Tanya Kane-Parry

Tanya Kane-Parry - Professor/Director/Choreographer
College of Arts and Letters
Department of Theatre and Dance
Office MUS239
Email
tkanepa@calstatela.edu

Background and Biography

Professor Department of Theatre and Dance, California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) 2001 to Present
MFA/Directing University of Massachusetts, Amherst June 2001
BFA/Acting New York University (Circle-in-the-Square/Experimental Theatre Wing) June 1988

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biography

Tanya directs and choreographs theatre, opera and dance and is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Opera del Espacio. Credits include Tosca Jumps!, a multimedia adaptation of Puccini’s opera (EdgeFest/LATC, Highways, Luckman Intimate); Supreme Being by Richard Foreman; Romeo and/y Juliet(a), a Spanglish Re-Mix with Quantum Theatre, and a touring production of Ubu Roi in Brazil. She has directed Carmen (Pacific Repertory Opera), The Coronation of Poppea (CSULA) and The Medium (CSULA), an extracted semi-staged productions of Don Giovanni and The Barber of Seville with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, the avant-garde multimedia opera The Wall: A Musical Misdeed, (CSULA) a semi-staged production of Phillip Glass’s Civil Wars with the LA PhilLa Traviata  and Anya17 with Angels Vocal Art,  as well as Savitri and River of Light with Festival Opera. At Long Beach Opera she choreographed The Man from Atlantis, The Clever One and Moscow, Cherry Town and The News by Jacob TV . At Los Angeles Opera she was the Assistant Director on Madama ButterflyThe Barber of Seville, CarmenThe Broken JugThe Dwarf and The Merry Widow. With Barcelona director, Joan Font, she was the Associate Director on The Barber of Seville (Houston Grand Opera Theatre, L’Opera National de Bordeaux, Gran Teatro de Liceu, Canadian Opera Company), L’Italiana in Algers (Houston Grand Opera) and Cinderella (LA Opera, Opera Omaha, Washington National Opera).

With Opera del Espacio she directed/choreographed I’ve Fallen/Clap Off! at Highways Performance Space; The Way Of Water by Caridad Svich at Cal State LA, Bootleg Theatre, Cal Poly Pomona, Hollywood Fringe and South Coast Rep’s SCRamble; Meet Me @ Metro II and III Space: The Final Frontier presented at SOSE as part of the Company Creation Festival; Private in Public for the SoCal Dance Invitational Concert and the World Dance Alliance-Americas in Honolulu; Triple [Inter]sect dance concert at Highways Performance Space; multiple site-specific performances at the desert ruins at Llano del Rio, Downtown Art Walk, Brewery Art Walk, Echo Park Art Walk, The Series at the Standard and more.

Curriculum Vitae

DATE DESCRIPTION VENUE/COMPANY
2024 LA Unmasked New Plays Festival / Supervising Director and Set Coordinator Company of Angels
2024 The Little Bear by Tamadhur Al-Aqeel Company of Angels
2023 Fighting Back: A Satirical Dive Into the Rise of Fascism in America CSULA
2022 Exit With a Magic Cow by Tamadhur Al-Aqeel Company of Angels
2021

Harvested - original video about deforestation and climate change.
Project uploaded to virtual site.

ON ALL DAY
2020-21 Dreaming of Our Future / Soñando de Nuestro Futuro CSULA
2019 TomorrowLAnd - Short Play Festival Company of Angels
2018 Candide by Leonard Bernstein; with Angels Vocal Art A Noise Within

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click Here for Video Excerpts of Prior Productions

Click Here for Opera del Espacio Website and Opera del Espacio YouTube

More information and images from recent projects and activities immediately follows this curriculum vitae.

WHEN WHAT WHERE/WHO
2023 Broken - Solo installation and performance, Llano del rio ruins Positional Projects
2023 Fighting Back! A Satirical Dive Into the Rise of Fascism in America CSULA
2022 Exit With a Magic Cow by Tamadhur Al-Aqeel Company of Angels
2021 Harvested - original video about deforestation and climate change.
Project uploaded to virtual site.
ON ALL DAY
2020-21 Dreaming of Our Future / Soñando de Nuestro Futuro CSULA
2019 TomorrowLAnd - Short Play Festival Company of Angels
2018 Candide by Leonard Bernstein; with Angels Vocal Art A Noise Within
2017 It's My Choice - Solo video, created at LaMama Umbria, Italy LaMama
2016 ANYA 17 by Adam Gorb (SoCal Premier) Angels Vocal Art
2016 The News by Jacob TV Long Beach Opera Theatre
2016 Norma by Bellini

Skagit Opera,
Mt. Vernon, WA

2015 Savitri and River of Light (chamber operas) Festival Opera
2015 Triple [Inter]sect - Opera del Espacio collaborative dance theatre Highways Performance Space
2015 La Traviata presented by Angels Vocal Art CSULA
2015 Private in Public, Opera del Espacio World Dance Alliance - Americas Conference, University of Manoa (Hawaii)
2015 Cenerentola ("Cinderella"): Associate Director to Jan Font Washington National Opera
2015 Il Barbiere di Siviglie ("The Barber of Seville"): Associate Director to Joan Font Canadian Opera Company
2015 Il Barbiere di Siviglie, Director/Choreographer Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Rabobank Theatre
2015 Private in Public, site-generated dance SoCal Dance Invitational Concert
Huntington Beach, CA
2014 Il Barbiere di Siviglie: Associate Director to Joan Font Liceu, Barcelona, Spain
2014 Shredded, original new dance, music by Ross Levinson CSULA Spring Dance Concert
2014 Squaring the Circling: Opera del Espacio site-generated performance Llano del Rio ruins, Palmdale
2014 CIVIL warS by Phillip Glass; semi-staged concert, Grant Gershon conductor LA Phil, Disney Hall
2014 Cenerentola ("Cinderella") by Rossini: Associate Director to Jan Font Omaha Orchestra
2014 Don Giovanni Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Rabobank Theatre
2014 The Wall: A Musical Misdeed composed by John M. Kennedy CSULA
2013 Carmen: Assistant Director to Trevore Ross Los Angeles Opera
2013 Cenerentola ("Cinderella") by Rossini: Assistant Director to Jan Font Los Angeles Opera
2012 The Italian Girl in Algiers, Assistant Director to Joan Font Houston Grand Opera
2012 The Barber of Seville, Assistant Director to Joan Font Opera National de Bordeaux

 

2019 Germany: Hochschule der Median, Stuttgart. Introduction to Acting for Digital Storytellers: Solo, Partner and Group Embodied Exercises and Explorations of the Theories of Acting of Meisner, Hagen, Adler and more.
2016 Coordinator for the American College Dance Association Baja Regional Conference, hosted at Cal State LA, that included over 30 area dance programs, 4 Adjudicated Concerts, 3 Informal Concerts and over 450 attendees. Conference Website
2019 Department of History, Cal State LA, Colloquium Presentation: “The Politics Of Outdoor Performances: Who Gets Access And Who Gets Ignored"
2019 CSU Symposium on University Teaching. Presentation of “Dare to Fail and Fail Big!”
2019 Directors Lab West, Workshop leader: Let the Space Tell the Story: Creating Exciting Theatre In Non-Traditional Spaces
2014 Spain University of Islas Balears, Palma, Mallorca - Viewpoints Workshop; Escuela Superior de Arte Dramatica de Ilas Balears - Viewpoints Workshop
2014 Atalaya-TNT Sevilla - Viewpoints Workshop; University of Sevilla - Acting workshop
2014 Opera Ára, Barcelaon: Guest speaker and panelist
2011 University Theatre Festival, Blumenau, Brazil: Viewpoints Workshop
2011 University of Uberlandia, Brazil: Viewpoints Workshop
2011 Ubu Roi, University of Blumenau, Brazil: co-directed and choreographed with Prof. Patricia de Borba
2010 University Theatre Festival, Blumenau, Brazil: Viewpoints Workshop
2010 IX Congreso Ibero-Americana de Teatro Universitario (AIATU), Lima, Peru: Viewpoints Workshop & Panel Presenter
2009 ImprovFest,Los Angeles: Viewpoints Workshops for professional dancers and performers
2008 ImprovFest, Los Angeles: Viewpoints Workshops for professional dancers and performers
2008 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, CSULA: Viewpoints workshop
2007 VI Congreso Ibero-Americana de Teatro Universitario (AIATU), Chihuahua, Mexico: Viewpoints Workshop for students from Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico.
2007 Roosevelt University, Chicago: Intensive Viewpoints course for MA Directing students in the Fast-Track Program.
2007 Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv, Israel: Acting Workshop for singers in the Young Artist Program.
2006 University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Guest Artist: Viewpoints workshops
2004 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Logan, Utah (Region VIII): Viewpoints workshops
2004 Theatre Department, University of Chihuahua, Mexico. Guest Lecturer
2004 Rosana Gamson/Worldwide Dance Theatre Company (RG/WW): workshops to strengthen ensemble, introduce basic acting technique and vocal training for upcoming bilingual production with Contradanza (Mexico City) based on Carlos Fuentes’ book Aura.
2003 Directors Lab West: Viewpoints workshop for professional directors and choreographers, Pasadena Playhouse.
2002 National University of Tucuman and La Baulera Cultural Center, Argentina: Viewpoints Workshops

 

  • American Communities Program Fellowship, Spring 2024 to support research on the developement of La Panza Monologues in collaboration with Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies
  • Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award, Spring 2024 to direct La Panza Monologues in collaboration with Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies
  • Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award, Spring 2021 for the development of Dreaming of Our Future
  • Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award, Fall 2019
  • Aurora Foundation Challenge Grant 2015/16: studied Butoh with Master Teachers in Japan
  • ATHE Innovative Teaching Award/KCACTF Region VIII, 2014
  • GSE Rotary Program to Mexico, March/April 2004
  • Partner of the Americas: Sponsored trip to attend Experimenta 5 Theatre Festival/Conference in Rosario and to conduct workshops with students of the National University of Tucuman and professional performers at La Baulera Cultural Center (Argentina), December 2002.
  • NEA/TCG Theatre Director Finalist, 2001
  • Certificate of Excellence in Teaching, awarded by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2000
  • Federick Loewe Fellowship, Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation, 1997 & 1998

  • Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region 8 - led workshop "Using Viewpoints for Staging," 2020
  • Imagining America National Gathering; Presentation on new devised play about DACA and immigration, 2019
  • Opera Ára ("Opera Now"), Guest Speaker on New Opera, Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, Nov, 2014
  • Directors Lab West, Guest Panelist, "Working Internationally" 2014
  • ATHE/ATME Panel Participant, “Atomic Dancing”; paper, video and live performance presentation, Aug. 2013
  • Directors Lab West, Alumni Committee, 2009.
  • Viewpoints Workshop Facilitator: Guest Artist Mary Overlie at the Directors Lab West, May 2005
  • Co-coordinator of Viewpoints Intensive at CSU Summer Arts with guests Mary Overlie, Anne Bogart, SITI company members and Nina Martin, June/July 2004.
  • TCG online interview: Traveling & Working Abroad

  • BFA Acting NYU, Tisch School of the Arts: Circle-in-the-Square and the Experimental Theatre Wing
  • MFA Directing UMass/Amherst
  • The Viewpoints: Mary Overlie and Wendall Beavers (Experimental Theatre Wing/NYU)                               
  • American Mime Theater Company directed by Paul Curtis (Company Member 1991-1993) 
  • Dance & Movement: Modern, Postmodern, Contact Improvisation, Stage Combat, Martial Arts
  • Directing: Joseph Chaikin and Jean-Claude Van Italie/ The Living Theater: Judith Malina  
  • Commedia del Arte and Mask: Guy Friexe & Erhardt Steifel of the Theatre du Soliel           
  • Roy Hart Theatre/Experimental Vocal Technique: Richard Armstrong          
  • Tight Rope Walking: Philipe Petit/ Clown: Dale Scott/ Circus: Hoovey Burgess                     
  • Linklater Vocal Technique: Andrea Haring (Circle-in-the-Square)     
  • Stanislavsky, Boleslavsky and Hagen Acting Methodology: Alan Langdon (Circle-in-the-Square)

LANGUAGES: Fluent Spanish and French: conversational Portuguese and Russian

Comments on works directed by Ms. Kane-Parry:

 Space: The Final Frontier: “The cumulative effect of all this is that of an academic treatise straining to be enhanced by the kinetic power of design and dance. That goal is frequently met, thanks to the evocative quality of Kane-Parry's choreography, and the way the bodies collide and seem to roll through each other.”  - Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly

The Way of Water by Caridad Svich, adapted by Opera del Espacio: “In L.A.'s site-specific production of Caridad Svich'sThe Way of Water, Opera del Espacio is making the disaster tangible -- and implicating the audience in the event. You might even find yourself pouring an oil-like liquid onto the actors or helping to load company members into body bags by the end of the performance.” – Sarah Taylor Ellis, LA Weekly

Tosca Jumps!In this striking distillation by Tanya Kane-Parry of Puccini's operatic masterpiece, the music is abridged, the lyrics are lip-synched, and the performers borrow fascinating movement that seems to range from Chinese opera through contemporary street dance. Supertitles- a new opera convention -add typographic humor to the work and allow modern obscenities to replace pages of libretto.”  - Dany Margolies, Critic's Pick, Backstage West

Supreme Being “Text and images wash over you…meaning emerges from the show’s recombinant associations and repetitions” – Philip Brandes, Los Angeles Times

Romeo and/y Juliet(a)Goes to extremes (with) undaunted vision” – Luis Reyes, LA Weekly

Romeo and/y Juliet(a)Director Tanya Kane-Parry abstracts the Bard’s scenario through diverse performance art tactics: gender-bending, outsized sound effects, anachronistic asides”  - David Nichols, Los Angeles Times

Romeo and/y Juliet(a)It is an exciting, individualistic approach… in the manner of a Cubist painting, with glimmering flashes of action and dialogue, with a bit of Dadaism thrown in. [Kane-Parry’s] tempos and rhythms are impeccable…The piece is full of insightful action and is fascinating from beginning to end.” – T.H. McCulloh, Back Stage West

Romeo and/y Juliet(a)Emphasizing dance and movement over dialogue, the piece — relayed in Spanglish — juxtaposes Shakespeare’s basic plot and fragments of his text with contemporary street speech and images. Performers cavort in and around trash cans while, now and then, someone appears in spiked, thigh-high patent leather boots/ erotic gambols/ recurrent slamming of bodies against walls.” – Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly

The CureJuxtaposes ordinary things in strange ways but invests them with a sense of utter familiarity” – Martin Washburn, The Village Voice

The CureUnderlying outrageousness beneath a surface of deliberate, restrained and controlled emotional truth and subtlety…mysterious…compelling” – Richard Foreman, Playwright/Director

Trojan WomenBallsy…you applaud the effrontery each time…can’t take your eyes off it for a minute…hardy souls are in for a treat” – Eric Grode, Backstage

Romeo and/y Juliet(a)Modern theatre seems old fashioned when compared to this production…To say this production is surreal is an understatement. It’s more of a fracprism, where the original is divided into dozens of pieces that seem to have been squeezed through a multi-layered prism, refracting a distant image of the original, but creating a whole new entity in the process… Here, director Tanya Kane-Parry is experimenting with a style that takes a lot of guts to even attempt, let alone pull it off. What emerges from her imagination is part dream, part nightmare, half–fantasy, half-wish, layered onto a tale that begins with hatred between two families and results in the ultimate end for the protagonists… [Kane-Parry] knocks your socks off with something wild and off-beat.”   – Jose Luis, ReviewPlays.com

MEDIA, LINKS, AND REVIEWS

 


May 6, 2023: Broken Site-generated installation and performance at the former horse stable of the abandoned Llano del Rio socialist commune on the edge of the Mojave Desert, presented by Postional Projects

Llano del Rio Opened May 1, 1914   Break, Broken In, Green Broke, Dead Broke   Snow-capped mountains   running
 
April 2023: Cal State LA 75th Anniversary Celebration. Performed as the Narrator in the excerpted performance of the new opera,Whale Song, composed by
                    Dr. Sara Carina Graef with libretto by José Cruz Gonzalez
 
April 2023: Guest lecturer at The New School: presented documentation on recent project, Fighting Back, to the graduate Radical Acts course on artivism,
                     and led a Viewpoints class. 
 

March 9–18: Fighting Back – A Satirical Dive into the Rise of Fascism in America.  

This original, multimedia, musical-esque satire was developed by students from both Theatre and Dance and TV, Film and Media Studies at Cal State LA. The immersive performances provoked animated conversations about our current political landscape and the role of media. 
 
Fighting Back flyer   Fighting Back Opening   Vagina v Penis    Popular STUPID
 
 

May 2021 Harvested: original video about deforestation and climate change, ON ALL Day video uploaded to virtual site:  https://positionalprojects.org/ONALL_LLANO.html

Harvested

YouTube Channel: Videos of Prior Productions

 

Dreaming Of Our Future/Soñando de Nuestro Futuro

March 2020 Live - remounted for Zoom in Spring 2021

 

Dreaming of Our Future/Soñando de Nuestro Future

 

 

July 2018    directed Candide, Angel Vocal Arts, presented at A Noise Within

July 2016 - directed the Southern California premiere of composer Adam Gorb's work on survivors of sex trafficking, ANYA 17 presented by Angels Vocal Art.

 

ANYA 17

              

Anya 17 - Natalia Aria

 

Reviews: http://peoplesworld.org/human-trafficking-and-sex-slavery-the-opera/ 

and http://www.pasadenanow.com/living/contemporary-opera-addresses-sex-trafficking/

Anya 17 - Viktor beating Anya
          Anya 17 - Viktor vs. Gabriel

 

June 2016 - directed the multimedia opera The News by Dutch composer Jacob TV with Long Beach Opera, presented at the Broad Theatre. 

 
          The News - Pom Poms
         The News - McD's

 

 
          The News - Pom Poms
         The News - Exactly

           

Reviews

THE ARGONAUT

BROADWAY WORLD

CLASSICALITE.COM 

THE DAILY NEWS/ LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM 

THE GUARDIAN  

THE JEWISH JOURNAL OF LOS ANGELES 

 

March 2016 - directed Bellini's Norma at Pacific Northwest Opera (formerly Skagit Opera) Excerpts on YouTube HERE

 
         
         Norma Finale #1
        Norma Finale #2
Norma Finale #3

Review

 

Oct/Nov 2015 - Directed 2 one-act operas for Festival Opera in the Bay Area, Savitri by Holst and River of Light by Jack Perla.

 

Upcoming

 

Oct 2015 - Opera del Espacio dance/performane event at Highways Performance Space

 

Triple Intersect

 

Triple [Inter]sect is an inter-generational feminist examination of the tangible and abstract forces that jostle, push and ply the female body. Three divergent female voices (di)(con)verge in an evening of dance and performance from Opera del Espacio, Gayle Fekete and Mechanism Dance Theatre.

    Highways Performance Space

 

 

SHREDDED

    

La Traviata with singers in the Angels Vocal Arts Summer Opera Intensive Professional Program, July 2015

 

LA TRAVIATA

 

 

 

 

DIRECTOR'S LAB WEST
 
(Photo above: Directors Lab West, Workshop leader: Let the Space Tell the Story: Creating Exciting Theatre In Non-Traditional Spaces)