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ROSALIE PURVIS

performance practitioner/educator

Rosalie Purvis (U.S.A., the Netherlands) holds a BA in Literature and Dance from Bard College and an MFA in Theatre Directing from Brooklyn College and a Phd in Performing and Media Arts from Cornell University where her dissertation “Intimate Acts of Translation” focused on intercultural performance methods and translation and border studies in performance. Since 2000, she has worked as a freelance director/performer in New York City where work has been featured at, among others, the Atlantic Theatre’s Second Stage, Theatre for the New City, the Brick Theatre, Dixon Place, the Estrogenius Festival, Teatro la Teo, the Culture Project, Teatro Circulo, 59 East 59, the Puerto Rican Traveling Company, Dance New Amsterdam, 78th Street Theatre Lab and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She also creates site specific works, globally. Most recently, she joined Kolkata-based performing arts collective Chaepani and together they have performed at various national borders. She has taught performance and writing most recently at Cornell University, Ithaca College, Presidency College (Kolkata) Jadavpur University (Kolkata), the City University of New York, Mercy College in the Bronx, Pace University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Marlboro College. She is currently serving as Libra Assistant Professor of English and Theatre at the University of Maine.

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SELECTED PROJECTS

A few selected projects by and/or with Rosalie Purvis.

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Cornell Locally Grown Dance and Ithaca Dance Collective at CSMAIthaca, 2019

A dance theatre piece about “women - always waiting - in literature”. Created and performed by Rosalie Purvis with dancer Deanna Myskiw and Voices by Avirupa Mukherjee, Debaroti Chakraborty. The poem/script written in collaboration with poet Megan Savage. https://youtu.be/g2Y5toKk32c

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Kolkata, 2019

Late for Durga is a bilingual play written and performed by Rosalie Purvis and Debaroti Chakraborty with Chaepani 

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Touring India and U.S., 2017-2019

A Dance Theatre piece about two women longing for one another from far away. Created with Debaroti Chakraborty 
https://youtu.be/BwIjQYMuYPs
https://youtu.be/Wyn6ctD6ReM

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Marlboro College, VT, 2014

Melancholy Play by Sarah RuhlDirected by Rosalie Purvis
https://youtu.be/J70KPeSQSig

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Touring India - U.S. 2016-2017

A touring multi lingual play about national borders - made with Chaepani, and many other theatre artists and musicians from around the world. 
https://youtu.be/gI4071X262o

https://youtu.be/eHjeKMKbQjshttps://youtu.be/xXIKX13hWN4

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Kolkata, 2019

Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl Directed by Rosalie PurvisPerformed by Chaepani. 

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Kolkata, 2019

Debaroti Chakraborty’s bilingual adaptation of the short Jose Rivera play - directed by Rosalie Purvis and Debashish Sen Sharma. (Rosalie also plays the role of Daysi)
https://youtu.be/n5hCziu4u8U
https://youtu.be/97c5wXBhE80

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Cornell Locally Grown Dance Ithaca, 2015

A short dance theatre piece with Deanna Myskiw 
https://youtu.be/SXOsZnxOZdA

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The Atlantic Theatre Second Stage, NYC, 2011

You are Confused/Tu Estas Confundido is a bilingual solo show written by Eduardo Leanez and Patrick Horrigan - performed by Eduardo Leanez - Directed by Rosalie Purvis https://youtu.be/wT7_pbw4Jic

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Brooklyn College, NYC, 2003

The Good Person of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht - in a new Translation by Rosalie Purvis and Roxane Heinze. Original music by Jens Boutrup and the company
 https://youtu.be/g_vb4cA3Okk

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Henry Street Settlement and the Brick Theatre, NYC, 2002-2005

Excerpts from Dance Theatre Based on Greek Myths  - Conceived and Choreographed by Rosalie Purvis  
https://youtu.be/uG-1oolzCsI

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Henry Street Settlement, NYC, 2004

Excerpts from Dance Theatre Love Stories conceived and choreographed by Rosalie Purvis
 https://youtu.be/YEo9L6iRugY

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Brooklyn College, NYC, 2001

Charlie the Chicken by Jonathan Levy directed by Rosalie Purvis
https://youtu.be/BE8L33_PKlI

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Ithaca, 2017

A site-specific dance theatre piece about adoption and intercultural family and migration - choreographed by Rosalie Purvis with Mandy Caughey and Alejandra Rodriguez - multilingual text performed by Chaepani and many others 
https://youtu.be/NJH_2Tk0mgs

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Dixon Place, 2010

Excerpts from a series of “burlesque/not burlesque pieces created and performed by Rosalie Purvis 
https://youtu.be/1kjQojAzXVk

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Dixon Place, NYC, 2009

Callous CadBy Tom X. ChaoStarring Tom X. Chao and Rosalie Purvis
https://youtu.be/wgg4z9VwedY

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Prospect Dark Nights Series, NYC, 2009

A dance theatre piece choreographed and performed by Rosalie Purvis 

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Philadelphia Fringe Festival, PA, 2010

A solo show by Alexis Clements

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Dance New Amsterdam, NYC, 2010

A solo show by Victoria Libertore Directed by Rosalie Purvis

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Brooklyn Arts Exchange, NYC, 2009

My Journey of DecayA solo show by Victoria Libertore 

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October, 2021

Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka co-directed by Rosalie Purvis and Debaroti Chakraborty, film by Arnab Roy, Music by Gorki Mukherjee, Sound by James David Jacobs, Set by Tricia Hobbs, Costumes by Karissa Cooper, Lights by Scout Hough

Students at the University of Maine collaborated with students at Presidency College in Kolkata and professional actors in India and Nigeria, to create this multimedia performance of Naomi Iizuka's play about refugee experiences.

Student Dramaturgs created a documentary on the making of the production:

https://youtu.be/jmbkLkUUcUc

View the production:

https://youtu.be/hLhaFpORg7M

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May, 2021

A virtual performance created by Debaroti Chakraborty for the Naban Earth Weekend based in Santinaketan, West Bengal, held virtually in 2021 due to pandemic restrictions. Part 2 is written and performed by Debaroti Chakraborty and Rosalie Purvis.

Performance and Discussion

https://youtu.be/KVFrkxzEQqM

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“What are all these borders for?” - Root Map

“Both my work as an artist/scholar and artist/activist seeks to (re)create and interpret cross-border engagement. My performance practice inspires my scholarship and my scholarship, in turn, invigorates my practice and pursues new forms of border-defying storytelling that are both bold and intimate. To this day, rather than force diverse and underrepresented experiences into a single, outdated mold, I seek to reinvent the mold — or to deconstruct/shatter it altogether.” - Rosalie Purvis 

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CONTACT ROSALIE PURVIS 

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SELECTED PRESS

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In Dog Years

In Dog Years: A young lesbian couple decide to get a dog in T.D. Mitchell's In Dog Years. Expertly directed by Rosalie Purvis, the dominance and submission elements in this play cannot be denied, both in the rearing of the couple's dog, Martina Navratilova, and the grooming in their relationship. Alex (Marinda Anderson) and Sean (Ivory Aquino) decide to take the next step in their relationship by getting a canine, but they don't see eye-to-eye on the connotations. While Sean is busy trying to tame Alex's cheating ways with a puppy, Alex has other ideas. It isn't until Martina is injured that the couple takes a serious look at the dynamics of their relationship and its future.”


https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/ob/cp10_04_07.html

Callous Cad

“Comic actress Rosalie Purvis co-stars, presenting a startling variety of roles.”

https://www.theatermania.com/shows/new-york-city-theater/off-off-broadway/callous-cad_161466

Anon(ymous)

"“Anon(ymous)” is thought-provoking work, aimed at challenging current ideologies though a lens inspired by the past. The picture is presents isn’t always pretty – far from it – but it is an effort to honestly engage with the state of the world today. It leaves you with questions that you might never have asked and ideas you might never have considered. If that’s not good art, I don’t know what is."

https://www.themaineedge.com/buzz/umaines-anonymous-a-unique-provocative-production?fbclid=IwAR0f8m4y4zc-yXkYcU6Ty8EfEgKt_M8A22Fbwpl3Fn6vN-X6kSwzuSFL8Rs

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