Created by:

director:
LUDWIG

Performer:
HILDA

featuring:
GRETEL

music:
VENETIAN SNARES

producer:
Gunther

company:
ANONYMOUS ENSEMBLE

WANDERLUST

Originally conceived as a narrative dance party, Wanderlust began with performer, Hilda, and director, Ludwig, on a quest to find the innovative but elusive DJ known as Venetian Snares. The duo garnered brief Internet fame by posting videos of their relentless search for the DJ from his native Canada to a hostage situation in Berlin and finally to a warehouse party in Riga, where they cornered the DJ and his manager amid sweaty Latvians and received their blessings to use Venetian Snares's unique, Hungarian-folk-tune-inspired, chaotically violin sampling beats. A brief YouTube search will reveal part of the story... After a few underground club showings, Wanderlust officially premiered in NYC as part of the prestigious Ice Factory '07 Festival at the Ohio Theater. The show was also presented in the Above Ground Zero Festival in NYC in January, '08. in summer of '08, Hilda took the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where Wanderlust garnered a Total Theatre Nomination in "Experiment and Innovation." In the fall of '08 Hilda and Gretel were invited to Fashion Week in Oslo to tromp the runway and play with the Norwegians.

HILDA
In the fairytale story of Wanderlust, Hilda (a.k.a. Jessica Weinstein) attains her extraordinary height by obtaining a brew from a witch in the Black Forest. In "real" life, she learned to stilt walk by training with the Anchor's Masquerade Society of Cape Coast, Ghana where it was assumed that she was a witch. Upon completion of her training, her toes were notched and tattooed to give her the spiritual fortitude to walk tall. She has since found stilting communities on several other continents. In between high cross-cultural exchanges, Hilda works as a performer in New York City, where she has worked with such companies as Bread and Puppet, Great Small Works, Mabou Mines, International WOW Co. and Anonymous Ensemble. She developed the persona of Hilda through years of performing in episodes of the sensational multimedia rock theater epic called The Best.

LUDWIG
Writer/Director, Ludwig (a.k.a. Eamonn Farrell) is best known for creating The Best, incarnations of which have been presented in theaters, festivals and rock venues throughout NYC as well as in the Brisbane Theater Festival in Australia and the Neuropolis Festival in Berlin. Ludwig frequently assists director, Lee Breuer, of Mabou Mines. and assisted Declan Donnellan on the world premiere of Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul. Visit the Anonymous Ensemble's website to learn more.

GRETEL
Gretel (a.k.a. Liz Davito) is an actress, singer and musician based in NYC. She originated the role of Melissa in The Best and has been a part of nearly every Anonymous Ensemble production. Her current musical passion is the ukulele.

Gunther
Gunther (a.k.a. Dodd Loomis) has recently joined the Wanderlust team as a producer/manager and wearer of fine lederhosen. He travels the world along with Hilda and Ludwig with several Mabou Mines productions as well as his own work.