TALK STORY #1
PROGRAM
August 28-30 at Dance Mission Theater
Produced and curated by Sharp & Fine
Lighting design by Harry Rubeck
These performances are made possible in part by funding from the San Francisco Arts Commission
Sharp & Fine
Excerpts from IPHIGENIA
work-in-progress
Devised by Megan & Shannon Kurashige with the cast
with inspiration from Euripides’s Iphigenia at Aulis
Co-Directors:
Megan & Shannon Kurashige
Cast:
Eric Avery, Charmaine Butcher, Kira Fargas, Molly Levy, Hadassah Perry, Ryan Rouland Smith
Composer:
Jordan Glenn
The evening-length version of IPHIGENIA will premiere October 23-25 at Z Space in San Francisco. For more information, please visit this page
TALK STORY #1 ARTIST BIOS
ERIC AVERY
Sharp & Fine Deviser-Performer
Eric Avery is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural organizer with over nineteen years of professional experience in theatre, interactive performance, and community-based projects. Since 2018, they have focused on applying a reparationist framework to their creative practice, organizing projects, and life. This dedication to relationship-centered process has put Avery in partnership with non-profit organizations, municipalities, social service agencies, universities, farms, community centers, prisons, art galleries, public spaces, and private homes. In addition to collaborations, Avery has independently created over 25 original productions. They earned a Bachelor's in Theatre & Film from the University of Kansas and an MFA in Theatre Arts from Towson University. Honors/Awards: Bessie Award (Outstanding Visual Design), Lavender Magazine Best of List (Outstanding Performance), Elliot Norton Award (Outstanding Design), 2024 MAP Grant Awardee, Zellerbach: Community Arts, East Bay Fund for Artists, Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency, TBA CA$H Grant, Rainin: New & Experimental Works, and more.
CHARMAINE BUTCHER
Sharp & Fine Deviser-Performer
Charmaine Butcher is a dance artist based out of San Francisco. After graduating high school with an Associate's Degree, they continued their training at Alonzo King LINES Ballet's Training Program in San Francisco. Charmaine has worked professionally for various choreographers, including Amy J Lambert, Chuck Wilt, Beth Terwilleger, Cameo Lethem, Dwight Rhoden, Robert Moses and performed with Ballet22, Ballare Carmel, Coriolis Dance, the Seattle Opera, SFJazz, and Verlaine & McCann’s Burlesque Nutcracker. They currently work with Post:ballet, Sharp & Fine, and BODYSONNET. Charmaine frequently collaborates with their partner Babatunji, showing work independently at San Francisco Trolley Dances, RAWdance’s CONCEPT Series, Dance Lovers (SF), and with Inner Child Foundation. In 2019, Charmaine completed their Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. In addition to dancing and teaching movement, Charmaine is a visual artist working in the mediums of floral, paint, and clay.
KIRA FARGAS
Sharp & Fine Deviser-Performer
Kira is a queer, first-generation Filipinx-American movement artist, choreographer, educator, and drag performer. She began her dance training at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts in Daly City, CA, and received her BFA in Dance from the University of Arizona in 2017. Kira has performed and collaborated with UNA Productions (Fuchsia), EIGHT/MOVES (Mia Chong), Detour Productions (Eric Garcia and Kat Cole), Sharp & Fine (Megan and Shannon Kurashige), New Dialect (Banning Bouldin), and KT Nelson, among others. Their choreographic work has been presented at UNA Productions’ Glimpse, ODC’s State of Play, BODYSONNET’s OTHER/self, RAWDance’s Concept Series, and more. Central to their artistic practice is an exploration of their Filipinx and queer identity, honoring both their cultural lineage and community. Kira currently co-directs the Contemporary Training Program at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts alongside Hadassah Perry. She is deeply committed to mentoring and collaborating with the next generation of dancers.
MEGAN & SHANNON KURASHIGE
Sharp & Fine Co-Directors
Megan & Shannon Kurashige are sisters, directors, choreographers, reluctant arts administrators, and mostly lapsed dancers. Across everything they do, they believe in telling stories and making space to listen. They co-founded Sharp & Fine in 2011 to make a home for ongoing collaboration and experiments in theatrical storytelling.
As choreographers, they have been commissioned by Robert Moses’ KIN, Kunoichi Productions, Oakland Ballet, the US/Japan Cultural Trade Network, and Soundwave. As dancers, they worked with Liss Fain Dance, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Christian Burns, Alex Ketley, Ballet Pacifica, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal.
MOLLY LEVY
Sharp & Fine Deviser-Performer
Molly Levy is a performer and dance educator who is drawn to the heart and humanity of dance. She is curious about how movement uncovers truths we may otherwise never know and inspired most by untethered honesty. Born and raised in the Bay Area and currently based in Oakland, Ca, Molly has performed throughout the country in devised original works, immersive theater, site-specific dance, and full evening burlesque shows. Her collaborations have included work with Sharp & Fine, Paufve Dance, Post:ballet, Cantankerous Creatures, Katie Scherman + Artists, Seattle Opera, The Equus Projects, and LROD. In addition to performing, Molly has worked in theater as a movement director creating fluid movement languages and character specific movement studies for adaptations of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, devised site-specific theater, and The Light Princess (a musical). As a teacher, Molly integrates her background in ballet, floorwork, and body-mind centering practices to offer a grounded and supportive approach to learning dance with an emphasis on anatomical alignment, functional progressions, musicality, and individual expression.
HADASSAH PERRY
Sharp & Fine Deviser-Performer
ADD TUNJI CREDIT
Hadassah is a queer woman, artist, and musician currently based in San Francisco. She grew up in Riga, Latvia where she began her studies in dance and piano. In 2016, she moved to Israel Palestine to study with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. In 2018, Hadassah joined New Dialect, directed by Banning Bouldin, where she worked closely with and performed works by Hofesh Shechter, Roy Assaf, Ariel Freedman, Rosie Herrera, Ana Maria Lucaciu, and Alex Ketley. In 2021, Hadassah moved to San Francisco and joined UNA Productions, directed by Chuck Wilt. Hadassah is the co-director of the contemporary program at the Westlake School of the Performing Arts, where she teaches, mentors, and choreographs. She is passionate about making queer art with her partner, Kira Fargas, and has performed throughout the Bay Area. This is Hadassah's first project with Sharp and Fine, and she is thrilled to be joining.
RYAN ROULAND SMITH
Sharp & Fine Deviser-Performer
Ryan Rouland Smith holds a BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2014, Smith became a member of Kate Weare Company, performing in and originating roles in such works as Dark Lark, Unstruck, Marksman and Praise. In 2019 while dancing in New York, Smith had the pleasure of working with Stefanie Batten Bland, Look Who is Coming to Dinner and Nicole Vaughn Diaz, A Portrait of Them. Following the collaborative process between Kate Weare Company and ODC, Decameron/Up For Air; Smith joined ODC/Dance from 2021-2025. While there he had the pleasure of dancing and originating works by Sidra Bell, Mia J. Chong, Sonya Delwaide, Catherine Galasso, KT Nelson, Dexandro Montalvo, Kimi Okada, Amy Seiwart and Brenda Way. Currently Smith is freelancing in the Bay Area, this is his first collaboration with Sharp & Fine.