Set against the nautical backdrop of the South Street Seaport - at once a reminder of New York's maritime past and its overwhelmingly mercantile present – Hope & Anchor dredges up ghosts and modern-day denizens then sends them crashing together in a gruff display of bad temper, dashed hopes and delayed deliverance. Fleeting images and tarnished sea shanties conjure semblances of sailors, sirens and impending storms. Garfield and Morris remind us of our potent connection to the sea, and our reliance on its good faith.

"To me, the whole place looks like a big boat surrounded by a sea of souls. The Lighthouse summoned me, and set me on my course - a brief excursion to a tropical isle suggested by hanging flower pots, up and down sidewalk gangplanks, marooned in front of elevator memorials, tossed about the deck of a staircase ship, and dashed on the cobblestone rocks of the main thouroughfare. To what end? To weave a supple yarn about the nature of play, of intoxication, of diminutive drowning and tentative rises, of grace... A particularly sensitive creative crew embark on this sojourn with me and we are serenaded by a bevy of sea shanties that always and over and over again intone impending doom. 'Tis a reality. 'Tis time for an uncertain prayer..." -Keely

"It seems to me, that at the point where the land meets the sea, there'd be a lot of ghosts. The Seaport- and all of New York's piers- were at one point the lifeblood of the city. Fortunes were made, the city became what it was, people went to sea, some never came back, they built ships, and caught fish, and they lived and they died! And now there's a GAP. And an Abercrombie and Fitch. And key-lime pie martinis. For me, Hope & Anchor became about these very dualities: the water and the land, The past and present, the longing for sea or the longing for home, profound reverence and blatant silliness. I think these opposing forces have the same undercurrents of tension as a brewing storm, and was interested in creating material that's on the tipping point between these extremes." -Zach

Performers: Donna Ahmadi, Keely Garfield, Ranardo-Domeico Grays, Luke Miller, Zach Morris, Marissa Neilson-Pincus, Romy Reading, Mayuna Shimizu, Amber Sloan, Darrin Wright

Original songs composed and performed by: Kris Bauman with Erica Kaya Hill And by: Keith Borden

Mermaid tail design by: Barry Weil
Ship construction by: Ian Corbett
Evening gown design by: Sarah Yu
Costumes by: Karen Young

Hope & Anchor was made possible by the generous support of our private and public donors including the Lucky Star Foundation, Materials for the Arts/New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Department of Sanitation, and LMCC's Swing Space program.

Third Rail Projects and Productions is a collective entity that supports the work of Jennine Willett, Tom Pearson, Zach Morris, and affiliated artists, and serves as a hub for the administration, fundraising, and organizational needs of their various creative endeavors.

Special Thanks to: Tara O'Con, Shauna Gray and the South Street Seaport Association, Richard Termine, Tom Pearson, Danielle Garcia, Denysson Arboleda, Jennine Willett, Andrea Dohar the staff of Levels at Great Neck Library, Nolini Barretto and everyone at LMCC, Luke, Darrin, Amber, Romy, Keith, Cyrus, Vivian, Marissa, Ranardo, Mayuna, Donna, Kris and Erica.

Sitelines Curator and Producer: Nolini Barretto
Sitelines Intern: Cornelia McPherson

About the Artists

Keely Garfield, originally from London England, has lived in New York since 1986. Garfield has has been presented at theaters and festivals including The Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project, Performance Space 122, Dancenownyc, Lincoln Center (New York), The Place Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Danse Vernissage (Montreal),Tanzmesse (Dusseldorf).

Garfield is a co-curator of DTW's Family Matters series (with Peggy Peloquin), serves as the chair of DTW's Artist Committee, and is a member of Pentacle's Help Desk program. Her work has been supported with funds from the Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts (Build & Artist Fellowship), Harkness Foundation for Dance, Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, Meet The Composer, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and the American Music Center. Recent highlights include, Disturbing The Peace (Zenon Dance Company, Minneapolis), Disturbulance (collaboration with Marc Ribot, DTW), Iron Lung (GroundWorks DanceTheater, OH), and a Film Project of Garfield's work commissioned by Radio Bremen/Canal Arte (Germany/France). Upcoming performances at Dance Boom in Philadelphia, June 27 - 30, and presentation of new work by Danspace Project in March 2007. For more information visit www.KeelyGarfield.org.

Zach Morris is a director, choreographer, author, visual artist, and filmmaker. His work has been seen in London, around the US and at numerous venues in New York City. His dance/theater work has received the Henry Boettcher Award for Excellence in Directing, the NYC Fringe Fest Award for Excellence in Choreography, and been granted residencies or commissions from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Swarthmore Project, The Great Neck House, Epiphany Theatre Company, and others. In addition to Hope & Anchor, Zach's current projects are: BeWing, a dance/art film in collaboration with Marissa Nielson-Pincus and Kathleen Fitzgerald, slated to premiere in late 2006; a duet with Tom Pearson for La Mama ETC in June; and Strange Unison, his second novel. Zach is a co-director of Third Rail Projects and Productions and has served as the Co-Creator and Co-Director of the Westbeth New Works Program, and most recently as the Dance Coordinator at LEVELS, a teen center based in Long Island. For more information visit www.thirdrailprojects.com.

LMCC gratefully acknowledges the assistance and support provided by Shauna Gray, Julie Nicholasi, and the South Street Seaport Association. This work was made possible, in part, by Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, supported by Jerome Foundation.