Mia's Shadow Portraits

Mia started work on a series of shadow portraits this week, to accompany a poem she wrote. Next we'll be working on putting the poem and portraits together with music into a video, but for now, take a look at some of these glimpses into the shadows.

Live Out Loud: A Phoenix Fringe Festival Production

In spring of 2010 we performed the second annual Tumbleweed production during the Phoenix Fringe Festival. The play, Live Out Loud performed at Modified Arts to sold out houses on April 8, 9 & 10, 2010.

Fourteen clients participated in the process of creating Live Out Loud, attending at least one rehearsal. Six clients stayed through to the end, and performed in the show. Juan, Angie, Twitch, Chris, Nick and Kristen performed during the Fringe, then toured twice, to Mesa Community College and to The Learning Center.

The cast, about to go on tour to Mesa Community College

The show was one of the most successful productions in the Phoenix Fringe Festival. As we gear up for Phoenix Fringe 2011, we are excited to take what we learned from both The Other Side and Live Out Loud the first and second collaborations between Tumbleweed and the Fringe.

After the jump, video from our tour production at Mesa Community College

The Fear Project

However, the Haunted House did not stand on its own. Throughout the fall, as we prepared for the community-wide haunted house, clients worked individually on video pieces as part of The Fear Project. We knew that zombies and haunted houses represented one kind of fear. But we were also interested in looking at other kinds of fear, in understanding all of the ways we, as a community, experience and understand fear. And so, throughout the four months we worked on this project, clients created videos that talked about fear in all kinds of ways - everything from a fear of heights to a fear of losing custody of a child.

An introduction to the Fear Project, combining pieces from several individual client projects.

Individual client videos are after the break!

Tumbleweed Haunted House 2009

One of two major projects in 2009 was a center-wide haunted house. With clients, staff and community volunteers, we transformed the center into a house of horrors. More than twenty youth and half a dozen staff members dressed up as zombies over Halloween weekend and performed for community members brave enough to make their way through the re-imagined drop in center.

A client designed this flyer, which was distributed all over the Phoenix area. Terrifying, isn't it?

One of two video trailers that went up on YouTube to publicize the event! There's nothing more terrifying than a singing zombie...

Artist in Residence Sarah Sullivan nearly comes under attack from several zombies.

Two zombies, taking a short break from the action for a (non-brain) snack

 More photos and the second video trailer after the break!

Catching Up to Speed

We've let this blog sit empty for too long - especially considering that lots of things have been happening at the Drop in Center in the past two years! In the next few posts, I will detail some of the major art-based events that have happened in the Drop in Center since this blog was last updated, and then start updating regularly.

Sarah, DIC Artist in Residence