CO-PRODUCERS
KELSEY OLIVER (Founder/Artistic Director)
Kelsey Oliver, an Austin native, is a freelance choreographer and performer in the digs for ridiculously experimental theatre, film, and concert dance. She likes durational stuff, and devised stuff, and stuff that gets athletic as fug.
Kelsey has choreographed/created for Fusebox Festival, Frontera Festival, SVT's Three Headed Fest, Austin Dance Festival, Beijing Dance Festival, Cohen New Works Festival, Boss Babes ATX, Underbelly Theatre Company, Ground Floor Theatre, MoHA, The Contemporary Austin, Erica Nix, CB Goodman, Heartland Theatre Collective, UT New Theatre, University of Texas at Austin’s Dance Repertory Theatre, McCallum Fine Arts, and has created much commercial and concert work within the United States and beyond.
She has performed in several productions, music videos, and film pieces world wide, including work with The Rude Mechanicals, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, Magdalena Jarkowiec, Heloise Gold, Nino Soberon, Urzulka, Thee Gay Agenda, The Reverie, Capyac, Meow Wolf, Wunderbaum, Dance Theatre X, Body Shift, Performa/Dance, Ventana Ballet, Paper Chairs, The Theorists, Betty Mansion, THIS IS SLOANE, Raw Paw, Ministry of Muse, Vibe Vessel, Body Art Movement, Years & Years, Mother Falcon, Cordova Quartet, + more.
Kelsey received a B.F.A. in Dance in 2015, studying at the University of Texas at Austin and Le Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, France. Once upon a time she was a studio kid and a drill teamer. She has also been an adjudicator, choreographer, and dance instructor for studios and teams throughout Texas.
Kelsey gets perked by work that inches toward the absurd, cross-breeding multi-fielded and mixed-ability artists' curiosities. Her desired trajectory includes immense travel and research into repurposing spaces.
photo credit: SWNG Productions
ALEXA CAPAREDA (PR and Marketing Director)
Alexa is a classically-trained contemporary dance artist centered on unaffected virtuosity, versatility, and the earnest and playful. She trained in her native Philippines, Austin, and Montreal before joining Balet Bratislava in Slovakia. She received 3rd prize at the 2013 Festival of Choreographic Miniatures in Serbia.
Ballet Master for Ballet Austin II and the Butler Fellows, Alexa also works with Performa/Dance, ARCOS, BLiPSWiTCH, Magdalena Jarkowiec, and Jennifer Sherburn. Her solo work has been featured in collaborations with sound artists/musicians Steve Parker, Brent Baldwin, Houston-based Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, Austin Camerata, and LOLA Austin.
In 2017, Alexa received an Austin Critics Table Award for Excellence as a Dancer. She is co-producer with Frank Wo/Men.
Alexa holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Theatre and Dance from UT Austin.
photo credit: Sarah Navarrete
ROBERTO DI DONATO (Associate Artistic Director)
Roberto is a multi-ethnic, multi-disciplinary, technology-loving, polyglot and autodidact. He grew up in Tejas, a son of an immigrant father and Louisianan mother. After studying theater at UT Austin, Roberto moved to NYC where he did some strange theater and performance art. From NYC, Roberto was plucked to join Ohio University's MFA directing cohort where he began a deep reclamation of his Venezuelan roots and acknowledgment of the history of the colonized South American country.
He is in love with Germany's Freie Szene (free scene) and Post Dramatic Art. His current investigative interests are surrounding future technologies that artists can utilize to produce new pieces. The practice that Roberto is developing in theater is centered around an anti-imperialist structure; therefor, he calls himself a collaborator and generator.
Beginning in 2018, Roberto has been developing new translations of the Nobel Laureate, Luigi Pirandello.
photo credit: Jenna Horn
CHRIS CONARD (Technical Director)
Chris is a Austin based artist, designer, carpenter, and scenic painter. He graduated from SFUAD in Santa Fe, NM with a BFA in Technical Theater design in 2014. Since graduation, Chris has focused on expanding his skill sets, talents and exploring the intrinsic connection between art and the viewer. He is interested in creating original work that challenges the viewer, the institutions of normality, and prospectives of reality.
Recently, Chris won Best Set Design in the 2017 Austin Critics Table Awards for his designs of The Totalitarians/The Drowning Girls.
Chris is currently pursuing his MFA in Design and Technology from The University of Texas at Austin.
Rub A Duck Collaborators
Rick Said So Collaborators
When Walter was young he was obsessed with digging up and playing with nightcrawlers in his backyard. His speech impediment coupled with his serious demeanor regarding the compulsion resulted in a saying that is now a family-wide joke: digging. thum. wumth. (digging some worms.)
Erica's favorite recurring dream is the one where she is submerged in water and has the brilliant idea to try breathing through her nose in order to breathe. It works every time... she's dreaming. 🐟 Born in Austin, Texas to Patricia and Edgar Saucedo, Erica Saucedo is one of three daughters. Erica works with visionaries Paloma McGregor, Indah Walsh, the artists of the Frank Wo/Men Collective and is the co-founder of vis-á-vis dances–alongside partner, Kaitlyn Bishop.
Urban Eisley is a music maker, poet and luthier from New York, living in Austin. You can find him playing with Dead Animal, a soul monster hungry to take over the world, or collaborating with his partner, theatre-maker Anna Eisley. In 2013 Urban published his book of poetry, 'Ecce!', and is currently finishing his newest poetry project, 'Saying ByeBye to God.'
ravis Tate is a queer, black playwright, poet and performer from Austin, Texas. Their poetry has appeared in Borderlands:Texas Poetry Review, Underblong, Mr. Ma’am, and upcoming in the Shade Journal and apt. They are a finalist for the Cosmonauts Avenue 2018 Poetry Prize.Their one-person drag show, It’s a Travesty! One Night with Jazzie Mercado! was presented at the Cohen New Works Festival (2017) and at Salvage Vanguard Theatre’s Three-Headed Fest in November 2017. UTNT: MotherWitch.
Ashton Bennett Murphy is a recent graduate of the University of Texas Theatre and Dance Department, and this is her first show with Frank Wo/Men Collective. She works at the Texas Performing Arts Scenic Studio as Assistant Scenic Charge Artist, and spends her nights stage managing, projection designing, and watching endless amounts of recorded reruns. Ashton is thrilled to be working on Rick Said So. Tecent credits: We are Proud to Present (stage manager) and TURN UP. ashtonbennettmurphy.com
Aaron Flynn graduated from RISD in 2005 with a degree in Illustration, but has shifted into apparel design and wearable art in the years since. He has been costuming Austin theater for the past three years, primarily for the Rude Mechs, most recently in Not Every Mountain and Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra.
Khali loves conspiracy theories & Rick and Morty. She is convinced she cannot sleep without some source of noise to focus on. 👂 Khali Sykes is an actress, dancer, writer, director, and vocalist. She is currently a B.A. Acting and Sociology major at the University of Texas. Her recent works include Matawan at the University of Texas and Beauty and the Beast at Zach Theater.
In his youth, Joe was an avid fire jumper. His athletic career was cut short when he broke his leg while leaping over a bonfire built out of six Christmas trees. Joe Cornelison is an Austin-based filmmaker and video artist. His work explores old-hat folklore and religion through layered atmosphere and sound. In 2017, he was awarded the Pat Nixon Future Image Makers of America Grant. In his free time, Joe creates elaborate dioramas with taxidermied animals.
Tiskettasket Collaborators
Artistic Collaborator/Performer Once lobbied his school cafeteria to change the “food pyramid” to include all of his favorite comfort foods: cheeseburger, chocolate milk shake, fries, popcorn, pizza, beer & wine. A Chicago native, Joe Davis has traveled to over 55 countries in 6 continents (with only Antarctica remaining), often suspected by family & friends as either working as a spy or being in the federal witness protection program...or both!
Artistic Collaborator/Performer When they were a kid, Panda grew up on a ranch and used to eat things like lamb tails, Rocky mountain oysters, pig’s feet, and cow’s tongue. Panda is a multi-media artist who is interested in breaking through traditional forms of art, by exploring the intersection of outsider art, film, movement, queerness, vulnerability and healing. Panda has a deep interest in play, space, observation, narrative, and identity.
Co-Director/Performer When Derek was a kid he loved bananas. As an adult he started to dislike them. He's starting to like them again, though. Derek Kolluri is currently a freelance director, actor, and producer in Austin, TX. He was co-founder and artistic director for Theatre en Bloc for four seasons. Derek is driven by elegant theatrical events which are designed to hack the daily routine of human interaction and emotional experience to provoke active imagination.
Artistic Collaborator/Performer Food fact: Though he's lactose intolerant, Mario will never back down on some ice cream even though he knows how much he'll regret it later. Mario Alberto Ramirez is a third year BFA Dance Studies Major at the University of Texas at Austin. His training comes from a wide array of practices from modern to Danza Azteca. He pursues a journey of truth and heart and hopes to break any xenophobic appetites with his work.
Special Guest Aundre’s first love was Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. As a teenager, he switched to mashed potatoes. As an adult, he enjoys chips, queso, and micheladas. Aundre is drummer, singer songwriter, and a dancer in the Austin area. He is originally from Houston, Texas and is currently a student at UT Austin studying Linguistic Theory as it applies to Music Theory. As his life’s passion, he works on applying the fields of mathematics, human anatomy, philosophy, linguistics, and music theory.
Film Collaborator In his early youth, Joe spent an entire summer subsisting exclusively on Mountain Dew, cajun peanuts and pepper jack cheese. Joe Cornelison is an Austin based filmmaker. He is passionate about using the medium of film as a way to explore immersive environments. In addition to directing, Joe works as a sound and production designer. He is currently completing his MFA thesis at UT Austin - a surrealist Werewolf film.
Co-Costume Curator My favorite dessert is WHOLE milk with WHIP CREAM on top, but it actually is. Born in Florida. Kelsey has an MFA in Costume Design from the University of Texas at Austin. Narrowing her degree expanded her path of artistry. Working with bodies, textiles and space opened doors to work with Intel Corporation and Santa Fe Opera, create installations and design for film and dance. She continues to use her eyes to listen and prefers the present moment.
Co-Costume Curator E.L. was once a professional baker for like a year, and she makes a mean coffee ice cream. E.L. Hohn is a costume designer and dramaturg interested in new works, socially engaged theatre, and art that is fun. She likes Technicolor musicals, exploring ways of creating the creepy and uncanny for live performance, and clothing that reshapes, ungenders, and/or dehumanizes the body.
Co-Stage Manager He has a troubled past with honeydew, but he is working to bury the hatchet. Josh Secor is a fourth year stage management and playwriting focus at the University of Texas at Austin. In his writing, he explores stagnation derived from peoples’ pasts and how people learn to move forward, and as a stage manager, he loves working on unpublished work and seeing how it changes over the rehearsal process. This constant fluidity and acceptance of change is why he loves art.
Cloudy or not there is always a chance of meatballs with Jacob. Jacob Caire is from El Paso, Texas. He is currently studying psychology and theatre at University of Texas at Austin. He loves to create the worlds of plays in set design, and has recently grown to love painting. Though he focuses in set design, he loves to work in theatre in any aspect possible.
Sound Engineer In the summer of 2007, Nathan thoroughly consumed a catering-sized tray of chicken alfredo in order to get the attention of a really attractive girl (would likely do again). Nathan Patterson is a manic adherent of instrumentalism, producer, project & stage manager, part time arborist and full time Sinatra understudy — indigenous to Central Texas, circa '89.
Co-Producer/Technical Director/Lighting and Set Designer/Graphic Designer Chris likes food. (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers)
Co-Producer/Co-Director/Artistic Collaborator/Performer Kelsey has participated in food eating contests since the age of 9. She prefers her marshmallows burnt. (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers)
Co-Producer/PR and Marketing Director/Food Gatherer/Artistic Collaborator/Performer Alexa eats one whole cantaloupe a day and loves frozen grapes, even though eating them makes her very cold. (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers)
Co-Producer/Long-Distance Artistic Collaborator To produce one pound of animal protein vs. one pound of soy protein, it takes about 12 times as much land, 13 times as much fossil fuel, and 15 times as much water. (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers)
Loose Gravel Collaborators
Artistic Collaborator/Performer Dannon O’Brien currently lives in New York City and in Spring 2016, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. While in school, he discovered a passion for dance theatre and performance art, experimenting with irreverent, nonsensical material while creating work. photo cred: Sarah Navarrete
Artistic Collaborator/Performer Hunter Sturgis, born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, is a fourth year BFA dance major at the University of Texas at Austin. Sturgis is infatuated with the abstract, the cerebral, and the unconventional. His eclectic interests in gender/sexuality, surrealism, and philosophy fuel his personal movement research. His choreographic works thus far ebb into a psychological realm of memory, dreams, and embodied histories.
Artistic Collaborator/Performer Mario Alberto Ramirez is a Dallas native who is currently a second year BFA Dance Studies major at The University of Texas at Austin. He is passionate about his culture and heritage, engaging in local and traveling advocacy for chicano and indigenous movements. His training comes from a wide array of practices from modern to Danza Azteca. He hopes to break barriers of tension and prejudgment by bringing awareness to multicultural connections and acceptances.
Artistic Collaborator Erica Saucedo graduated with a BFA in Dance from the University of Texas. She is currently collaborating with New York choreographers Johnnie Cruise Mercer\The RED project, Indah Walsh Dance Company, and Boink! Dance and Film. Erica practices the excavation of subconscious thought in an effort to surpass rationalism and access the unconscious mind. photo cred: Scott Shaw
Costume Curator E.L. is a third year MFA candidate in Costume Design at UT Austin. She's interested in costumes that are clear, nuanced, stylized, and honest expressions of character, and in clothing that houses, reshapes, ungenders and/or dehumanizes the body in new and compelling ways. E.L. is also currently exploring the hows and whys of designing disquieting spaces and bodies for her thesis project, Visceral Design: Experiments in Creating the Uncanny for Live Performance.
Stage Manager Josh is a third-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance student with an emphasis in stage management and playwriting. In his writing, he likes exploring stagnation derived from peoples’ pasts, and how people learn to move forward and help other to learn. As a stage manager, he loves working on unpublished work and seeing how it changes over the rehearsal process. This constant fluidity and acceptance of change is why he loves art. photo cred: Robert Di Donato
Community Engagement Collaborator Cimone is an alumna of the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied various elements of performance in the College of Fine Arts. She bears a passion for word, rhythm and movement and currently serves as a member of the Afro-Caribbean Soul Collective, a community ensemble that promotes cultural arts of the Afro Diaspora and its modern-day evolutions. She hopes to further explore movement as meditation and arts wellness techniques.
Co-Producer/Technical Director/Set and Lighting Designer/Graphic Designer (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers)
Co-Producer/PR and Marketing Director/Artistic Collaborator/Performer (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers) photo cred: Sarah Navarrete
Co-Producer/Assistant Artistic Director/Performer (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers)
Co-Producer/Artistic Director/Performer (bio under Frank Wo/Men Co-Producers) photo cred: Swng Productions