March 30 - April 1, 2007
Another Language Performing Arts Company & University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Jimmy Miklavcic - is the Founding Executive Director of Another Language Performing Arts Company and the co-director of the InterPlay series, a telematic collaborative performance form. A mixture of computer science, visual arts, music composition, acting, and multimedia experience textures Jimmy's artistic background. In 1972, he began his visual arts studies at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Focused mainly on painting, he also became involved in other artists' projects in theater, performance art, and music. In 1978 he continued his studies in Performing Arts, including acting, technical theatre and electronic music at Cabrillo Community College, Aptos, CA. Shortly after arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jimmy returned to study Computer Science at the University of Utah where he graduated in 1987 with a BS in Computer Science. Jimmy is currently the Multimedia Specialist for the Center for High Performance Computing and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Utah. He is the founder of ArtGrid, a consortium of artists and technologists that utilize the Access Grid technology for artistic pursuits. He has been awarded the Salt Lake City Mayor's Artists Award for the Performing Arts.
Elizabeth Ann Miklavcic - is the Founding Artistic Director of Another Language Performing Arts Company established 1985. She is a choreographer, actress, filmmaker and performance artist. Beth serves as the co-director of the InterPlay performance series. She has over thirty years of professional performance experience. For InterPlay: Intransitive Senses (2003), Beth created and performed Tea Party. Additional InterPlay works include The Surface of Things for InterPlay: Hallucinations (2004), Dressers for InterPlay: Loose Minds in a Box (2005) and Mind Waves for InterPlay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek (2006). Beth is a multi-media specialist at the University of Utah Center for High Performance Computing. Her digital video works have been shown at a variety of film festivals and are available at the University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections Division. Beth has appeared in a several feature films such as Napoleon Dynamite and most recently in Dark Matter with Meryl Streep. She is the recipient of the Salt Lake City Mayor's Artist Award for Performing Arts. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Modern Dance from the University of Utah, where she received two Orchesis Honorary Dance Society Awards; her choreography has been presented nationally and internationally.
Travis Eberhard - grew up in a wee small farming community in northern Utah he lovingly refers to as "The Gateway to Idaho." He graduated from Brigham Young University earning a BA in Film Production with a directing emphasis and works as a video editor for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Audiovisual department. He just finished directing and editing a short film called BOOM!! As an actor he can be seen on the feature films Church Ball and Stalking Santa (to be released Christmas'07). Travis loves anything and everything creative and hopes to be able to spend the rest of his days in such pursuits.
William Ferrer - originally from New York, William has been acting in Utah for the past eight years. He has appeared in People Production's Intimate Apparel, Pygmalion Production's Blithe Spirit, and Salt Lake Acting Company's Two Sisters & A Piano. William has also appeared in a number of film, television, and commercial roles. Currently he works as a teacher in the Salt Lake City School District.
Paul Heath - Salt Lake City and nostalgia are the primary themes for his artwork. If he had to categorize his work, it falls into the "Pop-Nostalgia" movement. He specializes in nostalgic interpretations of our urban landscape and his work is available for public & private commissions. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1985 and works in a variety of mediums: from silkscreen, acrylic on plywood constructions, oils on canvas, and even ceramic tile and mosaic.
Marko Johnson - has been a Utah artist and designer for over 35 years. His ever-evolving interests have led from leatherwork to drum making. The more recent quest for spiritual enlightenment has led to the discovery of the connection to nature through the universal frequencies of the Didjeridoo. This 40,000-year-old wind instrument has only recently been released to the world by the Australian Aboriginal people as a symbol of universal harmony and to bridge the gap between the races. The art of Didjeridoo making, decorating, playing, recording and performing, as well as, teaching others to play and achieve circular breathing has become his passion.
Jenni Lou Oakes - met Beth and Jimmy while she was teaching Theatre at Neumont University, producing computer-generated live theatre, and she's thrilled to be a part of Nel Tempo di Sogno! Jenni Lou recently enticed her daughter, Kaquyat, to move with her to Utah for the Greatest Snow on earth. They have enjoyed becoming a part of Salt Lake City's vibrant theatre scene and active film community. Since her arrival, Jenni Lou has been busy teaching, acting, directing, designing sets/costumes and touring as a professional stand up comedian. Plans to reprise her show Men: Where Would We Be Without Them, and How Do I Get There From Here?, originally directed by Sarah Morton at the Cleveland Public Theatre, have been postponed in favor of an upcoming ensemble production, her wedding with Greg Rasmussen.
Eliza Wren - is part actress, part singer/songwriter, part filmmaker and part German. As an actress she has appeared in over seventy theatre, television and film productions with everything from the Geeky Girl in Disney's Return to Halloweentown to the rock chick guitarist in I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer to an interviewer for the Sundance Film Festival. As a singer/songwriter, banjo, guitar and accordion player she heads the rock band: Eliza Wren and the Jewel Thieves, Spaghetti western influenced band: Haun's Mill Massacre and avant-horror band: Hallicrafters. She has performed for the 2002 Winter Olympics, SXSW (Austin), NXNE (Canada) & Anti-folk (NY, NY) festivals and even for the President of Iceland.
Utah TechnologistsJ. Dean Brederson (Audio Engineer) - began his creative endeavors at a young age in his home state of New York, studying painting, sculpture, guitar, and saxophone. Later he switched musical tastes to classical piano, and pursued his education at the Eastman School of Music, New York University, and the Conservatory at Indiana University. After several years as a professional touring musician, Dean returned to school to study mathematics and computer science, a pursuit that ultimately led him to Utah for graduate studies in haptics, virtual reality, and scientific computation. He currently works as an R&D engineer for a local neurotechnology company, and engages his creative muse in his spare time.
Joe Breen (Networking) - is the Assistant Director of Networking at the Center for High Performance Computing. He heads up a group of people that provide day-to-day and advanced networking for several research groups. His group also collaborates with research groups around the University of Utah to support their networking needs, especially in the areas of upcoming protocols, integration with computer grids, etc. Outside of these activities, Joe chairs the University of Utah Network Forum, is an active member of the University of Utah Information Technology Advisory Council and participates in other technical groups such as the wireless committee and IP Address Management committee. Joe works with universities and colleges outside the University of Utah and works very closely with the Utah Education Network to support various areas of research needs. Joe also participates in working groups coordinated by Internet 2, i.e. multicast and IPv6.
Sam Liston (Access Grid Node Operations) - has been motivated creatively, as of late, in three quite different directions: first photography. His love for capturing abstract images has been moving him more and more toward stop motion photography; no longer working with just an abstract instance in time, but segments. Second, he has developed a passion for creating small art deco wood boxes. Third, with the help of applications like Softimage XSI and Maya, 3D animation has become an interesting outlet for creativity.
Colin McDermott (Access Grid Performance Manager) - was born on Long Island New York on August 16th 1989. He grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah where he attended West High School. Colin started attending the University of Utah in the Fall of 2007 and is studying Film. This is Colin's first InterPlay participation, working for Another Language as Access Grid Performance Manager.
Natalie Murdock (Director of Photography) - is a Senior in the Film Studies program at the U. Originally from Ft. Duchesne, UT she now lives and works in Salt Lake City. While at the U she has worked on several short film projects and produced a radio show on the student run radio station K-UTE. Currently, she is directing a series of audio and video podcasts for University College Advising at the University of Utah and finishing a personal 16mm film project.
Andrew Thomas Koonce (Camera Operator) - hails from the snow capped mountains of Norway. Born to an American Father and a Norwegian Mother, Andrew has lived in five countries and over thirty households, never having lived in one home longer than three years. Andrew arrived in Salt Lake City in 2003 and is a student by day and moonlights as a filmmaker by night.
Amy Bronson (Camera Assistant) - is originally from West Chester, PA. She is finishing her degree at the University of Utah and recently interned for indieWIRE during the Sundance Film Festival. She has spent the last year completing her film project Backstroke and is a candidate for Valedictorian for the class of 2007.
University of Alaska-Fairbanks and The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center in Fairbanks, Alaska
Miho Aoki - was born in Tokyo, Japan. She studied at the Advanced Computing Center or Arts and Design and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Ohio State University in 1998. She is currently teaching digital art at University of Alaska-Fairbanks and is a joint faculty member of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. Her art works were exhibited at Well Street Art Gallery (Fairbanks, AK), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Japan), University of Alaska Museum of the North and Aichi Prefecture Ceramics Museum (Japan). She also participated in multimedia performances and created computer generated graphics for collaborative projects. Recently, she has been involved in long-distance collaborative performances, InterPlay produced by Another Language Performing Arts Company. Her computer generated animations are shown on TV broadcasts on PBS Alaska One and also in PBS NOVA (WGBH Boston) show.
Carrie Baker - is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an actor recently based in New York City. She is a member of Actor's Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild and a founding company member of New York City's Coyote Rep. New York Theatre credits include: New Age Classics, New Perspectives Theatre Company, NYU Festival of New Works, and Manhattan Theatre Source. Regional Theatre credits include: Utah Shakespearean Festival, Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre, Irvine Barclay Theatre, Summer Repertory Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company, Potomac Theatre Project, and Washington Stage Guild. TV: Guiding Light, commercial voiceovers. Film: Eat Me. Carrie performed contact improvisation movement for last spring's Interplay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek with Another Language Performing Arts Company. This fall she directed Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain at Theatre UAF and acted in a staged reading of Home Again at the Women Playwrights International conference in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is currently acting in The Sound of a Voice with the Arctic Region Super Computing Center. Carrie holds a B.A. in Theatre and English from Middlebury College and a Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of California, Irvine.
Scott Deal - is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he is also a Research Affiliate at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. An active performer of new music, he has been a soloist at Sub Tropics New Music Festival, May in Miami, SEAMUS International Electronic Music Conference, He has also performed as a soloist or chamber musician at venues in London, Boston, Washington, DC, Moscow, Russia, as well as throughout the United States. Dr. Deal is president of the Percussive Arts Society, Alaska Chapter and is a frequent contributor of articles and service to PAS and MENC. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Miami, a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cameron University.
Alaska TechnologistsPaul E. Mercer, Jr. r'sccess Grid Node Operations) - returned in 2001 to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks to work on a second Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. While studying for his degree, he workd at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center where his research project was the Access Grid. This launched a new career for him at ARSC where he soon became the Access Grid Project Leader. Paul also recruits student employees and guides them through their research projects. Born in Los Angeles in the first half of the previous century, Paul has a restless spirit, which explains his tumultuous job history. He has in turn been a soldier, gardener, teacher, commercial fisherman, featured extra in a major motion picture, toy store owner, beverage distributor, hardware salesman and now finally, a visualization systems analyst. Somewhere along the way he earned a degree in math and a teaching certificate. He came to Alaska in 1978, spending a dozen years teaching and living in rural, remote villages. He enjoys spending time with his wife and two grown children. In his spare time he has several ongoing projects including building a wilderness cabin, rebuilding a 1946 Ford pickup and remodeling his home. He also enjoys getting "down and dirty" in his garage, traveling and fishing.
Donovan Kienenberger (Camera Operator) - is the unseen cameraman behind The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center's Access Grid productions. He has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Alaska - Fairbanks. It is theorized that if he is ever seen on camera, a cascade of events will start in motion that will cause the eventual destruction of the Universe. So, behind the scenes he works diligently using the powers of gaffers tape, multiple extension cords and light stands to keep the macrocosm from tipping over and ripping itself apart.
Alaska Student ParticipantsSomer Hahm - is an artist currently working to complete a Masters in Fine Arts Degree with an emphasis in painting and drawing from the University of Alaska - Fairbanks. Somer received a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Montana in 2005. She was awarded the Presidential Student of the Year Award in Fine Arts (2005), the Marie Wallace Art Scholarship (2004), and an L.S. Fellowship (2001). Currently, she is instructing painting and drawing classes at the University of Alaska, as well as maintaining a position as the Gallery Coordinator for the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Art Gallery. Hahm is represented by Well St. Art Company of Fairbanks and the Annex Art Space of Ester, AK.
Dave Krnavek - is a graduate student in Computer Science at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks and is currently a research assistant with the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. Working with Scott Deal has given Dave the chance to experience new areas and aspects of programming with an emphasis on audio applications. His graduate project, appropriately named D.A.V.E., utilizes a pair of cameras to detect a user's hand positions in three dimensions, then uses this information to manipulate sounds in real-time.
Chao Peng - was born in Qinhuangdao, China. After earning his Bachelor's Degree in Architecture, he came to the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, and is focused on 3D-animation and computer generated art. He is a graduate research assistant at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC), and has created 3D models and fictitious buildings of Fairbanks around 1910 for a project in ARSC. In 2006, he worked with University of Alaska Museum of the North to create the animations about the history of Alaska native people.
Siyuan Wang - was born in China. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the Hebei University of Engineering in China. She is attending the University of Alaska - Fairbanks for her Master's Degree since September 2005. Her major is Computer Art, and she is a graduate research assistant at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC). She has participated in the projects: Visual History: Walk Through Fairbanks In 1910, Interplay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek (2006) for Another Language Performing Arts Company and the history education animation film: The History of Alaska Native People, which is cooperated between ARSC and the University of Alaska Museum of the North.
Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts
Junko Fujiwara Simons - is an active freelance musician and educator living in the Merrimack Valley region. She is currently a member of the Black Dust New Music Ensemble, Kalliope Piano Trio, the Latitude Jazz Ensemble, Transcendental Snake Charmer improvisational ensemble, and Another Language Performing Arts Company InterPlay Series (an ensemble "Combining different art forms in innovative ways and broadening access to cutting-edge performance art with today's technology"). She has also participated in coronetist and composer-conductor Lawrence 'Butch' Morris's Conduction series and has collaborated with Mr. Morris to form New England Skyscraper - a branch of his ongoing Conduction project. Ms. Simons holds adjunct faculty positions at Boston College and Phillips Academy in Andover giving cello lessons and coaching chamber music; and she also teaches private students. Prior to moving to Boston, Ms. Simons performed around Wisconsin with organizations such as the Green Bay Symphony, the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, the Racine Symphony, Festival City Symphony, and the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Simons has collaborated and recorded with Telecognac, Shinobu Sato, and Voir Dire; samples of her work can be found on the Waterbug and Sonomu labels. Ms. Simons has a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. She has studied with Judy Stone of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, as well as with Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Richard Hirschl, John Pegis, Robert Sw an, and participated in a master class with principal cellist John Sharp.
Boston TechnologistRobert Putnam (Access Grid Node Operations and Audio Processing) - is Senior Systems/Applications Engineer in the Scientific Computing and Visualization Group at Boston University, where he develops audio software and content for teleconferencing and virtual environments.
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
John Toenjes - is the Music Director of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Dance, and the President of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance. John has played classes all over the world for master teachers and at dance workshops, and has had more than 30 scores performed by dance companies and universities. Recent collaborators include NY-based choreographer Todd Williams, whose company WilliamsWorks premiered Value Intensity (a 30-minute score for live recorded vocal loops, interactive computer software, and rock and roll trio) as the opening concert of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival in New York in February 2006, and choreographer David Marchant, with whom he created Leonardo's Chimes, an interactive music/dance work premiered at Washington University in St. Louis, and presented it in its final form at the UI Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in November 2006. This year, John is a UI Madden Fellow in Technology and the Arts. He is spending this year making new dance works and art installations featuring interactive computer technology as it applies to dance and movement-based arts, and developing a university curriculum based upon his research.
Illinois Student ParticipationChun-Chen Chang - is a second-year graduate student from Taiwan. She holds the Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship from the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois. Her works The Trace of Flowers and Moon, and Silence Within have been shown at the University of Illinois. She also has performed in works by Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, Anna Sapozhnikov and John Dayger. Chun-Chen is currently working with Kirstie Simson, Tere O'Connor, and Kate Corby.
Illinois TechnologistMichael Miller (Access Grid Node Operations) - received his Bachelor of Music Composition at the University of Montana and his Master of Music Composition at The Ohio State University. After working for a regional computer retailer in Columbus OH, Michael joined the staff of the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at Ohio State. He spent five years there building and maintaining the Emerging Technologies Studio. There, he was involved with SIGGRAPH as a committee member of the Creative Applications Laboratory. Contacts at SIGGRAPH led him to take his current position as a System Engineer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He currently works with Access Grid and other teleconferencing technologies and supports media and other events at NCSA. Michael spends most of his time researching AG and maintaining AGSchedule a calendar used by the global AG community to schedule AG meetings.
Paul Ponder (Access Grid Node Operations) - hails from Champaign, Illinois. Growing up the son of an Air Force navigator and Interior Decorator, he has cultivated a love of art through travel in Europe and visiting many galleries and museums. An avid captive-bred coral reef aquarium keeper, Paul views his tank as a living sculpture and often uses it as the subject of his digital photography. Joining NCSA in 2006, he works as a Systems Engineer and operates Access Grid nodes.
University of Maryland - College Park in College-Park, Maryland
Peter Rogers - hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Rogers was born and raised a third generation Seattlite, but calls the beautiful Sonoma County, California home. Odd then, that he should be currently living in Maryland. Still, he finds time to pursue his love of writing, and occasionally acting, and has been privileged to perform inInterPlay: Loose Minds in a Box and InterPlay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek. Peter holds aMasters in Theatre Arts, but don't hold that against him. Peter is the Technical Director of the Ugly DucklingTheatre, and Chief Executive Director of the independent film company Rubber Chicken Productions.
Maryland Student ParticipantsNadja Masura - participating in her fourth InterPlay. Generally, she coordinates the local production and contributes text, video imagery, and performs (movement and speech). In addition to InterPlays, Nadja enjoys participating in other productions with the ArtGrid community. She authored and coordinated Outside In, a multi-site performance which utilized the poetry and metaphor of Emily Dickinson to parallel to the individual's ability reach outside of one's self through poetic imagination with the Access Grid's ability to connect physically disparate outdoor environments. She also coordinated Elements, an interdisciplinary digital media performance featuring Compass Points, an original script created and performed collaboratively online with Jimmy and Beth Miklavcic. Currently a Winneamore Fellow at MITH, Nadja came to the University of Maryland as a Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities fellow in Theatre and Digital Technology. She has presented papers on ArtGrid at IFTR, ATHE, and The Planetary Collegium in the UK. Nadja is in the final process of completing her dissertationinvestigating the evolving field of Digital Theatre and the ways in which using digital media in live performance can expand our perceptions of the body, place, and community.
Julie Zdanoski - is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches courses in the philosophical and social foundations of education. She is the author of a textbook on intercultural communication and has lived in Japan, Turkey, Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation. She has thus traversed not only multiple time zones, but also multiple conceptions of and lived experiences of time.
Maryland TechnologistPaul D. Jackson (Access Grid Node Operations) - has been the Technical Director/Lighting Designer for theDepartment of Dance at the University of Maryland since 1980. He has also been Production Stage Manager/LightingDesigner for Maryland Dance Theater, IMPROVISATIONS UNLIMITED, thompson & trammel, Virginia Repertory Dance Company, Contemporary Dance Theater, North Carolina State University Dance Company, Jan Taylor Dance Theater, Meriam Rosen Dance Theatre Works, Karen and Alvin, Kinetics Dance Theater, Tony Powell/Music & Movement, Lacey & Shade, Mill/Wiltz/Works, The Arts Division of M-NCPPC, Prince George's County, and the Kennedy Center's Washington Dance! Front and Centerprograms. Emerging as a festival specialist, Paul has been the Production Manager for the National American College Dance Festival gala concerts at the Terrace Theatre and at Tawes Theatre since 1994, and has been Technical Director and Production Manager for three regional ACDFA festivals. Paul received a BFA in dance performance from the University of Utah, and an MA in dance production at the Ohio State University. Paul spent five years pioneering modern dance in the Dakotas with his wife Moira. He remained active as a dancer through the mid '90's, performing in works by Meriam Rosen, Alvin Mayes, Anne Warren, Larry Warren, and Robert Ellis Dunn.
Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
Indiana Student Participation
Timothy J. Rogers - is a Ph.D student in the College of Technology and works at Purdue's Envision Center for Data Perceptualization as a Graduate Research Scientist in Immersive Mixed-Reality Spaces. With a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Washington and an M.S. in Technology from Purdue, TJ's research focus is on the design and creation of innovative learning spaces and live performance environments of the future.