New Works Premiere Performances

 

Now in its fourth season, New Works: An Arts Commission Project is an initiative by Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts to promote and sustain central Indiana’s working artists and arts communities in an inclusive way by supporting the creation of new works across all performing arts disciplines. The three winning performing arts proposals selected by the judging panel will be presented on stage at the Tarkington, with a talkback discussion following the performances. The event will also include the public unveiling of this year’s winning visual arts proposal.

 

Wild Stories: Native Ecosystems Retold
Emma Hedrick

Hedrick is an award-winning vocalist and composer who holds a master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in the Netherlands. Wild Stories will comprise multiple original music pieces for voice (Hedrick) and jazz piano (Christopher Pitts) to be accompanied by projections of photographs shot specifically for the performance by environmental scientist and nature photographer Mitch Korolev. The compositions will be informed by research into Indiana’s native ecosystems and will challenge the audience to notice the nuance in the environment around them.

 

Sister Suffragists: Naomi Anderson and Lillian Thomas Fox
Ming Joi Washington

Washington is a poet and curator who holds an art history degree from Spelman College. Sister Suffragists is a choreo-poem honoring Anderson and Fox, two Black women writers and activists who campaigned for social justice in Indiana during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. The text will be informed by research into their published writing as well as contemporaneous news coverage of their travels and speaking engagements. The production will include projected images and live music.

 

Blueprint of a Point Ascending
Abby Marchesseault

Marchesseault is a dancer and choreographer who studied dance at Southern Methodist University and many NYC-based dance companies. Blueprint of a Point Ascending, set to vocal music by composer Caroline Shaw, is a three-part modern dance work for four performers that features an interactive stage set with two long elastic bands. It draws inspiration from sculptor/engineer Kenneth Snelson’s work on “tensegrity” (integrity resulting from tension) to explore how tensions sustained within individual notions of identity lead to upward growth and stability.

 

Movements Like a Verse Unwritten
Boxx the Artist

Originally from Gary, Indiana, Boxx the Artist is an award-winning visual artist based in Indianapolis and named 2024 Artist of the Year by Noblesville Creates. With a dual degree from Purdue University, she brings a unique fusion of academic insight and creative expression to her work. Movements Like a Verse Unwritten will be a mixed-media painting on canvas based on her original photography. The work will blend realistic details with expressive brushstrokes, abstract forms and vibrant colors to create a dynamic tribute to the power of artistic expression. Following the event, the painting will hang in the Palladium’s South Lobby for one year, to be viewed by thousands of patrons and other visitors.