Performance Dates & Times
Thursday, January 15th at 7:30pm

Friday, January 16th at 7:30pm

Saturday, January 17 at 2:00pm

Saturday, January 17 at 7:30pm

Content Warning: Cursing and a gunshot

Maria Camia

Maria Reads a Book: Higher Eyes on Aricama

Created and Performed by Maria Camia

Aaron Banes- Music Composer, Pianist, Vocalist, Performer
UJ  Mangune- Live Videographer 

Photograph by Theo Cote 

Maria Reads a Book: Higher Eyes on Aricama is a 60-minute solo-performance with a live pianist. The story follows Ari and Cama, as their attention spans shatter into infinite altered dimensions causing their homeland Aricama, the land of practice, play, and healing, to turn into dust. Will they release themselves from their attachments or lose everything they worked for? 

This show has four 4’x4’ paintings brought to life with 28 puppets, 13 mini sets, one 7’ puppet costume, a live videographer, and original live music. Through two flower-humanoids, Ari and Cama, on their land of practice, play, and healing, they explore dreams, addiction, and how to reconnect back to the body. ​​​​

and…

Miranda Brown & Noa Rui-Piin Weiss

¿¡¡simon negs≈≈>:(:{{** (work-in-progress)

Created and Performed by Miranda Brown and Noa Rui-Piin Weiss

Part two of a diptych, ¿¡¡simon negs≈≈>:(:{{** (work-in-progress) is the Mr. Hyde, the Black Swan, the bad cop, the “you’re not yourself when you’re hungry” alter ego of Miranda and Noa’s recent work, !!simon says~~!:));)$$ (2024). While warming up for their last performance, Noa and Miranda realized that their silly dances may go down in history as “art under the rise of fascism in America.” So then they thought, let’s write some grants about that. Approximately one year later, witness the work-in-progress that is, ¿¡¡simon negs≈≈>:(:{{** (work-in-progress). 

About the Artists

Maria Camia, founder of the MARICAMA brand and universe, is a Filipino American Director, Playwright, and Spiritual Visual Theatre Artist. She creates Puppet Theater, Visual Art, and Fashion with the intention to globally inspire healing and play. Her transformative storytelling leaves audiences rewired and enlightened to the infinite potential of the MARICAMA mindset.

She has performed original work for established theaters including The Henson Company, La Mama, and Chicago’s International Puppet Festival.

Overall, spirituality, mindfulness, and body awareness are the fundamental principles behind any work Maria creates and has inspired her journey of becoming an Introspective Hypnosis Practitioner. Through this application, Maria guides individuals on a voyage of self-exploration, healing, and cleansing. Her goal is to regenerate a reality of courageous action and deserving self-love.

Special thanks to KinoSaito Arts Center and La MaMa Experimental Club

Miranda Brown & Noa Rui-Piin Weiss are collaborators investigating the intersection of choreography, absurdity, and internet culture. Our dance performances are structured like stand-up sets, using light-hearted methods to investigate darker themes like the legitimacy of popular aesthetics and the terror of public failure. We value camp, using it to twist the norms of the proscenium stage and make dance accessible to people who are turned off by “high art.” Queerness guides our creative choices, alongside pleasure and legibility. We are attracted to meme culture – jokes that gain traction from repetition instead of ingenuity. We tip the balances between sincere and ironic, entertaining and cringe-worthy. With technical training primarily in release and postmodern dance, we irreverently steal from the wide array of dance techniques that have passed through our lives. Coming from these dance traditions that value individual artistic genius, we are interested in citing sources and uncovering the absurdity of original thought.