West Stockbridge — On Friday, June 14, and Saturday, June 15, The Foundry will present “A Spell for Living,” an interactive healing ritual created by singer/composer Renee Benson and experimental theater artist Jennifer Sargent.
“A Spell for Living” is a distillation of the earlier performance work “Requiem for a Stranger,” which the two developed in 2022 for the New Orleans community as a way to deal with worldwide grief around the COVID-19 pandemic. The events were called “The Gorgeous Offerings,” and they premiered at New Orleans’ Contemporary Arts Center in 2022.
The new work departs from the old by embracing “a new season of aliveness.”
The Requiem stage performance threaded together Renee’s soaring, experimental vocals; expressionist movement by a trio of dancers; and innovative, interactive design.
For millennia, spells and rituals have been a part of cultural practices around the world, serving purposes of protection, healing, and blessings. Each culture brings its own perspectives and methods to these practices, highlighting the universal human need for connection to the spiritual and natural worlds. The ritual that Benson and Sargent have created combines vocal music with movement by a trio of dancers, along with guided prompts that invite the audience to participate and reflect.
Renee Benson’s work has been performed in over 15 countries, on television, film, and at such festivals as Glastonbury and Eurovision. She is the main vocalist for “Leelah,” an opera she co-created with composer Vincent Pongracz for Austria’s Vogelberg Jazz Orchestra. She has worked with the Banff Centre for the Arts, is on the faculty of the Wîchoîe Ahiya Indigenous Singer/Songwriter Intensive, and has taught trauma-informed mindfulness at the Kennedy Center. Under the name Sister Raie, Renee is currently working on her solo debut album “Malshun.”
Based in Sonoma County, Calif., Jennifer Sargent is a creator of experimental, award-winning physical theater and a facilitator of embodied learning. For over 10 years, Ms. Sargent directed the New Orleans-based theater company Vagabond Inventions, which explored “worlds in disequilibrium through ensemble processes.” Her works have been performed across the U.S. and internationally at such venues as The Chocolate Factory, Bushwick Starr, Here Arts Center in New York City, and North American Cultural Laboratory.
Jennifer is presently engaged in research revealing the biological underpinnings of art making, with the aim of showing how the instinct to create art is a key driver of human growth and development. Accordingly, she is now earning her master’s degree in mental health counseling, specializing in expressive arts therapies.
Experience “A Spell for Living” on Friday, June 14, or Saturday, June 15, at The Foundry, 2 Harris Street, West Stockbridge. Tickets are available here. Refreshments will be served on the patio at the ritual’s conclusion. Seating/bar: 7 p.m. Show: 7:30 p.m. For more information, call (413) 232-5222.
Parking is limited at the venue, so please use one of the three public parking lots in town: one across from the Post Office, one behind Berkshire Bank, and one just off Main Street. Whatever you do, don’t park at Trúc Orient Express Restaurant or the Post Office, unless you want to get a parking ticket.
