Short Summary
In 2014, a homegrown production called The Other Mozart was making the rounds in tiny festivals. Created by Sylvia Milo and self-produced by the Little Matchstick Factory that she shares with Nathan Davis, the play had an outsized mission to tell the untold stories of women, connecting characters, archetypes and narratives from the past with pivotal issues of our time. Thanks to supporters like you, they were able to raise funds to do an off-Broadway run at HERE Arts in SoHo.
Hundreds saw the production at HERE, reviews came in from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and many others. The Drama Desk took notice, giving the production a nomination for sound design, and the NY Independent Theater awards gave it multiple honors. Thanks to this support, that play has received over 350 performances in 27 states, and 8 countries, reaching tens of thousands with its inclusive message.
10 years later, we are launching an even more ambitious and groundbreaking work: Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name (https://utteranceofmyname.com/)
Silenced as an apostle and framed as a prostitute, Mary Magdalene’s character and story were manipulated in order to undermine women’s leadership centuries ago. Its effects still shape our reality today.
Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name is a work of music-theater that illuminates the myths, beliefs and contradictions that have surrounded Mary Magdalene for over 2000 years. Drawing from ancient texts, artworks, and contemporary writings, the piece centers the revolutionary message from her banned and buried “Gospel of Mary Magdalene”, lost for centuries.
Equal parts theater and ritual, Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name is a transformative and spiritual experience that wrestles with flawed histories in order to reach ecstatic transcendence.
Following very successful showings at the Morris Museum’s Bickford Theater, PS21 Chatham, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Theaterlab, we are at last bringing it to HERE Arts (https://here.org/shows/magdalene-i-am-the-utter...), where the huge success of The Other Mozart began. It will run for 15 performances, June 13-30, 2024, in HERE”s Sublet Series, a curated and subsidized rental of their Mainstage Theater. Tickets are available through HERE’s site and through Ovationtix (https://ci.ovationtix.com/219/production/1201997)
Now we need your help to offset the massive production costs necessary to bring this piece to a wider audience - in NYC and beyond! Your donations will go directly toward artist fees and space rental.
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This huge team of fantastically creative and generous artists came together to make the piece:
- Created and Performed by Sylvia Milo and Nathan Davis
- Directed, Script by Sylvia Milo
- Music and Sound Design by Nathan Davis
- Movement Director: Janice Orlandi
- Choreographer: Natalie Lomonte
- Additional Movement: Joanna Kotze
- Video and Projection Design: Monica Duncan
- Additional videography: Maria Baranova
- Costume Design: Magdalena Dąbrowska (Leaf dress and hood by Carlotta Frascara. Wig in video by Małgorzata Chrastek)
- Lighting Design: Nick Houfek, adapted by Eric Nightengale
- Hair and makeup design: Kodi Lynn Milburn
- Dramaturg: Jess Applebaum
- Stage Manager: Kodi Lynn Milburn
- Production Assistants: Nora Bohannon and Daniely Duarte
We are grateful and honored to have received development support from New Music USA, NYSCA, Theaterlab, and the Bogliasco Foundation.
