After Leaving Eden

Rachel Nelson

Theater, story, movement, music, and visual image- all bringing you-the Politico, a folkie, the returning vet, a woman who’s lost her voice . . . and one uncertain girl who finds the courage to act.

After Leaving Eden is a remount of Nelson’s Living the Questions, her 2007 collaboration with director/video artist Kym Longhi, photographer Chante Wolf, and two drummers. In 2008, with drummer Linda Melcher, the new version played Duluth’s The Play Ground, the KC Fringe, The University of Wisconsin-Superior, and the National Storytelling Network Fringe.

Nelson’s BardLive creations are theatrical combinations of song, story, spoken word, and movement. She spices her stories with experience as theater musician and training in the Margolis method of physical acting. Nelson’s original songs are incorporated into this piece as a vehicle for exploring its characters. Find more photos at www.bardlive.com. .

Rachel Nelson thanks the COMPAS Artist Development grant, which provided monies toward this touring remount. Funding for the original 2007 production came from a Career Development grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (www.ARACouncil.org), which is made possible through an appropriation from The McKnight Foundation. Promotional support provided by Northstar Storytelling League (http://northstarstorytelling.org)

Location:

Social Hall

Schedule:

Friday, February 27, 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 28, 5:30 pm
Thursday, March 5, 8:30 pm
Saturday, March 7, 7:00 pm
Sunday, March 8, 2:30 pm

Intended Audience:

Adults and Teens

Performance Genre(s):

Theater, Storytelling, Music, Movement, Singing, Spoken Word

Running Time:

55 minutes

Contact:

Rachel Nelson
Email: bardlive@usfamily.net
Phone: 651-353-3370
Website: www.bardlive.com

Cast Bio(s):

AFTER LEAVING EDEN COLLABORATORS:

Rachel Nelson (script, songwriter, performer, producer) Rachel’s passion is live performance. Her BardLive shows combining songs, story, and movement have covered topics like deep ecology (Finding Our Place) and global economics (Rachel’s Rent Party). Her CD Change is a Thousand Hearts spotlights her original songs. I’m Awesome! is her children’s CD of stories and songs. Rachel has been a featured storyteller for the last three years at the Northlands Storytelling Network Conference. More at www.bardlive.com

Kym Longhi (director/dramaturg, videographer) Kym’s passion is creating highly physical theatrical work through a collaborative process. As a core member of Margolis Brown Theater Company’s (MBTC) ensemble since 1995, she has created and performed in all of their work including: Vidpires!, Vanishing Point, The Bed Experiment, American Safari, Sleepwalkers and The Human Show. Most recently she scripted and directed Herocycle at the MN Fringe, appeared in Off-Leash Area’s Border Crossing, with Flaneur Productions in Coriolanus, and in Skewed Visions’ Jasper Johns. As a video artist, she works with JP Productions. Kym also teaches acting at the University of Minnesota.

Chante Wolf (photography) is a Gulf War veteran who counts Kathy Kelly and Julia Butterfly as two women who inspired her journey from veteran to peace activist. A sought-after speaker, Chante ran the Minneapolis office of Veterans for Peace until going into photography full-time. She is a National Geographic-award-winning photographer whose photos appear in The Cost of Freedom: the Anthology of Peace and Activism.

Beth Brooks (scene director) is a founding member of the Margolis-Brown Theater Company, where she has acted and toured shows nationally and internationally, including Vidpires!, Vanishing Point, The Bed Experiment, American Safari, Sleepwalkers and The Human Show.. Recent acting credits include Herocycle at the 2008 MN Fringe.

Linda Melcher (percussion, costumes, props) studies percussion with Michael “Stix” Kiley. She is a bead artist and an educator who believes passionately in teaching for the good of the whole.

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5 Reviews for After Leaving Eden

  1. Go to this show! It’s beautiful, artful and makes you think.

    Comment by Elaine Wynne — March 2, 2009 @ 12:51 pm

  2. I only saw a part of Rachel’s performance at the preview. I loved it! If that is any exemplary of the rest, this is a show well worth seeing.

    Comment by Roseroberta — March 2, 2009 @ 5:14 pm

  3. Rachel is a talented musician who raises issues and provokes thinking about the cost of war. I loved the long story she told at the end!

    Comment by Carol McCormick — March 4, 2009 @ 4:05 pm

  4. I saw the whole show last night, and I don’t know what it was exactly, but it left me feeling really peaceful. Rachel unabashedly and courageously showed the shadow side of humans and then managed to transform it in herself in front of your eyes. If you walk the walk with her and really look at the depth of what she is talking about, you will walk out of Rachel’s show feeling different about your spot in the world and its potential, even though she is not doing it with a lot of fluff.

    Comment by Roseroberta — March 6, 2009 @ 5:22 pm

  5. If you have had the opportunity to see Rachel Nelson perform before, you know what a consummate artist she is. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?

    I have seen Rachel do bits and pieces of Afer Leaving Eden over the years, and have watched it grow into a coherent whole. This is one of the pleasures of living long enough in one community to watch its artists grow. Rachel is ably supported by her percussionist Linda Melcher, who unlike many drummers I have know, only throws soft things on stage. Her work is spirited, passionate, humorous and intelligent. She draws the bow against the catgut strings of our embodied selves and a powerful beauty emerges. Come, let yourselves be played.

    Comment by Paula — March 7, 2009 @ 4:54 pm

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