DC Burner Spotlight #6

This is a profile of one of the participants in the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, being presented as part of this year's Capital Fringe Festival. She is returning to the show for her 2nd year.

Q: Default world name?

A: Kathy Baird Westfall.

Q: Playa name?
A: Sola.

Q: First time at Burning Man?
A: 2011.

Q: Which camp were you with your first time?

A: Fandango.

Q: Favorite camp to be with at Burning Man?

A: DC Home Rule Village and Anat's Love Camp

Q: Favorite Art Installation?
A: Embrace.

Q: Favorite Art Car?

A: Disco Fish.

Q: Favorite sound camp?
A: Planet Earth

Q: Where did you go to college/university?

A: GWU and Georgeotwn.

Q: What did you major in?
A: Poli Sci and Business.

Q: When did you move to the DC area & where did you move from?
A: Moved here in elementary school and grew up in Arlington. I'm originally from South Dakota..

Q: What’s your day job?
A: Digital marketing strategist at a communications agency.

Q: Favorite food (and place to get that in the DC area)?
A: India at Raskia.

Q: Favorite game?
A: Pac-Man

Q: What’s your sign?
A: Taurus

Q: What three artists (living or dead) would you like to have dinner with?
A: Stevie Nicks, Chris Farley, Sherman Alexie.

Thank you for sharing, Sola!

And you can see her story from last year's Capital Fringe Festival below.

DC Burner Spotlight #5

This is a profile of one of the participants in the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, being presented as part of this year's Capital Fringe Festival. He is returning to the show for his 2nd year.

Q: Default world name?

A: JR Russ.

Q: Playa name?
A: Nexus.

Q: First time at Burning Man?
A: 2013.

Q: Which camp were you with your first time?

A: Open camping.

Q: Favorite camp to be with at Burning Man?

A: Burner Express, aka HOVerlandia!!

Q: Favorite Art Installation?
A: Church Trap.

Q: Favorite Art Car?

A: El Pulpo Mechanico.

Q: First time at a regional and which one?
A: Freeform, 2013.

Q: Where did you go to college/university?
A: University of Maryland for undergrad, American University for grad school.

Q: What did you major in?
A: I received my B.A. in dance, and my M.A. in arts management.

Q: If you were born in the area, what area did you grow up in?
A: Washington, DC, southwest by the waterfront, and then the Logan Circle area.

Q: What’s your day job?
A: Online Marketing Manager for the Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Q: Favorite food (and place to get that in the DC area)?
A: Brunch (that's a kind of food, right?!), from Busboys and Poets.

Q: Favorite game?
A: Munchkin.

Q: What’s your sign?
A: Pisces.

Q: What three artists (living or dead) would you like to have dinner with?
A: Janet Jackson, Neil Patrick Harris, and David Best.

Thank you for sharing, Nexus!

And you can see his story from last year's Capital Fringe Festival below.

DC Burner Spotlight #4

This is a profile of one of the participants in the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, being presented as part of this year's Capital Fringe Festival. She is joining the show for her 1st year.

Q: Default world name?

A: Jennifer the Awesome.

Q: Playa name?
A: Preamble (because I take forever to get to the point).

Q: First time at Burning Man?
A: 2014.

Q: Which camp were you with your first time?

A: IAMU (It’s All Made Up).

Q: Favorite camp to be with at Burning Man?

A: I’ve only been with one. This year I’m camping with 3SP which is part of the DC Home Rule Village where IAMU camps…so we’ll see.

Q: Favorite Art Installation?
A: Embrace.

Q: Favorite Art Car?

A: Abraxas.

Q: First time at a regional and which one?
A: Haven’t been to one yet but looking forward to one soon!

Q: Where did you go to college/university?
A: Randolph-Macon College.

Q: What did you major in?
A: Started in psychology then switched to double major in theatre and accounting.

Q: If you were born in the area, what area did you grow up in?
A: Born in Virginia Beach but spent almost every Thanksgiving in the Tysons Corner area growing up. Does that count?

Q: What’s your day job?
A: Program Manager, Education Specialist, Awesome Guru.

Q: Favorite food (and place to get that in the DC area)?
A: Crabs at the Quarterdeck Restaurant in Rosslyn.

Q: Favorite game?
A: Hide and seek.

Q: What’s your sign?
A: Scorpio.

Q: What three artists (living or dead) would you like to have dinner with?
A: The Dalai Lama, Ernest Hemmingway, Juliette Lewis.

Thank you for sharing, Preamble!

DC Burner Spotlight #3

This is a profile of one of the participants in the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, being presented as part of this year's Capital Fringe Festival. She is joining the show for her 1st year.

Q: Default world name?
A: Melissa Schick

Q: Playa name?
A: Melomel

Q: First time at Burning Man?
A: 2013.

Q: Which camp were you with your first time?
A: Basshenge.

Q: Favorite art installation?
A: I honestly don’t remember what it was called, but it was this labyrinth with blacklight painting on the walls. You wore special glasses inside and it made the paintings appear three dimensional; different colors would pop out at you at different levels.

Q: Favorite art car?
A: El Pulpo Mecanico

Q: First time at a regional and which one?
A: Playa Del Fuego Fall 2011

Q: Where did you go to college/university?
A: New York University Tisch School of the Arts and University of Maryland University College

Q: What did you major in?
A: Theater and Social Science.

Q: What area did you grow up in?
A: Born in DC, raised in Silver Spring, MD.

Q: What's your day job?
A: I’m a case manager for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Q: Favorite food?
A: Shellfish. Crabs, shrimp, oysters. All of it.

Q: Favorite game?
A: Ms. Pac-Man

Q: What three artists (living or dead) would you like to have dinner with)?
A: Henri Toulouse Lautrec, William Shakespeare, and Regina Spektor

Thank you for sharing, Melomel!

DC Burner Spotlight #2

This is a profile of one of the participants in the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, being presented as part of this year's Capital Fringe Festival. He is returning to the show for his 2nd year.

Q: Default world name?
A: Kenny Reff

Q: Playa name?
A: K~Love

Q: First time at Burning Man?
A: 2012

Q: Which camp were you with your first time?
A: None; went not knowing a soul.

Q: Favorite camp to be with at Burning Man?A: It's All Made Up.

Q: Favorite art installation?
A: Truth is Beauty.

Q: Favorite art car?
A: Robot Heart

Q: Favorite sound camp?
A: Robot Heart.

Q: First time at a regional and which one?
A: 2012 Playa Del Fuego

Q: Favorite regional.
A: Transformus.

Q: Where did you go to college/university?
A: Undergrad at San Francisco State University; Grad at Boston University.

Q: What did you major in?
A: Broadcast Journalism.

Q: When did you move to the DC area and where did you move from?
A: Moved here from Boston in 1980. Prior to that, I lived in San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York.

Q: What's your day job?
A: I'm an independent video producer

Q: Favorite food?
A: Frozen yogurt filled to the brim with fruit

Q: Favorite game?
A: Flirting.

Q: What three artists (living or dead) would you like to have dinner with)?
A: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bob Marley, Steve Jobs

Thank you for sharing, K-Love!

And you can see his story from last year's Capital Fringe Festival below.

DC Burner Spotlight #1

This is a profile of one of the participants in the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, being presented as part of this year's Capital Fringe Festival. He is returning to the show for his 2nd year.

Q: Default world name?

A: Kirby P. Riley.

Q: Playa name?

A: Shakespeare.

Q: First time at Burning Man?
A: 2013.

Q: Which camp were you with your first time?
A: D.C. Not Washington.

Q: Favorite camp to be with at Burning Man?

A: Poly Paradise is pretty fun! 

Q: Favorite art installation?
A: Bliss.

Q: Favorite art car?

A: Either the Bleachers or the Front Porch.

Q: First time at a regional and which one?
A: 2013, Freeform.

Notice the Man on his chest )'(

Q: Where did you go to college/university?

A: Michigan! Go Blue!

Q: What did you major in?
A: Social Work.

Q: If you were born in the area, what area did you grow up in?

A: Grew up in Columbia Heights, and PG County.

Q: What's your day job?

A: Saving the world.

Q: Favorite food (and place to get that in the DC area)?
A: Shellfish. Crisfields in Silver Spring.

Q: Favorite game?

A: Ninja or Mafia.

Q: What's your sign?

A: Stop.

Q: What three artists (living or dead) would you like to have dinner with?
A: Basquiat, Gordon Parks, Lewis Black.

Thank you for sharing, Shakespeare!!

And you can see his story from last year's Capital Fringe Festival below.

Returning to Capital Fringe with Ten Principles

Ten Principles...

And not just any ten principles, but the Ten Principles of Burning Man.

That's what this year's Capital Fringe show is going to be about. And I use show in the LOOSEST of terms. The production will be ten DC area burners, each telling an autobiographical story about their experience with one of the principles. But why Burning Man? Why the Ten Principles?

Well, for those that have followed AWoL Productions' work over the years might have noticed, since the first show in 2010, each production has been somewhat autobiographical. The first year, the show was about the rave scene, a kind of theatrical PSA, paying homage to the community that helped me discover my passion for dance, to the point where I pursued it professionally. The second year, the play was about how Filipino communities and families deal with mental illness, which helped me deal with a personal family tragedy. And the third year, the production was based on my thesis in grad school, about how working performers define arts advocacy and community.

So after taking a break from productng last summer, I'm returning to the performing arts festival with a storytelling piece about Burning Man. Because last August, I went to the Playa for the first time.

That's me in front of the Man...WAY in front of the Man, from 2013's theme, Cargo Cult. And if you look real carefully, you can see the UFO with the Man on top, right above my head. And when I got back to DC, I had a lot of friends ask me what it was like, seeing if my experience matched what they'd heard or seen. And whatever experiences I shared, I would inevitably bring it back to the Ten Principles.

The trouble is, as much as people who haven't been HAVE heard about Burning Man, the Ten Principles was usually not a part of the picture. And so grew the idea and inspiration for focusing this production on just that. What's great is that this is truly going to be a production by the community, for the community.

There will be a window of time where submissions will be accepted from everyone who'd like to pitch their story to tell. Then, with the assistance of a group of burners who've taken on leadership roles in the DC area burner community, we'll select the final ten stories. And these will be ones that aren't just particularly compelling in and of themselves, but that (when combined with the other nine) will contribute to and fit in the arc of the larger piece.

So with that, I leave you with one of my favorite photos from my first time to Burning Man. Me, inside the massive UFO, looking straight up at the Man for the first time.

And this summer, I look forward to helping bring others' experiences from the Playa to Capital Fringe, to give a similar peek into the community of Burning Man,

JR aka Nexus

P.S. The Man burns in 209 days!! Ten Principles tells in 158 days!!