Each year an anonymous grant is made from a couple of our Festivity Donors to a Planet Connections artist of their own selection. The requirements for eligibility are that the artist have a production in Planet Connections on the previous season and that they use their grant to continue to work with other Planet Connections artists of the donors selection. The grant can be awarded to a playwright, director, actor, designer or production company and it is possible for the grant to be given to the same individual repeatedly.
From the 2011 Season, the recipient of the grant is Leslie Guyton who choreographed the award winning festivity production Wanderlust.
Leslie Guyton is a dance & theater director based out of Brooklyn, NY. She’s the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Movement Workshop Group. She assistant directed Under Construction with Anne Bogart and SITI Company in April 2011. Her commercial work includes choreographing in conjunction with the directing duo The Daniels on the band Foster the People’s music video Houdini and a dance mash-up advertisement for Adidas.
Guyton observed rehearsals with Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany, Spain, Portugal, England, and the US in 2007 and 2008. Guyton was Assistant to the Executive Director at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance from 2009-2010 and was a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab in 2009.
Under Guyton’s direction, the Movement Workshop Group has created four evening-length pieces each inspired by an element. Her works have been presented at such institutions as Dixon Place, La MaMa ETC, John Hancock Hall, the A.R.T.’s Club Oberon, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, The Brecht Forum, Montauk’s Sole East and Movement Research at Dance Theater Workshop. The Boston Globe chose Dust to Dust (2006) and Moontides (2008) as “Dance Pick of the Week” in 2006 and 2008 respectively.
With her artist grant, she will be running a production in the Fall of 2012 at The Tank.
How can you apply to be a recipient of the 2011 Planet Connections Artists Grant? It’s easy – just create an excellent full Production in the 2012 season. Our donors see the top ten full productions recommended by our staff and press. Readings are not eligible. They will select a winner from the productions they attend. The winner will be alerted in December of 2012.
The 2010 recipient of the Planet Connections grant was Jeremy Bloom. Jeremy directed the award winning production of Wait of the World in the 2009 Festivity and also directed the award winning production of the Green Knight in the 2010 Festivity. Both productions were designed and marketed in a completely eco-friendly manner. He has been the recipient of the Planet Connections Best Directing award for his direction of Wait of the World. Jeremy is a graduate of Northwestern. He directs his original adaptations including La Boheme (Spoken), Peter-Wendy (Dark), and Leaves of Grass (Nude), as well as the work of new playwrights (most recently, The Green Knight by Brian Rady). He has directed at The Flea, Walkerspace, The Cherry Lane, Incubator Arts Project, NYU Grad, 45 Bleecker, The New York Botanical Gardens, site specifically, at the cell where he is a resident artist. He is also a 2010 Directing Fellow of the Drama League.
With his artist grant, he created an excellent musical entitled The Orange Person which he wrote with his long time artistic collaborator Brian Rady in the Fall of 2011. The production ran in rep with Producing Artistic Director Glory Kadigans adaptation of The House of Bernarda Alba.
“I’m excited to be the recipient of the 2010 Artists Grant. Planet Connections is a fun festival to be a part of and I wish the festivity continued success in its upcoming seasons.” -Jeremy Bloom
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