Performances, Installations, and Digital Works
A Space for Hope Installation (2025)
Premiere: Botanical Gardens, St. Andrews, Scotland
Producer: Charlotte Lee
Videography and Interviewer: Adrian Fisk
Scenic Design and Text: Nic Farr
Guided Movement and Performance: Joan Gavaler
An interactive installation which seeks to create space for climate hope amongst increasing climate anxiety. The installation includes documentary footage, guided movement and creative writing, to encourage reflection on our shared fears and hopes for the future. The installation is funded via a University of St Andrews STAIRS Nascent Partnership fund, with additional funding from the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.
Photograph by Adrian Fisk.
Moment by Moment (2025)
Premiere: Ampersand International Arts Festival, Williamsburg, VA
Co-creators Joan Gavaler with Aaron Birk, Matthew Thornton
Writer: Jill Bolte Taylor
Composer: Casey Lenhart
Costume Design: Jeremy Quick
Lighting Design: Stella Davis
Original Cast: Aaron Birk, Joan Gavaler, Matthew Thornton
inspired by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor’s experience of a stroke described in her book and in a viral TED talk. This work brings to life the experience of mental fragmentation and Dr Jill’s insight during her recovery that she (and therefore, all of us) can choose where we put our attention and how we want to be in the world.
The Zombie Life: A Seminar for Humans Seeking Conversion (Touring 2021, 2023-2024)
Premiere: Firehouse Theatre, Richmond, VA
Co-creators Chris Gavaler, Joan Gavaler
Playwright: Chris Gavaler
Director: Joan Gavaler
Fight Choreographer: Dan Plehal
Lighting, Set, Sound Design: Todd LaBelle
Costume Design: Annette Hairfield
Properties Design: AC Wilson
Original Cast: P.J. Freebourn, Keaton Hillman, Jacqueline Jones, Ken Moretti, Shalandis Wheeler Smith, Marjie Southerland
THE ZOMBIE LIFE is a self-help seminar from a therapist with a unique remedy for life's hardships: Become a zombie! His converted assistants provide testimonials, but as the seminar unfolds, they veer dangerously off script. Should we all convert – or are there secrets to life that even this ultimate therapy can’t cure?
Within this play, we seek to integrate the wit of the dialog with the heartbreak of the content to highlight a range of mental health issues. The characters begin with a lighter tone and gradually become more emotionally connected to their source of suffering. The unexpected inclusion of SHALANDIS disrupts the seminar, but also suggests a path to healing. She extends compassion to the recovering zombies, the seminar participants in the audience, and even DR KEN. We like to offer audiences a facilitated opportunity to describe and process what the play has stirred within them after each performance.
DREAM LOGIC (Touring 2014-2024)
Premiere: Links Hall, Chicago
Co-creators: Joan Gavaler, Dan Plehal with Mickey Lonsdale, Jane Rabinovitz
Director: Dan Plehal
Choreographer: Joan Gavaler
Sound Design: Dan Plehal, Joan Gavaler
Costume Design: Dan Plehal, Skye Geerts, Joan Gavaler
Lighting Design: Ryan Crowther
Original Cast: Joan Gavaler, Mickey Lonsdale, Dan Plehal, Jane Rabinovitz
A curious collection of delightful short stories that find enchantment in ordinary situations explored in unexpected ways. Find out if an old janitor will discover a spark of magic in a Bucket of Youth. Experience an obstacle course that delivers Couples Therapy. Enjoy the graceful swinging of a Newton’s Cradle. With each version of the show, we bring a different mix of characters and stories.
A Life With No Limits (Touring 2017-2020)
Premiere:: Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, D.C.
Co-creators: Joan Gavaler, Dan Plehal with Mickey Lonsdale
Director: Dan Plehal
Choreographer: Joan Gavaler
Composer: Sophia Serghi
Costume Design: Dan Plehal, Joan Gavaler
Lighting Design: Dan Plehal
Original Cast: : Joan Gavaler, Mickey Lonsdale, Dan Plehal, Richie Schiraldi, Fiona Wren
Inspired by the life and work of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. It is created in the company’s signature style blending dance, theatre, and acrobatics with original music by Sophia Serghi. This story reflects on the determination, passion, and sense of humor of someone who has severe physical limitations, yet has an imagination that is able to roam free.
The Fool and The World (Touring 2019-2022)
Premiere: Kimball Theatre, Williamsburg, VA
Co-creators: Joan Gavaler, Dan Plehal with Mickey Lonsdale
Composer: Sophia Serghi
Costume: Christina Leinicke
Lighting Design: Dan Plehal
Original Cast: : Joan Gavaler, Mickey Lonsdale, Dan Plehal
We bring to life the 22 Major Arcana cards of the Tarot deck in our signature style with original music by Sophia Serghi. As Aura CuriAtlas embodies the symbols, audience members can contemplate their own associations with each card. We offer this performance as a way for audiences to have a conversation with their imagination.
asathoughtfallsthroughthegapsoftranslation (2023)
Co-creators Joan Gavaler, Ada Hao
Movement and Text: Joan Gavaler, Ada Hao
Video and Sound editing: Ada Hao
Cast: Joan Gavaler, Ada Hao
The first experimental interdisciplinary work between Joan Gavaler (Virginia, USA) and Ada Hao (London, UK) in their ongoing collaboration. This evolving work has been created using Zoom, telematics technology to create a virtual studio, the GPT-3 AI language model, and wearable body sonification along with exchanges of creative material that unfold like a game of Telephone with text, sound, movement, and video influencing each other in multiple iterations.​
Aura CuriAtlas presents S. L. Feemster’s ConFront(ed) (2022)
Concept: Joan Gavaler
Poetry: Lewis Feemster
Sound Engineer: El. J. Markland
Video shot planning: Lewis Feemster, Joan Gavaler
Video editing: Grace Helmick, Kelsey McAlister
Cast: S. L. Feemster, Joan Gavaler, April Josephine, Mickey Lonsdale Forty Nguyen, Dan Plehal, LaWanda Raines, Tamii Sakurai, Demetrius Shields
An evocative and multi-layered digital performance collaboration between Aura CuriAtlas Physical Theatre and S. L. Feemster. Framed by a trip-hop soundscape from Feemster and producer E.J. “dxmingo” Markland, we reimagine physical theatre storytelling with nine performers conveying their experiences through a digital theatre landscape.