Newport’s Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre is to host a work-in-progress performance night to support local artists!
On Monday 18 July, The Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre will host their very first Cultivate night, a scratch performance event that invites the audience in to meet local artists as they share short work in progress performances of their brand-new work.
Cultivate will give three artists the platform to take to the stage and experiment, try out new ideas and work and receive feedback from the audience, all of which are vital for them to progress both their pieces and their careers.
Premiering their work at the very first Cultivate on Monday 18 July will be university student Mackenzie Steele, dance and visual artist Jodi Ann Nicholson and Jeremy Linnell who makes dark, playful and interactive work.
Jodi Ann Nicholson will participate in the first Cultivate event at Newport’s Riverfront Theatre & arts Centre on July 18 2022. 
Jeremy Linnell will participate in the first Cultivate event at Newport’s Riverfront Theatre & arts Centre on July 18 2022. 
Mackenzie Steed will participate in the first Cultivate event at Newport’s Riverfront Theatre & arts Centre on July 18 2022.
Mackenzie’s performance titled ‘That’s My Win!’ explores the main character falling for the false reality of beauty standards and attempting to ‘diet.’ The piece looks at the spiral that comes from attempting to diet but becoming more miserable and falling more in love with food, a spiral Mackenzie felt herself at only 14.
Jodi’s piece is about understanding the impact adoption and being mixed-race had on her identity and sense of belonging, and in a broader sense is about community, home and belonging.
Titled ‘Dear, Love From…’ her work explores how movement, dance, objects and letters come together to tell an autobiographical story about grief, connection and identity. The piece will use both delivered text and immersive performance to amplify the often-unheard voices of adoptees, connecting them to the more widely explored stories of absent parents or complex family relationships.
Final performer Jeremy will present a work all about alternative truth, feeling clever and communities. Titled ‘TRUTHFORMATION’ the piece will be about truth, information and how these things transform. In our pockets we hold all the knowledge of the world but somehow this has made knowing what’s real and what’s not harder than ever.
Is it the Loch Ness Monster you see or just part of a whale? Sometimes, out of this infinitely deep pool of facts, ideas, belief, we see people…change. Or were they replaced? Why, with us all so connected and able to share what we know to be true, is finding The Truth so difficult?
On the first Cultivate night Danielle Rowlands, The Riverfront’s Education and Participation officer comments: ‘At The Riverfront we love being able to support and give opportunities to artists to help them grow, evolve and progress. Cultivate is a very exciting event for us as we are able to support three brilliant performers with the opportunity to try new works in front of an audience for the first time. Cultivate is a safe space to experiment, learn and gather feedback, and we hope that this will be the first of many performances these wonderful performers give at The Riverfront.’
You can find out more about the very first Cultivate night on Monday 18 July, and book your tickets by visiting https://www.newportlive.co.uk/en/news-events/cultivate-monday-18-july-2022/. Future Cultivate events are scheduled to take place in the autumn.