The Somewhere Girls: Don't Assume I Cook
Dec 08 - Dec 10, 2011
What does it take to break through to success? Don't Assume I Cook is a romp through a woman's mind, aided by The Somewhere Girls; Janna Wachter, chanteuse, Victoria Jacobs, dancer and Jamie Maschler on accordion. Through film, animation, puppetry, interview, atmosphere, song and dance, The Somewhere Girls explore the perpetual perplexing problem of perfection and create a world where cooking skills are not a prerequisite.
Also featuring Michelle Takashima, Jennifer Dolanski, Janet Galore, Nate Miller, Adam Rosand, Matthew Brown, Andrea Phillips, Mel Eslyn, Emily Riesser, Michelle Rauschenberg, Julian Young and The Secret Souffle Society.
About the performers
Victoria Jacobs
Victoria Jacobs has been a multi-disciplinary artist in Seattle for 3.5 years, creating dance choreography that bridges multiple dance techniques and working with composers, musicians, visual artists and filmmakers to make deeply inventive collaborative work. As a trained dancer in Spanish flamenco and bellydance, as well as an American writer and modern dancer, she explores the intersection of cultures and styles with a quizzical and playful eye to story, character, rhythm and relationship. She is Writing Director, dancer and choreographer for Sapience Dance Collective. She has appeared in the work of local modern dance luminaries Freya Wormus Jessica Jobaris, The Test Pilots, KT Niehoff and Amii Legendre, the Tumbleweed Bandits, Aiko Kinoshita, and fellow Sapience Dance Collective members Sarah Mercer, Amy Weaver, Lilah Steece and Ariella Brown.
Jamie Maschler
I am a professional as well as street musician. I Busk around the Seattle and greater Seattle region including downtown, Pike Place Market, and Washington State Ferries while also playing formal Gigs around Seattle. While primarily a solo musician, I am a part of several stylistically different bands ranging from tango and flamenco to pop and chamber orchestra music. My most recent project is The Debaucheraunts Klesmer Band. I’ve accompanied many jazz and classical singers. Classically, I’ve played with the Cadence Chamber Orchestra (community Orchestra devoted to bringing chamber music to new audiences), Pueblo Symphony Orchestra and studied Conduction under Butch Morris. I’ve won the Rocky Mountain as well as Northwest accordion Society Competitions. I’ve sang in several church choirs and was a piano accompanist for worship music at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church.
In film Matthew Brown featured Janna in his short, “Aphids” which was shown in NWFF Local Sightings Film Festival as well as the music video shown on demand, “There is a Wind.” Curtis Taylor used Janna in his film trilogy that had her singing the role of Sally in Barber's chamber opera“A Hand of Bridge” and a singing girly show owner in “Pink
Slips.”
Here in the states Janna formed a chamber music ensemble called Splash! programing a wide variety of music encompassing contemporary, cowboy, modern, romantic and gospel music, original compositions by the group and multi media performances . Janna recently worked with the Emerald City Imporv group at Bumbershoot this year.
In the operatic field, she has sung with companies such as; Seattle Opera, Tacoma Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, Opera Northwest, Lake Chelan Bach Feste , Kitsap Opera and Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony. She has sung the roles of Carmen, Cherubino, Hansel, Suzuki, among others including two housekeepers; Bertha from 'The Barber of Seville' and Mrs. Grose from 'The Turn of the Screw' (That is one scary opera!). Janna's most notable award was the San Francisco Opera Study Award. She performed Mahler's Kindertotentlieder with the Thalia Symphony and was first alto soloist in Mahler's 8th Symphony with the Northwest Mahler Festival under the baton of Geoffrey Simon at Benaroya Hall.
Using other genres and her own compositions, she has appeared at the The Frye Art Museum, the Arts West Music Series, The Seattle Fringe Festival ('The Invention of the Funeral' featuring the 'Laughing Crying' aria) and was main soloist in the New Prometheans International Fire Festival. Janna has worked with Russian composer, Ivan Sokolov, and premiered his songs in Seattle with Ivan at the piano.