Mt Rushmore + Workshop Tour:

Sri Lanka

Colombo: a week long international theater festival in the beautiful, sweaty capital of Sri Lanka, in the wake of a major political upheaval and uprisings.  Joined by my colleague Ujwala Rao, we brought my show Mt Rushmore for the culminating night.  I also taught a street theater workshop intensive for a group of local Sri Lankan artists who flung themselves out into the street with abandon.  Fascinating to watch South East Asian theater and other shows from across Europe and observe the cultural differences, the centuries of tradition and mythology to draw from unlike our still fledgling country. Very grateful to be welcomed into this festival and to meet all the wonderful people, volunteers, organizers and artists who made it happen. 

Ella, Sri Lanka

After the festival I had a couple sweet days to explore Ella, a tropical mountain paradise with lush hillsides of tea farmland in the center of Sri Lanka. I rented a motor scooter and zipped around the switch back roads dodging families of monkeys who leap from tree branches and look like 80s pop princesses with their rosy cheeks and dark purple lipstick and discovering waterfall hikes hidden deep in the jungle. Went to lunch at an old cliffside hotel where a woman was singing American country and disco songs.  Made it to one of the tallest peaks where a pristine Buddhist monastery was perched with devotees in all white circling and kneeling in prayer. On the way down my engine stalled so I coasted all the way down through the sharp curvy road. It was magnificent. 

India

 Guwahati, Assam India.

I was welcomed into the Bhullung-Bhuthur International Theater Festival in north eastern India wedged between Bhutan and Bangladesh. A small but ambitious festival taking place at a lovely cultural complex with a museum, gardens, auditoriums, artists residencies. I taught a physical storytelling workshop with a delightful group of Sri Lankan artists and I performed Mt Rushmore. Unfortunately I only got to see one other show before leaving to return back to Bangalore for my run here, it was a dark, compelling show based on Catch 22 by a Polish theater maker with powerful video elements.  But we did get to have a good after-show party back at the hotel sharing songs and dances and local sweets and liquors and I feel like I have another community here, my South East Asian siblings. 

Bangalore.

I returned after the Assam festival for a couple shows at the Ranga Shankara theater in Jayanagar. Thanks to the excellent producing work by Ujwala Rao, I had packed houses with hundreds of audience members.  Even in the massive space, the theater allows a deeper intimacy and I felt a new closeness with the audience. The cultural references and political context landed with an English proficient audience. I was grateful to speak with many people afterwards who shared similar stories and struggles. Fascism may wear a different mask but its impact is the same around the world and the complex relationships we have with our families echo one another.

Written and performed by Monica Hunken
Previous iterations directed by Nehemiah Luckett and Theresa Buchheister
Dramaturgy by Josh Bisker
Music Direction by Phil Andrews
India tour is produced, stage managed and sound executed by Ujwala Rao 

Lights executed by Arun
Play consultation by Melissa Chambers
Ranga Shankara poster designed by Sushma 
Special Thanks to @livesinthoughtbubbles  @shredasaur and @iareism 

The last day I taught a workshop in physical storytelling with a lovely group of artists, teachers and activists at Bangalore Creative Circus and we shared a meal after discussing censorship and the life of an artist. All of this was set against the lively backdrop of the Ganesh festival, celebrating the abundant gifts of the elephant faced god with clay statues decked in yellow marigolds and roses being carried through the streets, bells rung and drummers on motorcycles stopping traffic for a song, fireworks and twinkle lights strung everywhere. The remover of obstacles, and I felt a little of that magic rubbed off on me, as I was my biggest obstacle, coming into this tour full of self doubt. Having devoted all my energy to activism and letting my solo theater practice sit on the shelf for awhile. It’s been a welcome adventure to dive back in. Thanks to everyone who supported and helped me tell a story I needed to tell.

Greece

Athens. Reveled in my ongoing love affair with this city. As sensual as it is biting, direct and clear. Like oil sizzling in a frying pan. I climbed the hills of Gyzi each day with stray cats as my skittish goddesses cheering me on, putting posters around the streets, visiting old friends, drinking Freddo Cappuccino and made it to the sea on my last day in the crystal blue Saronic Gulf and Tasos brought me to a concert in Pireaus port commemorating the death of Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas, who was killed by neo fascist group Golden Dawn in 2013. Punk bands and hip hop artists with a crowd chanting for justice lit by red flares under the full moon. And I performed at the beautiful experimental space Ov Off space curated and run by the great artist Nefeli Stam.  

Thanks to the audience who joined, @panoskeys for accompanying me and for photos, Angelene Mavroulides for bravely doing sound, @becka_musica for the support, @sildasi for helping produce the show, @nefeli_stam._ for making it all happen, @theklaga for the future!, @georggeorgakopoulos for culturing me, @evdokimos_tsolakidis_official for everything and dearest Tasos and @sissy_doutsiou for housing me

Egypt

I was invited to return to the Alexandria International Theater Festival, where I taught a master class in Street Performance.  In a country that instills fear in its citizens, feels threatened by the power of unified people gathering in public to express themselves, it was thrilling to trespass outside the bounds of the workshop walls and into the streets with the courageous workshop participants. After three days of learning techniques, building vocabulary and trust, improvising outdoors, the participants created unique performances about isolation, power, capitalism and life in the city, interacting with the architecture and passers by. I am inspired by the bravery and willingness of the group to try something new and maybe a little scary. As I’ve learned from my visit to Palestine and solidarity organizing with the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, those who want to maintain authority understand the power and magnetism of cultural and creative activation. We must keep creating together across borders, keep sharing, learning, telling stories and expressing our truth, even if we shake with fear. So grateful for the community in Alexandria who has been so generous and thoughtful. Photos by Asmaa Khali 

After two months of feverish touring, it’s a welcome return to autumn in New York. The last part of my tour was spent in Egypt at the Alexandria International Theater Festival. This is my second year attending and I hope to return again. Especially as an American, I feel deeply privileged to witness the art and culture of and be in community with performers and artists from Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Sudan, Egypt and many other countries across the SWANA region, that I would otherwise rarely have the opportunity to see. In the first 5 minutes of the Vice Presidential debate we see the assumed disposability of people from these lands. There is constant systematic dehumanization of SWANA people. In US portrayals, they can either be terrorists or victims, defined by suffering. What a gift to be immersed in a festival watching several plays night after night where there is no intermediary, no newscaster or sleazy politician spinning the truth, where these artists have direct agency to tell their own stories and be celebrated. You will never convince me that the life of a Palestinian or Lebanese or Syrian does not have as much value as any American. The art and culture has as much value and deserves to be seen, to be held and preserved.

How humbling it is to be welcomed into a festival like this, as an American, and feel absolutely no judgement from anyone, no assumptions about me because of my government, to instead be so generously embraced and befriended. 
How can we live in a world where I get to return so easily to my country which supplies bombs to Israel while an all women theater company from Lebanon is not sure if their homes will even be standing or if they can return at all?
It is upside down and heartbreaking.

I am beyond grateful to the festival leadership, to Gamal Yakout, Ibrahim, Ahmed Samir, to the kind volunteers, to the brilliant jury team held together by the strength and dexterity of Nadet Adel, to performances that will stay emblazoned in my mind, especially the winning production, Casper, which reflected the Palestinian struggle for liberation with as much beauty, urgency and fortitude as it deserves. Gratitude for my students in the workshop who showed courage and imagination. And immense gratitude to my dear friends the eloquent Aya Mohsen for translating, the genuine Mahmoud Latif for logistics and negotiating, and of course the effervescently talented Ahmed Raheem.  All my love and solidarity forever.

Upcoming:

A tour with Al Límite Collective in Pakistan, Austria and Greece





Update 2023

It has been awhile since I have posted here. Much has occurred! Here’s whats coming up

My theater company, Al Límite Collective, has been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Council Creative Equations Fund: Cultural Heritage and Diversity for our next iteration of Brooklyn is Not a Sacrifice Zone. We will continue to collaborate with grassroots organizers mobilizing against the North Brooklyn Pipeline.

Summer Tour Dates Announced:

This summer a contingent of Al Límite Collective will set out across Europe to facilitate workshops, devise new work with local communities and perform in theater festivals across five countries.   We are excited to reconnect with migrant and refugee centers and autonomous arts spaces that we have built relationships with over years and to share our performances for the first time at eclectic festivals reopening after pandemic shut downs. 

June 7th-11th
Crato, Portugal
Waking Life Festival


June 12th-16th
Paris, France
In the streets


June 18th-21st
Vienna, Austria
Brunnenpassage Workshops and Performance


June 29th-July 2nd
Athens, Greece
Embros
Performance of Electric Awakening


July 6th
Athens, Greece
International Festival of Making Theater
Performance of Electric Awakening


July 10th-15th
Lanzarote, Spain
Lacuna Festival
Performance of Electric Awakening and Workshop
 

Donate to support our work and help get us there: Venmo @LiminalArchive

Follow @allimitecollective to see updates and stay in touch

www.allimitecollective.com

Rainbow Bridge Tour 2019/ 2020

BorderLine Crisis Help Center



I reconnected with friends from Border Church who have opened a new migrant community center in Tijuana and spent a week in organizing efforts with them.  If you have interest in volunteering or sending funds or donations to support their work there, please contact them through the Facebook page.

Currently they offer support to vulnerable families who are waiting for their immigration appointments.  They provide supplies, food, coffee, clothes, medical needs, internet, international phone calls, a place to rest, classes in English and art, connecting people to housing and shelters, accompaniments to court dates and check ins, sessions with social workers and therapists, toys, games and books for children. 

Although there are other groups that offer legal support and housing, this space is unique in how humanizing it is, how it offers space for people to rest and be together with dignity, outside the constant processing mechanisms.  During times of crisis, we must remember our humanity.  I hope you can support.

Lunar Release



Our retreat in Jalisco, Mexico was so much more than I could have expected.   We held lunar rituals every night, were treated to a Temezcal ceremony by a local medicine woman, we celebrated the Virgen de Guadalupe out in the streets with dancing and towers of fire crackers, yoga, creative movement, tango dancing, fire, delicious food, massage and healing every day by an ancient lake surrounded by mountains.  Longing for the next one already.

Arctic Circle Artist Residency



Way up in the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Circle, I am working with a team of international artists on developing a play about regaining your strength and spirit after sexual assault.  It is an object theater show about one woman's story of survival from an attempted rape by a group of powerful men.  In a dramatic landscape where the sun appears, if it does, only from 10:30am to 2pm, and blizzards often rain down upon us with driving snow the likes I have never witnessed, any light is precious and revered.  It is a fitting, if not challenging, place to reflect on  the current catastrophes in the world.

The Night The Earth Shook



-Collaboration with Husam Abed and Reka Deak at Brunnenpassage, an immigrant cultural center in Vienna and several arts spaces in Prague, with dancers, performers, artists and others co-devising a piece in public spaces about climate change and mass migration through investigating the myth of the Rainbow Bridge.

Spring Tour 2018: Iceland, Mexico, Russia, Greece, Austria

My new show:

I spent an incredible month at the Fish Factory in Iceland developing a new solo work with music.   I will be performing in the Milwaukee Fringe in late August and the Charm City Fringe Festival in Baltimore in November.  TBA other performances coming soon! 

The play weaves together events in my personal family history –  – turns and twists of US politics since the 80’s and imaginary alternative life trajectories. The fantastical story includes espionage, dark humor, friendship and second chances and is filled with live punk music and karaoke.  Still in development!

At the border

Workshops and Happenings with The Living at the Mexican Border: 

 As the world watches the massive deportations and atrocities the US government continues to commit against immigrants, The Living Theatre headed to the frontlines.  We organized a series of workshops and daily performance interventions with locals in Tijuana and San Ysidro, criss crossing the border in the summer heat;  just a taste of what locals experience regularly.  Thanks to our collaborators at Nett Nett and The Front Arte Cultura for hosting us and inviting us into your beautiful, strong communities.   Our daily performance acts addressed femicide, border control, human connection and culminated with a homemade saint procession through the center of Tijuana's Zona Rosa neighborhood with gifts of love notes, humor, chocolates, and balloons. 

Check out The Living

and videos of some of the performances from Jessica Daugherty

Back to the occupied homeland

I traveled for three weeks with my mother to our unrecognized ancestral homeland in North Ossetia, occupied by Russia, at the southern border above Georgia.  You can read more about my experience there in this post.

Athens

JAFRA:

I volunteered for two weeks at Jafra, a Palestinian organization that supports and offers free programming for all refugees.  I taught theater to children, teens and adults and a special workshop for staff on how to teach theater and use it for healing.   While I was there, the children's space, along with all of its programming, got shut down by the Municipality of Athens because of licensing, one of the ways the city is cracking down on NGO and volunteer-run centers for refugees.   Please take action and get involved with this stellar organization that offers free Arabic, English, Math, computer access, drama, crafts, music and more.  

REV. BILLY and THE CHURCH OF STOP SHOPPING:

The timing worked that I was able to I rejoin my NYC choir family for the Greek Festival.  We had some hopping revivals in Saint Paul's Church and outdoor interventions in Syntagma Square, the site of the uprising 7 years ago, when I first came to Athens, and down through the center of the shopping/ tourist district.  The Church of Stop Shopping launched the beginning of their global movement, Tourists Against Trump.

 Words from the Rev:

#TOURISTSAGAINSTTRUMP . No meaningful change can take hold in the United States until we solve Consumerism. What is this society where 2/3's of our residents run their everyday lives through instructions they receive from the products that surround them? American life seems to be genetically engineered to resist the end of racism and sexism, or the Earth-hating of the big financial institutions. We have found that international tourists, the most depoliticized of the consumer sector - are roused to anger by the children-in-cages of this President. We also found in a high tourist and high refugee city, Athens Greece, that high-end consumers and immigrants could dance together. Will the consumers look up from their iPhones? We see them look up and discovering. And that's the wall coming down. #TOURISTSAGAINSTTRUMP

Vienna

I returned to Brunnenpassage to participate in the culmination of a month long photography workshop on Love, Loss and Longing.  I offered a workshop in expressing these ideas through the body in ensemble creations and street performance.  

...

45 Performances Against Fascism

photo by Sarah Berkeley

Through waves of feeling overwhelmed by the constant state of crisis we face daily, I have decided to express my discontent with our government and prevailing systems of oppression: racism, sexism, white supremacy, heterosexism, ableism, capitalism and the human-caused climate change- through a series of performance art pieces.  

I will continue to organize, protest, lead trainings as other ways of directly engaging but feel the need to engage artistically in a more immediate visceral form.  It is a complete experiment and we will see what happens.  

I will perform 45 pieces that will respond to what's happening in the world around me.  Sometimes I will share videos, sometimes just photos, depending on what is possible.   Sometimes it might go on for hours.  Sometimes it might be only a couple minutes long.  Sometimes it will be funny.  Sometimes somber.  Sometimes abstract, sometimes concrete.  It is one stream of consciousness response from my heart.

Here we go....

Living Theatre Know Your Rites Summer Tour

The Living Theatre, the longest running experimental theater company formed in 1947, is about to embark on a three week journey across the United States of America for the Know Your Rites Tour.   

As our country becomes increasingly disillusioned and mired in the election process, thousands of votes swallowed in the system, voices squashed, the least liked candidates ever running for office whose politics are based on hate speech, war mongering and corporate influence, mass murders prompted by bigotry and fear, innumerable refugees fleeing countries we have destabilized through war, we choose this time to travel through the middle of America to offer an alternative.  

We offer a reawakening to one’s rights and rites.   We will hold mass public rituals in the streets, at corporate headquarters, bank lobbies, fossil fuel sites of destruction.  We will lead non-violent direct action trainings.  We will perform an updated revival of one of the most significant shows in our repertoire, Seven Meditations on Political Sado-Masochism, a piece created by the company after being released from a prison in Brazil and focused on the torturous abuses by the Brazilian police.

The Living will travel to large metropolisesas well as small towns to engage with communities in theatrical interventions and rituals.  

We take up the charge from our recently dearly departed co-founder, Judith Malina, an indefatigable source of radical artistry.  In her name, we trek across the states offering a version of the beautiful non-violent anarchist revolution.

The Know Your Rites Tour begins on August 15, 2016 in New York City.  We traveled to multiple cities along the way including: 

8/15 Troy, NY

8/15 Buffalo, NY 

8/16 Niagara Falls, NY 

8/17 Flint, MI 

8/17 Detroit, MI

8/18-8/19 Chicago, IL

8/20 Normal, IL

8/21 St. Louis, MO

8/22 Wichita, KS

8/23 Denver, CO

8/24-8/25 San Francisco, CA

8/26 Big Sur, CA

8/27 Los Angeles, CA

8/28 Las Vegas, NE

8/29 Phoenix, AZ

8/29 Tucson, AZ

8/30 Las Cruces, NM

8/31 Austin, TX

9/1 Houston, TX

9/2 New Orleans, LA

9/3 Birmingham, AL

9/4 Knoxville, TN

Performances:

-a performance of "Seven Meditations on Political Sadomasochism" 

A visceral examination of the social contract between the governed and the government, Seven Meditations was written after Malina and members of the company were imprisoned-and some tortured-by the Médici dictatorship in Brazil in 1973. Considered one of the company's most significant pieces, the play explores Sacher-Masoch's Six Houses of Bondage: Love, Money, Property, State, War and Death, with a seventh meditation on Revolutionary Change.

-a reading of excerpts from "Full Moon Poems", Judith Malina's last published book or from any of her writings.  Including a discussion on the practices of the Living Theatre with the company

- a ritualistic street performance that the company can create based on the specific needs/ interests of the local community.  We would love to collaborate with you by responding to an immediate injustice and building a "happening" around that issue in a site-specific format

Workshops:

- a non-violent direct action training facilitated by members of the company that may include elements of our brand of ensemble movement techniques

- a Theater of the Oppressed workshop facilitated by members of the company

- Living Theatre ensemble theater exercises facilitated by the company.

Europe Tour 2015!

Return from the old countries... and more

The quick but packed tour to Europe was fantastyczny! (yeah, that's fantastic in Polish)  
 

Euro Highlights:

- "Meetings with the Storytellers of the World" in Lublin, Poland 

at Grodzka Gate Center-NN Theatre in really good company with some of the best storytellers of Europe. Packed festival!  

-Bicycling from Krakow into the Moravian fields of Czech Republic, getting lost in forests, rolling hills, epic mountain views, constant rain followed by forgiving rainbow.

- Performed at Studio Alta and taught a physical storytelling workshop in Prague with the great Husam Abed, who performed an intimate puppet show about his family's life in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan.

-Taught a Site-Specific Theater for Social Change workshop in a cultural center in the heart of an immigrant hood of Vienna and caused some trouble out in the streets, gambling joints and bank lobbies with a bunch of new friends, through the generous help of the Riahi Brothers- creators of the film Everyday Rebellion. 

- Had a couple glorious days to connect with friends in Berlin where spontaneous tango milongas, slack-line and Bauhaus abound.  Went to a Gorki show of men brutally flinging one another around in a sand pit and was embraced by a sweaty sandy dancer mid show. Thanks, Melissa Chambers.

-*Extra: This trip was predominantly safe and I encountered little mishap, although 

one night I did miss a train and spent the night in a construction site on the street, 

greeted by the 4am sun.   I've still got it. ;)

Thank you to everyone who hosted me and made this trip successful.  

I am so grateful.