PRESENTS

Leonix is a movement theatre ensemble that devises original performance work based on community need and social reform.

The name “Leonix”, a fusion of the Lion and the Phoenix, is a metaphor of the troupe’s objective to create courageous and regenerative work. Drawing on traditions of many artistic disciplines, including melodrama, clowning, and modern dance, Leonix strives to create socially relevant performances that entertain, educate and empower individuals and communities. We accomplish this by partnering with community-based organizations to research and devise original performance work, as well as conducting workshops and dialogues based on performance or community need.

Erin Schlabach and Jones Welsh, Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors of Leonix Movement Theatre Ensemble, have worked in partnership since 2004.

Visit our blog: www.leonixtheatre.blogspot.com

Meet the company: Leonix Bios for Crossing the Bridge

In Development:

The War Within:

1 in 5 soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but only about half seek treatment for the condition. (US Army Survey, Associated Press, April 2008 & Rand Corporation)

PTSD is a serious mental illness that, without early identification and effective treatment, has the potential to be chronic, debilitating, and even lethal, with high rates of suicide.

Last year the Army had its highest suicide rate on record -- 140 soldiers. New data from the Army predicts this number jumping even higher, with forty-eight soldiers already killing themselves so far this year. If this rate continues, nearly 225 Army soldiers will be dead by their own hand by the end of 2009. 24 soldiers took their lives last January alone, a greater number than combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

In The War Within, Leonix will explore the complex web of issues surrounding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in collaboration with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in order to spread awareness of its serious implications and impacts on soldiers returning from war.

 

Past Productions:

Thanks Everyone For Such a Successful First Run!!! 

(Big Thanks to Joe Lambie for an Amazing Photo!)

Crossing the Bridge – a comedic melodrama (August 2009)

“Until the last half century, young people would become familiar with death when siblings and parents died. Now, most of adulthood passes without personal contact with dying.” (Joyce Lynn, M.D., Center to Improve Care of the Dying)

In today’s society death is remote, hidden away in the back rooms of hospitals. There is a taboo about talking of death even though death is a normal part of life. Our popular culture almost completely ignores the life experience of people with terminal illness. By working closely with a local Hospice in Los Angeles and researching end-of-life stories, Leonix Movement Theatre Ensemble will develop Crossing the Bridge to encourage dialogue about death in America.

Using humor and creative ensemble imagery, the story presents a brother and sister in a series of abstract and realistic vignettes as they deal with his terminal illness, hospitals, and the poetic absurdity that can come with death.

Premiered:

LOS ANGELES, August 7-9, 2009, Son of Semele Theatre & August 14, 2009, Electric Lodge

SEATTLE, August 17-18, 2009, Annex Theatre

INDIANAPOLIS, August 21-30, 2009, The Earth House, Indianapolis Fringe Festival

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