances. Along with performing at iconic venues like La Mama Theatre, and The Blue Note, she’s opened for Rakim at the Stanhope House. During the quarantine, AirLoom has continued performing on virtual platforms as a “one-woman house band” for MAAAD Late!: The Improvised Late Night Show and PROPS!: The Hip Hop Gameshow. In 2022, Airloom completed her first international residency as a US Hip-Hop Ambassador for Next Level USA in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Emphasizing community, Arabelle moves forward with the desire to build hip-hop consciousness and positivity with her educational services business.

MATT MORRIS is an NYC-based lighting designer with a wide array of lighting design experience including theater, music events, comedy, and broadcast. But he has a special love for dance and movement, and the collaboration with creative and inventive artists and choreographers. His most recent lighting for dance has been at Triskelion Arts where he has had the privilege of working with many collaborative artists, like Shannon. He is super excited for the opportunity to be a part of this team again.

PRODUCTION AND MAJOR SUPPORT Credits

New Dance Alliance, Triskelion Arts, andThe Center at West Park.

Xs is presented through a residency at The Center at West Park and is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you to all of you who followed your heart, you are an inspiration.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Center at West Park is a not-for-profit community performing arts center based in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church, a New York City landmark on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

We recognize that this land where we are privileged to be is the unceded territory and ancestral home of the Munsee Lenape. Today, members of the Lenape and many other indigenous sovereign nations continue to live, work, and create in New York City.

For over 30 years in the mid-19th century, this land was home to Seneca Village, the first free Black community in New York City. In 1857, the city used eminent domain to forcibly remove the residents and demolish their homes, schools, and churches to make room for the construction of Central Park.

Since its construction in 1889, this building has been home to countless artists and activists:

In 1978, West Park led the way in openly welcoming LGBTQ+ members as part of the More Light Movement.

From 1980 to 1985, West Park was home to The Shakespeare Center and the renowned Riverside Shakespeare Company.

From 1987 to 1991, God’s Love We Deliver worked out of West Park’s kitchen to serve up to 250 meals per day to people living with AIDS during the height of the crisis.

The West Park Presbyterian Church building was named a New York City Landmark in 2010. In 2016, The Center at West Park was founded by a coalition of community members to preserve and revitalize West Park as a community resource and home for arts and culture.

We are deeply inspired by the legacy of those who have called this land and this building home before us. We hope to honor them in all our work today and in the future.

ABOUT THE CENTER AT WEST PARK

The Center at West Park is a community performing arts center based in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church, a New York City landmark. We present engaging and boundary-pushing early-career and established artists through our artist residency programs, provide affordable rental space for artists to develop their work, and steward the restoration of our historic home’s landmark exterior. The Center is a secular, 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

This program is made possible by the generous support of audience members like you. To make a donation to support future residencies, go to centeratwestpark.org/donate.

Staff

Natasha Katerinopoulos, Managing Director
Zachary Tomlinson, Artistic Director
Dane Jerabek, Marketing & Box Office Manager
Richard Pimentel, Fascilities Manager
David Shocket, Consulting Technical Director
Gary Eisenkraft, CPA, Accountant
Mercedes Marrero-Alvarado, Porter
Dion Thompson, Porter

EVOLUTION FESTIVAL PRODUCTION TEAM

Madelyn Paquette, Line Producer
Olaiya Olayemi, Artistic Doula
Amanda Kettell, Stage Manager
Bleu Zephra, Stage Manager
Joe Bilello, Technical Director

OBJECT MOVEMENT CURATORS

Maiko Kikuchi
Rowan Magee
Marcella Murray
Justin Perkins

FALL 2022 GUEST CURATORS

Christina Franklin
Melanie Greene
Trevor Weston

Board of directors

Marian M. Warden, President
Marsha Flowers, Vice President
Theodore S. Berger, Treasurer
Beryl Abrams, Secretary
Jennifer Rogers Carlock
Don Frantz
Derrick McQueen
Mitchell Schamroth
Susan E. Sullivan