UpLift Productions
the unimaginable code, 2022
Ensemble Creators: Juliana Frick, Grace Booth
This collaboration between playwright Grace Booth and project lead Juliana Frick harnesses UpLift's singular highly-physical style of visceral storytelling to bring this modern melodrama to life. Inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the Unimaginable Code is a human story exploring the ethical questions surrounding gene-editing technology.
This project is honored to have received grants from the NET/TEN and Theater Bay Area CA$H programs.
The Many (Illustrious/Remarkable/Hungry/Lonely) Children of Frances LeMoore, 2016 & 2023
Ensemble Creators: Juliana Frick, Alyssa Hughlett, Nicholette Routhier, Jessica Ferris, Lisa McNeely, and Sierra Camille
A story of shame, gender and longing set against the backdrop of a small town wedding. Using eccentric character, absurd physicality and an irreverent sense of humor, this play follows Cornela, a florist, who has been hired to design for the wedding--and woman--of her dreams; but whose dreams are they?
This project is lead by Juliana Frick and was first conceived for the FURYFactory Festival of Ensemble Theater in 2016 with Nicholette Routhier and Jessica Ferris.
It was further developed in residency at Dell Arte International in 2019 by Juliana Frick, Lisa McNeely, Alyssa Hughlett and Nicholette Routhier. The devised scenes from that residency were performed in residence at SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts in 2023 with Juliana Frick, Nicholette Routhier, and Sierra Camille.
UpLift artists in residence performance at the University of Dayton. Photo Credit: Ryan Wantland; Pictured UpLift core members Alyssa Hughlett (center) and Hannah Gaff (center/left).
Enmity of the people, 2017
Ensemble Director: Jerome Yorke
Ensemble Creators: Hannah Gaff, Alyssa Hughlett, Nicholette Routhier, UD Students.
“Enmity of the People” is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play, “An Enemy of the People.” This production was developed in residence at AcroSports and the Theatre, Dance, and Performance Technology Program at the University of Dayton in Ohio in collaboration with Zoot Theatre Company.
Through the waves, 2016-2024
Ensemble creators: Juliana Frick, Hannah Gaff, Nicholette Routhier, Alyssa Hughlett, Jessica Ferris
Weaving a poetic vocabulary of acrobatic movement and storytelling, this award-winning intimate play tells the tale of one woman, lost between the uncharted waters of her grief and the shores of her joyful memories following the disappearance of her soul-mate. Created, directed and performed by four women in residence at the San Francisco Circus Center in 2016, this production has toured to the San Diego Fringe Festival (2018), the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane, Washington as a keynote performer in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (2018), the FURYFactory Festival of Ensemble Theater Main Stage program in San Francisco, CA (2018), the Mad River Festival in Blue Lake, CA (2019) and was chosen to represent the U.S. at the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater in Cairo, Egypt (2022) where it won an award for “Original Application of Physical Language." We were honored to represent the U.S. once again at the Pakistan Theatre Festival in Karachi in September 2023 with support by the U.S. Consulate, American Voices, Arts Envoy, and the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.
Check out a video preview HERE.
Read our San Francisco Chronicle review HERE.
Check out news from our 2023 tour to Pakistan HERE and HERE.
Terra Incognita, 2015
Ensemble Creators: Juliana Frick, Hannah Gaff, Alyssa Hughlett, Joe Krienke, Audrey Leclair, Andrea Martinez, Moses Norton, Nicholette Routhier, Jerome Yorke with special guest artist Jared Mongeau
Stage Manager: Drew Pannebecker
A heart-pumping acrobatic expedition into the unmapped terrain of the heart. We climb mountains of longing, dive into oceans of loss, and find wellsprings of joy in this surprisingly intimate play.
Taken away, 2014
Produced and directed by Joe Krienke
Ensemble Creators: Jerome Yorke, Nicholette Routhier, Alyssa Hughlett, Hannah Gaff, Moses Norton, and Joe Krienke
Lighting design:Anthony Arnista and Michael Foster
Following the success of “Between the Lines," the ensemble continued forward with their research and development of dramatic acrobatics. In June 2014, “Taken Away" premiered at the Mad River Festival in Blue Lake, CA to sold out audiences. In “Taken Away" parallel dimensions, ghosts, guides, spirits and demons exist alongside our everyday reality, influencing our lives and relationships. In this unique form of non-linear collage storytelling, we experience themes of falling, holding, catching, and being taken away.
between the lines, 2013
Produced and Directed by Joe Krienke
Ensemble Creators: Audrey Leclair, Juliana Frick, Moses Norton, Andrea Martinez, Alyssa Hughlett, Joe Krienke, and Nicholette Routhier.
Lighting Design: Michael Foster
Premiering at the Mad River Festival in June 2013, “Between the Lines" was originally devised as a collaborative assignment in dramatic acrobatics at the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. With vigor and playfulness, “Between the Lines" explores the dynamic physical forces that exist in our everyday relationships and interactions.
