FREE mini-performances by Train collaborators:
To see photos of Performance Sites, click on corresponding links below.

Train
May 2 - May 13, 2008
featured in the TNT

Barefoot Studios, in partnership with Tacoma Neighborhoods Together, Metro Parks, Sound Transit, Job Carr Museum, GSA and UW Tacoma is proud to announce their production of Train, inspired by the railroad history and heritage of Tacoma, during the month of May.  Funded in part by Tacoma Arts Commission and Washington State Arts Commission, Train is a collaborative intermedia performance/installation to be produced at Barefoot Studios and other sites in Tacoma with current or historic connections to local railroad activity. Tacoma’s railroad heritage and the artists’ personal train stories provide the thematic material for Train. A visual art installation will be exhibited at Barefoot Studios, 1604 Center Street, Tacoma.

Directors Paul and Joséphine A. Zmolek of Barefoot Studios will present their own physical theatre works, Migrant and On the Backs of our Mothers at Barefoot Studios.  Both Migrant and On the Backs of our Mothers have been funded by the generous support of the Tacoma Arts Commission.  Both pieces have been cast incorporating the talents of artists across genres, some trained as dancers and others, not. Paul’s all male cast includes poet David Fewster, choreographer Michael Hoover, actor Jeff Hansen, photographer/musician Gary Lappier, and dancer Will Halsey. Migrant explores themes of hobos, the migrant workers of the Great Depression years and how that correlates with the undocumented workers/illegal immigrants in our current time, the off-shore movement of highly skilled jobs, the "Tacoma Method” and his own experiences as a "gypsy" in the arts and education. On the Backs of our Mothers begins with the story of Joséphine’s grandfather who was killed by a train when her grandmother was four months pregnant with her mother. Each cast member of On the Backs of our Mothers explores their own personal stories of trains and womanhood through text and movement. Aged 25 years to 65 years, cast members include choreographers/dancers Katharine M. Stricker and Stephanie Kriege, film-maker/performance artist Meg McHutchison, movement artists Marla Simms and Jeanne Douville, and painter Blue Hesikx.

Schedule of Train events include:

Barefoot Studios
1604 Center St., Tacoma, WA (253) 627-2273:

  • Callous Physical Theatre performs Paul Zmolek's Migrant and Joséphine A. Zmolek's On the Backs of Our Mothers with guest performances each night. $18 Advanced purchase is strongly recommended as seating is very limited.
    • Friday May 2 @ 8 PM with special guest Michael Hoover
    • Saturday May 3 @ 8 PM with special guest Meg McHutchison
    • Friday May 9 @ 8 PM with special guests Katharine M. Stricker/Heidi Fosner
    • Saturday May 10 @ 8 PM with special guests André Bouchard/Walrus Dance Co
  • Art installations by Cara Jennings, Gary Lappier, Blue Hesikx and Meg McHutchison
    • May 1 – 31 during regular business hours. FREE.

Additional installations/performances for Train will be created by poet G.B. Waldschmidt, conceptual artist Cara J. Jennings, spoken word artist Lucas Smiraldo, performance artist/film maker Meg McHutchison, the Folksingers in Hell featuring David Fewster and Heidi Fosner, choreographer Katharine M. Stricker, photographer Gary Lappier, choreographer Michael Hoover, painter Blue Hesikx and André Bouchard, artistic director of Seattle’s Walrus Dance Company.
For booking inquires, please contact us.