CO-PRODUCER

Founded in 1984 by Robert Michael Oliver, Elizabeth Bruce and Jill Navarre, the transcultural Sanctuary Theatre presented works by master playwrights from around the world whose works had not been widely produced in English-speaking North America. From its inception, Sanctuary cast all productions non-traditionally, incubated new scripts, trained theatre artists, and hosted scores of other theaters’ productions on its Stage for Cultural Democracy.

In the early 1990s, Sanctuary transitioned to educational work as The Performing Knowledge Project, working in community settings with interdisciplinary projects for children, adults, and seniors. Performing Knowledge began producing shows at the Capital Fringe Festival in 2007, with a focus on multi-media performances of classical poetry and prose-in-performance.

Finger puppets for production of HOWL. Photo courtesy of The Performing Knowledge Project.

Finger puppets for production of HOWL.
Photo courtesy of The Performing Knowledge Project.

Robert Michael Oliver in ‘Embodying Poe.’ Photo courtesy The Performing Knowledge Project.

Robert Michael Oliver in ‘Embodying Poe.’
Photo by Kimberly C. Gaines

 
Singing Cockroach (Matt Miller) in The Fate of a Cockroach by Tewfik al Hakim. Photo by Kimberly C. Gaines

Singing Cockroach (Matt Miller) in The Fate of a Cockroach by Tewfik al Hakim.
Photo by Kimberly C. Gaines

 I LOVED The Fate of a Cockroach. I’d been asking myself where all the black artists were in Fringe and the answer is they’re all in the cockroach play (along with all the Fringe artists over 40)…The cockroaches all wore bike helmets that had been elaborately decorated with long wings and antennae…. A gorgeously brave effort from a group committed to nontraditional casting and community artistry. Their purity of approach served well the pathos (not bathos) of the story of a man caught up in the struggle of a cockroach struggling to escape from a bathtub.

Callie Kimball
Capital Fringe Festival Blog