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Jungle Serial: Words + Music

3 Incredible Collaborations, 6 Local Artists, One Unforgettable Experiment 
Available to stream August 2 - 27

New Stories, New Ways — Jungle Serial was developed out of the desire for artists and audiences alike to dive into new ways of experiencing theater, as well as supporting artists during a time when our stage is dark. Our next installment of this inventive series is Jungle Serial: Words + Music.

This new project pairs local writers and musicians, forming a collaboration that flips the writing process for our creators. Featuring a variety of genres, the created pieces from Words + Music’s musicians will act as an inspirational springboard for our writers, with the final outcome bringing these new works together for an hour of musical entertainment.

FEATURING

About the pieces

AN ORPHAN CONSIDERS THE HAND OF GOD

By SUN YUNG SHIN, DAMEUN STRANGE
FROM SUN YUNG SHIN: "An Orphan Considers the Hand of God" is a meditation on power, war, and the intimacy of names. I write for all abandoned children, and those struggling under domination and the violence of borders.
FROM DAMEUN STRANGE: For this reworking of An Orphan Considers the Hand of God, I focused the phrase the "names of the renamed" reflecting on the connection between adoptees and enslaved people when we think of how white supremacy steals culture often starting with names. I create an atmosphere of waiting and longing for connecting and Belonging and wanting to feel human while being forced through an inhumane system. Underneath it all is a field recording from the Door of No Return in Senegal, West Africa where many enslaved Africans lost their names in transport to the Americas.

PANGEA REVERSED

By MICHAEL HANNA, ISABELLA STAR LABLANC
“Pangea Reversed” is a collection of song and poem, written and workshopped under the same roof, by roommates Michael Hanna and Isabella Star LaBlanc. The pair met while working at The Jungle as cast members in Kate Hamill’s Little Women in the fall of 2018, and have since become frequent collaborators. The piece explores, simultaneous feelings of great loneliness and connection, vulnerability and power, anger and hope. Stand-alone pieces often written on separate floors, but fortuitously in conversation with one another, “Pangea Reversed” is a product of one uptown houses' reckoning with a year of change.


GAYSIAN FUNFETTI

By SAYMOUKDA DUANGPHOUXAY VONGSAY, MAYDA
Featuring SARA OCHS

GAYSIAN FUNFETTI was inspired by Mayda's song, ACTIN' CRAZY. Two sisters, separated by time, taboos, and secrets, find themselves sharing an apartment after major break-ups with their lovers and family. What does it mean to be Southeast Asian, young, and gay as hell? What does it mean to be siblings, daughters, and lovers? And what is the recipe for Gaysian Funfetti cupcakes? Special thanks to Theater Mu for opening their rehearsal space for Mayda and I to write. Thanks to Sean and Earl for Friday’s recording session. Thanks to Christina and The Jungle for supporting Southeast Asian American stories.

 

How to purchase tickets

Tickets available August 2 - 27 for $15. Tickets also include ASL video version.

How to stream

Words + Music will be available to access through the Jungle’s website in any internet browser or tablet for ticket holders and will not require downloading any software or files.

Streaming password and link will be automatically sent out after ticket purchase.  

Ticket holders will be able to stream beginning on August 2 through August 27 although we do ask that you do not share your access links with people outside your household.

This activity made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant by the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.