CounterPulse 2015 Artist-in-Residence: Affinity Project
Russian Play
About Affinity Project:
Affinity Project is a performance group committed to rigorous formal experimentation in theater. Drawing inspiration from postmodern and contemporary dance and the last forty years of performance in visual art, Affinity remains committed to the theater as a radical, live form. Formed in 2012, Affinity works collaboratively in an investigative practice. Affinity’s work-in-progress,Nocturne, was presented at FoolsFury Factory Parts Festival in 2013 and 2014 in San Francisco. They are recipients of a 2014 Zellerbach Grant.
About Russian Play
Russian Play is an exploration of theater as form. Taking as its raw material Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Russian Play pulls apart the conventions of realist theater and rearranges them with an abstract, choreographic logic, producing something more like a dance. Come for the formalism, stay for the melancholy!
Affinity Project biographies
Atosa Babaoff – Performer
Atosa Babaoff has performed at A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, The Magic Theater, and Golden Thread. Atosa has been a member of Laura Arrington Dance and performed at Abrons Art Center in NYC as part of the American Realness Festival. She has also performed Liz Tenuto and Company at Bruno’s and the Joe Goode Annex. Atosa received her MFA from A.C.T.
Beatrice Basso – Performer
Beatrice Basso has performed at Brava Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Eureka Theater, Exit Theater, Kunst-Stoff, Thick House, A.C.T. Costume Shop, YBCA, Noh Space, The Western Stage, and on the East Coast at Long Wharf Theatre. She has appeared in several short films, which have been featured at international film festivals. She is director of new work at A.C.T. and is a dramaturg and translator. Beatrice Basso has studied theater at the University of Padua, Italy, and at Royal Holloway University of London.
Nora El Samahy – Performer
Nora el Samahy has performed with Campo Santo, Golden Thread Productions, Alter Theater, Aurora Theatre, Magic Theatre, foolsFURY, Travelling Jewish Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Exit Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, Woman’s Will, Shotgun Players, and African American Shakespeare Company, among others. Nora is a Pilates teacher and co-owner of studio 74 pilates. She received her BA in psychology from Wellesley College.
Emily Hoffman – Writer/Director
Emily Hoffman is a director, critic, and poet. Her productions have appeared in the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program, at REDCAT in Los Angeles, and at foolsFURY. She worked as the Publications and Literary Associate at A.C.T. and as an artistic intern at The Public Theater. Her writing about dance has appeared in BOMB, Music & Literature, and Performance Journal, and her poems have appeared in The New Republic and The Threepenny Review. She is a graduate of Yale University.