about
OFF-LEASH AREA
MISSION & VISION
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MISSION
Off-Leash Area’s mission is to create and present original cross-disciplinary and risk-taking productions and programming, throughout the Twin Cities metro area, and at our Off-Leash Art Box venue, through which we enrich our local community and nurture independent voices within the performing arts. VISION OLA’s vision is to continue to push artistic boundaries and expand its capacity to guide, nurture, and sustain independent, often marginalized local artists throughout their careers. OLA is committed to sowing unity within our community by providing a platform for artistic inclusivity and ingenuity, building a stronger, and more sustainable arts community. |
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HISTORY
Off-Leash Area was founded in Minneapolis in 1999 and creates original interdisciplinary performance work.
Named after the public parks where dogs run untethered, OLA’s creative approach is likewise playful, crosses boundaries, and takes risks. The company is led by co-artistic directors Paul Herwig, visual and theater artist, and Jennifer Ilse, director and dance artist. In its 20 years OLA has created 27 original evening-length performance works, many short-form works, taught classes in Inverted Dance, workshops in Performance & Scenic Design, been commissioned by the Walker Art Center, the O’Shaughnessey, and collaborated with an ever growing community of the Twin Cities’ most exciting performance makers. Current OLA programs include: presenting its Main-stage Productions in Minneapolis venues, Micro-stage Productions in their own home/studio Our Garage, the Neighborhood Garage Tour which brings performance work directly into neighborhoods, and co-director Paul Herwig’s The Right Here Showcase, an annual mini-festival of independent mid-career Minnesota-based performance makers. OLA’s organic interdisciplinary approach was born out of the co-artistic directors’ desire to work together, and with each new production the collaboration between dance and theater begins anew. Once the Artistic Directors have developed a visual storyboard, designers are commissioned to contribute to the project, and performers are integral to developing material for the production. OLA is committed to uphold the transformative power of the live performance experience, trusting in the intelligence and capability of its audience to follow them on each new journey of the imagination. Our work often centers on a central character who resides in a marginalized place in society – a combat veteran, an immigrant child, a young woman suffering the onset of mental illness – and builds an experiential visual journey around this character that is uniquely presented, and universally recognizable. The focus on the individual in face of societal and life obstacles creates an intensely compressed emotional space between artist and audience. This is a space where artistic creativity is maximized in order to venture into unique performative dimensions where anything is possible, and a naturalistic presentation of everyday reality and the normal passage of time gives way to an out of body experience, which many audiences have described as contemplative, dreamy, otherworldly, and even spiritual. If there is any one theme that runs through all our work it is a belief in the resilience of the individual human spirit as it seeks to achieve growth and fulfillment in the face of personal and societal barriers. |
HERE ARE ALL THE COMMUNITY OF ARTISTS AND ARTS SUPPORTERS WHO HAVE WORKED WITH US OVER OUR FIRST 20 YEARS:
* - indicates multiple times we've worked together
89 PERFORMERS, DANCERS & ACTORS Jeffrey Bleam Alison Preston Adena Brumer Adri Mehra Amber Ellison Andi Cheney Ashleigh Penrod Becky Heist Brently Micheal Davis Bryan Gerber Carla Murphy Cathy Oman Choulette Evers Citlalitl De Leon Dana Buchwald David P Schneider Delta Giordano *Diane Aldis Emily Randa Erin Ditmarson Erin Drummond Erin Liebhard *Esther Ouray Evelyn Digirolamo *Heather Bunch Isabelle Morris Jaime Kleiman James Kennedy *Jennifer Mack Jerome Barnes *Jesse Neumann Peterson *Jim Lieberthal *Jodi Hodgeson Jody Blindauer John C. Heimbuch John Zeiler Jordan Klitzke *Judith Howard *Karla Grotting Katherine Griffis Katherine Sullivan Kathryn Andersom Kisha Richburg Larry Pontius Laurie White Lindsey Cacich Samples Lisa Conlin Marian Kimball Eichinger Megan O'Dell Mimi Holland Misty Bremmer Morgen Chang *Kym Longhi Non Edwards Pat McManus Paulino Brenner Pedro Fonseca Raymond Terrill Rebecca Surmont Rhoda Bloch Sally Rousse Sher Demeter Sophie Breitag Taja Will *Taous Claire Khazem Teresa Mock Virginia Krubsack *Zeb Henderson Shreve *Brian Evans *Christine Maginnis Darrius Strong Gregory Parks *Jesse Schmitz Boyd John Munger Joseph Bryan Crook Josh Scrimshaw *Kaori Kenmotsu *Katie Kaufmann Larissa Shea Michelle DiMeo Nancy Nair Nina Ebbighausen Penelope Freeh Renee Howard Vanessa Voskuil Michael Cohn Gerry Girouard Parisha Rajbhandari Rachel Lieberman Gemma Isaacson Heather Klopchin Julie Warder 5 - COMPOSERS (Jennifer often uses composers, Paul does not) *Ben Siems *Criag Harris *Marc Doty Phil Kalar *Reid Kruger 6 - LIGHTING DESIGNERS Julia Carlis Kevin Jones *Mike Grogan Tom Barrett *Paul Epton Heidi Eckwall 4 - WRITERS (we don't always have text) *Dominic Orlando Coco Mault *Marcie Rendon *Max Sparber 3 COSTUMERS (we've often done our own costumes) *Kym Longhi Sonja Berlovitz Jeanne Artzen SET DESIGN CONTRIBUTORS Jeffrey Morrison Shari Nyman Jerrod Grohs 23 BOARD MEMBERS AND SPECIAL ADVISORS * denotes current David O’Fallon Polly Carl Barb Spies Chaim Teitelbaum *Chris Hoppe Dave Sheppard Douglas DeMers Gwen Vahl Jenell Jacobson Justin Bausch Laura Taken Holtz *Mary White Mike Gottschalk *Michael Cohn Nancy Haberdank Pat McManus *Ray Terrill Robert Borman Scott Pakudaitis Sears Eldgredge *Sheila Path McMahon (Chair) Siana Goodwin Stefanie Galey Torre Erdahl DIRECTORS, OUTSIDE-EYES *Kym Longhi *Sears Eldgredge *Gerry Giroaurd Christine Maginnis |
