As an artist, Laurel tends to make work about yearning, anguish, ecstasy, hysteria, ennui and other complex inner workings of the emotional apparatus.
Like Pina, she is interested in what makes us move. Like Rilke, she is interested in the pourous ego. Like Michael, she wants to be startin somethin.
CASSANDRA: SO WILD
Directed by Ewen Wright
Produced by Laurel Butler
Concept by Laurel Butler and Ewen Wright
Choreographed by Laurel Butler and Elise Silva
Boulder, CO, 2016
Directed by Ewen Wright
Produced by Laurel Butler
Concept by Laurel Butler and Ewen Wright
Choreographed by Laurel Butler and Elise Silva
Boulder, CO, 2016
LONELY LONELY LONELY LONELY LONELY TIME
Performed at Sorority
Lyric Hyperion Theater, Los Angeles CA, 2016
Performed at Sorority
Lyric Hyperion Theater, Los Angeles CA, 2016
YOU WON'T: NO DIVIDE
Choreographed by Laurel Butler
Starring Josh Arnoudse and Ewen Wright. Directed by Raky Sastri.
Los Angeles CA, 2016
Choreographed by Laurel Butler
Starring Josh Arnoudse and Ewen Wright. Directed by Raky Sastri.
Los Angeles CA, 2016
MAMMOTH
By Buran Theater
Performed at Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles CA, 2015
By Buran Theater
Performed at Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles CA, 2015
FEW PEOPLE
Choreographed and Assistant Directed by Laurel Butler
Starring Gideon Irving. Directed by Ewen Wright
Filmed at the Historic 16th Street Station, Oakland CA, 2014
Choreographed and Assistant Directed by Laurel Butler
Starring Gideon Irving. Directed by Ewen Wright
Filmed at the Historic 16th Street Station, Oakland CA, 2014
SING THE BODY ELECTRIC
Created and performed by Laurel Butler and Ron Ragin
Performed at SALTA/Lobot Gallery, Oakland CA, 2014
and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Body Politic Think Tank Creative Ecosystem/Field of Inquiry, San Francisco CA, 2014
Created and performed by Laurel Butler and Ron Ragin
Performed at SALTA/Lobot Gallery, Oakland CA, 2014
and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Body Politic Think Tank Creative Ecosystem/Field of Inquiry, San Francisco CA, 2014
JONOAH
Choreographed by Laurel Butler and her Husband, Ewen Wright
Performed at the Royal Frog Ballet's 2013 Surrealist Cabaret at Bramble Hill Farm in Amherst, MA, 2013
and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Dissident Futures Art and Ideas Festival, San Francisco CA, 2013
Choreographed by Laurel Butler and her Husband, Ewen Wright
Performed at the Royal Frog Ballet's 2013 Surrealist Cabaret at Bramble Hill Farm in Amherst, MA, 2013
and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Dissident Futures Art and Ideas Festival, San Francisco CA, 2013
WILD BEASTS SLEEP IN MY FOREST
A one-woman show created by Laurel Butler
Performed at the International Home Theater Festival, Oakland, CA, 2013
A one-woman show created by Laurel Butler
Performed at the International Home Theater Festival, Oakland, CA, 2013
from hometheaterfestival.com:
"There is, or was once, a woman in rural Oklahoma, and I can see what she sees - the laundry, the dishes, and the horribly beautiful creatures in the wilderness beyond her home. "Wild Beats Sleep in my Forest" is a series of songs strung together by my testament to this woman’s mystic visions, tormented yearning, and delicate unrest."
"There is, or was once, a woman in rural Oklahoma, and I can see what she sees - the laundry, the dishes, and the horribly beautiful creatures in the wilderness beyond her home. "Wild Beats Sleep in my Forest" is a series of songs strung together by my testament to this woman’s mystic visions, tormented yearning, and delicate unrest."
HOT MESS
Choreographed by Laurel Butler
Performed by Laurel Butler, Anna Greenberg, Julie Potter and Maria Walsh at Counterpulse's Second Sundays, 2011
from the Second Sundays program:
" 'Hot Mess' concerns itself with a particular feedback loop of cognitive dissonance and emotional activity. How does a female body preserve interiority when our neuroses are on display? Together - and separately - the performers investigate a range of exercises in futility, including: everyday mechanisms of composure, irrepressible distractions, attempts to disconnect head from body, and the occasional compulsion to become a lampshade."
Choreographed by Laurel Butler
Performed by Laurel Butler, Anna Greenberg, Julie Potter and Maria Walsh at Counterpulse's Second Sundays, 2011
from the Second Sundays program:
" 'Hot Mess' concerns itself with a particular feedback loop of cognitive dissonance and emotional activity. How does a female body preserve interiority when our neuroses are on display? Together - and separately - the performers investigate a range of exercises in futility, including: everyday mechanisms of composure, irrepressible distractions, attempts to disconnect head from body, and the occasional compulsion to become a lampshade."
UNTITLED (typewriter piece)
Choreographed by Laurel and her Husband, Ewen Wright
Performed at the Royal Frog Ballet's Surrealist Cabaret at Bramble Hill Farm in Amherst, MA, 2010
Choreographed by Laurel and her Husband, Ewen Wright
Performed at the Royal Frog Ballet's Surrealist Cabaret at Bramble Hill Farm in Amherst, MA, 2010