Batdorf News
September 2024 news
Well it has been a productive and busy time since I last posted news!
Currently: Haunted Honeywood
A group of actors and I are devising a ‘haunted’ themed piece of site specific theatre for the schoolhouse here in Honeywood, Ontario. We are researching the area itself for inspiration- the Dufferin County Museum was FULL of useful information to pull from as we develop a site specific, interactive piece this fall, for the show to happen next fall 2025.
This past July/August: Eski Köye Yeni Hayal / Old Village New Dream
Most recently I completed with Gulce Oral and a massive team, Eski Köye Yeni Hayal- our site specific show for the Bergama Theatre Festival 2024. You can find more information here (Link to the page).
We rehearsed in Istanbul and then took the whole cast and puppet team to Bergama. We included women from the Kozak village near the site who taught people the stick games they play (which are SUPER fun!) as part of the show… not to mention the giant baby puppet which was a smash hit on social media and of course live!
This project took 3 years and was a huge success and there are plans to take it to India in 2026 and hopefully Istanbul and who knows if maybe we can get it to Canada! So grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for their support on this project.
This past June
I gave workshops in Toronto (TBT and theatre creation) and my first resident workshop at the schoolhouse in Honeywood (intermediate TBT). So we know that the schoolhouse works as a residence and workshop location!! So exciting… a dream come true. A place to rehearse, offer workshops… yippee! Hope to see more and more people out here as I start to stay home more and work here!!
This past May: Collaborations with theatre artists in India
This past May I was in India for a month working with Irfana Majumdar and Gaurav Saini.
AND Blue (link to page) went to The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival!
Coming up: Solo work of my own
I am SLOWLY working on a new solo and had the brief but exciting opportunity to study singing with Devashish Day, a generous and brilliant singing teacher in Varanasi, India. I look forward to having the time to really PRACTICE all the valuable work he gave me (he truly gave me a lifetime of things to practice in a very short period of time!) Lots of development in the winter… excited to have Teresa Przybylski and Trevor Schwellnus on board.
Next May
Guarav Saini will come to the Honeywood Schoolhouse as a resident artist in the spring for a clown solo we are developing together!
June
More workshops I hope!
April 2024 catchup
Batdorf Jukebox, my new home for all things I create that live online, has finally launched! Check out Mr. Raisinhead, a fun audio monologue based on the solo of the same name that I toured forever!
What’s coming up
India (April - May)
I leave for India in 1 week- WOW- where I will be in Varanasi, taking improvisational singing lessons, getting to know NIRMAN, Irfana Majumdar and the local area/artists for potential collaborations… I will also have an artist retreat in Mussoorie, India to work intensively on the new solo.
Toronto (June)
TBT workshops are in Ontario in June. There is still some space if you are interested, but let me know soon!
Turkey (July - August)
We are so grateful that we received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for “Ne Hayali Oğlum? (What Dreams, my son?”) for The Bergama Theatre Festival August 9-11, 2024. This is a large interactive, immersive, theatrical event in Asclepieion, an ancient healing site/hospital in Bergama/Pergamon, where women’s histories have been erased. We have been meeting with local women there and creating mythologized versions of their stories and elements/qualities revealed through these moving discussions.
I will also teach a TBT workshop to film and TV actors in Istanbul and have an artist retreat for the solo in Assos, Turkey, thanks to SAYE Collective.
Recently
Los Angeles (March)
Blue: A Rhapsody in Blubber by Lynn McNutt, (I was director/dramaturg) for the Theatre Lab in Florida last spring, was in the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival in March.
November 2023 catchup
I had the opportunity to present for the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival Empowerment weekend in September. I co-facilitated a workshop titled “On the Road With a Suitcase and a Story” and spoke on the panel “Empowered Women: Taking the Reins of Your Career”. I was very moved and inspired by the entire weekend, and as I will be in LA for 2 months this winter, I was happy to make some new friends in the industry there. After that workshop I have decided to start a new solo… YIKES.
This coming weekend I will be in Seattle presenting on a support group of an LGBTQ+ community that I facilitate with a group that is truly now family. This group and my co-facilitators are dear to my heart- I can’t believe it has been running almost every week since the pandemic (over 2 years now!).
I just booked my flight for India this April, where I will be in Varanasi, getting to know NIRMAN, Irfana Majumdar and the local area for a potential version of “What Dreams?” there in 2025 or potential other projects… I will also have an artist retreat in Mussoorie, India to start work on the solo- I have even lined up a costume designer.
Gulce Oral and I are fundraising and working on “What Dreams/Ne Hayali?” for The Bergama Theatre Festival August 2024. This is an interactive, immersive, theatre event in Asclepieion, an ancient healing site/hospital in Bergama/Pergamon, where women’s histories have been erased. We are meeting with local women there and creating mythologized versions of their stories and elements/qualities revealed through these moving discussions. If you have any cash lying around that you don’t know what to do with, this is a HUGE project and we need some support! As you may know, Turkey is in economic crisis, and our hope has always been to pay women artists and this is even more critical now. (Email me! Or go to this link- my company is called Moleman Productions)
I will also teach a TBT workshop to film and TV actors in June in Istanbul and have an artist retreat for the solo in Assos, Turkey, thanks to SAYE Collective.
It looks like we might FINALLY release the online audio pieces I started long, long ago, January 2024 on a site called BATDORF JUKEBOX. Hopefully followed by the animated video of “The Story of Little Tiny” based on my play “kid” with Marta Juric’s beautiful animation.
May 2023 catchup
I have moved to a home/studio in Honeywood, Ontario! I recently directed Blue: A Rhapsody in Blubber at the Theatre Lab in Florida with Lynn McNutt in May, which went really well and Blue is awaiting touring dates! (see photos below) This July/August Erika is planning a site-specific project with Gulce Oral in Asklepion (Turkey) in 2024 (with research there at the Bergama Theatre Festival this summer)! It looks like we may release (crossing all my fingers and toes) some online/audio and video I started in the pandemic and we are still working on this TBT video below… we have more recent interviews to add!
BSI 2023 cancelled
I decided to cancel the BSI this year (sorry… I know there are many out there contacting me that were planning to come!). My various travel projects are growing, which is very exciting, so I am trying to preserve some time in my new country studio… visioning what can happen here!! Stay tuned!
July 2022 catchup
Batdorf did a BSI June 2022 followed by performing at the Geneva Somatics Dance Conference. Before that she was in Turkey after teaching The Batdorf Technique to MFA actors at Florida Atlantic University, April 25-29th, 2022. In Turkey she created a site specific show with Gulce Oral and students from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in the ruins of Troy in mid May. After that, Batdorf taught TBT at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, then a workshop in performance creation at the theatre festival in Bergama. (Where the site specific show will be!)
Batdorf is currently the Graduate Program Director of the MFA in theatre at York University, and writing, developing some audio projects and an animated video of one of her plays, hopefully to come out this spring. She has also creating some fun music with her friend and colleague sound designer Richard Feren as The Haunted Palace, her favourite wacky and unexpected pandemic pivot.
Images from Turkey, Blue, music, and online projects to come
