Dance Nation by Clare Barron

Starring Taysha Maria Canales, Kimberly Chatterjee, Keith Conallen, Kimberly Fairbanks, Suli Holum, Justin Jain, Campbell O’Hare, Brett Ashley Robinson, and Julianna Zinkel

Scenic Design by Matt Saunders

Costume Design by Amanda Gladu

Lighting Design by Maria Shaplin

Sound Design and Composition by Elizabeth Atkinson

Production Stage Manager: Patreshettarlini Adams

All photos taken by Johanna Austin, http://www.AustinArt.org, for the Wilma Theater 2019 production

P R E S S:

“Dance Nation is a raw, bold, and original piece that accurately portrays the emotional experience of what it is to be a teenage girl… Director Margot Bordelon brilliantly delivers graphic language and actions in the play, to audience applause.”

- Christina Anthony, Broad Street Review

“Dance Nation at the Wilma Theater is a fearless celebration of female adolescence in all its over-the-top, emotionally fraught, bloody glory. Director Margot Bordelon's high-energy production is captivating, and the vivacious cast makes the most of every cringe-inducing rant and heartbreaking squabble. Go see it and I promise you will gasp and giggle and learn something about yourself you have forgotten”

- Rebecca Rendell, Talkin' Broadway

“Dance Nation at the Wilma Theater is a potent and entertaining play about a group of seven girls , one boy (Justin Jain, wonderfully befuddled in this female world), and one man (Keith Conallen, superb in his wardrobe of track suits), their adored tyrannical dance teacher, sometimes pontificating, sometimes sincere. The cast of dancers is terrific.”

- Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Dance Nation by Clare Barron, now playing at The Wilma, is a very funny play, but it is so much more… Margot Bordelon’s crisp and invigorating direction carries us through what it is like to prepare for a dance competition.

The playwright greets us aggressively with an energetic tap number. It establishes both the quality of the dancing and their age. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the production is how Director Bordelon allows the thirteen-year-old girl to emerge in each scene. Emerge they do.”

- Philly Life and Culture

“Dance Nation bursts onto the stage like a cannon-ball, with a 42nd Street-esque opening number (complete with a vertically raised curtain). While the opening dance, complete with sailor suits and tap moves has its tongue firmly planted in cheek, it quickly becomes apparent that the stakes for these performances are high: emotionally and physically.

Margot Bordelon’s direction pushes the actors to find the goofiness in their character’s adolescent bodies alongside the fearsome competition.”

- Joshua Herren, Phindie

“Under Margot Bordelon’s sensitive direction, the ensemble is copacetic and, to a person, superb.”

- Cameron Kelsall, Reclining Standards

“Dance Nation is a get out of your seat ball of fun from start to finish. Dance Nation is a hit!”

- TOITIME