Trillium Performing Arts Collective

Funding:
We are supported in part by the WV Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts for many of our programs. We receive major funding each year from the Herman Goldman Foundation. We receive grant support from Pyles, Haviland, Turner and Smith for our Youth Company. We match our grants partially from local sponsorships, our annual Garden Party and Silent Auction, and a yearly fundraising letter. A yearly ad book, supported by many local businesses and professionals, is distributed with programs.

Trillium Performing Arts Collective has been creating original dance and movement theatre in Lewisburg, WV since 1982. Trillium believes that the arts and the aesthetic experience can inspire and renew individuals and their communities as well as promote personal and community growth. We seek to learn from the values, styles and contributions of all cultures. We produce professional dance and movement theater productions in rural schools, performance halls and cultural centers. We sponsor artist residencies and bring guest performers and teachers into the schools and community. We create collaborative opportunities for movement performers, musicians, visual artists, writers, mask makers, costumers, set and lighting designers and videographers. Trillium Performing Youth was created in 1998.

Our Artists:
Trillium is directed by 4 Core Artists - Barbara Michaelson, Carli Mareneck, Beth White and Eileen Kramer. They serve on the Board of Directors, providing the artistic direction for the group.

The Contributing Artists have been working with Trillium regularly as performers and sometimes as choreographers for years.

Trillium hosts guest artists yearly. Some recent guest artists include Daniel Stein (Commedia Dell'Arte), Ilene Evens (storytelling), Denise Hyland (Continuum Movement), Brent Lewis (drumming), Alan Arnett (Jazz Dance), Rajeckas and Intraub (collaborative Movement Theatre), Karen Prall (Congolese Dance), Monica Bill Barnes (commissioned work from this NY choreographer), Leslie Combs and Rick Becker (swing dance), Jeff Bliss (choreography and working with Head Start), Liz Lerman (making work in the community), and Ruth Zaporah (Action Theatre).

Core Artists:

Kramer, Eileen:
Dancer, Costume Designer and Mask Maker. Ms. Kramer was a dancer and costumer for the internationally known Bodenweiser Ballet. She studied mask making in India and Africa and painting at the Grande Chaumiere Acadamie in Paris. Ms. Kramer has worked extensively with Trillium Performing Arts Collective for the past 10 years.

Mareneck, Carli:
Choreographer and Performer. Carli performs with Trillium Performing Arts Collective and teaches at The Dance Studio in Lewisburg, WV. She has recently worked with Monica Bill Barnes (NYC), Toneta Akers-Toler, Donald Laney & Heather Taylor (the latter three from WV Dance Company, Beckley, WV). She moved to West Virginia after receiving her BFA in Dance from the University of Utah in 1976. Her teaching inclues Hollins College, Colorado Mountain College and the WV Governor's School. Since 1979 she has choreographed a repertoire of more than two dozen dances including The Magic Drum and The Feathered Serpent. Carli has continued her studies in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and at The American Dance Festival in Durham, NC, with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Washington DC and in Chicago, IL, and at Bates College Dance Festival. Carli resides in Sweet Springs, WV with her husband and two children.

Michaelson, Barbara:
Barbara received her MFA in Dance in Greensboro NC, in 1992. She has been choreographing and performing with Trillium Performing Arts Collective, since 1993. Barbara works with both professional and community performers to create collaboratively based athletic, funny and moving pieces. She also studies in- depth with Continuum Movement teacher Susan Harper. Barbara also does lighting design and administrative for Trillium. She has been teaching improvisational movement and yoga classes since 1997. She offers workshops in "Dancing the Confluence of Body and Soul."

White, Beth:
Beth White was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1950, she has been studying dance since early childhood. Beth moved to West Virginia from New York City in 1973 and was a founding member of Trillium Performing Arts Collective, in 1982. Currently Beth teaches at The Dance Studio, in Lewisburg, WV and works for Trillium in two capacities; director of Trillium Performing Youth and as a Core Artist. She also performs frequently as a stilt-walk-about-clown with Second Story Theatre Company, and resides in her home of twenty-five years, near Renick, WV.

Contributing Artists:

Ellen Broudy:
Ellen has worked with Trillium since 1985. She has danced in many productions and has stage managed many others. She performs regularly in Greenbrier Valley Theatre's summer season and participates on Trillium's Board for special events. An award winning photographer, Ellen lends her skills to many Trillium events. She has entertained audiences with her creative writing. Ellen is employed by WV School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Chally Erb:
Clown, juggler, performer. Chally thinks he might have been a founding member of Trillium, he was there. He studied Clown, Mask, Physical Theater at Movement Theatre International in Philadelphia, at Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, CA, and at Movement Theatre Festival, Baltimore, MD. He has taught clowning and circus skills at Carnegie Hall's Kid's College and at The Dance Studio. He has performed in many countries around the world. The Philadelphia Inquirer once said ". . . .he was a good paper boy, delivered on time." Chally co-founded Second Story Theatre Company with Beth White and they perform at many fairs and festivals. "He's a good boy" says his mom. "Not too much trouble" says his probation officer. "A model inmate" says the warden.

Barry Harel:
Performer/Educator. For the past 25 years, Barry has been a facilitator of learning for students from 2 years to adults. Her degree is in Elementary Education with a Masters in Early Intervention Special Education. In working with people as a teacher, coordinator and workshop facilitator, she uses a collaborative, multi-sensory, integrated approach. She has performed with Trillium Performing Arts Collective since 1990 and was featured as the Narrator using American Sign Language for two touring school shows, Magic Drum and Feathered Serpent. Barry also teaches dance to tots and 5 year olds.

Lorrie Monte:
Lorrie is one of the original founders of Trillium. After achieving a BA in Dance from Concord College, she left WV to get her MFA in dance at UNC-Greensboro from 1990-1993. She has danced in and created many original pieces for Trillium and often does lighting design. Lorrie teaches dance through Bluefield State's Greenbrier Community College.

Lauren Wadsworth:
Choreographer and Performer. Lauren studied dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder and at American University in Washington, DC. While living in Washington from 1979 to 1986, she studied and performed with the Dance Exchange Performing Company and with Rebecca Rice and Jennifer Nelson, both former members of The Living Stage Theater Company. From 1981 to 1989, Lauren primarily focused on her profession as a massage therapist and movement therapist, with extensive training in the Alexander Technique. Since moving to West Virginia in 1986, Lauren has taught dance technique and movement education as well as maintaining a private practice. She has performed and choreographed with Trillium Performing Arts Collective since 1989.

Trillium Performing Arts Collective
P.O. Box 1277, Lewisburg, WV 24901
trillium@wvonline.com (304) 645-3003