NOW I'M FINE Goes to New York!
by Ahamefule Oluo
This campaign is seeking the funds necessary to support NOW I'M FINE’s run at the 2016 Under the Radar Festival in New York City!
NOW I’M FINE is a ten-movement experimental orchestral pop opera and long-form comedic storytelling piece. It’s a self-portrait and a catharsis, the intersection of all my artistic pursuits (comedy, composition, music performance, storytelling), and the culmination of nearly a decade's worth of work.
A series of monologues about a period of illness, despair, and regeneration in my life are interwoven with original music written about, and sometimes during, the traumatic events described. NOW I’M FINE is the story of holding it together, if only for one moment. The scale of the piece ranges from one man reliving quiet, private pains alone in a spotlight to a wall of brass and harp and drums penetrating every inch of the space. It features a 17-piece orchestra that includes such Seattle luminaries as Samantha Boshnack, Evan Flory-Barnes, Naomi Siegel, D’Vonne Lewis, and many others, as well as the virtuosic vocals and heart-wrenching lyrics of okanomodé SoulChilde.
I spent years developing the individual stories and songs in NOW I'M FINE. The piece took shape in 2012 at Seattle’s Town Hall, where I was named the venue’s first ever artist-in-residence. A video of the work-in-progress debut led to the show being picked up and developed by On the Boards for a four-night sold-out run in 2014. The response to the On the Boards show was unanimously positive, with the Seattle Times writing, "Ahamefule J. Oluo may have just discovered a new art form." Multi-platinum, Grammy-winning recording artist Macklemore tweeted that it was his "favorite performance of 2014."
On the back of that successful run at On the Boards, NOW I'M FINE has been invited to be a part of the 2016 Under the Radar Festival at the iconic Public Theater in New York City. This is hands down the biggest opportunity of my professional career. It's a chance to show my life's work to the world’s most respected arts curators and critics-to bring this show, which grew out of the work of independent artists in Seattle, to an internationally-renowned stage.
Taking NOW I'M FINE to the Public Theater in New York is an absolute dream come true, but it is also a daunting undertaking. All 18 performers are traveling from Seattle to New York for eight days, where we need to feed them, house them, transport them, and-because they are professionals with decades of knowledge and experience-we need to pay them. It would be impossible for me to actually pay these artists what they are worth to this show, but many of them are turning down other work so they are able to participate.
We are asking for $25,000 to make this happen. That money will go directly toward the expenses involved in presenting this show on the other side of the country, and making sure the artists involved get paid for their work. Funding beyond our minimum goal of $25,000 would allow us to pursue housing options closer to the city, hire administrative support so the artistic team can focus solely on the performance itself, and bring us closer to providing all artists involved a true living wage. All of these things will make the show better.
I believe that NOW I'M FINE deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. This run at the Public is a gateway to bringing this work to national and even international stages. It's important that we do this right, it's important that we have the resources we need, and it's important that as a society, we support art that truly has an impact. I know that this show has the power to impact people and I am asking for your support to get it out to the world.
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