Sam Scranton and Mocrep respectfully request that you attend The Health, a celebration of the life force. The Health is an evening-length musical ceremony that imagines health not as a property of individual bodies, but as a vital, cosmic force that flows through all things. It suggests that all matter is both beneficiary and victim of the agency and vitality of The Health. Human, virus, cheetah, zebra, rock, water. The Health incorporates forms drawn from the healthcare industry, diagnostic tests, hold music, meditation music, and places them in an expanded musical, visual, theatrical landscape. It asks: if health were an American religion, what might a proper theology look like? What might a ceremony feel like? A cosmology? The Health celebrates the life force in its weight, silliness, and joy.

Runtime: approx 80 minutes. no intermission.

Mocrep and Sam Scranton perform The Health.

The Health was written by Sam Scranton in close collaboration with Mocrep.

Visual, theatrical, lighting, costumes and staged elements devised by Sam Scranton and Mocrep.

About Sam:

Sam Scranton is a composer/performer. He has been described in New Music Box as "an artist taking wholehearted risks" and in the New York Times as a "killer drummer".

Sam plays percussion and electronics in Beautifulish (with Katherine Young), Honestly Same (with Zach Good, Mabel Kwan, Lia Kohl, and Zach Moore) and Physique (with Neil Quigley). He plays with small, amplified objects processed through a synthesizer. Beautifulish released its self-titled debut on Shinkoyo in 2020, and Physique released Curve Totem on Amalgam in 2021.

Sam also composes works for ensembles large and small. Sometimes the works are conceptually driven, sometimes they are concerned with abstract sound. He has worked with ensembles and performers such as Mocrep, Nois~, International Contemporary Ensemble, Jack Quartet, Nadar, Weston Olencki, Spektral Quartet, Gyre Ensemble, ZRL, among others.

Sam has created sound installations with collaborators Natacha Diels, Zach Moore, and Baudouin Saintyves. These have taken the form of a guided tour, a psychedelic waiting room, and swarming sonic creatures.

Sam has presented his work nationally and internationally at festivals, conferences and performance series such as the 2018 Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Indexical, Composit, NUNC! 3, New Music Gathering, the International Conference on Music and Minimalism, Outer Ear Festival, and Omaha Under the Radar. Sam's music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Borealis Festival Radio Space, WFMT, and released by Parlour Tapes+.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Accessible accommodations include a ramp entrance and elevator. If you need additional accessibility options or wheelchair seating please contact us at info@imss.org.

PARKING AND DIRECTIONS: https://imss.org/plan-your-visit/#nav

COVID Guidelines: Masks are optional but recommended.

Questions? Contact us at info@imss.org

Sam Scranton and Mocrep respectfully request that you attend The Health, a celebration of the life force. The Health is an evening-length musical ceremony that imagines health not as a property of individual bodies, but as a vital, cosmic force that flows through all things. It suggests that all matter is both beneficiary and victim of the agency and vitality of The Health. Human, virus, cheetah, zebra, rock, water. The Health incorporates forms drawn from the healthcare industry, diagnostic tests, hold music, meditation music, and places them in an expanded musical, visual, theatrical landscape. It asks: if health were an American religion, what might a proper theology look like? What might a ceremony feel like? A cosmology? The Health celebrates the life force in its weight, silliness, and joy.

Runtime: approx 80 minutes. no intermission.

Mocrep and Sam Scranton perform The Health.

The Health was written by Sam Scranton in close collaboration with Mocrep.

Visual, theatrical, lighting, costumes and staged elements devised by Sam Scranton and Mocrep.

About Sam:

Sam Scranton is a composer/performer. He has been described in New Music Box as "an artist taking wholehearted risks" and in the New York Times as a "killer drummer".

Sam plays percussion and electronics in Beautifulish (with Katherine Young), Honestly Same (with Zach Good, Mabel Kwan, Lia Kohl, and Zach Moore) and Physique (with Neil Quigley). He plays with small, amplified objects processed through a synthesizer. Beautifulish released its self-titled debut on Shinkoyo in 2020, and Physique released Curve Totem on Amalgam in 2021.

Sam also composes works for ensembles large and small. Sometimes the works are conceptually driven, sometimes they are concerned with abstract sound. He has worked with ensembles and performers such as Mocrep, Nois~, International Contemporary Ensemble, Jack Quartet, Nadar, Weston Olencki, Spektral Quartet, Gyre Ensemble, ZRL, among others.

Sam has created sound installations with collaborators Natacha Diels, Zach Moore, and Baudouin Saintyves. These have taken the form of a guided tour, a psychedelic waiting room, and swarming sonic creatures.

Sam has presented his work nationally and internationally at festivals, conferences and performance series such as the 2018 Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Indexical, Composit, NUNC! 3, New Music Gathering, the International Conference on Music and Minimalism, Outer Ear Festival, and Omaha Under the Radar. Sam's music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Borealis Festival Radio Space, WFMT, and released by Parlour Tapes+.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Accessible accommodations include a ramp entrance and elevator. If you need additional accessibility options or wheelchair seating please contact us at info@imss.org.

PARKING AND DIRECTIONS: https://imss.org/plan-your-visit/#nav

COVID Guidelines: Masks are optional but recommended.

Questions? Contact us at info@imss.org

Created and Performed by Mocrep + Kurt Chiang
Directed by Kurt Chiang

About this Event:

Hi my name is Kurt Chiang – with me today are four members of Mocrep – and this is Sip Sip Sips – say it over and over – Sip Sip Sips – Sip Sip Sips – feel that? – Sip Sip Sips is a quick, devised collaboration between me and Mocrep, sparked by mutual appreciation, respect and curiosity – it is inspired by and freely adapted from the text of the short story “The Everlasting Sippers” by Diane Williams – a goal of this collaboration is to juice the multiple interpretations one gets from reading the sparse, efficient, and evocative text – we filter it into a concentrated, eventful piece of one-night-only performance – dialogue, dance, movement, looping recitations, sound, noise and jokes all have a crack at your senses – the lives of a few characters play out before us – this leads to rest.

// Special guest Diana Slickman (Theatre Oobleck, The Neo-Futurists) opens with a reading of the original story. Sip Sip Sips is the beginning phase of an ongoing collaboration between Kurt Chiang and Mocrep; future works may or may not include sipping. //

Note on Accessibility: The Neo-Futurist Theater is located on the second floor of a large building on the corner of Foster & Ashland. The main entrance is through a pair of double doors on the first floor at 5153 N Ashland, where patrons walk up a flight of stairs to the second floor and through a series of hallways, into the main theater space. The building does have elevator access, but there is an additional hallway to navigate with a short landing of 4 stairs. Patrons who are wheelchair users or require other mobility considerations can email chiangkurt@gmail.com. We are happy to discuss providing access to anyone that wants to see the performance.

COVID Protocols: Masks are required indoors for all guests. Proof of vaccination - with booster shot - is required for all guests to be considered fully vaccinated and eligible to enter The Neo-Futurist Theater.

Performers:
Deidre Huckabay*
Lia Kohl*
Andrew Tham*
Ryan Zerna*
Kurt Chiang**

*Mocrep
**Kurt Chiang is a theatre artist, writer and performer. He is Artistic Director Emeritus & Ensemble of The Neo-Futurist Theater. Upcoming work includes: Chicka-Dee-Dee-Dee! (a short film on prairie nature and everything against it), and Unfinished Business (a two-person show with choreographer Melinda Jean Myers). 

What is water? Mocrep and Katie Young construct a sonic raft that drifts down a lazy (yet near fatal) river of field recordings, aquatic memories, and slippery musings. There will also be singing and bells.

CREW
Captain Ryan Zerna - flute
First Mate Deidre Huckabay - EWI & flute
Bosun Katie Young - bassoon
Second Mate Lia Kohl - cello
Chief Engineer Zach Moore - bass
Cook Zachary Good - recorder
Watch Leader Jenna Lyle - voice and things

Medical Purser Andrew Tham - synthesizers

$10 suggested donation

Mocrep presents the first iteration of a brand new full scale work by Chicago-based composer Sam Scranton, THE HEALTH. Come see this work in progress and share our space with us! Reception & talkback afterwards.

About THE HEALTH: 

In the past 80 years, notions of what constitutes human health have changed dramatically. Prior to this redefinition, "heath" consisted of the absence of sickness or impairment. More recently, health has become an ambient phenomenon—a lifestyle, culture, a religion, and ecology. This new vision began in the late 1940s with the World Health Organization and continues to operate today through Whole Foods, athleisure brands, and supplement providers. The Health explores this concept in its contemporary richness using the language of diagnostic tests, sound therapeutic instruments, and hold music.

An evening of new works by Mocrep

Four short devised pieces showcase Mocrep’s creative range. They’ll be quick and dirty, they’ll be short and sweet, they’re all brand new, and they’ll incorporate Mocrep’s signature combination of music, theatre, performance art, and new media. This evening is part of a new series by Mocrep, which will be presented again in Spring 2020 with another round of new works.

Presented by Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series in the 1700 theatre.

An evening of new works by Mocrep

Four short devised pieces showcase Mocrep’s creative range. They’ll be quick and dirty, they’ll be short and sweet, they’re all brand new, and they’ll incorporate Mocrep’s signature combination of music, theatre, performance art, and new media. This evening is part of a new series by Mocrep, which will be presented again in Spring 2020 with another round of new works.

Presented by Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series in the 1700 theatre.

Mocrep presents the premiere of A Square is Not a Bee, our made-for-tv movie with composer Natacha Diels. The evening will include other video contributions from Mocrep members, Julia Mellen and Miden Wood.

A meditation, a diagnostic exam, a soundscape: Lee Blalock's new work for Mocrep tests the systems of the human body and mind. Inspired by vintage stereo test records which were used to test audio fidelity, Stereo Test Program No.3: Transmutation Assessment superimposes variations of the original tests onto the human body to assess its systems while creating an original sound piece. Highly physical, the piece challenges 6 performers to a series of tests, interfacing them with both their spiritual and technological selves. The performers achieve balance through physical strain and emotional vulnerability. 
The live work is paired with a web project inspired by the programs notes that came with the original records and can be found at leeblalock.com. 

TICKETS $10

Mocrep presents a work in progress of their upcoming work for the Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival at Chicago's favorite puppet variety show. 

Round two of these ensembles' exciting collaborations, this time at Constellation Chicago. Following a week long intensive collaborative process, this performance will feature new work developed and led by artists from both groups. 

More information about Bastard Assignments can be found here.

Mocrep's first trip to Oakland, the group will be developing a series of collaboratively made new works along side some of Oakland's most exciting multimedia artists, including collaborations led by Brendan Glasson, Chris Wood, and choreography duo Readymaids.

A culminating performance of a two week residency at Stanford University, Mocrep will present an evening of new work with composers Jessie Marino, Constantin Basica, Hassan Estakhrian, Davor B. Vincze, and Charlie Sdraulig. 

In Common Core Art, we take seemingly menial tasks and make them almost unbearably difficult. Whether it is keeping a simple beat on the snare drum, reciting text, consuming food or water, or any other daily activity, we will do so in a way that stretches the performer to the limit, both physically and mentally. Whether it's through art, or any occupation, hard work is always glorified. With this performance, we intend to glorify it to an unreasonable degree.