JASPORA HAS BEEN ACCEPTED INTO NEW YORK FRINGE FESTIVAL 2007! Performances will be held at
The Center for Architecture
536 La Guardia
(between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets
For Immediate Release (Press information) Contact: Ivan Vega at [email protected]
Nancy Moricette is proud to premiere JASPORA as part of the 11th annual New York Fringe Festival-Fringe NYC. This Haitian American actress returns to New York fresh off Chicago’s Historic Lookingglass Theatre Company’s World Premiere of Black Diamond: The Years the Locusts Have Eaten.
JASPORA translates into imitation Haitian, a slur given to Haitians who are born in America or born in Haiti then raised in the states. This fresh and simple autobiographical piece depicts for audiences the pressures of assimilation that first and second generation cultures face in the United States.
In JASPORA, God is a DJ who sends down Haitian ancestral spirits to put the assimilated whack back in check. JASPORA addresses issues of assimilation, self-degradation, and racism with a humility and laughter that doesn’t alienate but entertains.
Although this story is told from the perspective of a, “Jaspora†the story applies to anyone who has ever felt like an outcast for being culturally different.
Nancy Moricette comes to New York from Miami where she started in street theatre. She has worked with Lookingglass Theatre Co., Goodman Theatre Co., Steppenwolf Theatre Co., Chicago Dramatists and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre Company where she was last seen in Macbeth under the direction of David H. Bell. Although she loves doing traditional theatre her roots lie in performance art.
The guidance of her mentor and friend, Teo Castellanos (Edinburgh Fringe First Award Winner, founder of D-Projects) inevitably led her to create JASPORA which was conceived with the intent of starting a dialogue with alienated cultures from around the world.
JASPORA was originally performed in Straubing, Germany, where it received rave reviews and enjoyed a brief stint in Chicago, Illinois at the Side Studio Theatre. Now set to premiere at the 11th annual New York Fringe Festival under the co-direction and management of Ilknur “River†Ozgur whose recent directing projects include , The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (AD) with Collaboraction Theatre Company, The 365 Days Project (D) by Suzan-Lori Parks and Eulogy for a Small Time Thief (AD) with UrbanTheater Company (Managing Director, 2006-2007). Past work credits include Blue Man Group Chicago, The Goodman Theatre, Broadway in Chicago and Stage Center Theatre.
Peace.Krik Krak, Eyes Breath Memory, Night, The Yellow Wind, Lying Liars and the Lies that they tell, The Secret Garden, Dune,
Rosette and Nocles Moricette...my parents