Sarah Schulman, Todd Shalom & Niegel Smith
Sarah Schulman is the author of sixteen books, including The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination, Israel/Palestine and the Queer International and the forthcoming novel, The Cosmopolitans. From 1979-94 she was part of the "downtown" performance scene with work at The Performing Garage, PS 122, The King Tut Wah-Wah Hut, 8BC and other emblematic venues of the era. She has had two plays produced at Playwrights Horizons and is a Guggenheim Fellow in Playwriting. With Cheryl Dunye, Schulman is co-author of two films: "The Owls" and "Mommy Is Coming," both were selections at The Berlin Film Festival. With Jim Hubbard she is co-founder of MIX:NY Queer Experimental Film/Video Festival, now in its 28th season, The ACT UP Oral History Project and co-producers of the feature documentary "UNITED IN ANGER: A History of ACT UP". Sarah is on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization opposing the Occupation of Palestine. She performed the role of filmmaker Shirley Clarke in Stephen Winter's answer film to Clarke's 1966 experimental classic "Portrait of Jason," currently in pre-production. Sarah is Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island. She is now writing a new nonfiction book, Conflict is not Abuse.
ACT UP Oral History Project's website
Todd Shalom works with text, sound and image to re-contextualize the body in space using vocabulary of the everyday. He is the founder and director of Elastic City. In this role, Todd leads his own walks, collaborates with artists to lead joint walks, and works with artists in a variety of disciplines to adapt their expertise to the participatory walk format. He often collaborates with performance artist/director Niegel Smith. Together, they conceive and stage interactive performances in public and private environments. Todd is also a ringleader of Willing Participant. Willing Participant whips up urgent poetic responses to crazy shit that happens. Todd's work has been presented by organizations such as Abrons Art Center, Creative Time, ISSUE Project Room, The Kitchen, The Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum, P.S.122 and Printed Matter. He is a graduate of the MFA Writing Program at California College of the Arts and also holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University. Todd is a member of the core faculty in Pratt Institute's MFA in Writing program.
Niegel Smith is a theater director, performance artist and Artistic Director of NYC’s Obie-Award winning theater, The Flea. His theater work has been produced by Classical Theatre of Harlem, HERE Arts Center, Hip Hop Theatre Festival, The Invisible Dog, Luna Stage, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood, New York Fringe Festival, New York Live Arts, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, The Public Theater, Summer Play Festival, Todd Theatre and Under the Radar, and his participatory performances have been produced by Abrons Arts Center, American Realness, Dartmouth College, Elastic City, The Invisible Dog, Jack, The New Museum, Prelude Festival, PS 122, the Van Alen Institute and Visual AIDS. He often collaborates with artist Todd Shalom. Together, they conceive and stage interactive performances in public and private environments. He is Associate Artistic Director/board member of Elastic City and ringleader of Willing Participant which whips up urgent poetic responses to crazy shit that happens.
A graduate of Dartmouth College, Smith has received residencies, grants and/or fellowships from Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Sundance Theatre Lab, Theater Communications Group, Tucker Foundation, Van Lier Fund and VoxFest. Before surviving high school in Detroit, he grew up in the North Carolina piedmont, fishing with his dad, shopping with his mom and inventing tall-tale fantasies with his two younger brothers.
photo: Bizzy Barefoot