Robert Abrams: What is your role in the show?

Matthew Neenan: Choreographer and Co-Director.

RA: Please describe the performance you will present at PIFA.

MN: It is a dance theatre piece based off of Guillaume Apollinaire's "The Breasts of Tiresias". It's a collaboration between The Wilma Theater and BalletX.

RA: Have you collaborated with anyone to create your PIFA presentation?

MN: Yes.

RA: Who have you collaborated with to create your PIFA presentation?

MN: Walter Bilderback, dramaturg, and co-director, Rosie Langabeer, composer, Steven Dufala, set designer, Maiko Matsushima, costume designer.

RA: What has this collaboration allowed you to achieve that would not have been possible without it?

MN: Everything! Getting to work with actors has been a huge treat and has opened a new avenue for my work, I know I'd like to direct another theater piece in the future. It's been wonderful for the dancers to explore a new side of themselves dealing with text and singing as well. The actors and dancers are enjoying the collaboration of cross discipline.

Also, the ability to work with designers over a long period of time has allowed more detail, integration and depth. Having live music and working with a composer to create the proper score for the work itself is creatively satisfying.

RA: In your art that you are presenting at PIFA, what is unexpected?

MN: Most of the material in the piece is unexpected.

RA: What is "new" about the art you are presenting at PIFA?

MN: It's completely new territory for BalletX. We've never collaborated on such an interdisciplinary piece before and it allows us to have a new relationship with the audience.

RA: What is the connection between your show at PIFA and Paris between 1910 and 1920?

MN: The play first premiered in 1917. The play is extremely surreal and we are trying to bring out as much surrealism as possible. Visually this work has a certain cubist look to it as well.

RA: What else would you like people who are thinking about purchasing a ticket to your show to know about your art?

MN: It's a very colorful, funny and surrealist production. I know people will enjoy this performance immensely. The cast is fantastic.

To purchase a ticket to this show, go to www.pifa.org/events/980191014.
To purchase tickets to all PIFA dance events, go to www.pifa.org/events?bucket_id=1.
For more information about BalletX, go to www.balletx.org.
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