Nebunele is back online after a long period of dormant introspection. We’re glad to be back... and we’ve changed.
Just before this all began, Nebunele was in the process of developing a new play. Auditions had been held, the theatre was booked for the first reading and then… everything stopped. Like so many theatre artists, we hoped and waited. We held an open reading on Zoom to keep the project going, hoped and waited again.
All live performances everywhere were cancelled indefinitely. The theatre we booked, an LA mainstay, closed its doors for good. We hoped and waited in different ways as our individual lives began to change dramatically. Some of us picked up and moved. Some of us started home schooling our kids. Some of us made art and did our best to craft the solitude. Some of us lost family members and friends to this devastating illness. We all went slightly crazy (in the good and the bad ways).
As Zoom became the new normal, the compromise of meeting virtually turned into an opportunity. Our circle widened. We started talking regularly with artist friends who lived locally and abroad. These conversations were rich with the intensity of the times. They inspired us, nourished our creative minds, hearts, and souls.
When it came time to decide whether we should let Nebunele go, as is the magic of endings, we examined her life and legacy. She had supported so many female artists over the years. Her work was never a fixed point, it changed dramatically from project to project. Her creation/collaboration process was always self-examining and organic. Her name, a Romanian word for wild and crazy women, spoke to international connections with female artists all over the world. We loved her deeply and were grateful for everything she had been and done, and we were ready to say goodbye if we needed to.
In some ways, there was a kind of death for Nebunele. She walked through the fire of change and will never be the same. Her current mission is the product of four core members, Nicole Pearson, Alissa Mortenson Tyka, Brynna Jourden, and Claytie Mason, and the connection we made during this time of loss and reinvention.
Our new and current mission: Empower a global community of femme-identified artists in their fearless investigation of the human experience; Develop and support this community to create work that builds courage, fosters empathy, and ignites the imagination to bring forth a new world.
On this platform we'll be sharing more about the artists that inspire us, the projects we are working on, and the nature of our process moving forward. We will strive to be transparent, inclusive, honest, and ever-changing.
With radical love and tireless inquiry, Us
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