Early Stage Creative Residencies

Spring 2025

FREE with RSVP

Residencies will take place at The Chocolate Factory Theater, 38-33 24th Street, Long Island City.

This year, The Chocolate Factory Theater’s Programming Committee (led by artist Board Member Neil Greenberg), working closely with Co-Founder / Artistic Director Brian Rogers, invited current Season Artists to nominate fellow artists to receive early stage creative residencies.

In Spring 2025, Maria Baranova, Dahlak Brathwaite, Maxi Hawkeye Canion, Sharleen Chidiac, Jessica Cook, Ayano Elson, Ethan Philbrick, and Anh Vo will each receive access to space and financial support for early stage research into their new projects.

rehearsal photo of Ayano Elson's new work-in-progress. Two dancers (Amelia Heintzelman and Ayano Elson) kneel on the stage which is covered in white Marley. Amelia rests her hands on her thighs. Ayano kneels upright, faced way from the camera, arms slightly extended.
rehearsal photo of Ayano Elson's new work-in-progress. Two dancers (Amelia Heintzelman and Ayano Elson) kneel on the stage which is covered in white Marley. Amelia rests her hands on her thighs. Ayano kneels upright, faced way from the camera, arms slightly extended.

Open rehearsal: Sunday April 20, 2025 at 5:30pm.

Ayano Elson

Public rehearsal of new material and ideas in collaboration with artists Nola Sporn Smith, Amelia Heintzelman, evan ray suzuki, Zo Williams, and Matt Evans.

Black and white photo of Jesi Cook. She faces the camera.
Black and white photo of Jesi Cook. She faces the camera.

Open rehearsal: Sunday April 13, 2025 at 2pm.

Jesi Cook – Hoist (open rehearsal)

Apples, bitter appliances, wooden shoes wander and convene in a solo study, Hoist, created and improvised by Jesi Cook. The body is electric, lonely, then sagging. The physicality of sound making. Time unrolls like a wet carpet turned tumbleweed. An undetermined collection of scores meddle and fidget, playing the architecture of the Chocolate Factory Theater.

Black and white photo of Anh Vo by Nguy?n Công Nguyên. In an industrial space, Anh stands totally drenched. An unseen person sprays water into his open mouth.
Black and white photo of Anh Vo by Nguy?n Công Nguyên. In an industrial space, Anh stands totally drenched. An unseen person sprays water into his open mouth.

Work-in-progress showing: Saturday March 22, 1pm.

Anh Vo – Work In Progress

Anh Vo explores the speculative convergence between the dancerly sacrifice undergirding white formalism and the religiosity of Vietnamese possession rituals. Collaborators: Kristel Baldoz, Justin Cabrillos, and Jessica Pavone.

Photo of Maria Baranova in her studio by Alexey Novikov. Wearing black, Maria perches near a window of sold glass blocks. She takes a wide stance, each foot resting on a different stool. She stares directly at the camera.
Photo of Maria Baranova in her studio by Alexey Novikov. Wearing black, Maria perches near a window of sold glass blocks. She takes a wide stance, each foot resting on a different stool. She stares directly at the camera.

Work-in-progress showing: Saturday March 22, 6:30-9:30pm.

Maria Baranova – 79-93

79-93 is an audio-visual installation exploring sound’s impact on memory. It combines auditory elements with projector slide collages to create a multi-sensory experience, highlighting the connection between soundscapes and recollections. By examining how sound shapes memories, the piece emphasizes the interplay between sound, visuals, and consciousness. This is a work in progress. Sound Design by Tei Blow.

Standing in front of a white wall, Ethan Philbrick, dressed in black, plays a cello.
Standing in front of a white wall, Ethan Philbrick, dressed in black, plays a cello.

The cellist and writer Ethan Philbrick will be in residence at The Chocolate Factory Theater from March 10-15 working on a collaborative research project called Slow Dances.

Open rehearsal, Saturday March 15, 6-9pm.

Slow Dances is an ongoing process between Philbrick and six dance artists: Anh Vo, Tess Dworman, Niall Jones, Tara Aisha Willis, nibia pastrana santiago, and Moriah Evans. Philbrick originally initiated the project in the fall of 2020 out of a curiosity about one specific baroque slow dance with a complicated colonial history—the Sarabande. The project has since radiated out towards a broader investigation into questions of slowness, history, intimacy, pain, teaching, objecthood, instrumentality, and public space. Now, Slow Dances names an ongoing commitment to non-solo process, to slow dancing as a mode of cooperative experimental inquiry into music and dance relations.

On the evening of March 15th, Philbrick and his collaborators will host a free open rehearsal of performance experiments from 6 pm – 9 pm. All are welcome, bring food and drink to share if you want.

Maxi Hawkeye Canion stands before a black background, wearing knee high socks, a revealing white costume, and a headpiece resembling animal horns with long tassels.
Maxi Hawkeye Canion stands before a black background, wearing knee high socks, a revealing white costume, and a headpiece resembling animal horns with long tassels.

Maxi Hawkeye Canion – flesh-talker

Work-in-progress showing on instagram live – February 28, 2025 at 5pm

Maxi Hawkeye Canion develops the 3rd installation of their series 3:33, self titled, flesh-talker, A DIY live movie trailer production that asks: What do identifier bio monologues, Tarantino film iconography, that feeling when its so humid and im wondering why the fuck hasnt the sky burst and dont touch me, passing, the desire to be an angel, not being able to donate plasma but you need the money, that one split second, dreamcastcore, FFS dreams, femme revenge, ”What will you dream of next?” nests, body aching naps to youtube reaction videos, prolap’s meme page, 1500 hours of bg3, withdrawal reflex, “Drink more water, What? Just to piss again and leave my room? Life is a prison”, apathy + spiritual debt, second hand smoking, queer fight club, Net 90s, aesthetic nomenclature, deep vocal fry, Maybe i am Hopeful, april to august, misophonia, existential fever naps, thumb cramping refreshes, guttural screams, sighssss, floating in the ether,,, the fadshion wheel, melodramatic renaissance camp, shitty wordplay, unfinished grocery lists, gluttonous snacking, insufferable rants, mommy issues, the ocean’s salty maw, depression rot droning and stagnated blood have in common?

Dahlak Brathwaite‘s Try/Step/Trip (shown in-progress at The Chocolate Factory on February 15, 2025) is a concept musical that chronicles writer Dahlak Brathwaite’s personal experience through the criminal justice system – oscillating between a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program, an abstracted depiction of his trial, and memories of the various institutions that prepared him for this crossroad. The choreographic language of this piece is grounded in step. The Chocolate Factory residency will be dedicated to introducing new cast members to this movement. Writer/Composer/Performer: Dahlak Brathwaite. Choreographer: Toran Xavier Moore. Producer: Gilded Road Productions.