In Which ______ and Others Discover the End.

How do we reconcile our needs for both–for stability and transformation–as they constantly wrestle with each other? With complex processes vying inside each of us, how do we come together to form groups, communities, and cultures? How do we reconcile our needs for both–for stability and transformation–as they constantly wrestle with each other? How do cataclysmic events accumulate into mundane life cycles, while the amassing of small changes dramatically push, pull, and alter us? With these complex processes vying inside each of us individually, how do we come together to form groups, communities, and cultures?

In Which ____ and Others Discover the End is a continuously developing multi-disciplinary collaboration between performance collective SuperGroup, experimental playwright Rachel Jendrzejewski, art rock band Brute Heart and installation artist Liz Miller. 

The collaboration includes a number of experiences in four components:: A visual installation/exhibition by Liz Miller, open SuperGroup and Brute Heart performance rehearsals during gallery hours, PF Takeovers with outside groups “taking over” the gallery space and a grand finale series of free collaborative performances to cap off the exhibit run.

In Which _____ and Others Discover the End harnesses the transformative power and value of contemporary performance, stimulating our collective capacity to dream, think inventively, and make connections between divergent ideas while creating space for reflection and dialogue.

The Background Story

SuperGroup and Rachel Jendrzejewski began working together in 2011, the year Rachel moved to Minneapolis as a Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow, although they had known each other for several years prior. Jeff Wells of SuperGroup and Rachel met years ago through Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles; so when Rachel came to Minnesota, he was one of the only people she knew. As SuperGroup and Rachel got to know each other’s current work, they realized they were on parallel paths of experimentation with movement and language. They shared kindred impulses, struggles, aesthetic inclinations, and points of curiosity; a drive to investigate new relationships between text and the body; and mutual questions about relationships between new performance genres, the professional field, and community-building. In Spring 2012, Rachel used her Jerome Fellowship development funds to support a series of exploratory workshops with SuperGroup, using true stories about major life change gathered from acquaintances and the public as a springboard; and out of this process, a collaboration was born.

In July 2013, SuperGroup and Rachel premiered their first piece together, it’s [all] highly personal, exploring tensions between ritual and risk. Joined by performers Angharad Davies, Hannah Kramer, and Stephanie Stoumbelis, the work was presented as part of the Walker Art Center’s Momentum: New Dance Works series at the Southern Theater. By the time the production opened, the group already knew they wanted to keep building on their work together. At first, they planned to expand it’s [all] highly personal; and it was during that time Rachel and SuperGroup reached out to installation artist Liz Miller and art rock band Brute Heart toward developing ideas that had come up, but never manifested, in that first project.

However, as conversations and experiments continued that Fall, the group realized they were, in fact, creating a wholly separate new piece – referencing it’s [all] highly personal but advancing the work in new directions, focusing on questions related to climate change, the body, and binary thinking. In Which _______ and Others Discover the End began to emerge as an expansive rumination on the ways people embody polarity, mystery, mortality, discovery, and change. The work was developed throughout 2014-15, with a public work-in-progress showing shared at TU Dance in October 2014. For the premiere in March 2015, the group has been thrilled to partner with Public Functionary, who shared and helped further their vision of creating a continuously unfolding multidisciplinary environment that could serve both as a formal performance space and informal open public space, with no financial barriers for audiences.