Program Notes for EDGAR ARCENEAUX: Boney Manilli

Edgar Arceneaux
Boney Manilli
January 23–25, 2025
McGuire Theater

Boney Manilli

Playwright & Director
EDGAR ARCENEAUX

Momma
INGER TUDOR

Edgar/Sunny, Rob, Frank Farian
ALEX BARLAS

Bro Bro, Fab, Joel Chandler Harris, and Voiceovers
TERRY WAYNE JR.

Frank Farian on Video
FRANK LAWSON

Grandpa
FRANK ARCENEAUX

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Lighting Designer
OMAR MADKOUR

Associate Lighting Designer
MATTHEW GAWRYK

Sound Designer
JOHN ZALEWSKI

Costume Designer
LOREN WELDON

Associate Costume Designer
EVE THOMAS

Scenic Designer
YUKI DING

Puppet Designers
ERICA WARREN, MIGUEL AYALA

Video Designers
HSUAN-KUANG HSIEH, KAMYI LEE

Dramaturg
DOUGLAS KEARNEY

Choreographer
D. SABELA GRIMES

Singing Coaches
FRANK LAWSON, KIRBY TEPPER

Voice Overs & Vocalist
FRANK LAWSON

–

Puppeteers
ERICA WARREN, DAVID VALENTINE, ATIM OPOKA

Wardrobe Coordinator
AMBER BROWN

–

Props Coordinator
FAIROOZ ISLAM

Scenic Fabricator
NICK CHATFIELD-TAYLOR

Videography
RAQUEL CHATFIELD-TAYLOR

–

Producer
RARARA!

Production Manager
XIAOYUE ZHANG

Stage Manager
KASSY MENKE

–

Sound Supervisor
DOUG LIVESAY

Lighting Supervisor/Operator
JON KIRCHHOFER

Video Supervisor
KD DEUTSCH FROST

Deck Supervisor
MILES LATHEM

Sound Operator
LUCAS MARTIN

Spotlight Operator
AARON ROBINSON

Run Crew
JULIA HINDERLIE

Stagehands
RACHEL BEHRMAN, GARVIN JELLISON

–

Merchandise Designers
EVE THOMAS, CHANDLER BULLOCK

Karaoke DJ
MICHAEL HOYT

–

Original Music:
Mommy Chill and Go Go Grigori: Music by Nick Goldston, Lyrics by Edgar Arceneaux, Produced by Ric Whitney
Blackmail, Cheat and Lie: Music and Lyrics by Kirby Tepper
Church Music: Music by Everett Saunders, Performed by Jasmine Gatewood, Henita Tello, and Morgan Danielle Rocky: Written by Jay Stevens, German adaption by Hans Ulrich Weigel, Performed by Frank Farian

–

Tonight’s performance runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

Thursday, January 23
Pre-show: Puppet Karaoke in Cargill Lounge hosted by Monkeybear Productions (6:00 pm-8:00 pm)
Post-show: Reception in Cityview Bar

Friday, January 24
Pre-show: Puppet Karaoke in Cityview Bar (6:30 pm-7:30 pm)
Post-show: Q&A with the artist in McGuire Theater

Saturday, January 25
Pre-show: Puppet Karaoke in Cityview Bar (6:30 pm-7:30 pm)

Special thanks to Philip Bither, Amanda Hunt, Megan Leafblad, Wyatt Heatherington-Tilka, Elizabeth McNally, Henriette Huldisch, Mary Ceruti, Sarah Peterson, Sanjit Sethi, Cindy Theis, Robert Ransick, Rebecca Heidenberg, Gregory Smith, Chamindika Wanduragala, John and Lois Rogers, Barbara and Henry Lobounta

The WAC presentation of Boney Manilli is supported by Dreamsong, Minneapolis College of Art and Design MFA Program, Monkeybear Harmolodic Workshop

Accessibility Notes

For more information about accessibility, visit our Access page.

For questions on accessibility, content and sensory notes or to request additional accommodations, call 612-253-3556 or email access@walkerart.org.

About Boney Manilli
2016-2025

Boney Manilli is dedicated to my parents, Merc and Frank Arceneaux, my brothers and sisters, Zora Emi Arceneaux and my entire extended family.

Special thanks to Rob Morvan and Fab Pilatus, Boney M., Ratri Anindyajati, Kurt Forman, Charles Gaines, Sascha Robinett, Susanne and Jost Vielmetter, Michael Smoler, Mary Clare Stevens, Olga Garay and Kerry English, Fred Frumberg, Kristy Edmunds, Edgar Miramontes, Lyndon and Janine Sherman Barrois, Natalie Obadia, Tim Disney, Kevin Krapf, Umar Rashid, Jill Moniz, Rachel Scandling, Victor Sandoval and CalArts Costume Shop, Zarina Rico, Bozzy Karasu, Evelia Magallon, David Bratton, USC Roski School of Art and Design, Wangechi Mutu, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman. 

Gratitudes to our many collaborators over the years, Kenneth and Brenda Uphopho of the Lagos Theatre Festival 2019, Patrick Diabuah, Etim Effiong, Gabriel Croone, Henita Tello, Morgan Danielle, Jasmine Gatewood, Joana Knezevic, Irina Kruzhilina, Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh, Marissa Osato, Melanie Waingarten, Toran Xavier Moore, Solomon Turner, Daniel Gower, Elizabeth Smith, Ieva Vizgirdaite, Irungu Mutu, John Freeland, Tommy Franklin, Stevie Mack, Linda Michaels, Doña Oxford, Angelo Farone, Sophia McDowell, Marjani Forte, Marissa Osato, X. Hill, Russell Salmon and Hauser and Wirth Los Angeles.

Boney Manilli is supported by the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, The Ford Theater Los Angeles, Vielmetter Los Angeles, and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris. UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance received the prestigious Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts’ Artist Project grant for Arceneaux’s Boney Manilli. 

Early Supporters: Colleen Keegan, Ruby Lerner, Mara and Salim Akil, Geoff Hargadon and Patricia La Valley, Paul Ha and Eva Lundsager, Aryn Drakelee, Ravi Rajan, Kirby Tepper, Leslie J. Hedges, Iris Marsden, Joshua Kanter, Noel Kirnon, Jane Schulack, Brooke Kanter, Kathie Foley-Meyer, Amelia Jones and Paul Donald, John Chan,  Grace Oh, Lorne Buchman,  Susie Allen, Dr. V. Joy Simmons, Alyx Fier, James Bulliard, Stephan Thomas, Brenda Williams, Sean Duffy, Axel and Barbara Haubrok, Larry and Tina Jones, Merc Arceneaux, QD’s Double Barrel BBQ, and all our Kickstarter backers!

Boney Manilli is produced by Rarara!, an interdisciplinary, international ensemble of artists, designers, and performers convened by Artist Edgar Arceneaux and Producer Ratri Anindyajati. It is the umbrella project for Edgar Arceneaux’s live performance works, which started with Arceneaux’s first theatrical production, Until, Until, Until… in 2015. An international, majority African American and Asian ensemble, Rarara! pushes the boundaries of visual and performing arts practices by telling stories that explore the blurry lines between past and present, history and fantasy.

About the Artists

Born in 1972, Los Angeles-based artist EDGAR ARCENEAUX received a BFA from the Art Center College of Design and a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Arceneaux constructs drawings, installations, video and film works as complex arrangements of association that examine adjacencies and points of contact between implausible relations. Constantly working in new modes, Arceneaux directed his first play at the Performa Biannual in NYC in November 2015, for his first play Until, Until, Until… and was awarded the Malcolm McLaren, Best of Show Award.  Arceneaux received the prestigious Mike Kelley Foundation Award in 2019 and the COLA Individual Artist Fellowship in 2020.
He has participated in the Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva Island, Florida, Art Pace in San Antonio; Skowhegan: Banff Center in Canada and at the Fachhochschule Aachen, in Germany. Solo exhibitions have been presented at the Vera List Center at MIT in Cambridge, Mass, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Studio Museum in Harlem and Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Basel, Switzerland. His work is in major museum collections at the Whitney Museum, MOMA NY, Carnegie Museum, Museum Ludwig in Köln, Germany, the Hammer Museum and LACMA to name a few. He is represented by Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects in Los Angeles and Nathalie Obadia in Paris, and is an Associate Professor of Art for Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California. Recognized as a national leader in the arts, Arceneaux also serves on the Board of Directors at Creative Capital.

MIGUEL AYALA is a multimedia artist from San Bernardino who lives and works in LA. He has been working to develop art rock band “Cardboard Department” an interdisciplinary performance collective working in performance, song, and visual work mining an interest in the usage of expanded narratives found in the histories of humor, theater, cartoons, children’s literature, and broadcast television; to further examine and navigate the interaction of art & life & the formation of narrative via storytelling and communal experience.

ALEX BARLAS embarked on a transformative journey toward his artistic aspirations, earning an MFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts in 2020. He has illuminated renowned venues, notably portraying the complex character Oswald Alving in ‘Ghost’ at The Odyssey Theater; as Sunny, a visual artist grappling with self-doubt in Edgar Arceneaux’s ‘Boney Manilli’ staged at the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s REDCAT Theater. He delighted audiences with his performance in ‘A Christmas Carol’ at South Coast Repertory, showcasing his dedication to bringing stories to life. Currently, he is in residence at The Reef, where he continues to develop his one-man show, ‘Take Me Home Country Road.’

NICK CHATFIELD-TAYLOR is a multidisciplinary artist and curator working and playing in installation, sculpture, performance, video, and other mediums and materials. He is currently based in Minneapolis, where he often walks his dog Laika at Minnehaha Dog Park, and teaches at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

YUKI SHIYU DING is a scenic designer based in LA and an MFA candidate for Scenic Design and Art & Technology at CalArts. With a background in painting and printmaking, her understanding of colors, textures, and spatial dynamics enables her designs to narrate stories in immersive and vivid ways. She enjoys listening to the stories of others and helping them visually express their narratives. You can find her at @yuki.shiyu_ding (Instagram) or yukidingdesign@gmail.com

MATTHEW GAWRYK has designed many of his shows in Chicago (A Red Orchid Theater, Lookingglass Theatre, Mary-Arrchie) before moving to Minneapolis in 2018, designing shows at Children’s Theater Company, Six Points Theater, and the University of Minnesota.  He is the co-creator of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities: A Toy Theater Atlas which has been touring the US for the last year, most notably at the Chicago International Puppet Festival 2024.  

HSUAN-KUANG HSIEH is a Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist, based in Los Angeles. Her practice includes experimental film, projection art, photography, and video installation. As a projection designer, some notable collaborators and venues include: The Ford Foundation, LATC, LA Contemporary Dance Company, NY Performa Biennial, Shanghai Oriental Art Center and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. 

FRANK LAWSON most recently starred as Ben Vereen in Edgar Arceneaux’s award-winning play Until, Until…Until and The Mirror Is You which he co-wrote for Paris’ Nuit Blanche Arts Festival. Frank played Andrew Gaines in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Charlie in “Marilyn!” The New Musical at Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. His credits include Yemandja with Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo, Freeze Frame with Debbie Allen,  Summer of Love with Michelle Lee, Porgy and Bess, The Who’s Tommy and Hair. He crooned in the one-man musical Songs From An Unmade Bed, performed with Jennifer Nettles in Mamma Mia at LA’s Hollywood Bowl and toured Asia in the rock musical RENT.  He earned NAACP and LA Ovation Awards for his portrayal of Billy Strayhorn in When Jazz Got The Blues. Frank is a proud graduate of Southern Methodist University. @thefranklawson

OMAR MADKOUR is a Lighting Designer from Cairo, Egypt and currently located in the United States. His designs have been presented in various countries, festivals and venues such as The Maxim Gorki Theatre (Berlin), BoZar (Brussels), Shubbak Festival (London), D-CAF (Cairo), UNAM (Mexico City) and others. Credits vary from classical theatre to new works and experimental performance. Selected credits in Los Angeles include Young-Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die at the Bootleg Theatre; The Chandelier at The Wallis Annenberg (Heidi Duckler Dance) and No Exit at Lee Strasberg Institute.

KASSY MENKE studied at SJDC before receiving her B.A. in Theater Arts from CSUN. She works in live theater & the entertainment field exploring different avenues including photography (Kasandra Faith Photography), writing & acting. Some credits in stage management include: Miracle on 34th Street, A Live Radio Musical Play, Twelfth Night, The Forgotten Fort taken to Desert Hearts Music Festival & LiB Festival, A Lie of the Mind, The Human Comedy & An Evening with C.S Lewis. She is thankful to God, her family and friends for the constant support and love. #LiveLikeLance #SammysWarriors

FAIROOZ NAZIFA is an interdisciplinary artist and singer from Bangladesh, now based in Minneapolis. She traveled across continents to pursue a life dedicated to art. Her work spans painting, sculpture, music, and stop-motion animation, each reflecting her fascination with emotions, humanity, and storytelling. Fairooz is currently in her second year of her MFA at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

KIRBY TEPPER, Composer/Lyricist, “Until, Until, Until”, Lyrics for musical versions of “Gladiator” and “A Room With A View”, “Merry Men” sequence in the first “Shrek” film; songs and special material for Burt Reynolds, Linda Purl, Dyan Cannon, Daytime Emmy Awards, and 14 years providing songs and scripts for the Center Theater Group/Ahmanson (Gala opening script and songs for Kirk Douglas Theatre, Farewell Tribute to Gordon Davidson, Grand Re-Opening of Ahmanson, and more).  Performed his songs at Carnegie Hall with Michael Feinstein, Schoenberg Hall with Lucie Arnaz; Pasadena Playhouse in “kirbysomething.” Performed on Broadway in “On Your Toes”, Kennedy Center Honors, “Cheers”, “Wings”, regional theatre, and more.

EVE THOMAS is a Los Angeles based multi-hyphenate creative with over a decade of experience in the fashion industry; product development, apparel and accessories design. Eve earned her AA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles and her BFA in Fashion Merchandising from Academy of Art in San Francisco. She has worked with startup brands like Alina Pizzzano Couture Bridal and Kinona; as well as well known companies like Brighton and Athleta. Apart from design and development, Eve is building her creative direction portfolio and collaborative work with other artists.

INGER TUDOR is a graduate of Harvard (College and Law School) and LAMDA classical theatre program. She is a member of The Road and Rogue Machine Theatre companies in Los Angeles. From her work in film, television, theatre and voice-overs, her favorite recent credits include Lifespan of a Fact at Fountain Theatreand Rubicon Theatre, Merchant of Venice, Annotated with Theatre Dybbuk, Rose McClendon in Voodoo Macbeth (Amazon Prime, Vudu, Apple TV), recent appearances on Your Honor and Physical, the voice of Bree Stone in the latest James Patterson Alex Cross audiobooks, and audio description for The Equalizer and The Neighborhood television series.

ERICA WARREN (she/her) is a Black and CHamru (Chamorro) graphic artist, illustrator and puppeteer. Erica has participated in Monkeybear Harmalodic Workshop (2022), New Puppet Works (2023) and Minneapolis Puppet Lab (2024). Her puppet works have been shown in Minneapolis Crankiefest (2022-2024), Full Moon Puppet Show (2022), the Weisman Art Museum (2024). Erica explores the art of storytelling through shadow, rod, cart and tabletop puppetry.

TERRY WAYNE JR. is a Los Angeles based actor who has a passion to tell authentic stories in many different capacities. He has been in theater since the age of 8 and has been blessed to perform all over the USA as well as internationally. He hopes to use his GOD given tools as a performer to act as catalyst to incite change and to help many people across the world.

JOHN ZALEWSKI is a Los Angeles based sound designer. His recent work includes Mayakovsky and Stalin by Murray Mednick (Cherry Lane Theatre, NY), Macbeth (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Father (LADCC Award, Pasadena Playhouse). The original production of Destiny of Desire directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela (Arena Stage; SCR; Goodman; OSF; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Coleman ’72 at SCR directed by Chay Yew. Presently, Tacos LA Brooklyn with Latino Theater Co.@LATC.
Multimedia and immersive work includes Plain Wood Production’s Blood/Sugar and Wilderness’ The Day Shall Declare It. His photography can be seen in the book Reza Abdoh, published by Hatje Cantz and MOMA PS1. Awards listed @auaural.

XIAOYUE ZHANG is a Chinese interdisciplinary artist, Production Manager, and Creative Producer working at the intersection of performance, dance, photography, and film. Her performance and video works have been shown at The Exponential Festival 2025, Center for Performance Research, LA Performance Practice, REDCAT New Original Works Festival, Hollywood Fringe Festival, and Guangdong Museum of Art. She has produced and production managed works at venues including Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Tank NYC, AFROPUNK Festival, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, and The Getty Villa.

Living Land Acknowledgment

The McGuire Theater and Walker Art Center are located on the contemporary, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Dakota people. Situated near Bde Maka Ska and Wíta Tópa Bde, or Lake of the Isles, on what was once an expanse of marshland and meadow, this site holds meaning for Dakota, Ojibwe, and Indigenous people from other Native nations, who still live in the community today. 

We acknowledge the discrimination and violence inflicted on Indigenous peoples in Minnesota and the Americas, including forced removal from ancestral lands, the deliberate destruction of communities and culture, deceptive treaties, war, and genocide. We recognize that, as a museum in the United States, we have a colonial history and are beneficiaries of this land and its resources. We acknowledge the history of Native displacement that allowed for the founding of the Walker. By remembering this dark past, we recognize its continuing harm in the present and resolve to work toward reconciliation, systemic change, and healing in support of Dakota people and the land itself. 

We honor Native people and their relatives, past, present, and future. As a cultural organization, the Walker works toward building relationships with Native communities through artistic and educational programs, curatorial and community partnerships, and the presentation of new work. 

Acknowledgments

Producers’ Council

About the Walker Art Center

Media Partner

To learn more about upcoming performances, visit 2024/25 Walker Performing Arts Season.