Ian Thal at Willoughby & Baltic this Saturday!!!

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

Comments

[ruxxell.livejournal.com]

your image is totally broken!

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

Oh no!!! Hang on. I'll fix it.

[ron_newman]

Can you tell us something about this performer? Thanks.

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

Hi Ron,

Ian writes original poetry, and combines it with mime and masks and sometimes other props that illustrate his poetry.

And, he now lives in Somerville, so if you're not familiar with his work, this is a chance to see a performance by a neighbor.

Here's a snipped from Ian's bio:
Ian Thal has been a fixture on the local performance art circuit since the late 1990s, first as a spoken word artist, but inspired by local legend William J. “Billy” Barnum began introducing elements of physical theatre to his performances, first receiving training in corporeal mime from James Van Looy, with whom he would co-found Cosmic Spelunker Theatre and later performing with Bread and Puppet Theater. He has also performed several traditional characters of the commedia dell’arte with i Sebastiani, and acted in a number of local independent films.

Cosmic Spelunker Theatre’s show Waltzing to War, which Ian co-created with James Van Looy was a Boston Phoenix Editor’s Pick and described as “running the gamut from realistic to stylized to surreal.” It incorporated masks, puppets, and drawings created by Ian for the show.

Though he parted company with Bread & Puppet early last year, his blog of his experiences with the iconoclastic Vermont troupe was recently placed on the reading list of a course at Royal Holloway, University of London.

He has also taught mime and commedia at Open Air Circus, Brookline Community Center for the Arts, and at workshops at regional high schools.

Ian’s poetry has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies including BOOM! For Real (Better Non Sequitur, 2005), Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writing from Rising Generations (Andover Newton Press, 2006), and Tokens: Contemporary Poetry of the Subway (P&Q Press, 2003.) His work has also appeared as part of an installation at the 2003 Boston Cyberarts Festival, and was exhibited at Boston City Hall as part of the Mayor’s Prose and Poetry Program. He is currently developing a full length play.