Studio Visits are evening-length hybrid performance events, offering audiences a multi-angled view of the featured artist and their craft. Each Studio Visit includes an introduction by the artist, a presentation of new work-in-process, a critical response essay by a guest artist, and a Q&A. The guest artist for this Studio Visit is Che Gossett.

Archivist: An old scruffy archivist guides the audience through a massive underground library where artifacts and junk are meticulously organized. Death in a family, grievous betrayal, burnt down apartment… personal stories of significant life events are intertwined and sorted by this library’s strange and rigorous filing system… Archivist is a performance work with a stop-motion animation. It investigates identity – the systems we make to classify and evaluate human experience and its inherent subjectivity when it comes to the value we attach to our objects and stories.

Together, Tsukada and Appino co-created Club Diamond, developed in part at the Sundance Theatre Makers Residency and the Theatre Lab at Mass Moca. Its world premiere was part of the Under the Radar Festival 2017. This artistic partnership is in the initial development phase of their next project, ARCHIVIST which will play as a companion piece to Club Diamond.

Saori Tsukada, described as a “charismatic mover with astounding precision”, has worked with a wide range of artists including choreographer Yoshiko Chuma, Catherine Galasso, playwright/director Aya Ogawa, composer Joe Diebes, and video artist Katja Loher. Her acclaimed duet performance with John Moran (nominated for Best Actress at Dublin Fringe Festival) has toured across U.S and Europe. Tsukada was selected to be part of Devised Theater Working Group at the Public Theater ’15. Most recently she appeared in Ripe Time’s Sleep at BAM.

Nikki Appino is a theatre artist and filmmaker. She trained at the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University and has received numerous awards including the National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Directing Fellowship. She founded a nonprofit arts company in Seattle in the 90’s generating original works for stage and screen. Also a freelance mediamaker, she’s worked for major media outlets and produced and directed the documentaries American Rimpoche, White Tara, and A Girl’s Gotta Ride.

Che Gossett is a theory queen and trans femme writer. They are a PhD Candidate in Trans/Gender Studies at Rutgers and archivist at the Barnard Center for Research on Women. They are a 2018-19 Palestine American Research Center fellow and an NY Queer Art Mentor. They are currently finalizing their forthcoming chapbook, Cruising in the End Times.

www.clubdiamond.com