is a Kikongo word that means both tree and person. Natalie Marlena Goodnow's one-woman show of the same name is a reflection on the relationships that exist between trees and people, between old Austin and its changing cultural landscape, and between the author and her many selves. It is an invitation to reflect.
The piece is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the playwright/actress and musicians Travis Jeffords and Josh Casiano. It is directed by Cliff Miller with additional direction from Teatro Vivo's Rupert Reyes, San Anto's Marisela Barrera, and Performance Encounters' Leticia Rodriguez.
Natalie Marlena Goodnow has previously performed Muntu at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center (San Antonio) as part of Teatro Fest (October 2008), in Austin in Teatro Vivo's collection of new works, Voces de Vivo (August 2008), and in Hyde Park Theater's Frontera Fest (February 2008). She is currently touring to diverse community settings in Austin.
At each performance, performance artist Natalie Marlena Goodnow "harvests" written and drawn responses to the piece. The Austin tour of Muntu will culminate in an installation that showcases these responses, Muntu: Reflections in East Austin at East Austin community Center Space 12, along with portraits from photographer Rama Tiru's upcoming book Austin: East of I-35, and sculptures of trees by Theatre Action Project's afterschool students. The exhibit will also host a community dialogue on the topics of development and the changing cultural and geographical landscape of East Austin. More information at http://muntuplay.blogspot.com
SEE MUNTU: APRIL 18
AT MUNTU: REFLECTIONS IN EAST AUSTIN, SPACE12, 3121 12TH ST.,
7:30 PM
+ more dates
This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin
through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission
on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which
believes that a great nation deserves great art.
