CONUNDRUMS PLAYLIST

Welcome our Fall Playlist featuring work by the creative artists of CONUNDRUMS, creative nonfiction, video shorts, installation art, memoir, poetry, and fiber art by Jeffrey Becker, Lisa Wagner Erickson, Grace Gee, Judith Sara Gelt, Amber Irish, Benjamin Ross Nicholson, and Sara Rockinger.

Peruse the playlist and join us on September 30 at Junkyard Social for the CONUNDRUMS Multi-Arts MashUp.

 
 
 

Playlist

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Emergency Garden

By Lisa Wagner Erickson

Directed by Hart DeRose

Featuring Meredith Young

 
 

The Last PowerPoint by Benjamin Ross Nicholson

‘Prospective’ Ben, CEO of a new venture called disIncorporated, delivers a persuasive PowerPoint presentation concerning his latest product offering: Mail-Order Seed Potato Death Clock.

The Last PowerPoint combines professional salesmanship, potatoes, original nu-folk music, and, of course, PowerPoint to perform experimental economic maneuvers, encouraging the audience to dissolve the corporation from within and give rise to life in the corpse.

 
 
 
 

conundrums creative team

Top Row: Jeff Becker, Lisa Wagner Erickson, Maru Garcia

Second Row: Grace Gee, Judith Sara Gelt, Kyle Hossli

Third Row: Amber Irish, Benjamin Ross Nicholson, Sara Rockinger

Fourth Row: Archer Rosenkrantz, Veronica Straight-Lingo

 

MEET THE CREATIVE TEAM

Concept and Curation: Lisa Wagner Erickson

Director/ Emcee: Veronica Straight-Lingo

Creative Artists:

  • Jeff Becker (creative nonfiction)

  • Lisa Wagner Erickson (playwriting)

  • Grace Gee (installation art)

  • Judith Sara Gelt (creative nonfiction)

  • Kyle Hossli (installation art)

  • Amber Irish (poetry)

  • Ben Nicholson (performance art)

  • Sara Rockinger (installation art)

  • Veronica Straight-Lingo (performance art)

Actors: Maru Garcia, Archer Rosenkrantz, Veronica Straight-Lingo

BIOS

JEFF BECKER

Jeff Becker is the Creative Writing Program Coordinator and co-chair of the English Department at the Community College of Denver. He writes creative nonfiction and fiction and holds an MFA from New Mexico State University.

LISA WAGNER ERICKSON

Lisa Wagner Erickson (she/her) is a playwright and theatre artist whose work has been developed and presented at Manhattan Theatre Source, Primary Stages, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Stickball Productions, No Strings Theatre, DCPA, Edge Theatre, Theater 29, And Toto too, and BETC, among others. She is the founder of Cypherbird Projects, the former owner and creative director of Theater 29, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. She holds an MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen from Lesley University. www.lisawericksonplaywright.com

MARU GARCIA

Maru has been acting and directing for over 30 years now. She has a Bachelor's in Art from UNAM in Mexico City, specializing in directing. Maru has participated in more than 100 plays as actor and/or director. She has also had the opportunity to act in a few films and some TV. During her artistic career, she has had the opportunity to lead and manage Grupo Bochinche in Mexico City as Executive Producer and Artistic Director as well as The 73rd. Avenue Theatre Company in Westminster, CO. She currently serves as Executive Producer at Wheat Ridge Theatre Company. www.marugarciaactor.com

GRACE GEE

Grace Gee's healing art expresses the outermost edges of the innermost condition of being human. She creates art that challenges the mind and nourishes the spirit while providing avenues to engage in a changing consciousness. Her art holds space for vulnerability to exist. 

She works in a variety of media including sculpture, fiber, artist books and installation work. Her art practice includes working within a community framework, producing healing art events for all ages. Her unique approach to life, art, and healing is strongly informed by her BA in Psychology and an MA in Conscious Evolution. She has exhibited across the US, in both group and solo exhibitions. Her award-winning work has brought her invitations to exhibitions, artist residencies, interviews and publishing. 

Grace is a Chinese Canadian who now resides in Louisville, Colorado. She has lived and worked in Canada, the US and Hong Kong and has traveled widely in Europe and Asia. Her work is influenced by her bi-cultural upbringing and is strongly rooted in spiritual growth, healing, and transformation. www.healinggracestudio.com

JUDITH SARA GELT

Judith Sara Gelt is the author of RECKLESS STEPS TOWARD SANITY, A MEMOIR and creative nonfiction including experimental and hybrid forms.

Her essays can be found in Iron Horse Literary Review, Portland Review, Broad Street Magazine, Best of Referential Magazine, and Superstition Review. She's a member of Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver. www.judithsaragelt.com

KYLE HOSSLI

Kyle Hossli is a multimedia artist who teaches at Metropolitan State University and Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.

AMBER IRISH

Amber Irish is a writer, editor, poet, and actor. Her work has been featured in collaborations with Harper Collins, Medium, and the National Park Service. Recently, her poetry was included in F*ck the Patriarchy, an anthology published by Sunday Mornings at the River.  Her favorite past performances include, Honey in Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf, Becky in Becky Shaw, and LeeAnn in A Piece of My Heart. In 2010, Amber co-founded The Three Leaches Theater Company. She is currently located in Los Angeles, California with her husband and multitude of animals. Find her work on Instagram.

BENJAMIN ROSS NICHOLSON

Benjamin Ross Nicholson is a writer, musician, and performer. He holds a Ph.D. from USC's Media Arts + Practice program with a Graduate Certificate in Performance Studies. He is particularly fascinated by corpses and potatoes. https://www.disincorporated.me

SARA ROCKINGER

Sara Rockinger's work has been featured at the Textile Museum in Washington DC., in Fiber Arts Magazine, Surface Design Journal, Freestyle Machine Embroidery by Carol Shinn, and Dimensional Cloth: Sculpture by Contemporary Textile Artists by Andra Stanton, as well as TextileCurator.com, VisualArtSource.com, Colorado Public Radio, and on Fox News in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more @ https://www.sararockinger.com

ARCHER ROSENKRANTZ

Archer Rosenkrantz (They/Him) is a queer, trans, autistic performance artist and arts educator. Improv, puppetry, stage acting, and immersive performance are all intersections of arts that Archer finds themself a part of. @archiebeshort

VERONICA STRAIGHT-LINGO

Veronica Straight-Lingo (she/her) is an Actor/Director/Improviser/Designer in the Denver/Boulder Area. She has worked with Cypherbird Projects as a collaborator, director, sound designer, and actor. Other acting roles include Olivia in Twelfth Night (Three Leaches), Loki in Jotunheim (BiTSY Stage), Wanda in The Best Day of Your Life (Vintage Theatre), and Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing (Lost and Found Productions). Veronica has also directed several productions, including an all-female/non-binary staging of Richard III for Lost and Found Productions and Eleemosynary for Coal Creek Theatre of Louisville. She also produces and hosts Metro Arts on KGNU, 88.5 FM, 1390 AM, and online at KGNU.org on Friday afternoons at 3 p.m.


Lisa Erickson