Art & Life with Jenny Magnus

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Magnus.

Jenny, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I made a decision. Very early on, over 35 years ago, when I was just informally “making stuff”, intuitively I understood that performing and making stuff can be approached in at least 2 ways. One: seeking to be chosen, speaking words that other people wrote, singing familiar songs, being a part of something that pre-existed me, and desiring the affirmation of other people and institutions. Two: making things that would not exist without me, deciding for myself when and where and how I would be seen by other people, using my own imagination to create moments, (written, visual, sonic, interpersonal), and building alternatives to existing institutions, that, even at the time, in my youth, seemed like not the place for me. I decided not to wait, I decided that I had permission, that I could be loud, and in my body, and that my voice, literal and figurative, was necessary and valuable. I didn’t know any artists when I made this decision, I just felt the rightness of it for me.

I made a decision this year. For the first time in my entire career, I am not on stage in something I wrote. I decided that I wanted to be outside, and see what it was like to have my voice be shaped by me, from the outside. To be the composer and not the performer. So I am currently working on my next show, (Not) Another Day, and I am not in it. It’s a strange process, and I feel more vulnerable than I thought I would. I thought I would feel safe and anonymous, but I don’t. I feel exposed in a different way. I suspect that is a win.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I make performative work. In any and all forms. I consider myself primarily a writer, and my chosen kind of writing is meant to be experienced in time, mostly with other people present. I write plays, performances, songs. Also I write curriculum, for students in institutions of higher education, but also students of life. I consider my writing to be the composition of experience. I think about the experience of the person, walking in from the first moment of encountering me or the work, all the way to the last moment. I use language and structure to take someone on a ride, and my desire is to have that person leave the experience a little different than they were walking in. It has always seemed true to me that in the final analysis, all we have are our ideas, and our bodies. I approach writing performative work as a way to express my ideas via my articulate body. (Or via the bodies of my collaborators). I am still engaged in the process of finding the “prima materia” in my language, looking for the juxtapositions and contiguities that surprise me. Also, I consider the audience to be my oldest and most fractious relationship of my life. But I love them, the audience.

I co-founded a theater company, The Curious Theatre Branch, now entering its 30th season. We are still going strong, money in the bank. I have a little band, The Crooked Mouth, currently working on our 4th album. I work with some of the same people over 35 years, and some new people too, coming in and out. A bunch of my collaborators and I are working on my new thing, (Not) Another Day, a sung play about beats and death, premiering in September.

What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
My advice for artists looking to connect: go out and see other people’s work. Make yourself known through knowing others, and create the dynamic of interest in your work by having an investment in theirs. If you are a theater or performance maker, come to the RhinoFest, rhinofest.com. Submit your work, come see a bunch of work of other people. It’s always ‘pay-what-you-can” and that is for real. So money is not the reason to not come see new work. Rhino is coming in January 2019, at the Prop THTR, see you there.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My next show (Not) Another Day, a sung meta-play about process, and a process; a process of a soap opera writer who can’t think of an ending, a process of a soap opera actor who refuses to leave, and all the soap operas in life that can play with time and process.

It premieres September 7 at Prop Thtr, 3502 n Elston, and runs through October 6. Information can be found on my website, jennymagnus.com, on The Curious Theatre Branch’s website, curioustheatrebranch.com. Also on Facebook at Curious Theatre Branch. The music from the show will be available on Uvulittle recordings at Uvulittle.com.

Curious is a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3.

Contact Info:

• Website: jennymagnus.com
• Email: makersmakingthings@gmail.com
• Instagram: jemlunar on instagram
• Facebook: jenny magnus
• Twitter: jennymagnus@jennymagnus1
• Other: curioustheatrebranch.com, thecrookedmouth.org

Image Credit:
#1 Joe Mazza for BraveLux
#2 Jeffrey Bivens
#3 Joe Mazza for BraveLuxe

Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.