Lulu

Lulu is an ongoing multi-platform performance adaptation of the 1895 Frank Wedekind Lulu play.

Moore, Toonkel and Shank adapted the play and, in collaboration with the performers, distilled it into episodic performances that are simultaneously autobiographical, pedestrian and theatrical. Each performance invited male-identified audiences into the bedrooms of women across Los Angeles in an exploration of sexuality, intimacy and domestic locations and functioned as a staged photo shoot, with Shank’s photographs creating narrative photo-documentation that further explores the male gaze.

Performers:
Heather Hewko
Tyree Marshall
Jennie Liu
Kestrel Leah
Megan Terese Rippey
Nicole Disson
with
Brittany Lau
Gabriella Rhodeen
Tamara Rosenblum
Gracie Devito

Created by Zoe Aja Moore and Liz Toonkel with Amanda Jane Shank.
Staged by Zoe Aja Moore and Liz Toonkel with the performers.
Photos by Amanda Jane Shank

Director of Production: Chris Kuhl
Project Manager: Izzy Miller
Lighting: Chu-hsuan Chang

Zoe Aja Moore is an LA-based artist and director who works primarily with live performance . Her work has been seen at venues including; The Tank, The Ohio Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Standard Hotel, The Bootleg Theater, and Redcat as well as in galleries & found spaces. Zoe holds an MFA in Directing from California Institute of the Arts.

Liz Toonkel is a Production Designer who has worked with many talented film directors ranging from Catherine Hardwicke to Alex Ross Perry. Her latest collaboration with Joe Swanberg, Digging For Fire, premiered at Sundance 2015. She has designed content for Comedy Central, NBC, The CW, Fox Sports, Funny or Die & many more. She was an Assistant Scenic Designer on Rocky The Musical, which won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical. She lives in Los Angeles where she also makes her own films and performance art, recently showing her artwork at Honor Fraser Gallery.

Amanda Jane Skank is a lifelong photographer, frequently bringing a strong visual sensibility to her creative processes. She is also an award-winning playwright whose work has been developed throughout the U.S. and published internationally. Amanda has developed projects in conjunction with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National New Play Network, Theater Masters National MFA Playwrights Festival, the Center for New Performance at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Circle X Theatre Company, The Blank Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, The Industry, The Moving Art Collective, Prototype Festival, Hammer Museum and the Jim Henson Foundation. She is a graduate of Emerson College and California Institute of the Arts. (CalArts).