VITRUVIAN by Jerron Herman

The Baltimore Museum of Art and Johns Hopkins University are proud to present: VITRUVIAN by Jerron Herman. Hailed by the Brooklyn Rail as “a triumph of intention and reinvention, centering disability and celebrating Herman’s rebirth as his own divine form,” VITRUVIAN shares an allegorical tale of the life cycle of the Vitruvian man as he traverses multiple hemispheres, now in the embodiment of a Disabled Black man. Based on Da Vinci’s famous sketch, the piece explores the ways natural phenomena and history enter and live in the body.

VITRUVIAN has been featured on NY1 and CBS New York as a show to see. The full evening was commissioned by Abrons Arts Center and developed during artistic and scholastic residencies at the Petronio Residency Center and Georgetown University. Other presentations have included a site-specific interpretation at Governor’s Island and virtual showings for the Passport Program at Lincoln Center as well as a month-long screening season at Abrons Arts Center. VITRUVIAN was archived into the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library of Performing Arts following its premiere.

Films: Cayla Simpson
Original Art: Chella Man
Music & Sound Design: James & JJJJJerome
Lighting & Set Design: John D. Alexander
Costumes: Gerald & Cynthia Herman
Produced: Candace L Feldman & Lauren B Hall

Free. REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

Schedule

6 p.m. – Check-in

6:30 p.m. – Program begins

8 p.m. – Program ends

The artist would love for all guests to show their support for this performance by making a contribution to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Participants

 

Jerron Herman

Director, Choreographer, Performer

Jerron Herman is a disabled artist working in dance and text to facilitate welcoming. He has premiered pieces at Danspace Project, Performance Space New York, and The Whitney Museum. VITRUVIAN premiered at Abrons Arts Center while Jerron was an Artist in Residence and will tour 2023-2024 on the Mid-Atlantic Arts roster. He began his training as a company member with Heidi Latsky Dance from 2011-2019 and is a collaborating member of Kinetic Light’s WIRED.  Jerron is represented by Candace Feldman’s INTERIM, a boutique management consortium for disabled artists that includes Molly Joyce and Christopher Unpezverde Nunez.

Jerron has served on the Board of Trustees at Dance/USA since 2017, most recently as Vice Chair. He’s been a Selection Committee member for the NY Performing Arts “Bessie’s” Awards and also served on panels for NYSCA, Dance/NYC, The Lark, Eyebeam, and Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. He curated the series Access Check 2.0: Mapping Accessibility for the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation from 2019-2020 and Discourse: Disabled Artists at The Joyce for The Joyce Theater in 2021. Jerron writes extensively on art & culture and his play, 3 Bodies, is published in Theater Magazine’s May/June 2022 issue. During the Spring 2022 semester Jerron was the Artist/Scholar in Residence at Georgetown University, facilitating student engagement with Art and Disability. Accolades include a Dance Magazine cover story in March 2021, a 2021 Grants to Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and a 2021-2022 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Dance from the Jerome Foundation. The 2021 PETRONIO Award and residency as well as a 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship by the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Candace L. Feldman

Producer, Realness Expert

Candace [Queen] is the proud daughter of a Zimbabwean Father and Hawaiian mother – of The Ndebele and Maliikapu, Descendant of the Kandake, Sanctuary to the Creative, Rejector of Limitations, Breaker of Mental Chain – with 15+ years of experience as a creative producer with a demonstrated history of presenting in the performing arts, entertainment, and live television arena. Prior to creating her own company, Feldman was the Managing Director at Kinetic Light, the project-based disability arts ensemble and the first Black Director of Programming at UA Presents in Tucson, Arizona. Before that, she held roles at 651 ARTS in Brooklyn, NY, CBS Corporation in Los Angeles, CA, and The Juilliard School in New York, NY. As an advocate for equity and social justice, Feldman’s work includes Co-Founding Next Generation National Arts Network, a nationwide movement to create stability, legacy and cultural equity in arts administration; former Co-Chair for Women of Color in the Arts’ (WOCA) Professional Development Committee; and has served on panels for equity diversity and inclusive leadership. Candace participated in the 2014 American Express Leadership Academy and was selected as one of the Changemakers to attend the 2019 American Express Leadership Academy Global Alumni Summit. She was the recipient of the Joey-Lee Garman Award for Social Justice, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Fellowship, a Kennedy Center Gold Medallion Award for Excellence in Theatre. Feldman holds a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Studies from Kansas State University, an MBA from the University of Arizona, and a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida.

Lauren Hall

Producer, Dramaturg

Lauren Hall is a literary agent, executive producer, and #1 New York Times bestselling writer based in Austin, Texas. Throughout her decade in publishing, she has worked on 26 New York Times bestselling books, collaborating with and representing both new and seasoned talent.  She is now co-founder and literary agent of Capital Literary and Chief Creative Officer of Content Capital, a full-service agency that holistically serves talent through multiple verticals including books, podcasts, television, film, and live events. In addition, she’s the founder of Tramper, an independent publisher and traveling retail space aimed to elevate artists and artisans. When she’s not reading or writing, Lauren is ideally on a bike ride, picnic, or exploring some new city and listening to strangers’ stories over a long, unhurried dinner. 

Cayla Mae Simpson

Filmmaker

Cayla Mae Simpson is an interdisciplinary artist creating through dance and film. Originally from Sapello, New Mexico, Cayla grew up immersed in nature and agriculture. She attended high school at Denver School of the Arts and later received a BFA in dance performance and BA in film and media arts from Southern Methodist University. In 2021, Cayla was an artist in residence at Alfred University’s Institute of Electronic Arts. Cayla’s most recent work TOKIMEKI BLUE, created in collaboration with Cameron McKinney, was an immersive dance film installation. Cayla is interested in creating narrative films, live performances, and installations that reflect the brilliance of the world and offer space for connection.

John D. Alexander

Scenic, Lighting Design

John D. Alexander He/Him/His OFF-BROADWAY:  Migration, Reflections on Jacob Lawrence (National Tour). DC AREA: Daphne’s Dive, TRANS AM, Detroit 67, Children of Eden, This Bitter Earth, Topdog/Under Dog (Helen Hayes Nomination), Fabulation or the Re-Education of Undine, Marie and Rosetta, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Airness, Darius and Twig, Black Nativity, Disgraced, HERstory, Black Berry Winter, The Gospel at Colonus, Happiness (and Other Reasons to Die), King Lear, Broke-ology, American Moor, Anne and Emmett (National and European Tour). REGIONAL: SWEAT, Kill Move Paradise, Once, Paradise Blue, Skeleton Crew, Royale and The Snowy Day and Other Stories. TV: No Child (PBS). UPCOMING REGIONAL: Chad Deity, Mary’s Seacole and Sheepdog. UPCOMING WORLD PREMIERE: Crying on Television, Quamino’s Map, Lambs to Slaughter, House of the Negro Insane, B.R.O.K.E.N. Code B.I.R.D. Switching and Hoola Hoopin Queen.

JJJJJerome Ellis

Music, Sound

JJJJJerome Ellis is an animal, stutterer, and artist. He was raised by Jamaican and Grenadian immigrants in Tidewater, VA, where he prays, gardens, and resides among the egrets and asters. He dreams of building a sonic bath house! 

James Harrison Monaco

Music, Sound

James Harrison Monaco is a storyteller, writer, performer, composer, and musician. Along with JJJJJerome Ellis, he is one half of the music and storytelling duo Jerome & James, whose works have been presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Under The Radar Festival, The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and The Bushwick Starr, among others. His other storytelling works have appeared at such venues as Ars Nova, The New Ohio Theatre, and variety nights all over town. He’s also a prose/fiction writer, a translator from Spanish and Italian, a dramaturg, and a writer in residence at Lincoln Center Theater.

Gerald and Cynthia Herman

Costume

Gerald and Cynthia Herman are the proud parents of their main clients, Jerron Marcel and his brother, Jacque Lamont, who make up the studio LAMONT/MARCEL DESIGNS. Sewing together since 1983, their creations have graced weddings, proms, and events all over the Bay Area, embedding their love for people within each conceptual piece. Gerald and Cynthia’s theatrical work include multiple projects for churches in Oakland and Los Angeles, as well as the costumes for Breaking and Entering at Danspace Project and Many Ways to Raise a Fist at The Whitney Museum in New York. Their designs were also featured in Dance Magazine. 

Tiffany Geigel

Production Stage Manager

Tiffany Geigel is a Puerto Rican native New Yorker with a disability. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Hunter College where she studied Dance and Stage Management. She has stage managed many Off Broadway shows as well as dance shows. Stage management works include Hamlet by John William Shiffbauer, Unwrapped by Joyce King Dance Company, and Flirtation & God of Vengeance by Marvell Repertory Theatre. Festivals include Fringe Festival, La Mama Moves Dance Festival 2012, Planet Connections Theatre Festival. Tiffany is also a dancer and has danced with Heidi Latsky Dance Company. Tiffany’s TV appearances include SYTYCD, Don’t Shoot the Messenger, and Two In A Million; Tiniest Torso. Tiffany has modeled for fashion jeweler Alexis Bittar and has a modeling book titled, The Beauty of Tiffany by Asael Dror which is available on Amazon.com.

Chella Man

Original Art

Chella Man is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work explores the continuum of identity. Man deconstructs binaries within disability, gender, race, and morality. He is the author of Continnum (2021), the director of The Beauty of Being Deaf (2021), executive producer of Trans in Trumpland (2021), fashion designer for his collection with Opening Ceremony (2019), played Jericho in Titans of DC Universe (2019), and was the former columnist for Them, Condé Naste’s first LGBTQ+ publication (2018). His expansive identities as a Deaf, Genderqueer, Trans-Masculine, Jewish and Chinese artist inform a unique perspective that cannot be limited to one medium. Man blends the genres of fine arts and performance art while simultaneously exploring installation, sculpture, and film. Art serves as his visual loophole beyond verbal communication as this is often inaccessible and limiting in expression. He currently works as a mentor and artist-in-resident at Silver Art Projects located at the World Trade Center. Man has worked with institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, Mana Contemporary, and will be exhibiting at The Leslie Lohman Museum and The Abrons Arts Center.

VITRUVIAN was supported by a grant from the Jerome Foundation and the Grants to Artist Award (2021) from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Additional support was provided by the Disability Futures Fellowship from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation and the Wynn Newhouse Award from the SI Newhouse Foundation. VITRUVIAN was partially developed at the Petronio Residency Center through the Petronio Award.

Support for VITRUVIAN in Baltimore comes from the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute; Baltimore Museum of Art; the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum; the Center for Africana Studies; the Departments of Classics, History of Art, and Philosophy; Gender and Sexuality Resources; the Center for Diversity and Inclusion; Maryland Institute College of Art; the Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality; the Tabb Center; and the Krieger School Dean’s Office.

Image: Maria Baranova