Burning Bones Physical Theatre Presents “Small Mouth Sounds” at Windmill Arts
Off-Broadway Play by Bess Wohl Features Six Lost Souls at a Silent Retreat
Atlanta, GA — Burning Bones Physical Theatre is excited to announce its first show of the 2024 season: Beth Wohl’s off-Broadway hit, “Small Mouth Sounds,” which The New York Times pronounced “[a]s funny as it is, uh, quietly moving,” and HuffPost called “a play unlike any other.” The production runs March 22-31, 2024, at Windmill Arts, in East Point.
Six suffering strangers come together at a silent retreat, seeking enlightenment, searching for themselves. How can they connect with one another and transform their troubled hearts when no one is supposed to say a word?
In this existential dramedy of love and loss, hope and profound despair, lost souls from very different backgrounds are stripped of both the aid and the assumptions of language. “They're all pretty flawed,” says Burning Bones artistic director Frankie Mulinix, “and yet they are compelling. A play like this invites us to see the humanity in each other at a time when it's so easy to go to the stereotype.”
Although a garrulous guru fills their ears with oblique aphorisms and anecdotes, the students must navigate the experience mostly in silence: an unusual restriction for the actors, who rely instead on gesture, expression, movement, and dance.
“This is an inherently challenging script,” says Mulinix, “because it doesn’t rely on spoken words. This is what the magic of physical theatre and live performance is all about.”
Directed by Mulinix, this production of “Small Mouth Sounds” features original musical composition by Mykal Alder June, lighting design by Lindsey Sharpless, set design by Garrett Nesselrode, and stage management by Juniper Lee Fowler. The cast includes Damian Jason White as The Teacher, Emily Zart as Ned, Thomas Bell as Jan, Holly Stevenson as Joan, Sharon C. Carelock as Judy, Jaborice Knight as Rodney, and Kat Stoneback as Alicia.
While these characters rarely speak, there is nothing quiet about “Small Mouth Sounds.” Don’t miss this off-Broadway hit at Windmill Arts the last two weekends in March!
Thursday, March 21 - By-donation industry night: 7 pm (donation at the door)
Friday, March 22 - Show: 7 pm
Saturday, March 23 - Show: 7 pm
Sunday, March 24 - Show: 5 pm
Thursday, March 28 - Show: 7 pm
Friday, March 29 - Show: 7 pm
Saturday, March 30 - Show: 1:30 pm matinee
Sunday, March 31 - Show: 5 pm
Tickets are available Here.
Content Warning: This production contains some scenes with full and partial nudity, a simulated offstage depiction of a sexual encounter, a brief physical fight, strong language, the vocal expression of intense emotions, and one loud scream. Incense and herbal cigarettes are briefly burned, creating very small amounts of smoke.
Burning Bones Physical Theatre creates compelling butoh-based productions to contribute to an original and fearless live performance and training culture while building community engagement in Atlanta. Our members are predominantly queer and disabled performers, and this is central to our methods of training and creating together.
The company’s work has been showcased at the Human Lights Festival (2021), Atlanta Fringe Festival (2021), Art on the Atlanta BeltLine and BeltLine After Dark (2023), and the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab (2022-2023), UNFIX NYC (2023), and Dance Camera Istanbul (2023). As current artists in residence at Windmill Arts, they continue to strive to create unique physical theatre performances for the Atlanta area and represent innovative Southeastern physical performances further afield.
For more information, visit www.burningbonestheatre.com.
Media inquiries can be directed to Juniper Lee Fowler, blank.ship96@gmail.com.