A Screening of SLOW VIOLENCE
a film of the Theater Arts 2023 Spring Production
Thursday May 9 @ 7pm
W97-110
Run Time: 90 minutes
In this anonymous-looking hotel, strange things are happening on the 12th floor. A relationship goes sour. A depressed young person waits for a lover’s text. A pig demon drags people to hell. Bad times never sounded so good.
In spring of 2023, Senior Lecturers Dan Safer and Ken Urban devised a dance theater piece based around SLOW VIOLENCE, the latest album by experimental synthpop band Occurrence, with 16 undergraduate and graduate performers from MIT, Boston University and Harvard University. Filmmaker Brian Truglio was there to document the show.
CONCEIVED, DIRECTED, CO-WRITTEN, AND CO-CHOREOGRAPHED BY Dan Safer and Ken Urban
MUSIC BY Occurrence
Ken Urban (synths & electronics), Cat Hollyer (vocals), and Johnny Hager (vocals)
CO-WRITTEN, CO-CREATED, CO-CHOREOGRAPHED, AND PERFORMED BY Mateen Bizar, Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, Eryn Cornelius, Christian Donnerson, Tess Engst-Mansilla, Justin Ferris, Zoe Garcia, Jessica He, Michael Holcomb, Matt McManus, Nine Morch, Nithin Parsan, Jayce Ross, Ellison Scheuller, Claudia Varela, and Elvin Yang
STAGE MANAGEMENT: Gerrit Blake / PRODUCTION DRAMATURGY: Kristin Leahey / SET DESIGN: Amy C. Rubin / COSTUME DESIGN: Chelsea Kerl / LIGHTING & PROJECTION DESIGN: Joshua Higgason with Kevin Fulton / SOUND DESIGN & A1 LIVE SOUND ENGINEER: Christian Frederickson / PROPS DESIGN: Gabriel Graetz / TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT: Alex Giorgetti / TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Becki Gray / SET CONSTRUCTION: Wooden Kiwi Productions / ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT: Yi Tu / GRAPHIC DESIGN: Dan Pecci / STUDENT DESIGN ASSISTANTS: Sarah Wang, Cici Mao, Emi Grady-Willis, Jolie Bercow, Xinyu Xu, and Quentin Smith
FOR THE FILM: EDITOR: Brian Truglio / CAMERA OPERATORS: Rob Gourley and Will Toubman / AUDIO MIXING: Daniel Kluger
Shot on location at MIT’s W97 Theater (345 Vassar Street, Cambridge MA) during the afternoon and evening performances on April 8, 2023
The performance and film of SLOW VIOLENCE is made possible thanks to the generous support of MIT’s Music and Theater Arts Program, the de Florez Fund For Humor, and the Richard Price Rudy (1968) and Robert Paul Rudy (1937) Memorial Fund. Special thanks to Jay Scheib, Sara Brown, Tony Torn and Torn Page, and everyone who supported this project.