Become an Artist in Residence
AIA began the Artists in Residence project as virtual workshop for artists to test out new work, play with ideas, and experiment with audio forms. The individuals and groups below have agreed to bring in new, original work to AIA over the course of multiple appearances. To find out how you can become an Artist in Residence contact us: artistsinactionradio@gmail.com
SEAN CHRISTOPHER LEWIS is the inaugural recipient of the Rosa Parks Award for Social Justice in Playwriting from the Kennedy Center. Called a "tour de force... a one man symphony" by NY Theatre and "Exciting... explicitly sincere" by the NY Press, Sean has toured his critically lauded solo shows I WILL MAKE YOU ORPHANS, THE GONE CHAIR, and KILLADELPHIA. A former NNPN Emerging Playwright in Residence at InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, he has been a playwriting fellow at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and has had his work developed at the PlayPenn New Play Conference, Lark New Play Development Center, Orlando Shakespeare Festival’s Harriet Lake Festival of New Work and at the National Center for New Plays at Stanford University. Sean is a founding member and co-Artistic Director of Working Group Theatre.
The Awful Purdies was formed in the summer of 2006 by former member Amy Finders and founding member Annie Savage, Awful Purdies was the answer to the question, "Is there a musical life for women after children, family and career?" The Awful Purdies is now Iowa's premier all female group. A 5 piece all female band, Awful Purdies features Annie Savage on fiddle and concert harp, Katie Roche on accordion, whistles and percussion, Marcy Rosenbaum on guitar, Nicole Upchurch on banjo and Katie Burnes on cello. All singers and multi-instrumentalists, they purdify every original and borrowed song they meet. Purdify — v. To give something the property of being created and/or modified by the all-female group Awful Purdies, especially songs. 
IDRIS GOODWIN is an award winning playwright, break beat poet, recording and cross-disciplinary performance artist. Idris has received grants and awards from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation and The Illinois Arts Council. Idris’ break beat poetry was featured on season six of Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Poetry and published in the Spoken Word Revolution Redux Anthology, Rattle Magazine, DIAGRAM, WORD RIOT, decomP and featured prominently in the forthcoming The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Idris frequently teaches, performs and lectures at institutions on themes of arts, culture and empowerment. Upcoming projects include the Chicago premier of a new one act play, The Story Farm and the full length hip hop album Break Beat Poems on SGE records.
Rosalee Motor Revival features John Watkins, Skye Carrasco, Marc Showalter, MJ Dunlap, Misty Wagler, Johnnie Cluney, and Veronica Green.
AIA discovered Jeff Porter’s Radio Essay class at the University of Iowa through a conversation with one of his former students. AIA will be featuring the work of his students throughout the Fall of 2009. The following is from the class description for his course: “When an essay learns how to speak, when it has a real “voice,” what can it teach us about writing? We’ll explore voice quite literally as an acoustic event by experimenting with three modes of radiophonic nonfiction—narrative, essayistic, and documentary (students will complete projects in two out of three of these genres). The goal of this class is to help you discover, develop, and strengthen your capacities as a writer of artful nonfiction that is as compelling to the ear as to the eye.
SEAN’S ARCHIVE
Essay: The Director, 09/30/09
Song: Love is Cool, 09/30/09
RMR ARCHIVE
Song: Untitled, 10/28/09
Angela Regas: Love
CLASS ARCHIVE
PURDY ARCHIVE
Can a banjo picker and a classically trained cellist underscore a freestyle rap? Of course.
IDRIS ARCHIVE
Song: Untitled, Burns and Upchurch, 11/1109
Essay: Kansas, 11/18/09
Essay: Trial by Fire, 12/02/09
