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April 17-18, 2009

This year, the University of North Texas and Capital University are pleased to announce that our festival leader will be:

Mondo Bizzaro

New Orleans, Louisiana

Mondo Bizarro is an award winning New Orleans arts collective dedicated to the production of bold original works of performance and video for local, national and international audiences.  They believe that every community has a unique memory of itself and trust that the affirmation of seeing one’s story accurately and artfully portrayed can open the mind and heart to listening to the stories of others. Their vision is to participate in the betterment of our community and the expansion of its consciousness while instilling the sentiments of fun, play, and imagination into a common public experience through the hosting, nurturing, and performing of the arts. They bring together elements of regional, national and international arts with various community organizations and local citizens to create an understanding of what makes us commonly human and individually unique.

To date, they have created seven original professional performances; presented over two-hundred fifty local, regional and national artists through the annual State of the Nation Art and Performance Festival; and initiated the I-10 Witness Project which has assisted over three hundred people in the process of digitally recording and archiving their Katrina stories. Through collaborations with over twenty-five community partners, these stories and performances have been featured throughout the country and via instillations in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, North Carolina, New York, Russia & England.

Our festival theme will be:

"The Tipping Point"
 Performance in a World on the Edge of Balance

Join members of the New Orleans based performance collective Mondo Bizarro at this year's Petit Jean Festival as they explore the critical mass of energy that permeates the performer's presence and its direct relationship to the momentum of social movements.  Particularly, we will explore the levels at which the momentum for change in the body and society becomes unstoppable.  

We are very excited to share our distinctive approach to performance creation with interested students, scholars, performers, directors and art makers.  We will lead one three-hour session that will include vigorous body training, vocal development, singing, core strengthening and composition exercises.  The work will also include discussions about the artist's relationship to his/her community and how training can assist in releasing performers from their clichés and help them confront their physical and mental limitations.  All sessions will include time for participants to create their own material, in addition to working in an ensemble atmosphere.

Who is this for?

This workshop is designed for those interested in ensemble theater, devised work, solo performance, adaptations, visual arts, vocal improvisation, singing, experimental performance and community-based art.