about
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​ OFF-LEASH AREA
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25 years in the twin cities community

​MISSION & VISION

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, 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 26 years OLA has created 36 original performance works, been commissioned by the Walker Art Center, the O’Shaughnessey, taught classes in Inverted Dance, workshops in Performance & Scenic Design, and collaborated with an ever growing community of the Twin Cities’ most exciting performance makers. Current OLA programs include: presenting its MainStage Productions in Minneapolis venues, MicroStage Productions in their own home/studio Our Garage, the Neighborhood Garage Tour which brings performance work directly into neighborhoods, and the Off-Kilter Cabaret, serving artists with disabilities. Always looking for new ways to support the community. Off-Leash Area launched its own performance space, The Off-Leash Art Box, to provide badly needed inexpensive rental rehearsal and performance space for independent, and emerging performing artists. Community programming at the Art Box inlcluded a choreographers' evening called Inbox & Outbox, produced with Hauss Dance, and Bark!Art! a neighborhood festival of art and dogs! The Art Box closed in 2020 as a result of financial hardship brought on by the COVID pandemic, and a significant lack of State or Municipal support for small arts organizations.

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.

​In recent years Off-Leash Area has embraced an all-abilities approach to performance making and presenting, forwarding a belief that all bodies should be seen on stage.

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HERE IS THE COMMUNITY OF ARTISTS  WHO HAVE WORKED WITH US OVER OUR FIRST 25 YEARS:

* - indicates multiple times we've worked together

PERFORMERS, DANCERS & ACTORS
Adena Brumer
Adri Mehra
Alison Preston
Amber Ellison
Andi Cheney
Ashleigh Penrod
Becky Heist
Brently Micheal Davis
*Brian Evans
Brianna Rivet
​Bryan Gerber
Carla Murphy
Cathy Oman
Choulette Evers
*Christine Macginnis
Citlalitl De Leon
Dana Buchwald
Darrius Strong
David P Schneider
Delta Giordano
*Diane Aldis
Emily Randa
Erin Ditmarson
Erin Drummond
Erin Liebhard
*Esther Ouray
Evelyn Digirolamo
*Gabriel Rodreick
Gabrielle Garcia
Gemma Isaacson
Gerry Girouard
Gregory Parks
*Heather Bunch
Heather Klopchin
Isabelle Morris
Jaime Kleiman
James Kennedy
Jeffrey Bleam
*Jennifer Mack
Jerome Barnes
*Jesse Neumann Peterson
*Jesse Schmitz Boyd
*Jim Lieberthal
*Jodi Hodgeson
Jody Blindauer
John C. Heimbuch
John Munger
John Zeiler
Jordan Klitzke
Joseph Bryan Crook
Joseph Wurm
Josh Scrimshaw
*Judith Howard
Julie Scott
Julie Warder
*Kaori Kenmotsu
*Karla Grotting
Katherine Griffis
Katherine Sullivan
Kathryn Andersom
*Katie Kaufmann
Kisha Richburg
*Kym Longhi
Larissa Shea
Larry Pontius
Laurie White
Lindsey Cacich Samples
Lisa Conlin
Marian Kimball Eichinger
Marie Scholtz
Megan O'Dell
Michael Cohn
Michelle DiMeo
Mimi Holland 
Misty Bremmer
Morgen Chang
Nancy Nair
Nieya Azmequita
Nina Ebbighausen
Non Edwards
Parisha Rajbhandari
Pat McManus
Paulino Brenner
Pedro Fonseca
Penelope Freeh
Rachel Lieberman
Raymond Terrill
Rebecca Surmont
Renee Howard
Rhoda Bloch
Sally Rousse
Sher Demeter
Sophie Breitag
Taja Will
*Taous Claire Khazem
Teresa Mock
Vanessa Voskuil
Virginia Krubsack
*Zeb Henderson Shreve

COMPOSERS
(Jennifer often uses composers, Paul does not)
Dameun Strange
​*Ben Siems
*Criag Harris
*Gabriel Rodreick (Freaque)
*Marc Doty
Nick Olson (Headtriiip)
Phil Kalar
*Reid Kruger

LIGHTING DESIGNERS
Heidi Eckwall
*Jenny Moeller
Julia Carlis
Kevin Jones
*Mike Grogan
*Paul Epton
Tom Barrett

WRITERS
(we often don't use text)
Coco Mault
*Dominic Orlando
*Marcie Rendon
*Max Sparber

COSTUMERS
(we've often done our own costumes)
*Candy Kuehn
Jeanne Artzen
*Kym Longhi
melancholy (sometimes)
Pistachio Creampie
Sonja Berlovitz

SET DESIGN CONTRIBUTORS
(we do the majority of our own scenic design)
Jeffrey Morrison
Jerrod Grohs
Shari Nyman

23 BOARD MEMBERS AND SPECIAL ADVISORS
* denotes current
*Ann Badami-Williams (chair)
Barb Spies
Chaim Teitelbaum
*Chris Hoppe
Dave Sheppard
David O’Fallon
Douglas DeMers
Gwen Vahl
Jenell Jacobson
Justin Bausch
Laura Taken Holtz
Mary White
Michael Cohn
Mike Gottschalk
Nancy Haberdank
Pat McManus
Polly Carl
Ray Terrill
Robert Borman
Scott Pakudaitis
Sears Eldgredge
*Shanan Tolzin
Sheila Path McMahon
Siana Goodwin
Stefanie Galey
Torre Erdahl
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DIRECTORS, OUTSIDE-EYES
Christine Maginnis
*Gerry Giroaurd
*Kym Longhi
*Sears Eldgredge