Jack Ferver | |
---|---|
Born | 1979 [1] Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, USA [1] |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Interlochen Arts Academy |
Known for | Choreography |
Website | Official website |
Jack Ferver (born 1979) [1] is an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and professor. They are known for their dance-theatre shows that examine trauma, otherness, and queerness, as well as for their portrayal of a character known as the Little Lad in a 2007 Berries and Cream Starburst commercial.
Upon graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy, Ferver moved to New York City and appeared in their first film role in Outside Providence (1999). After acting in film, television, and theater for several years, Ferver began performing their own full-length dance pieces in 2007. Their work with artist Marc Swanson on the performance piece Chambre in the mid-2010s earned a nomination at the 2016 Bessie Awards. Ferver teaches at Bard College and cohosts a podcast about the dance world.
Jack Ferver grew up in rural Wisconsin, U.S., first in Prairie du Sac and later in Sauk City, where they experienced harassment and bullying throughout their youth as "a little gay kid". [2] [3] Ferver began working with a teacher who was influenced by Martha Graham when they were 13. [4] They received a scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy for their senior year of high school, where they trained and met future collaborator Reid Bartelme. [4] [5] [6]
After attending Interlochen, Ferver moved to New York City. [5] In 1997, intending to dance and act, Ferver was hired to perform in several commercials as well as for their first film role in Outside Providence (1999). [4] [7] Ferver hoped to land more film roles but had trouble finding a talent agent and recalled rejection from casting directors who had trouble viewing them as a young person, despite being eighteen years old when Outside Providence was filmed. [4] [7] Around this time, they began to take classes at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. [4]
Ferver continued to appear onstage and act in television and film. In 1999, they performed in the premiere of Betty's Summer Vacation at Playwrights Horizons. In 2000, they appeared on several episodes of the Comedy Central TV series Strangers with Candy . [8] [9] Throughout the early and mid-2000s, Ferver performed in theater, film, and television, appearing in plays in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Diego. [10] [11] [12] In 2001, they appeared in the film Way Off Broadway and in 2005 they performed in the New York Musical Theatre Festival adaptation of the film But I'm a Cheerleader . [13] [14] With the QWAN Company, which Ferver founded, they created and performed in satirical live readings of the films Notes on a Scandal and Black Swan titled Notes!!! (2010) and Swan!!! (2011), respectively. [15] [16] [17]
In 2007, Ferver began performing full-length dance pieces with their work When We Were Young and Filled with Fear. [18] In the late 2000s, they presented their work at Dixon Place (When We Were Young and Meat), Danspace Project (Death Is Certain), and Abrons Arts Center (A Movie Star Needs a Movie), the latter as part of the American Realness Festival. [19] [20] As a dancer and choreographer, Ferver has collaborated with Interlochen classmate Bartelme, dramaturg Joshua Lubin-Levy, and artist Marc Swanson. [6] [21] [22] [23] Chambre, one of Ferver's pieces with Swanson, was nominated in 2016 for a Bessie Award. [24]
Ferver appeared as a character known as the Little Lad in a 2007 commercial for Berries and Cream Starburst candies. [25] The advertisement, which features Ferver performing a simple dance while singing "Berries and cream!", spread widely and generated parodies and mashups on YouTube that year, as did a second video in which Ferver as the Lad led a tutorial for the dance. [26] Ferver briefly revived the character in late 2021 when the tutorial video was reposted to TikTok by podcast host Justin McElroy and the Little Lad's dance became a popular TikTok trend. [26] [27]
As of 2020, Ferver taught at Bard College and was also a visiting professor at New York University. [28] In addition to their dance work, Ferver has appeared in other movies and TV shows, including Gayby (2012) and High Maintenance (2016). [29] [30] Ferver choreographed and appeared as Tinker Bell in Bard College's 2018 production of Leonard Bernstein's musical Peter Pan . [31] They also signed on in 2019 to choreograph Jeremy O. Harris's play A Boy's Company Presents: 'Tell Me If I'm Hurting You', but the show was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [28]
Ferver and Bartelme, who had both been fellows at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, began hosting the podcast What's Going On with Dance and Stuff in 2017, with a consistent rule of releasing an episode every Friday. [6] [32] Topics discussed, which often tend to be "more about the 'stuff' than the 'dance,'" according to Dance Magazine , include contemporary dance performances, books, Martha Graham, astrology, and Ferver and Bartelme's own work. [6] [32]
Ferver is most known for their dance-theatre shows that examine trauma, otherness, and queerness. [33] In interviews, Ferver has cited Martha Graham and her autobiography Blood Memory as a particular influence in their exploration of concepts like "contraction and release", dark facets of the human psyche, as well as ritual and repetition. [3] Expression of gender and sexuality are central themes throughout Ferver's work. Their piece Two Alike, described as a "psycho-sexual semi-autobiographical choreographic piece" explored their childhood through repetition. [2] In Everything Is Imaginable, Ferver choreographed four soloists to "collectively exhume their personal queer histories and celebrate their childhood icons." [34]
In 2008, Ferver lived in Brooklyn, New York. [25] Their partner is filmmaker and artist Jeremy Jacob. [6] [35]
Year [lower-alpha 1] | Title | Venue [lower-alpha 1] | Role | Notes [36] |
---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | When We Were Young and Filled with Fear | Dixon Place | Choreographer, dancer | [19] |
2008 | Meat: A Diptych | Dixon Place | Choreographer, dancer | [19] |
2009 | Death Is Certain | Danspace Project | Choreographer, dancer | [19] |
A Movie Star Needs a Movie | Abrons Arts Center | Choreographer, dancer | [20] | |
2010 | Rumble Ghost | Performance Space 122 | Writer, choreographer, dancer | [37] |
2011 | Two Alike | Contemporary Arts Museum Houston | Writer, choreographer, dancer | [38] |
Me, Michelle | Museum of Arts and Design | Choreographer, dancer | [39] | |
2012 | Mon, Ma, Mes | French Institute Alliance Française | Creator, performer | [40] |
2013 | All of a Sudden | Abrons Arts Center | Choreographer, dancer | [41] |
2014 | Chambre | Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts | Choreographer, dancer | [42] |
2015 | Night Light Bright Light | Abrons Arts Center | Choreographer, dancer | [43] |
2016 | I Want You to Want Me | The Kitchen | Writer, choreographer, dancer | [44] |
2018 | Everything Is Imaginable | New York Live Arts | Choreographer, dancer | [34] |
2020 | Nowhere Apparent | New York Public Library for the Performing Arts | Choreographer, dancer | [45] |
2022 | Is Global Warming Camp? and Other Forms of Theatrical Distance for the End of the World | Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art | Choreographer, performer | [46] |
Year | Title | Venue | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Long Wharf Theatre | Alfred | [47] |
Betty's Summer Vacation | Playwrights Horizons | Voice 1 | [8] | |
2000 | Black Milk Quartet | Ohio Theatre | [48] | |
Dead End | Huntington Theatre Company | [49] | ||
2001 | Princess Turandot | Westport Country Playhouse | Truffaldino | [50] |
The Square Root of Minus One | Market Theater | Wiggins | [51] | |
2003 | Camelot | Arena Stage | Mordred | [11] |
2004 | Sex*But | Belt Theater | [10] | |
2005 | But I'm a Cheerleader | Theatre at Saint Clements | Joel | Part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival [13] |
2006 | Christmas on Mars | Old Globe Theatre | Nissim | [12] |
2010 | Notes!!! | – | Staged reading, with QWAN Company [17] | |
2011 | Swan!!! | Performance Space 122 | Lily | Staged reading, with QWAN Company [17] [52] |
2018 | Peter Pan | Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts | Tinker Bell; choreographer | [53] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Outside Providence | Irving "Jiz" Waltham | [54] |
2001 | Mean People Suck | Jesse Milton | Short film [55] |
2001 | Way Off Broadway | Phil | [14] |
2007 | Shortcut to Happiness | Jabez's assistant | |
2012 | Gayby | Jamie | [29] |
2015 | Front Cover | Pascal | |
2023 | Nowhere Apparent | Dancer, choreographer | Dance film based on 2020 performance [56] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | Strangers with Candy | Jimmy Tickles | [9] |
2006 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Lenny's assistant | |
2010 | The Big C | Receptionist | |
2012 | Hunting Season | Nick | [57] |
2016 | Deadbeat | Spencer | |
High Maintenance | Jason | [30] | |
Natalie Portman is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Joel Grey is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer, and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret on Broadway and in Bob Fosse's 1972 film adaptation. He has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. He earned the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2023.
Broadway theatre, or Broadway, is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters, each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.
Starburst is the brand name of a box-shaped, fruit-flavoured soft taffy candy manufactured by The Wrigley Company, which is a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Starburst has many different varieties, such as Tropical, Sour, FaveREDs, Watermelon, Very Berry, Superfruit, Summer Blast and Original.
Interlochen Center for the Arts is a non-profit corporation which operates arts education institutions and performance venues. Established in 1928 by Joseph E. Maddy, Interlochen Center for the Arts is located on a 1,200-acre (490 ha) campus in Green Lake Township, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, near the eponymous community of Interlochen.
Celia Keenan-Bolger is an American actress and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for portraying Scout Finch in the play To Kill a Mockingbird (2018). She was Tony-nominated for her roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), Peter and the Starcatcher (2012), and The Glass Menagerie (2014).
Corbin Bleu Reivers is an American actor and singer. He made his acting debut in the 2004 adventure comedy film Catch That Kid. He has since appeared in the Discovery Kids drama series Flight 29 Down (2005–2007). He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008). Songs from the films also charted worldwide, with the song "I Don't Dance" peaking inside the Top 70 of the Billboard Hot 100. During this time, he also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007) and the film To Write Love on Her Arms (2015). He competed in the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars.
The Broadway Theatre is a Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, the theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa for Benjamin S. Moss, who originally operated the venue as a movie theater. It has approximately 1,763 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The Broadway Theatre is one of the few Broadway theaters that is physically on Broadway.
The Nederlander Theatre is a Broadway theater at 208 West 41st Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, it was designed by William Neil Smith for theatrical operator Walter C. Jordan. It has around 1,235 seats across two levels and is operated by the Nederlander Organization. Since 1980, it has been named for American theater impresario David Tobias Nederlander, father of theatrical producer James M. Nederlander. It is the southernmost Broadway theater in the Theater District.
The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was built in 1912 and designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb for impresario John Cort. An annex to the west of the theater, built between 2021 and 2022, was designed by Kostow Greenwood Architects. The Jones has 1,092 seats across three levels and is operated by the Shubert Organization. Both the facade and interior of the theater are New York City designated landmarks.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American songwriter, actor, singer, filmmaker, rapper and librettist. He created the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtracks for the animated films Moana (2016), Vivo, and Encanto. He has received numerous accolades including a Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Grammy Awards, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2018.
Thomas Robert Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey. He has also won two Tony Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Next to Normal, as well as Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations for If/Then and SpongeBob SquarePants. He has been nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning one, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Jagged Little Pill in 2021.
Zach Woods is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his roles as a series regular for three seasons as Gabe Lewis on the NBC sitcom The Office, as Jared Dunn on the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley, as Zach Harper on the USA Network sitcom Playing House, and as Matt Spencer on the HBO comedy show Avenue 5. He also recurred on the HBO series Veep as Ed Webster, and starred as Silicon Valley billionaire Edgar D. Minnows in the Apple TV+ murder mystery series The Afterparty.
Jeremy Michael Jordan is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway, in television and film, in concert, as well as in other theatrical productions.
Ricky Ubeda is an American dancer and actor known for winning Season 11 of So You Think You Can Dance.
Lora Lee Gayer is an American stage actress. On Broadway, she originated the lead role of Linda Mason in Holiday Inn in 2016. She appeared on Broadway in the 2011 revival of Follies as Young Sally.
Ashley Jini Park is an American actress and musician. She is best known for her portrayal of Mindy Chen on the Netflix comedy series Emily in Paris. She originated the role of Gretchen Wieners in the Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.
Georgina Pazcoguin is an American ballerina. She is a soloist with the New York City Ballet, and is known for challenging racism in ballet, and for performing on Broadway.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the performing arts, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Due to physical distancing requirements and closure of the physical venues, curtailing not only public performances but also rehearsals, many performing arts institutions attempted to adapt by offering new digital services. In particular this resulted in the free online streaming of previously recorded performances of many companies – especially orchestral performances and plays – lists of which were collated by journalists as well as bespoke crowdsourcing projects.
Jack Whiting was an American actor, singer and dancer whose career ran from the early 1920s through the late 1950s, playing leading men or major supporting figures.