Upcoming Projects

Photos by Beto Gonzalez

Photos by Beto Gonzalez

WHERE ARE THE EXITS

October 16 & 23, 2021
$15

Inspired by unedited conversations and writing prompts between Shelby Williams-Gonzalez and Carmela Hermann Dietrich during the Global Pandemic, WHERE ARE THE EXITS, is a serio-comedic dance-theater work taking place at Theatre de Hermann Dietrich (aka Carmela’s Driveway).  Beginning as a creative process to prevent a descent into insanity, this highly relatable performance holds nothing back. Parenting during a pandemic, racism, heartbreak, pants getting tighter, quirky coping mechanisms, and God are just a few of the topics on tap. The work is uncomfortable and  humorous while facing the onslaught of personal and global challenges that has been 2020/2021.

Choreography and Text: Carmela Hermann Dietrich in collaboration with Shelby Williams-Gonzalez
Music/Sound Design: Tom Moose 
Voice over: Bill Ratner
Video Project and Documentarian: Tom Tsai
Set Design/costumes: Leah Rothman with Shelby Williams Gonzalez and Carmela Hermann Dietrich

*Please note there is a 1/4 mile walk between the parking lot and the venue on uneven pavement. Wear appropriate walking shoes. Audience will be standing outside - there is limited capacity to ensure social distancing.

*We wish that this performance could be accessible to all bodies but unfortunately due to the geography of the site, this is not the case. We plan to perform this work in the future at a venue that is accessible to all people.

Contributing Artists

Shelby Williams-Gonzalez (collaborating choreographer/dancer) is a proud native Angelino, Mom, Wife, and company member of the national touring Afro-Brazilian dance company, Viver Brasil. As a member of the company for over 14 years, Shelby has served as their Rehearsal Director and is currently the company’s contributing Choreographer. Her most recent works with the company include, “Revealed (2016)” which explored the intersection of traditional Orixa (Afro-Brazilian Deities) dance and current racial and social inequities resulting in over-policed communities and mass killings of black bodies both in the United States and Brazil. “Duas Aguas (2019)” premiered as part of Grand Park’s LA Voices Series as a site specific piece that celebrated the energies of the female water Orixas; Yemanja and Osun. Shelby has also danced with LA-based groups such as The Yorke Dance Project, Louise Reichlin and Dancers and Suarez Dance Theater. She has a Bachelor’s in Dance and Anthropology from UC Berkeley. While attending Berkeley she was a member of the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, Patricia Reedy Dancers and Robert Moses’ Kin. Shelby completed the Silvestre Technique program in Salvador, Bahia, where she was certified as an instructor of the Brazilian based modern dance technique. As an arts educator, Shelby serves as the President and CEO of Inner-City Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the arts to young people during the school day and beyond. As an artist, she draws from her diverse foundation in contemporary dance, martial arts, and traditional and contemporary Afro-Brazilian movement. 

 

Tom Moose (composer) is a Los Angeles based multi-instrumentalist and composer. He studied classical violin for 11 years with Dimitrios Papanikolau (Staatstheater Kassel, Germany), studied Jazz with Dr. Reed Gratz and Steve Chase and received his BA in Music and Theater from University of La Verne. Off the academic grid he has benefitted from years playing Saturday night gigs in the punk rock and funk scene in Germany as well as playing chamber and sacred music on Sunday mornings. He has composed and performed music for choreographers Deborah Rosen, Carmela Hermann, Sarah Leddy and Liz Hoefner, and his music for "The Space Between" by Deborah Rosen was nominated for a Horton Award. Last year he performed in Wilfired Souly’s “Saana” as part of the NOW Festival at the REDCAT. He wrote the soundtrack to the independent film "Tuesday's Dead". His jazz trio Cool Beat Borscht released their first full-length album “Savannah Sessions” in 2013, to which he contributed five original pieces. He has played with the gypsy jazz group The Vignatis, the funk collective The Pretentious Pidgins, R&B singer Monique Debose, Cape-Verdean band Cabo Verde Crecheu, folk singer/songwriter Steve Kinzie, Philly-soul singer LaRombe and the soul band Joanie & The P-Tones. Over the last 10 years he played bluegrass, classical, Irish and jazz music on mandolin, violin and guitar all over Southern California, including the Annenberg Beach House and the 2014 and 2015 Golden Globes. He has performed with the Klezmer band Mostly Kosher for a 6-week run at Disney World, FL. In 2018 he has toured with the band Mommy Tonk in Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee and His band Cuñao released their second full length album and performed at SXSW in Austin, TX. His original music was featured as part of Sarah Leddy’s work at the 2019 American College Dance Association (ACDA). Since the pandemic, he has spent a lot of time in split screen videos, in zoom squares and doing remote recordings and collaborations.

Bill Ratner (voice over)  is a 9-time winner of The Moth Story Slam, is published in Best Small Fictions 2021, Chiron Review, Baltimore Review, Feminine Collective, Rattle Magazine’s Rattlecast, Moon Tide Press’ Sh!t Men Say to Me, Missouri Review Audio, and other journals, with readings featured on National Public Radio’s Good Food, The Business, and KCRW’s Strangers. Bill is a certified volunteer grief counsellor and earns his living as a voice actor. He is the voice of “Donnell Udina” in Mass Effect 1, 2 & 3, and “Flint” in G.I. Joe.
billratner.com/author
twitter.com/billratner
instagram.com/billratner


Tom Tsai (film) is a dance artist and filmmaker based out of Los Angeles. As a descendent of survivors and victims of Taiwan’s martial law era, and a perpetual student of B-boy/B-girl culture, Tom is deeply inspired by the voices of the underrepresented who resist injustice and erasure. Tom’s interest in artistic process, social justice, and storytelling, has led him from dance to film. His dance-documentary short films are a part of Suchi Branfman’s Dancing Through Prison Walls series, which centers the experiences of those impacted by the carceral system, while bringing attention to the prison abolitionist movement. Tom has been privileged to perform his solo dance works at iconic venues including Judson Church (New York), Sadler’s Wells (London), Rotterdam Schouwburg (Rotterdam), and Esplanade Theatres (Singapore).


Leah Rothman (Costume/Set Design Consultation), a non-practicing attorney, works as a full-time mom to her three teenage children. Originally from Marin County, she has spent the majority of her adult life in Los Angeles with her wonderful husband Jacob. In Marin, she was principal flautist in the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra. As an undergraduate, she majored in philosophy at UCLA before attending Law School. As an attorney, she loved the work, and the heels and suits. She practiced litigation at Stroock, Stroock & Lavan, before starting a family. In her role as mom, her jobs include conflict resolution, creating scheduling spreadsheets, carpooling, cooking, being on the green committee, and staying calm (mindfuness, deep breath and yoga help). She is inspired and passionate about color; in the wake of the whirlwind surrounding her special-needs children, she finds comfort in the therapeutic nature of fashion.