Kindling Arts Festival, once the Little Festival That Could, has grown in scale and dimension to include a superb array of artists from near and far. Today, they announced their 2022 lineup. Now in its fifth year, the four-day fest will feature 19 projects and 160 artists, so clear your schedule July 28-31.
Let’s start with the show you dare not miss:
Y’all. Y’ALL. The Naughty Tree debuted at Third Man Records’ The Blue Room in April and It. Was. Sensational. Written by River Timms (Woven Theatre) and directed by Daniel Jones and Lenin Fernandez, the uproarious production was the best thing I’ve seen on a Nashville stage — ever. It’s a queer, funny, rebellious take on the Garden of Eden. James Rudolph II stars as Mother Nature — in drag and sexy as all get-out — and Fernandez, Kane Dayton, McKay House and Dee Benn support as pairs of Adam and Eve. Lila Toshiko is fantastic as an accident-prone Creator who gets into it with Mother Nature, and weird rockers Fable Cry bring the music. There’s also poetry, an appearance from the glamorous drag queen Justine Van De Blair, and (hopefully) we’ll see hot-as-hell burlesque queen Risky Sour appear as the Serpent. If you’re queer, you’ll feel the collective power, beauty, humor and loyalty of your tribe. If you’re not queer, you’ll want to join us.
Also on the theater docket is a piece by Kindling co-artistic director Jessika Malone and performer Diego Gomez set in “an underground fight club where songs are slayed and rivalries are laid to rest.” Get ready, my fellow geriatric millennials! Nate Eppler and Jonathan Alexandratos’ Nate & Jonathan’s Saturday Morning Reboot! takes on animated TV series from the ’80s. On the dance side, you’ll see performances from Becca Hoback, Emily Rizo Davis, HUM Dance Collective, Pyroglyphics and many more. As always, the aerial dancers of Suspended Gravity will take to the sky.
Kindling is known for its genre-bending programming, and this year’s festival also includes a category they’re calling Gatherings and Special Projects. These include a community art installation headed up by Scene favorite Shawn Whitsell and Jima Akhenjah; a poetry-and-art exhibition co-presented by The Porch; a showcase by Friends Life Community; a film festival and a fashion “power walk.”
And can we give a hand to the festival’s co-artistic director Daniel Jones? You won’t see him onstage because he’s hustling in the wings to make it all happen. He advocates for artists year-round and puts this thing together like magic. Jones elevates artists of all stripes, and Nashville is so lucky to have him.
Find the full schedule and roster on the Kindling Arts Festival website.
