MARVA LEWIS: Artistic Director
in 2001 Ms. Lewis founded Immanence, using bodies and narrative to create theatricality in random locations. Her site work aims to alter people’s perspectives of place, site, and scale, all infused with a sense of the possible human dimensions. In over 23 productions throughout Los Angeles and California, Marva has sought to challenge the social and political formations that increasingly impinge on personal freedom and community interaction. Recipient of the Merken New Artists Fellowship and the G.L.E.R. award, she has been consistently noted for her hybrid creations of art on the margins. A native of Fresno, she trained with the International Corporeal Mime Collective in Belgrad and spent 2 years with the Grotowski Theatre Lab, before finding her mission in back in California. marva@immanencetheatreartists.com
RAMIQ SAYER - performer
-a founding member of Immanence, Ramiq is an investigator of human behavior. A graduate student in World Cultures, he left the Universityof Bogota to do volunteer cultural NGO work in both Venezuela and Sudan. He has studied several martial arts including Capoeira and Mtzu C'n Do, and finds the discipline of the body embodies the worlds of his performance. As a company developer he is responsible for the last Immanence production in Los Angeles, that simulated drownings in the detritus of the Los angeles River. He continues to study in the Ka'lan school of performance and would like to bring other Immanence and Unknown artists into this work. He has appeared in numerous films by Phalke Zhou, bringing dignitiy to the lives of the homeless, the disenfranchised, and the corrupt. TULIE BOUQUESS While dancing with Italy’s Giovanini Zuppa Danza Extraordinaire, Tulie was recruited by Immanence for her exceptional skills in translating the body in hypothetical constructions. Her training also includes the Czingxou Acrobatique and the exceptionally precise modeling poses for painters at the Scuola di Artiste Classico. With Immanence she has found a home for (and the company has incorporated ) her mode of movement in many metaphorical explorations of themes throughout the years. Even when encumbered with heavy costumes, masks, and/or electronics, there is distinct expression that is “Tulie” as in her portrayal of the Lizard Woman of The Grove. She enjoys her recent acting training with the Leningrad/Los Angeles OuChebnee and also privileges being an outsider in her ‘in’ city, Los Angeles. Although primarily known in the indie film world, Phalke Zhou stays with Immanence because he believes that theatre provides a direct conduit to the subconscious – “Live is a express feed to the soul, while film is almost always an escapist imaginary. Theatre shocks with bodily vibrations and creates a reciprocal wave between audience and performer.” In his documentaries - such as Triage and Vine or The Undertow: Abadoned Malibu, he always finds the unexpected real that slices the fantasy of film. Phalke does not find as much time to be on the stage, but his background is with performing tropes, having spent time in regional theatre and improvisation around the country, including Mixed Blood, Atlanta Art Players, Loretto Hilton Rep, Palo Alto Playworks, and The Comedy Factor in Chicago. A founding member of Immanence, Dol has determined to solve human exigencies through her ‘clown’ persona. Early on she trained with Ringling Brothers, but then found that the despair of existence superceded the phantasy of entertainment and brought her skills to counseling on the streets of Atlanta with the Emergency Response Street Counselors, an innovative group that used mask to intervene with the homeless and drug addicts. Since then, she continues to push the boundaries of performance and being, finding that the experience of the audience is only suggested by the action of the artist. Her favorite quote? "The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves." - Carl Gustav Jung
PHALKE ZHOU: producer.media.
DOL MARKOWITZ
BAREET ROSS
