Wendy Woodson and Present Company Inc(luded)

Wendy Woodson, artistic director and founder of Present Company Inc., has created over 80 movement, theater,and video works that have been presented throughout the U.S. and in Europe. She has received numerous awards and grants for her performance and video work including Choreography, Theater and Interdisciplinary Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Boston Film and Video Foundation. Her full-length movement theater pieces and videos have been shown extensively in the U.S. at such venues as the Washington Project for the Arts, P.S. 122, Jacob's Pillow, Emerson Majestic Theater, the John F. Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, New Playwrights Theater, the DeCordova Museum, at numerous colleges, universities, and national and international video/film festivals. Most recently she was the recipient of a playwrights/new theater fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Kathy Couch is a freelance lighting, scenic and costume designer from Northampton. She has worked extensively with Wendy Woodson and Present Company Inc(luded), Impact Theater, Serious Play Theater Ensemble, as well as numerous other choreographers and performing groups. Her work has been seen in NYC, Athens, Greece, Boston and throughout New England. In her spare time, Kathy enjoys wearing hats.

Dan Keller is a film and video director, and founder of Green Mountain Post Films, a production and distribution company headquartered in Turners Falls Massachusetts. He has been producing and directing films since 1964, completing over 150 titles, which span the range from documentary and industrial, to advertising and theatrical. His films have been honored at film festivals around the world, and have been aired on television and seen in theaters internationally.

Jin-Wen Yu, Ed .D and MFA, has created, produced and performed 50 works for the stage in the U.S. and Asia. Before coming to the United States, Mr. Yu was a soloist of Cloud Gate Dance Company, in 1999, he founded Jin-Wen Yu Dance based in Madison, Wisconsin. The dance company is dedicated to creating multifaceted and innovative works which integrate dance with technology and cross-cultural perspectives. He has received support from Wisconsin Arts Board, National Endowment of Art and Culture from Taiwan, the Graduate School of University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, Jih Sun Foundation for Culture and Education, Madison Civic Center Foundation, Madison Community Foundation and Overture Foundation, and CitiArts Commission.

Court Dorsey has been an associate artist with Present Company since 1989. He is co-creator (with Wendy Woodson) of a series of solo works entitled Dudes in Suits. He is also an associate artist with Pilgrim Theater since 1996, co-creating and performing Guys Dreaming (presented at La Mama ETC in New York), The House Not Touched by Death, and acclaimed Tibetan Book of the Dead.He has toured with Boston's Underground Railway Theater, and performed several seasons at the Ko Festival of Theater in Amherst in various original works. He has worked the past two years as a guest of the Kahn Institute with Paul Zimet (Director) in the Smith College production of Waiting for Godot and Star Messengers. He is also a mediator, conflict resolution trainer and facilitator, and has developed a training process that integrates theater improvisations and conflict resolution skills.

Janna Goodwin is a composer, playwright and a performer who has worked in a wide range of roles and media since 1985. Roles include Madame Jourdain in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost by the Manhattan Class Company, and Andy in Stepping Out by NSC Theater in New York. She has directed or co-directed numerous original productions including works by the Ko Theater and the Denver Theater Project, as well as several documentary videos. Most recently her award-winning play House Not Touched by Death has been touring throughout New England with Pilgrim Theater. She has also composed scores for the award-winning Present Company productions Trout, The Third Day and DIG. She is a graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory and received BA in music and film from Hampshire College. She has been an associate artist with Present Company since 1990.

Amie Dowling has worked in several video and performance projecets with Present Company since 1997. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Hampshire County Jail and directs The Dance Generators, a performance company whose members ages span six decades. As a guest artist in the Five College Dance Department, Amie teaches technique, composition and community crossover classes. She has been a faculty member of the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and The American Dance Festival. She is also a consultant with Hampshire Collaborative Commission where she does teacher trainer workshops using the arts in classroom. Recently Amie received a grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (America Creates for the Millennium Project) and she is a 2002 recipient of a choreography fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

In addition to her credits as a writer, director, choreographer and video artist, Ms. Woodson is also a dedicated arts educator. She worked as an artist-in-the-schools with the National Endowment for the Arts (Delaware, North and South Carolina and District of Columbia Arts Commissions) and has been guest and resident artist with numerous universities and colleges since 1980 (including the George Washington University, Middlebury College, Mt. Vernon College, Catholic University, University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin, Williams College, Trinity College etc.). She is a Professor of Theater and Dance Department at Amherst College and the Five College Dance Department where she has taught since 1987. She holds a Master of Arts in Dance from the George Washington University and studied and/or performed with Meredith Monk, Maida Withers, Martha Graham, Attic Theater, Erick Hawkins, Mirjam Berns, Ping Chong, Free Association Dance Theater, Twyla Tharp, Kei Takei, and Dan Wagoner. In addition, she was a Gulbenkian scholar in Lisbon, Portugal and lived and danced in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

Marina Libel is a performance maker and actor originally from Porto Alegre, Brazil. Since graduating from Amherst College, she has performed at Dance New Amsterdam, HERE Arts Center, NYC Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, Williamsburg Arts neXus, The Chocolate Factory, and Galapagos Art Space. She enjoys making original works that blend text, movement, fantasy, and actor-dancers' own styles.

Lisa Biggs is an interdisciplinary performing artist whose original work has been presented in venues from New York to San Francisco. She has been privileged to collaborate with Rhodessa Jones, Rebecca Rice and Tanisha Christie. A former member of the Living Stage Theatre Co., Lisa has also designed and facilited arts workshops for students aged 3-93 in public school, regional theatre, university and community settings.