Monsterball
Over the years, Eve Petty has devoted a lot of hours to the Kindling Arts Festival. She’s worked as an actor and stage manager. She’s helped produce and direct shows. She’s greeted guests at the door, and even swept floors. This weekend she’s at it again, as Kindling returns with a four-day celebration that showcases more than 20 unique projects at various locations around Nashville.
“I’ve worked with Kindling for seven years now in a lot of different capacities, and it really is one of my favorite things about the Nashville theater community,” says Petty, a versatile artist who’s worked onstage and behind the scenes with everyone from Street Theatre and Nashville Rep to Nashville Children’s Theatre. “I love that I’ve been able to contribute to it in so many ways, but the festival also has contributed to my development as an artist. It really is the most cool group of people, making the weirdest art.”
Petty is currently focused on Monsterball, a new creation from Daniel Carter and Kindling’s founding artistic director Jessika Malone — the team behind the festival’s popular Bar Fight series. The new piece — which blends improvisational comedy with all the outrageous antics of a minor league sports team — pits life-size Muppet-like monsters against actual Nashville residents in an over-the-top kickball match.
“There’s an opening ceremony, announcers, a big halftime show and plenty of shenanigans along the way,” Petty says of the free family-friendly performance. “But there’s also a lot of heart. The humans and the monsters start off as opposing forces, but as things continue we learn that we have more in common, and start rooting for each other. It’s been such fun experimenting with different ideas, building everything from the ground up. That’s what I love about devised work — you’re looking at it from so many different ways. It’s pushing past the limits and asking, ‘What could this be?’ It evolves with everyone’s contributions, so it’s not just one person’s project — it’s the whole group’s passion poured into a common goal.”
The same could be said for the festival itself. Established in 2018, Kindling consistently serves up some of Nashville’s most daring work, created by a diverse and dynamic roster of groundbreaking artists. And this year’s lineup may be the most ambitious to date, with 22 imaginative works ranging from cutting-edge theater, music and dance to multimedia experiences and experimental performance art.
“What’s become clear is that Kindling has carved out a space that is absolutely vital and necessary for the arts community,” says producing artistic director Daniel Jones. “We had more than 100 artist applications this year, and half our lineup is new to us — people we’ve never worked with before. It’s really a testament to what’s happening in the city — the growth, and the way artists are ready to step up if given a platform.”
PYDANCE: Murder of Crows
One of those artists is Asia Pyron, a busy choreographer and director of PYDANCE. Soon after moving to Music City in 2021, Pyron directed and choreographed an original production called POOL, created for the 50th anniversary of the Centennial Art Center and inspired by local students’ efforts to integrate the Centennial Park swimming pool in the 1960s. Kindling presented an excerpt of POOL as part of its 2022 festival.
“Kindling picked us up right after our premiere, and we felt extremely supported by the festival,” Pyron says. “It not only offered an opportunity for my dancers to get paid and to be working in the field they trained in, but it also helped lift us up as a new company in Nashville. It was just a great experience.”
For this year’s festival, Pyron has created an immersive dance-theater experience called Murder of Crows. Presented at the Welcome to 1979 recording studio, the piece “draws audiences back in time to the greatest party of yesteryear, where more than a couple of plans go awry.”
“Murder of Crows was very much inspired by Clue: The Movie,” Pyron says. “We wanted to create sort of a representation of those amazing murder mysteries, like Clue or Knives Out. And while this piece is not actually a murder mystery in itself, the whole concept is wrapped around this fabulous party where nothing is quite as it seems. It’s a lot of fun, and we’re delighted to be at Welcome to 1979. It’s such a cool space — it just screams vintage Nashville. And it gives people the freedom to move and make their own choices as they follow the characters around, which I think feels very different than just sitting in a theater watching a performance onstage. The audience will definitely be part of how this story is being told.
“This is technically the first time that Murder of Crows will premiere as a full stand-alone performance,” she adds. “So we’re excited to have people come out and explore this idea with us. I feel like it’s just so important to get people out in the community, and to put art in places where you don’t necessarily expect it. Kindling has done such a great job with that — engaging audiences, supporting artists and exploring everything that the local arts scene can be.”
