Artemis Preeshl, assistant professor of performing arts, performed the one-woman show at Blue Plate Music Hall in December 2017.
Artemis Preeshl, assistant professor of performing arts, performed the one-woman play "Dead While I Was Alive" at Blue Plate Music Hall in New Orleans on Dec. 31, 2017.
In "Dead While I Was Still Alive, "a staged reading, a woman at ages 18, 40, and 60 shares her journey from domestic violence, alcohol and drug addiction, and major depression to recovery through stand-up comedy. Preeshl highlighted send-ups to 20th- and 21st-century music and film icons in this one-woman show written by New Orleans playwrights Linda Cottano and Emmett Roberts and presented by Artemis & The Wild Things.
Preeshl previously performed excerpts of the play in New Orleans and Singapore in July and August 2017. Artemis & The Wild Things, a nonprofit organization, hopes to inspire addicts, caregivers and community members to help those learning to live with mental illness and addiction. This play is designed as an artistic and educational response to the opioid epidemic.
Preeshl teaches acting, movement, dialects, and improvisation at Elon University this year. She performed Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene and Bosola’s scene with the Duchess of Malfi as an International Actor Fellow at Shakespeare’s Globe. A member of Actors Equity Association, Preeshl performed Marianne in "Tartuffe" and President Polk and Aunt Lavinia in "Goldrush! The Musical" on national tours.
Having received two Fulbright fellowships as a senior researcher and senior specialist in theater, Preeshl directed and wrote "Pancha Ratna" and choreographed "Liquid Gems" at Kalakshetra, India’s Juilliard. "Pancha Ratna" received honorable mention in Best World Cinema at Hollywood’s DIY Film Festival.
Preeshl directed "Titus" (Ukraine), "Two Gents" (La MaMa E.T.C.), "Top Clowns" (Kosovo), "Parade" (Bali), "Winter’s Tale" (Croatia), "Commedia of Errors" (La MaMa Umbria), "Ascension and Masque of Queens" at Toronto’s Early Drama Festival, "Wealth at the Classical Studies Society, and "Campion’s Will" at the Shakespeare Association of America. Preeshl taught speech and directed "Much Ado About Nothing" at Uganda’s Stawa University and India’s University of Madras. In 2017, she assisted Catherine Fitzmaurice as she taught Fitzmaurice Voicework at La Vos Humana in Cuba.
"Dead While I Was Alive" was made possible by A. J. Barcias, Azure Jewelers, Baldwin Hardware, Bicycle World, Big Wheels, Classic Auto, Copelands, Hollywood Doors, Le Dry Cleaning, Mitey Automotive, Nacho Mamas, Andrea, Pam Bordelon, Bob, Jim Dighle, Edward, Erica, Raul Esquivel, Johnny, Mack, Larry, Marco, Mike, Jan Mule, Nelda, Cathy Palmer, Rob, Ryan, Tracy, and anonymous. In-kind donations courtesy of Blue Plate Artist Lofts, FedEx Office Print & Ship, Fleur de Lis Framing & Gifts MineAsReel Media Services, and Subway.
Artemis & The Wild Things, founded in 1987, creates new and classical dance and theater and commissions new music from composers. ATWT has presented more than 65 dances, 65 plays and toured 11 states. ATWT produced 19 Shakespearean plays with new music and dance. The Company received donations from Lawrence Wien Center, Harkness Dance Foundation, Harlem School of the Arts, Materials for the Arts, Lehman Brothers, Jiffy, Green Mountain Coffee, Freed of London, Meet The Composer, JPMorganChase, New York Foundation for Arts, Utah Arts Council, Manhattan Community Arts Fund, Fund For Creative Communities and the Department of Cultural Affairs in New York City.
Preeshl co-directed "Instant Laughter" as an assistant professor of performing arts at Elon University. She teaches Movement for Actors and Long-Form Improvisation, coaches verse in "Twelfth Night," and reconstructs Anna Sokolow’s lost Rachmaninoff quartets and duet for a posthumous premiere at Elon in spring 2018.