The Clay Duke

Evening-length dance theater piece (2013)
Created and Directed by Dayna Hanson
with Thomas Graves, Dayna Hanson, Wade Madsen, Peggy Piacenza, Dave Proscia and Sarah Rudinoff
Produced by ArkType

In December 2010, an armed man interrupted a routine meeting of the Bay District School Board in Panama City, FL. After a brief standoff, he opened fire on school board members at point blank range. He then turned the gun on himself, having injured no one else.

Hanson’s research of this event forms the basis of her evening-length dance theater work, The Clay Duke, which premiered in Dec. 2013 at On the Boards in Seattle. Hanson created the piece in collaboration with her ensemble cast during residencies at MANCC and at the Grand Theatre in Groningen, Netherlands, where it was presented in workshop form as part of Noorderzon Festival.

The Clay Duke was created with support from 4Culture, ACT Theatre, ArKtype, the Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award, the Grand Theatre/Groningen, Maggie Allessee National Choreographic Center (MANCC), MAP Fund, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Noorderzon Festival, Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Velocity Dance Center and West of Lenin. The Clay Duke was supported through On the Boards’ Performance Production Program.

Extras

• Read Florangela Davila’s preview of The Clay Duke in Crosscut.

• Read Brendan Kiley’s preview of The Clay Duke in The Stranger.

• Read Gemma Wilson’s preview of The Clay Duke in City Arts.

• Read Jeremy G. Novak’s preview of The Clay Duke in the Seattle Met.

•  Dayna Hanson’s Clay Duke Tackles Gun Violence 

•  Jim Kent interviews Dayna Hanson

• Rehearsal intensive with Paul Lazar

(photo by Benjamin Kasulke)