Adeline Okoyo, Brianna Seferiades, Claud Spadafora, Kitoko Mai, and Peter Cockett
Agile Productions
November 16 – December 8
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 16 | 7–9pm
The sights and sounds of a New Year’s Eve party overwhelm your senses. A cardboard box appears, just big enough to step inside. An escape. A glitch in the multiverse. The box becomes a portal and you fall through the cracks of reality.
The Box Dweller is the result of an experimental film process centered around accessibility research. Created by Adeline Okoyo, Brianna Seferiades, Claud Spadafora, Kitoko Mai, and Peter Cockett of Agile Productions, this film is the manifestation of the group’s discussions on cyborg theory, the self-regulation of human bodies, and the false dichotomy of nature versus technology. Utilizing a non-linear and non-traditional process guided by curiosity and capacity, this project empowered the Agile team to research and explore what accessible filmmaking could look like.
About the Artists
Agile Film Productions draws from the collective creation practices of devised theatre to develop new accessible ways to create film and television content. The company centres care for all participants in the process and fosters space for learning and growth. The Box Dweller is our second project. Previously, the company developed a pilot TV comedy, Witches Bitches.
Adeline Okoyo (she/her) is a Nigerian-Canadian artist residing in Hamilton and an alumni of McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities/Theatre and Film. Adeline is also a licensed aesthetician, playwright, actor, designer, and a Junior Theatre Technician. Her artistic work is focused on life as a black woman. She talks about the traumas of her past and events that make up her identity. She also loves painting, reading, writing and watching Anime.
Brianna Seferiades (she/her) is an emerging artist and arts administrator based in Hamilton, ON. As a McMaster University Theatre & Film Studies and Art History graduate, she is an admirer of all art forms. Most of her own artistic practice is in Theatre, however she loves to dabble in visual arts as well. Brianna is delighted to be involved in organizing accessible arts programming for children as the Programming Coordinator and Administrator at Arts For All.
Claud Spadafora (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist, born and based in Hamilton Ontario (Ohron:wakon). Claud works in many mediums, usually combining them; she is a theatre-maker and performance artist, playwright and poet, filmmaker, multimedia artist and digital painter, and musician. Claud’s art practice tends to include her doing many jobs towards the final product, sometimes simultaneously; in her award-winning film series “Recovering”, Claud wrote poetry based on her lived experience of eating disorder recovery, recorded herself performing it, intercut it with community interviews she conducted on the same topic, directed the film’s visuals, and edited it all together. Another example is, during COVID, Claud wrote a play called “Bathtub Spaceship”, an immersive and interactive live-stream adventure: in it, she operated the livestream while performing the script she wrote, changing her voice for each character with sound software, operating the sound design she created, and typing in the live chat to the audience. In short, she is primarily a writer and performer of many modalities, with proficiency in photography, videography, Adobe Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop, Reaper audio, voice, and a couple of instruments.
Claud believes in process-over-product art making, and is interested in arts work that puts people and their well-being first. Her work (and life) are led by a continuously evolving anti-oppression framework. Claud seeks to use art as a way to carve out moments and spaces of rest, or joy, or catharsis, or education, or resistance, or chaos, particularly for historically under-served communities. Claud is disabled, neurodivergent, and queer- she is passionate about making art around these topics and their intersections. Claud is interested in being an active player in the continued development of Hamilton’s arts industry, while keeping community and access at the forefront and battling the ongoing gentrification of our symbolic/metaphorical and physical spaces.
Kitoko Mai (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist, storyteller, and facilitator with a penchant for developing socially conscious, playful work that draws from lived experiences and imagined responses to the world we all live in. Their work is rooted in anti-oppression, accessibility, and having fun. Their most recent work, in which they were a co-writer, lead performer, and co-producer, Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie, was selected for screening as part of the shorts program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Kitoko is also a member of the Literal Bimbo’s collective, creating DIY zines by and for sex-workers. Aside from that, they have produced several independent theatre pieces and currently have scripted and unscripted TV projects at different stages of development. You can learn more about them at https://www.kitoko.ca/ or follow them on instagram at @kitokomai.
Peter Cockett (he/him) is an actor, director, and writer, and Associate Professor in the Theatre and Film Studies program, McMaster School of the Arts. He specializes in teaching acting, and devised theatre development and production. He has directed and/or created 15 mainstage productions with students at McMaster, including: carried away on the crest of a wave (David Yee), Demos Kratos (Marilo Nûnez), cas9 (Cockett), Women and Servants (Lope de Vega) and lady in the red dress (David Yee). He has also facilitated and dramaturged over 60 student-led fourth year devised productions, presented annually in the department’s Honours Performance Series. Current research projects include: Agile Filmmaking, a community project that applies devised theatre techniques to the creation of fictional video content arising from the lived experience of community participants; and Engendering the Stage, a Performance as Research project that investigates the performance of gender on the stages of early modern Europe and the impact of that research on directing and casting practices today. Cockett continues to work as a professional actor when schedules allow, recent credits include: Frankie Drake Mysteries, American Gods, Private Eyes, and Murdoch Mysteries. Past and ongoing research on Performance as Research in Early Modern theatre history and digital publication: Performing the Queen’s Men (SHRRC-funded) Queen’s Men Editions (SHRRC-funded), and Linked Early Modern Drama Online (SHRRC-funded).
This exhibition is presented in partnership with Centre[3] for artistic + social practice
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