Sylvan Oswald
Unceded land of the Gabrielino and Tongva peoples (Los Angeles, CA)
High Winds
ACCESS NOTES
Slow-moving video plays throughout the performance, with immersive sound design.
DESCRIPTION
Writer Sylvan Oswald presents High Winds, a performance text about a trans man whose insomnia sparks a fantastical search for his estranged half-brother through hallucinatory desert landscapes. Gas stations, local legends, and unlikely rock formations become terrain for explorations of fear, fantasy, masculinity, and what lies “deep inside America.” Video by Katherine Freer and an electro-acoustic score by JJJJJerome Ellis set an otherworldly tone.
The performance is based on Sylvan’s book of the same name, created with graphic designer Jessica Fleischmann and published by X Artists' Books (2017).
Written and Produced by Sylvan Oswald
Directed by Ellie Heyman
Original Music by JJJJJerome Ellis
Video Design by Katherine Freer inspired by designer Jessica Fleischmann’s images
Lighting Design by Sarah Lurie and Christopher Kuhl
Costume Design by Haydee Zelideth
Sound Design by DJ Potts
Production Stage Management by Christopher Kuhl
Featuring Jack Henry & S.O.
With Additional Music by Dane Terry
The text was written on land traditionally cared for by the Kizh, Chumash, and Tongva people (Los Angeles); Comanche, Kickapoo, Coahuiltecan, and Lipan Apache (Kerrville, TX); Munsee Lenape and Canarsie (Brooklyn). Thank you to Abrons Arts Center, Los Angeles Performance Project, and Rick Burkhardt for hosting earlier versions of the show. Thanks to Luke Zimmerman for creating the role. Deepest gratitude to X Artists’ Books for bringing High Winds to light and to UCLA’s Council on Research, School of Theater, Film & Television, and Hellman Fellowship for their generous support.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sylvan Oswald is an interdisciplinary artist originally from Philadelphia who creates text-based projects exploring trans identity, history, and nonviolent dramaturgy. He seeks alternative structures designed to respect all people. He seeks spaces that interrupt consumption and open up new styles of satisfaction.
Current work includes High Winds (Fusebox Festival, X Artists' Books); text for choreographer Meg Foley's Blood Baby; and an essay titled "Towards a Trans Theater." Projects include "Cut Piece," a personal history of play publishing; Play A Journal of Plays (2003-2011); and Outtakes, a lo-fi semi-improvised web series starring Becca Blackwell and Zuzanna Szadkowski, hosted at weareopentv.com. Plays include Trainers: A Theatrical Essay (Gate Theatre, London, Oberon Books); A Kind of Weather (Diversionary Theater, San Diego); Profanity (Undermain Theater, Dallas); Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb, New York); and Pony (About Face Theater, Chicago). Pony is a seminal work about queer and trans belonging revived summer '22 in a production directed by Jess Barbagallo.
Honors include a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rosati Fellowship from Duke University Libraries, the Thom Thomas award from The Dramatists Guild, a Jerome Fellowship, and residencies at Sundance/Ucross, Macdowell Colony, and Yaddo. Sylvan is an alum of CTG's Writers' Workshop, an affiliated artist at Clubbed Thumb, and an alum of New Dramatists.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Previous performances at Abrons Arts Center, LAX Festival, Fusebox Festival
