Ready
to (Blank) is a highly physical improv group that creates spontaneous
theater for intimate spaces. Movement, text and sound are woven,
smashed and twisted together to transform what waits in the empty space
into sweaty stories. The performers interact with the audience and the
space itself to discover the impulses unique to the moment and create a
piece of
“one-time-only” dance/theater.
The players...
Amy Larimer (creator, director, player) is a dance/theater artist whose work blends movement, sound and text and draws heavily on improvisation. Her work has been presented at a variety of venues including The 92nd
Street Y, Dixon Place, DTW, Green Space, HERE, Joe’s Pub, The Joyce
Soho, Triskelion Arts and The West End Theater. She was a founding
member of Nicholas Leichter Dance and toured internationally with
Leichter until 2002. While working with Leichter, she created an a
cappella comedy duo with Susannah Keagle called Amy and Susannah.
Together, they wrote and sang original short songs which they performed
at comedy clubs and theaters throughout the Northeast including,
Caroline's Comedy Club, Gotham Comedy Club, The Pulse Theater, The
Westbank Theater, The Kaufman Theater, The Nuyorican Poets Café, Inc.,
The Manchester Comedy Series in Manchester, Vermont and the Rhinebeck
Performing Arts Center in Rhinebeck, New York. In 2004, she
collaborated with Clare Byrne to create The Horny Girls, a
duo of dancing lizards determined to fight the rampant anti-reptilian
prejudices in the entertainment industry. She has also enjoyed working
with Daniel Clifton, Colin Connor, Brian Crabtree, Aaron Draper, Gwyneth
Jones, Polina Klimovitskaya, Daniel McCusker, Patricia Nanon, Debra
Wanner and Martha Williams. She appeared in the musical Massholia, choreographed by Katie Workum and directed by Kevin Scott and in Ken Nintzel’s visual extravaganza ‘Twas choreographed by Johanna Meyer. She
received her yoga certification from OM in 2004 and her MFA from the
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in 2007. She is the Artistic
Director of the Dance Program at Lehman College and the creator and
director of Ready to (Blank).
Jay Rhoderick (co-director) is a founding member of the long-running long-form improvisation ensembles Burn Manhattan and Centralia. Jay has taught improv for 12 years and has studied mask, Commedia dell'Arte, clown, and acting for more than 17 years. He has improvised with Jeremy Piven, Kate Walsh, Will Ferrell, Horatio Sanz, Stephen Colbert and many others. Centralia has performed throughout the U.S. and recently had its immortal song "Holy Shit" used in Showtime's TV spots. As an actor, Jay took part in the rollicking original NYC Fringe production of "Urinetown!"
Jamie Graham (player), a
Nashville native, received her B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in English
Literature at Webster University, St. Louis. She completed one year of
post-graduate study at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie, Netherlands. Since
living in New York, she has performed with Lynn Barr, Jen Kosky, Juliana
May and Stephanie Sleeper and is currently working with Naomi Goldberg/
Dances for a Variable Population and Jenny Rocha/ Rocha Dance Theater.