Nebunele
2006 - present
Alissa Mortenson and Claytie Mason founded Nebunele in 2006 to create collaborative, cross-disciplinary ensemble work and in the process crafted original performances in spaces that redefined the limits of the stage.
Over the years, each new work formed around the artists and/or communities involved, lovingly crafted to best share stories/experiences particular to that community or the group of artists creating the piece. From public buses to black-box indie theatres; from nursing homes to Burning Man; from fringe festivals to secret sunrise performances; from an audience of one to large community gatherings, Nebunele has failed and succeeded at creating original theatre and performance art in some epically beautiful ways over the past 15 years.
Making space for the growth process as a company and allowing our work to change as we do is what keeps our collective heart beating. If there is a fixed point in our trajectory, it's something sacred, radically hopeful, far off on the horizon but bright enough to set our sails by.
These are excerpts from some of the good reviews we've gotten over the years. We've also been slammed by critics, on occasion. We've most certainly been humbled by the dream to reality ratio falling short. We've been bruised in the discovery of our own blindspots. Some might say we always get back on the horse but we say hang on, if a horse bucks, maybe the horse ought not to be tamed in such a way. Maybe it needs open space to run and learn better the function of its natural, wild self.