The Garden of Forking Paths

The Garden of Forking Paths is a movement and sound installation that leads audience members via audio prompts on a headset through a sprawling fabric labyrinth in the Bok building in South Philadelphia. The Bok, a former school built in the the Art Deco style, inspired Nichole Canuso Dance Company to create an experience that blurs the lines between audience and performer as they engage with the unique architecture of the building and with the South Philadelphia neighborhood in which it is situated.


This is NCDC's largest scale endeavor to date, involving over 60 people to complete the creative process.

The audio tracks for the performance have been translated and re-recorded in Spanish and Cambodian (Khmer) by working closely with neighborhood associations, professional translators, and a group of students from the Southwark School. Some of these students are now performers in sections of the The Garden of Forking Paths. The project also includes audio interviews with residents from the surrounding neighborhoods that can be heard in specific moments in the experience.

The Garden was originally created to respond to each audience member's individual experience. As we toured the production, the choreography also adapted to the architecture of each new location. This new version allows us to respond not only to the building's architecture, but also to its tenants and surrounding neighborhood. The piece reflects its new setting through the translation process, the student collaborators and the community interviews we've done with neighbors, each of which have shaped the project in new ways.


The Garden of Forking Paths is an intimate performance meant for only six audience members to experience at a time. The installation allows each person to oscillate between viewer and performance participant. Designed to illuminate the peculiar beauty of being alone in our own bodies through moments of solitude, observation, and active immersion, it encourages awareness in many forms.

This piece was originally inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and the Luis Borges short story The Garden of Forking Paths. After its debut in Philadelphia, it ran as a shortened version at The Orchard Project in Saratoga Springs,​ NY; ​The Clarice in College Park, MD; and the ​American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University​ in Boston,​ MA.


Although The Garden of Forking Paths is generously funded in part by The William Penn Foundation's New Audiences/New Places grant, NCDC still needs to make up the rest of the cost of the production.

This is where you come in!

The Garden of Forking Paths is now up and running. We’ll be performing 80 shows before we close.

We need your help to cover the costs of this massive undertaking.  

your donation will support:

- Recording sessions and work with translators
- Rehearsals and recording sessions with the students from the Southwark School.
- Interviews with residents from surrounding neighborhoods.
- Sound equipment
- Set materials
- Costumes
- Several months of rehearsals with dancers, designers, voice over actors and test audiences.


Ticket prices for The Garden of Forking Paths are on a sliding scale (starting at $10), so that this experience is open to as many people as possible. Please consider donating to this project in the name of making art accessible. Your donation will be fully tax-deductible for tax year 2017.

For donations of $75, you will receive a set of 10 magnets featuring the stunning photographs taken by Kate Raines/Plate3Photography.



For donations of $100, you will be receive a t-shirt with an image from The Garden of Forking Paths.



 

The Garden of Forking Paths is running at the Bok from May 10th through June 17th. 
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The Garden of Forking Paths is funded in part by the William Penn Foundation and is supported by Ticketleap.


CREDITS

Conceived, written and directed by Nichole Canuso
Choreographed by Nichole Canuso in collaboration with the ensemble
Composer & sound designer: Michael Kiley
Contributing composer & sound designer:
James Sugg
Performers: Nichole Canuso, Eun Jung Choi, Jenny Huynh, Anita Koy, Jenson Titus Lavallee, Scott McPheeters, Rhonda Moore, Chanina Nugroho, KimLynn Nguyen, Guillermo Ortega, Irene Sanchez, Alexson Sok, Annie Wilson, Andalyn Young
Contributing writers: Jackie Sibblies Drury, Anna McDonald
Set design: Anna Kiraly
Lighting design: Masha Tsimring
Costume design: Rebecca Kanach and Tara Webb
Prop design: Emily Schuman
Production manager: Robin Stamey
Stage manager: Elaina DiMonaco
Outreach Coordinator: Lanica Angpak
Assistant Outreach and Youth Coordinator: Cecilia Valadez
Translators: Jose Guillermo Ortega Tanus, Angkeakeo Hak, Cecilia Valadez
Voices in Recordings: Ana Acosta,Deborah Block, Nichole Canuso, Emmanuelle Delpech, David Disbrow, Camill Fernandez, Elba Hevia y Vaca, Makoto Hirano, Simon Canuso Kiley, Michael Kiley, Anita Koy, Putery Long, John Luna, Julianna Mendez, Houn Nhan, Derick Sananikone, Irene Sanchez, Nyta Teap, Sopheaktra Theng, Phorllie Tsen, Drew Tsen, Dito Van Reigersberg, Les Rivera, James Sugg.