PROVENANCE

full 1 hour long performance + talkback

LIC-A & the Plaxall Gallery present

‘PROVENANCE’
december 18, 2018

written & conceived by: audrey wildfire dimola

featuring:
audrey wildfire dimola
steven t. licardi
kymberly nolden
matthew toth
& introducing riley batson

music/sound cues by dominick dimola
set/props & talent assist by april dimola

thanks to edjo wheeler, tana sirois & LIC-A/plaxall gallery

infinite gratitude to william hopkins for video footage of the piece

this is still my most beloved thing i ever created– something i cried for, bled for, hurt myself for. in order to transfigure. in order to fully understand that performance is not ever just performance. to fully understand that sometimes you need to physically act things out, as our ancestors did, in order to make sense of them, in order to give them meaning, in order to heal from them. i will never stop being grateful for– this cast, these people. who made this dream live. this is a forever moment, indelibly etched in my heart. “PROVENANCE.”

THE JOURNEY TO PROVENANCE:

documenting the process on INSTAGRAM // on WORDPRESS

HIGHLIGHTS:

5:25 opening monologue
12:09 the bridge
22:14 the doctor
25:58 hoodoo
29:54 breaking
38:22 distant melody
48:36 drum prayer
59:25 see and be seen
1:04 talkback

REFLECTIONS BEFORE THE SHOW:

“the ancient egyptians recognized that when the soul first awoke in the afterlife it would be disoriented and might not remember its life on earth, its death, or what it was to do next” … for these past years i have been on a journey of opposites. complete with a bipolar 2 diagnosis to reveal the pull between the old legend and the new- the girl i was, and the girl i knew i could be. locked in this narrative of becoming- never able to fully release into rebirth, and never fully able to let the old self die.
i realized today that PROVENANCE itself is the elongation of a moment i explore in the text- the moment between death and resurrection. it is, in effect- an orchestration of my own funeral. my own death and rebirth. i have been so close to death and darkness these years- at once running from it and settling in beside it so close it could feel my soul tremble. this is the Act of walking through it. ascribing meaning to it. //
i saw that other part of myself today, in my mind’s eye, appearing as a beautiful wounded deer. my first instinct was to heal it back to health. but as i sat with her i realized- she needs to be led through her own death. i need to be led through my own death. to not have to prove to myself, instead to finally know- i am certain of the Way. i am at once dying deer and death doula. i am at once soul in traversal and osiris standing at the gates. //
it is no coincidence that PROVENANCE begins with my death. because only in embodying and embracing it, are you able to travel with yourself to what is BEYOND it. a funerary rite of my own craft, and in so embracing- creation of an afterlife that is in actuality truest Life in itself. i create, as the ancestors of my spirit did. “these works served the same purpose: to remind the soul of its life on earth, comfort its distress and disorientation, and direct it on how to proceed through the afterlife” …

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID:

“Powerful, intimate, raw, and important.”

[Audrey is] “relentless in her powerful vulnerability and radical approach to performance…”

[PROVENANCE] “blended multiple disciplines into a soul bearing one woman show exploring mental health, self love and resurrection. Watching Audrey push past her limits like never before, I can’t help but be reminded of how thoroughly one person can transform their questions and pain into art.”

“A soul-stirring, victoriously vulnerable, emotionally charged, fire-breathing work of truth, love & bravery crafted by none other than Audrey Wildfire Dimola. Every. Single. Time. She gets me. Hits me in the gut, makes me stare into something I didn’t think I could bare & provides me with the steel backbone needed to face it. PROVENANCE is a gift. The kind of performance that gets the crowd emotionally invested whether they want to be or not. Regardless of where you are when the performance begins, when it ends you are exhausted, grateful, stronger & better for having seen it.”

“I watched ‘Provenance’ and was held, riveted, by your powerful performance! […] For you to put your powerful words into kinetic energy, into a method of communicating pain that is indescribable… was incredibly moving, validating, healing, cathartic, in your words, alchemical… legend. […] For those of us who cannot find either voice, expression, eloquence, strength, capacity, courage, physicality, or who have not yet come to the place in our journey where we can even begin to articulate our experience of pain… I humbly thank you. Your willingness to be vulnerable, to trust the Universe and the rest of us with your story, your soul, heals not just you, but all of us.”

“the best theater i’ve seen in a few months. you’re brave, it was brave. and strong.”

“You were a warrior goddess of cathartic healing of the self that night!”

“‘Provenance’ is absolutely magnificent. It is so powerful and poignant and vibrant and mesmerizing and magical and brilliant!!! You were perfect, captivating, and in your element…”

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.