The Shea Presents: Fusion Nomads

Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 12:00 pm until 11:45 pm
Tony Vacca, Avery Sharpe, Derrik Jordan, and Charles Langford in conert filmed live at the Shea. STREAMING ALL MONTH!

FUSION NOMADS

L I V E A T T H E S H E A T H E A T E R

This session at The Shea Theater was called together by percussionist and poet Tony Vacca during the winter of 2020. These performers met on two different days, creating a Session One and Session Two presentation.

This video is Session One and it includes percussionist Tony Vacca, bassist Avery Sharpe, electric violinist and multi-instrumentalist Derrik Jordan, and saxophonist Charles Langford.

Their collective purpose was to create a collaborative response to this tangled and precarious 2020 moment; one that would connect the players, the theater and the community they all serve. Every one of these performers, like the rest of our human family, had just lived through the losses and lessons of the world turned upside down. The theme for this gathering became “finding our many ways forward.”

The first session was so successful that they did a second, and that session adds guitarist John Sheldon to this “dream-team” circle. Session Two will be added to this platform on June 10th.

In Tony’s own words:

“All that you’ll see and hear in these sessions was created in the moment from a year of strange moments for us all. We wanted to be fully immersed in our collective experience and response… and let the audience in to our journal in sound. Regarding the band: our careers have covered everything from World Music to The Avant-Garde, from world class Jazz to Spirit-guided Improv, from Western Classical Music to Spoken Word, and from Old School to Nu School to Don’t-Need-No-School-Whatsoever.”

“So we’re inviting you to dive into this creative, momentary fusion of everything we’ve ever done and everywhere our nomadic careers have taken us. We’ve all been around the music, around the world, and around each other for decades right here in The Valley, and I think all of that helps to create the extraordinary depth of this performance.”

"Big thanks to The Shea Theater, to Jean Butler and Arts Are Essential, and to the above-and-beyond tech crew: lighting designer Connor Roberge, videographer Scot Broderick, and recording engineer Alan Stockwell."

“I hope you dig it.”

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors and Underwriters

Australis Aquaculture • Artisan Beverage Cooperative • Benjamin Company • Berkshire Brewing Company • Cohn and Company Real Estate Agency • Community Credit • Common Capital • Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts • Connecticut River Internists • Dean's Beans • Easthampton Savings Bank • FirstLight GDF Suezna • Gill Tavern • Goff Media • Great Falls Harvest • Green River Festival • Greenfield Community College • Greenfield Cooperative Bank • Greenfield Savings Bank • Loot • Massachusetts Cultural Council • Montague Bookmill Montague WebWorks • Northeast Solar • People's Pint • Rainmaker Consulting • The Rendezvous • Solar Store of Greenfield • Stobierski and Connor • Told Video • True North Transit • Turn It Up

Exciting News for A Happening IV: Leviathan

Cloudgaze and Eggtooth Productions are thrilled to announce that we have received a generous grant from the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice to support our 2024 Immersive Arts Festival, “A Happening IV: Leviathan.”

This festival will transform the Shea Theater into an exploration of theme, hosting installations, music, theatrical performances, and movement pieces, featuring the collective contributions of over 30 local artists. Audiences will experience otherworldly environments and narratives inspired by folklore, fairy tales, horror motifs, American literature, and the mythos of the Old Testament, all of which delve into the central question guiding the festival: "What does it mean to encounter something greater than yourself and to be consumed by it?" Through this theme, we explore how a community reemerges and imagines itself after destruction and transformation.

With the support of the Markham-Nathan Fund, we are excited to create an event that complicates perspectives and fosters meaningful dialogue. We are grateful for this partnership and for the work of the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice.

Thanks to the Mass Cultural Council for their vital support this year.We'd also like to thank the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for their support in the form of a Flexible Funding grant. We couldn't do this work without you!