Presents
Red Tiger Tales
Artistic Instigator - Janet McAlpin
Direction & Costume Design - Elizabeth Klob
Writer - Lyam White
Music - Marchette DuBois
Scenic Elements - Jon Schroeder
Masks - Patricia Toovey and Martha Enson
Stage Management & Production - Aleythea Dolstad
Sound and Lights - Max Sarkowsky
Clowns & Collaborators
Meghan Ames
David Godsey
Janet McAlpin
Lyam White
Director’s Note
As always, I begin with a list of questions when I begin a project. For Red Tiger Tales, this list included: What is the journey? Who is the master? What is the way? Where is the way? Where is the teacher? What is the lesson? Where did I leave my keys?
This list, of course, not only showed up in every rehearsal with four attending monk-clowns to tackle and grapple with, but in every day of my life during this process. This story, to me, is life on a very esoteric and practical level. I think I could spend my life asking these questions, laughing at the answers, sitting still at times (my biggest challenge!) and having them change again in a year’s time. Some of these artists I have been privileged to share an artist’s journey for some 20+ years. With some, like this project, we are just beginning our journey. And it is ongoing.
I invite you to see where these questions fit into your experience of this performance and if perhaps they also show up in your life. Hopefully with humor.
Artist Bios
Meghan Ames is over the moon about performing in another show with UMO Ensemble. Meghan, originally from New York, has been performing on Vashon over the past four years with Vashon Repertory Theatre (Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Miranda in The Tempest, and Sue/Sandra in The Exonerated) and Take a Stand Theatre (Penny in the Penny Tahlequah radio play). Meghan loves clown and physical theatre and has studied under Chris Bayes, Jean Taylor, Giovanni Fusetti, and Philippe Gaulier. Outside of performing, Meghan teaches movement and clown, studies audio engineering, and enjoys picking up heavy objects for the sheer thrill. Thank you to UMO Ensemble and the community for making them feel so welcome.
Aleythea Dolstad grew up on Vashon thinking UMO and those involved were perfectly normal, which was true considering it was Vashon. Most of their stage experience has been through dancing with Vashon Dance Academy. Most of their management experience has been through working on Tall Ships in various roles on various ships for nearly twenty years. The most recent role being four years as captain of the Clearwater, sailing on the Hudson River. They have been having a lovely and intriguing time working on SQUEEZE and is sure that if the cast and collaborators involved in the production were actually the norm, the world would be in a much better place.
Marchette DuBois has been an active performing artist in Seattle since 1996. After a brief study abroad program (2017-2021) to the wilds of Austin, TX, she is back in the Pacific Northwest now. Primarily a musician, she has performed and co-created a variety of performances. She has collaborated with many people to bring to life new works of music, theater, and dance. Some of her favorite people to work with include Amy Denio and the Hells Bellows Accordion Quartet, clown and puppetteer Jenelle Weidlich, and the good people of the UMO ensemble.
David Godsey is a graduate of the Professional Training Program at the Circle in the Square in New York and the Laboratory of Movement Studies at Ecole LeCoq in Paris. Since UMO’s co-founding in 1987, the Ensemble has been the primary focus and outlet for his performance work. He was lead artist for UMO's Millenium Circus (1999) and Final Broadcast (2007), and has been a contributing member of the ensemble on nearly all of the group's 25 major works. David is known on Vashon as an instigator, artistic director and resident preacher for Vashon's variety show CHRCH. As a co-founder of Open Space for Arts & Community, David now works as a Creative Director and serves also as a member of the Board of Directors. He lives on Vashon with his clown of a partner Janet and their famous dog Cooper.
Elizabeth Klob has been toiling, playing and reinventing herself in the theatrical world for 30 years. After graduating from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in acting she worked away at a theatrical career in NYC until she escaped to Seattle in 1992 to pursue her interest in creating physical ensemble theatre. She started the Open Circle Theater in the 90's when grunge was cool and theatre in Seattle was done in warehouses in the Lake Union District. She is the current executive artist for the UMO Ensemble where she directs, designs and performs. Her most notable directorial works include Pu’uhonua and See Me Naked with Maria Glanz and Open Circle Theater, Rapunzel, Fatal Peril, Red Tiger Tales, Fail Better, the Resistance Cabaret, Falling Awake and now SQUEEZE with UMO. Elizabeth works regularly with Vashon Rep and Acrobatic Conundrum. Elizabeth owns and designs for Cicada Bridal in Seattle.
Janet McAlpin trained in physical theater for two years at the School of Jacques LeCoq (Paris, France) and co-founded UMO Ensemble in 1989 with original UMO Ensemble artists Esther Edelman, Martha Enson, David Godsey, and Kevin Joyce. She has been teaching, directing and performing physical theater for over 37 years. Janet has taught clown theater at Freehold studio (Seattle, WA) and Naropa Institute (Boulder, Co). She has directed Circus Contraption and many other groups and individual artists.
As an UMO Ensemble member, Janet plays various roles, performing, creating in ensemble, and directing shows such as El Dorado, Body Inheritance, Fatal Peril, Red Tiger Tales; and Fail Better and SQUEEZE touring regionally and internationally.
She also performs various characters on different apparatus (hoop, trapeze, globe, and stilts). Her creative endeavors have ranged from writing and performing with UMO Ensemble to creating signature characters (like Bucky and Mme X) who appear regularly at CHRCH and other Open Space signature events.
In 2008 Janet co-founded Open Space for Arts and Community on Vashon Island with her parner in crime, David Godsey and produces numerous festivals and events there.
She loves water, gravity, and dark comedy and is thrilled to be on stage with her favorite clowns in the world, performing Red Tiger Tales.
Max Sarkowsky is a designer, musician and collaborative art-maker based in Seattle, exploring the boundaries between design disciplines for live performance. Max creates unique soundscapes, music, and visuals for a variety of projects including plays, podcasts, installations, dance, and film. His freelance work with regional companies in Seattle and Colorado includes; ArtsWest, Vashon Repertory Theatre, UMO Ensemble, Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre, Acrobatic Conundrum, and others, as well as Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Max is thrilled to be back on Vashon working with UMO on this exciting new work. www.maxsarkowsky.com
Lyam White has been a writer and performer with UMO Ensemble since 2003. Credits with the ensemble include Fatal Peril, Final Broadcast, Red Tiger Tales, and Fail Better. His first foray into solo performance, American Wulver - first developed with Unicycle Collective and UMO Ensemble - streamed from 18th & Union in 2020 under K. Brian Neel's direction. Other credits include performances with Open Circle, Theater Schmeater, Annex, Greenstage, Capitol Hill Arts Center, Consolidated Works, Joe Boston Productions, Radial Theater, and 14/48 Projects.