PROGRAM - Sapphire @ CAC New Orleans
September 28-29, 2023 / 7pm
Complete artist bios
cast
Melanie Greene (she/her) -- Sapphire
Melanie Greene (2017 Bessie Recipient) is a mischief maker (performer), content creator (choreographer) , daytime dreamer (writer), and movement schemer (organizer). She is no stranger to swirling on the edge of impossible…swimming in the sea of the minority. Conjuring creative offerings around the U.S and abroad, she has received generous support from Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, National Performance Network, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Keshet, MANCC, Marble House Project, Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Movement Research, Mount Tremper, New York Live Arts, Gibney Dance, Entertainment Community Fund (formally Actors Fund), Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dancing While Black Fellowship, Bogliasco Fellowship, and Brooklyn Arts Council. Greene has contributed written works to Dance Magazine, Dance Enthusiast, and The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance.
She is a co-organizer of the Dance Union (featured in the New York Times), and was named among Dance Magazine: 2021 "25 to Watch".
As an organizer, and art policy advocate, she had the pleasure to participate in Creative’s Rebuild New York (CRNY) Think Tank, The Field’s Artist Council, Dance/NYC’s Taskforce, and many other arts and culture initiatives.
J. Bouey (they/them) -- Mx. Black Copper
Currently moving on pandemic timing and prioritizing rest. As a Dance Artist and Astrologer, J. is finding their way back to joy by imagining the abolition of systemic oppression through their current project, S A T U R N.
J. is the founder of The Dance Union Podcast, initiating the NYC Dancers COVID-19 Relief Fund and The Dance Union Town Hall For Collective Action to support the dance community through numerous world-changing events.
As a creator, J. is a recent 2021-2022 Jerome Fellow and is a 2022/2023 Movement Research Artist in Residence. J. Bouey was also recently a Gibney 2021 Spotlight Artist, Artist-In-Residence at CPR – Center for Performance Research, and 2021 Bogliasco Fellow. J. was also a 2018 Movement Research Van Lier Fellow, and 2018 Dancing While Black Fellow.
J. is currently a collaborator with nia love. They were also a former performer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, danced with Germaul Barnes’ Viewsic Dance, Maria Bauman’s MB Dance, Dante Brown, Antonio Brown Dance, Christal Brown’s INspirit Dance, and apprenticed with Emerge 125 (formerly Elisa Monte Dance) under the artistic direction of Tiffany Rea-Fisher.
Determined to manifest the dreams dreamt in their youth, J. is assuming this responsibility because these dreams sustained them when the sun didn’t shine or shined too bright to see.
Madison Krekel -- Spirit Guide
Madison Krekel is a dancer and theater artist performer, rock 'n' roll crooner of their punk band SNATCH ATTACK, creative consultant, healthcare clown, and a death doula in training. They were born on Ohlone land (Oakland, CA), their spirit was raised on Lenapehoking land (NYC), and they now reside in beautiful Bulbancha (New Orleans, LA).
While in NYC, they were a long-time collaborator with the immersive theater company Third Rail Projects, including over 600 hundred performances as the Mad Hatter and Nurse Mary Ann in their Bessie Award-winning and New York Times Top 10 Pick show, Then She Fell. Other Third Rail Projects shows include: The Grand Paradise, Behind the City, and original creator of Oasis. They were also in the original collaborative cast of the Bessie Award-winning reconstruction, Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and other work by John Bernd, with additional choreography and direction by Ishmael Houston-Jones and Miguel Gutierrez.
Other NYC credits include performing for Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company, Ballez, Dancenoise, Laurie Berg, and Vanessa Walters. They can also be seen on one of their sheroes's TV show, At Home With Amy Sedaris, as a psychedelic mushroom and singing and dancing bakery girl.
They are very honored to be apart of the Sapphire multi-verse.
production
Rxchel Abrahams -- collaborative projection Designer
Rxchel Abrahams is a multidisciplinary artist from Brooklyn, New York. They have worked with FUERZABRUTA, Third Rail Projects, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Jessica Gaynor Dance and other artists. Rxchel is a collaborator and teaching artist with BODYART Dance and has taught masterclasses and performed internationally. She works with other artists on various movement projects that involve improvisation and are steeped in the spirit of collaboration.
Gina Crozier -- Make Up Artist/Body Paint
Gina Crozier was born and raised in New Orleans. She moved to London to start her career as a makeup artist in fashion, music, film, and television.
She lived and worked in London, Paris, Madrid, and New York for 27 years before returning to New Orleans a decade ago.
Ja’nese brooks-Galathe / aya designs global -- Costume Designer
Established in New Orleans in 2011 and since 2012 where its production takes place, the brand, AYA DESIGNS GLOBAL, is best described as a fusion between traditional cultures/ sub-cultures and contemporary fashion. In fact, Ja’nese Galathe and Dana Leon-Lima credits their passion for fashion through Women in their family, dance, travel, music and lifestyle exposure for the eclectic aesthetic and multi-culturalism present in their work.
“As Teaching Artists we began to expose our students to cultural dance, dialogue and costume design. Which led to educational conversations about the diaspora that empowered our students with knowledge of history and self worth.”
India Mack -- Production Stage Manager
India Mack is a creative, arts administrator, and researcher whose personal mission is to preserve and affirm black culture through storytelling and social enterprise. Her work lies at the intersection of art, culture, education, and social change.
With over 15 years of arts management experience, India is best known for her work as an AEA stage manager. India has stage-managed over 100 theatrical productions, concerts, and events in every region of the United States, including the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival, Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Theatre Horizons in Philadelphia, and NC Black Rep.
India co-founded No Dream Deferred, a community-anchored theatre production company that prioritizes New Orleans in 2015. She was instrumental in building community partnerships, developing the inaugural board, programming, and fundraising efforts that led to NDD being the only black-led theatre organization with performance space in New Orleans. In 2020, NDD won the Big Easy Award for Best Production for In the Red and Brown Water by Tarrell Alvin McCraney, in which India led the ensemble as Oya.
In 2021, India was selected by the Association for Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) to be a 2020-2021 EDI Research Fellow to expand her research that asked, "What do black-led arts organizations in the South need to thrive?" The fellowship resulted in her latest work, Investigating the Need for Arts Leadership Programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which can be found on AAAE’s website.
India Mack is the managing director of NC Black Rep, producer of the International Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts/Speech Communication from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and an MFA from Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah.
Jerrime McAfee -- Crew
Jerrime is a New Orleans born creative. He is an actor, a musician, and an artist. His music can be found on all platforms under Zero the Anarchist.
Susy Raga -- Headpiece
Sammy Verdino -- Set Construction
CAC Staff
Jaime Bird -- Technical director
Mandi Wood -- Lighting Designer
Steve Gilliland -- Sound Engineer and Assistant Technical Director