Theresa Columbus

Written by Theresa Columbus With individual acts by Cliff Doby, Malaika Aminata Clements, Rae Red and Megan Livingston Co-directed by Sarah Jacklin and Theresa Columbus The cast: Malaika Clements, Theresa Columbus, Cliff Doby, Sarah Jacklin, Elvis Karegeya, Megan Livingston, Parker Matthews and Rae Red Music by Allison Clendaniel Costumes by Nicolette LeFaye Set by Mika Nakano Lighting by Chris Allen Performed July 15-July 21, 2019 at the Mercury Theater in Baltimore, MD With shows at the Space Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA and the Rhizome in DC

Columbus wrote, made a sound recording and performed this piece originally at the Untercroft on Oct. 4, 2019 and then again at the Whole Gallery. She muses on the feeling of writing and the excitement of trying to let an audience enter that personal space in a live performance, brings the audience cozily into an early morning kitchen where she writes before her tourmates wake up. Confidence, seduction, early morning dance sessions: it's all there.

Solo performance with audio performed at the Copy Cat, Baltimore and the Usable Space Gallery, Milwaukee, 2018

From September of 2014 until August of 2015, Theresa Columbus participated in a collaboration initiated by Pegi Christiansen. Along with Jennifer Holmes and John Losciuto, the 4 artists created a visual exquisite corpse for each month of the year, as well as a set of self-portraits taken at dawn in each of their respective states of Wisconsin, Maryland, California and Florida. The exhibit, complete with a performance as well as documentation of collaborative writing, was shown in October 2015 at the Lyndon Sculpture Garden in Milwaukee, WI.

"The Refrigerator is Making Crazy Noises" reflects an arrangement of thoughts a person has when inspired in the middle of the night. These thoughts are stylized and self conscious of the act of writing, and contain musings on editing, promises to self, fashion, and not being in love with everything. With a recurring mystery punchline "This is a full term baby!" and other lines delivered sporadically, we watch our performer navigate through common and uncommon phrases with an urgency to translate something. Garnished with song, dance, and even a flailing sock puppet, she narrates these phrases and also connects with the audience by talking about and delivering letters to them. With sound recording by Aaron Smith. First performed at the Holy Underground in Aug. 2014, then on tour in Pittsburgh, Rochester, Toronto, Quebec and Providence.

Written and directed by Theresa Columbus Sound recording by Aaron Smith Cast Linda Campbell Franklin Theresa Columbus Aaron Smith Jake Budenz (dancing) “Love Trilogy,” performed at Worlds in Collusion as part of Artscape in 2015, is a collection of 3 short plays written within a year’s time, navigating the sheer joys and the huge doubts and frustrations that can accompany romantic relationships. In the first play, “I Will Dance for You,” rejoicing in Joni Mitchell’s racier lyrics and bursting with giddy optimism, the artist (Columbus) and her lover (Aaron Smith) act out her thoughts about the relationship. She puts her words in his mouth, but at the same time often quotes him, putting his words in her work as well as in her mouth. The two act out their own prerecorded voices, and play with the trope of musical theater. The second play in the trilogy, is entitled “New Years Day 2015,” and chronicles one of the saddest and most yearning days of their 5 year relationship. Throwing away a little piece of nature from her hometown he had given her on a walk links her to the act of destroying precious things dating back to her earliest memories. This scene takes place between her and a good friend (her writing? her conscience? …or maybe a good friend.) The third play in the trilogy, “The Second Dawn of the Year,” speaks to the poetry that follows these most intense relationship days, the artist reaching for words to help express what seems like volumes of conflicting emotions. Technology is a metaphor for emotional difficulties, cardinals and shadows metaphors for poetry and what works. Smith sings a song that he wrote in the first year of their love, and again she puts her words into his mouth as well as the mouth of her friend/conscience to explore the way words inspire and resonate and adhere to people as they become part of each others’ lives.