Tennessee Descending
Welcome to The Work's first project.
In the past few years I have been recognized as an innovator in incorporating technology into live performance with acclaimed Stein|Holum Project shows ‘CHIMERA’ (Under the Radar, The Gate London) and ‘THE WHOLEHEARTED’ (Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Abrons Art Center). With Tennessee Descending, I am reinvesting in my foundational artistic practice, one that eagerly strips away the layers of technology and even text, returning to the essentials of bodies and space for a theatre that is spare, ingenious, raw, rigorous, essential, and adventurous- and to bring some incredible collaborators along for the ride.
In the past few years I have been recognized as an innovator in incorporating technology into live performance with acclaimed Stein|Holum Project shows ‘CHIMERA’ (Under the Radar, The Gate London) and ‘THE WHOLEHEARTED’ (Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Abrons Art Center). With Tennessee Descending, I am reinvesting in my foundational artistic practice, one that eagerly strips away the layers of technology and even text, returning to the essentials of bodies and space for a theatre that is spare, ingenious, raw, rigorous, essential, and adventurous- and to bring some incredible collaborators along for the ride.
Collaborators
Suli Holum is an award-winning theatre maker based in Philadelphia. She began her career as Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre Company, where she co-created 15 original theatre works including as a creator/performer in SHUT EYE with legendary director Joseph Chaikin, as playwright of Barrymore Award Winning GENTLEMEN VOLUNTEERS, published in Pig Iron: 3 Plays (53rd Street Press), and Barrymore Award winning choreographer of the wordless CAFETERIA. Holum went on to an acting career which includes a Drama Desk Award winning performance in LEBENSRAUM off-Broadway, a Helen Hayes nominated turn as Billie Dawn at Arena Stage in DC, and the role of Nora in Jo Stromgren Kompanie’s A DOLL’S HOUSE at the National Opera in Oslo, Norway. She also pursued collaborations as a writer of new performance including the sprawling site-specific WANDERING ALICE with Nichole Canuso Dance Company and OEDIPUS AT FDR with Emmanuelle Delpech- an original adaptation set in a battered skate park under I-95, FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY at the National Constitution Center, ONE BEACH ROAD with RedCape Theatre, UK, and A FIERCE KIND OF LOVE with the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University. In 2007 Holum embarked on a collaboration with playwright Deborah Stein which became Stein | Holum Projects (SHP), an internationally recognized incubator of new performance whose work received support from The Orchard Project, The Playwrights Center, New Dramatists, ArtsEmerson (Boston), The Kelly Strayhorn Theatre (Pittsburgh) Actors Theatre of Louisville/Perry Mansfield, FringeArts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NACL, and the National Theatre Program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, among others. SHP’s body of work includes: CHIMERA, developed through the HERE Artists Residency Program and supported by a TCG/Fox Resident Actor Fellowship and premiered as part of The Under the Radar Festival. It earned Holum a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance, and toured to The Gate Theatre in London; MOVERS+SHAKERS, a new musical, which received the Lowe Award from New Dramatists; and THE WHOLEHEARTED which premiered at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, and toured to La Jolla Playhouse, and Abron’s Art Center.
Suli marries training in Lecoq and dance with psychological realism in the pursuit of raw physical and emotional truth. Her work has been described as ‘Boldly arresting...transfixing’ (Boston Globe), a ‘true pleasure...fearless, fierce, vulnerable…’ (LA Times), and ‘Outrageously good’ (Backstage). She is currently an Associate Artist with the HotHouse at the Wilma Theatre, where she appeared most recently DANCE NATION, directed by Margot Bordelon.
Mathew Decker, Director, is an award-winning theatre director, professor, and artistic leader. He is the co-founder with Erin Reilly of Theatre Horizon, located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Theatre Horizon is in its 15th anniversary season and has become one of Philadelphia's most acclaimed and accomplished theatre companies, receiving the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Award. Matthew has directed over 20 productions with the company including Samuel D. Hunter’s The Few, Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher, William Finn’s A New Brain, Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Kimberly Akimbo, and Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. For eight seasons Matthew served as the Associate Artistic Director at Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia where he directed Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, Annie Baker’s John, John Glore’s adaptation of The Stinky Cheese Man, Gale Childs Daly’s adaptation of Great Expectations, Michael Hollinger’s Incorruptible and Greg Banks’ adaptations of The Jungle Book (world premiere), Pinocchio and Robin Hood. Other credits include the world premiere of Robert Kaplowitz and Kittson O’Neill’s musical Minors at Lantern Theater Company, Rounding Third at Cardinal Stage, a concert production of Sondheim’s Company at 11th Hour, Green Day’s American Idiot at the University of the Arts, and developmental readings of Douglas Williams’ I Live You [AUTOCORRECT] with PlayPenn, Jeremy Gable’s D-PAD and MJ Kaufman’s Whisper’s Gone with Interact Theatre Company, Douglas Williams’ SHIP with Bristol Riverside Theater, Alex Bechtel’s Cheer Up, Dostoevsky, and Xiang Gao’s Shanghai Sonatas.
Matthew is passionate about New Work, and during his time at the Arden he line produced and help develop world premieres by Laura Eason, Michael Hollinger & Rob Maggio, Greg Banks, Curt Columbus, Alex Bechtel & Tony Lawton, and Jordan Harrison.
Matthew is a three-time Barrymore Award winning director, and his production of Into the Woods at Theatre Horizon was recognized with the 2015 Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical Barrymore Award. He is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company, and also served as Senior Lecturer of Musical Theatre at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Philadelphia, PA and is a proud member of SDC.
Matteo Scammell, Generating Performer/Composer, is a performing artist based in Philadelphia. A company member of Obie-Award Winning theater company New Paradise Laboratories, The Wilma HotHouse and Red 40 & The Last Groovement (a theater-rock clown/funk band). Matteo has appeared in over 30 professional productions including 13 Premieres. His original and co-created work has been seen at FringeArts (Phila), The CEC (Phila), AntFest (Ars Nova, NYC), Ice Factory (New Ohio Theater, NYC), Capital Fringe (DC), Broad St. Ministries (with Lear DeBessonet), UNCW (NC). His Regional Credits include: Arden Theater, Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theater Co., Pig Iron Theater Co., Theatre Exile, EgoPo. Matteo is a 2020 Independence Foundation Fellow, he has two Barrymore nominations and a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play. He holds a BFA in Acting from University of the Arts.
Suli marries training in Lecoq and dance with psychological realism in the pursuit of raw physical and emotional truth. Her work has been described as ‘Boldly arresting...transfixing’ (Boston Globe), a ‘true pleasure...fearless, fierce, vulnerable…’ (LA Times), and ‘Outrageously good’ (Backstage). She is currently an Associate Artist with the HotHouse at the Wilma Theatre, where she appeared most recently DANCE NATION, directed by Margot Bordelon.
Mathew Decker, Director, is an award-winning theatre director, professor, and artistic leader. He is the co-founder with Erin Reilly of Theatre Horizon, located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Theatre Horizon is in its 15th anniversary season and has become one of Philadelphia's most acclaimed and accomplished theatre companies, receiving the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Award. Matthew has directed over 20 productions with the company including Samuel D. Hunter’s The Few, Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher, William Finn’s A New Brain, Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Kimberly Akimbo, and Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. For eight seasons Matthew served as the Associate Artistic Director at Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia where he directed Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, Annie Baker’s John, John Glore’s adaptation of The Stinky Cheese Man, Gale Childs Daly’s adaptation of Great Expectations, Michael Hollinger’s Incorruptible and Greg Banks’ adaptations of The Jungle Book (world premiere), Pinocchio and Robin Hood. Other credits include the world premiere of Robert Kaplowitz and Kittson O’Neill’s musical Minors at Lantern Theater Company, Rounding Third at Cardinal Stage, a concert production of Sondheim’s Company at 11th Hour, Green Day’s American Idiot at the University of the Arts, and developmental readings of Douglas Williams’ I Live You [AUTOCORRECT] with PlayPenn, Jeremy Gable’s D-PAD and MJ Kaufman’s Whisper’s Gone with Interact Theatre Company, Douglas Williams’ SHIP with Bristol Riverside Theater, Alex Bechtel’s Cheer Up, Dostoevsky, and Xiang Gao’s Shanghai Sonatas.
Matthew is passionate about New Work, and during his time at the Arden he line produced and help develop world premieres by Laura Eason, Michael Hollinger & Rob Maggio, Greg Banks, Curt Columbus, Alex Bechtel & Tony Lawton, and Jordan Harrison.
Matthew is a three-time Barrymore Award winning director, and his production of Into the Woods at Theatre Horizon was recognized with the 2015 Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical Barrymore Award. He is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company, and also served as Senior Lecturer of Musical Theatre at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Philadelphia, PA and is a proud member of SDC.
Matteo Scammell, Generating Performer/Composer, is a performing artist based in Philadelphia. A company member of Obie-Award Winning theater company New Paradise Laboratories, The Wilma HotHouse and Red 40 & The Last Groovement (a theater-rock clown/funk band). Matteo has appeared in over 30 professional productions including 13 Premieres. His original and co-created work has been seen at FringeArts (Phila), The CEC (Phila), AntFest (Ars Nova, NYC), Ice Factory (New Ohio Theater, NYC), Capital Fringe (DC), Broad St. Ministries (with Lear DeBessonet), UNCW (NC). His Regional Credits include: Arden Theater, Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theater Co., Pig Iron Theater Co., Theatre Exile, EgoPo. Matteo is a 2020 Independence Foundation Fellow, he has two Barrymore nominations and a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play. He holds a BFA in Acting from University of the Arts.
Process
The Work on Tennessee Descending began in June 2019 with an exploratory residency at The Orchard Project where the three of us dove into the life and work of Tennesee Williams. We were intrigued by some theoretical writing of Williams' where he described 'The Sculptural Drama', and expressed a desire for stillness, a clarity of physicality, and a performance style that goes beyond realism into something more essential and expressive. This led to the invention of what we have come to call Boxwork, a framework for investigating the dynamics between Williams' characters without Williams' words.
We explored many of Williams scripts and landed on Orpheus Descending as our primary source material. Through the characters of Val and Lady, Williams' lost and desperate souls in search of salvation in each other, we are developing a wordless vocabulary that shifts seamlessly from quotidien gesture to full bodied dancing against a backdrop of original songs inspired by Williams’ text. In this world, performers Matteo Scammell and I live at the vibrating edge of fiction and truth, at the intersection of the unabashedly theatrical, sly meta theatrics, and real life.
We explored many of Williams scripts and landed on Orpheus Descending as our primary source material. Through the characters of Val and Lady, Williams' lost and desperate souls in search of salvation in each other, we are developing a wordless vocabulary that shifts seamlessly from quotidien gesture to full bodied dancing against a backdrop of original songs inspired by Williams’ text. In this world, performers Matteo Scammell and I live at the vibrating edge of fiction and truth, at the intersection of the unabashedly theatrical, sly meta theatrics, and real life.
Plans
We will be developing Tennessee Descending throughout the first half of 2020 and plan to tour it to the Edinburgh Fringe in August. Check back for updates on venue and further touring, as well as opportunities to see The Work in progress!
