Join us for an experimental trumpet and American Sign Language (ASL) performance directed by
In Plain Sight artist Alison O’Daniel. Echoing and engaging the themes and soundscapes of O’Daniel’s
The Tuba Thieves video installation, the performers will echo both scripted and improvised visual, aural, and haptic vocabularies in an exploration of communication that tethers silences and sounds. The performers will move throughout the interstitial spaces of the museum in order to take advantage of the variant acoustics of the building and will, at times, be in separate locations. As such, the performance is designed to be experienced as echoes, glimpses, blanks, and should be taken in from wherever an audience member may be situated. We encourage attendees to arrive early in order to view
The Tuba Thieves installation, and additional sequences, ahead of the performance.
After the performance, join us in the auditorium for an informal discussion and reflection on
The Tuba Thieves, featuring Alison O’Daniel, performers Greg Kelley, Lesli Dalaba, Jeremy Quiroga, and Monique Holt, moderated by Patty Liang, Executive Director of
Deaf Spotlight. ASL translation will be provided for this conversation.
Artist Bios:
Drawing upon her experiences with hearing loss, specifically navigating between hearing and silence, Alison O’Daniel expands definitions of sonic experience beyond ear-reliance as our sole auditory skill. In The Tuba Thieves, the artist’s’s fascination with a series of tuba robberies from Los Angeles high schools became a comparison point between loss of this tonally-rich instrument to her daily experiences of missing information and filling in conversation gaps. This on-going, multi-chapter video project threads together anecdotes of the marching bands’ reconciling the missing sound, footage of the deaf drummer Nyke Prince, the premiere of John Cage’s 4’33” in 1952, and the last punk show at the Deaf Club in San Francisco in 1979. O’Daniel’s process is a form of call and response: she inverts script-driven filmmaking processes by writing scenes based on the musical scores, which were commissioned in advance of developing the visual narratives from a variety of artists, including deaf sound artist Christine Sun Kim, painter and musician Steve Roden; and the late composer Ethan Frederick Greene. The result is an amalgam of disparate, non-linear narratives, two of which are on view within In Plain Sight.
Patty Liang is the Executive Director of Deaf Spotlight, which oversees artistic and cultural programming to support Deaf artists and their work. Throughout her career, Patty has pursued opportunities that encourage Deaf community to embrace and celebrate the arts. She has a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Washington, and an MA in Nonprofit Management for the Arts from New York University. She believes that everyone has the ability to create and express their story through the arts.
Lesli Dalaba is a self-taught musician. She learned to play the trumpet by playing and recording with great improvisers throughout the United States and Europe. Dalaba’s last project involved creating a 16-piece horn & drums world music street band. Her ambition is that every intentional sound she plays, no matter how quiet, no matter how strange, speaks to the heart.
Monique Holt is an actress, director, translator, storyteller, and acting instructor. Her specialty is translating and performing Shakespeare, especially his Sonnets, in American Sign Language (ASL). Recent acting roles include Snow in Midsummer, directed by Justin Audibert; and Romeo and Juliet, directed by Dámaso Rodriguez for Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She holds a BFA in Acting from NYU/Tisch and an MFA in Theatre from Towson University.
Greg Kelley has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Japan at numerous festivals, clubs, living rooms, outdoors, in a bank, and once on a vibrating floor. He has collaborated with a number of musicians globally performing experimental music, free jazz, and noise, appearing on over 100 recordings in the process.
Jeremy Quiroga has been involved with acting since grammar school and continues to feed the addiction. Since 1997, when he helped propel Deaf Poets Society at the Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle, he has performed American Sign Language literature professionally and on a national scale. With a Masters of Fine Arts from the School for American Crafts at R.I.T in Metal sculpture, art in all its forms is a consuming passion for Jeremy.