ALTAREDSTATES

Created by Daniel Alexander Jones

Acclaimed Alpert Award winning theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones’s latest work, ALTAR NO. 1 – ATEN uses our solar system as both metaphor and method for an immersive journey through the celestial, within and without. Anchored in the ever-expanding digital portal aten.life, the work invites you to take part in a dynamic new creative odyssey. It is intended to, as Jones states, “remember us whole.”


Experience ATEN, the new digital album available now.


ALTAR NO. 1 – ATEN
will unfold over a series of weekly installments that include a new album of fifteen original songs by Jones and Josh Quat; fifteen connected music videos exploring stories of the planets, our moon, and aspects of our sun; a series of probing podcast conversations with special guests; and invitations for visitors to engage with on and offline. It is a site for you to return—to replenish, reflect, and contribute to a growing archive of shared reflection and inspiration.

ALTAR NO. 1 – ATEN officially launches Daniel Alexander Jones’s multivalent ALTAREDSTATES project, devised over the last two years in close collaboration with the creative braintrust of Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Ebony Noelle Golden, Walter Kitundu, Josh Quat, and Sangodare Wallace. Each project in the forthcoming series utilizes core principles from altar-building (charged temporary structures that bridge dimensions and serve to focus and amplify our attentions) to guide process and shape the experiences of each encounter, be it live or digital.

♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦

ALTAR NO. 1 is commissioned by The Public Theater, and created with support from CalArts Center for New Performance and New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency, with funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the Partners for New Performance.

ALTAREDSTATES is made possible with generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional support provided by the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab.

Produced by CalArts Center for New Performance.

About the Artist

Alpert Award winner Daniel Alexander Jones exemplifies the artist-as-energy worker. His wildflower body of original work includes plays, performance pieces, recorded music, concerts, music theatre events, essays, and long-form improvisations. The Herb Alpert Foundation notes that he “creates multi-dimensional experiences where bodies, minds, emotions, voices, and spirits conjoin, shimmer, and heal.” 

Jones’s critically-acclaimed performance pieces include Radiate (Soho Rep and National Tour including the Kirk Douglas Theatre/CTG); Black Light (Public Theater, Greenwich House Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Penumbra Theatre); Duat (Soho Rep); An Integrator’s Manual (La MaMa, etc. and Fusebox Festival). Jones has recorded five albums of original songs as his alter-ego, Jomama Jones. Love Like Light, his first anthology of writing for performance will be published by 53rd State Press in 2021.

Jones is the 2021 PEN America/Laura Pels Foundation Awardee in Theatre. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, a Doris Duke Artist Award and a USA Artists Fellowship.

Learn more about Jones’s work at danielalexanderjones.com

Creative Team

Created by Daniel Alexander Jones
with contributions from
Adelina Anthony
Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Cat Gund
Tenzin Gund-Morrow
Ebony Noelle Golden
Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones
The Lady Krishna
Josh Quat
Kyla Searle
Sangodare Wallace
and
Jomama Jones

ALBUM CREDITS

Songs written by Jomama Jones and Josh Quat
Produced by Josh Quat
Executive Produced by Jomama Jones

FILM/VIDEO CREDITS

Co-Directed by Daniel Alexander Jones and Nicolas Savignano
Featuring Daniel Alexander Jones and Jomama Jones
Additional performances by
Rhonda Ross
Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones
Jessica Emmanuel
Kearian Giertz
The Lady Krishna
Cat Gund
Tenzin Gund-Morrow

Cinematography, Nicolas Savignano
Costume Design, Victor Sandoval Torres
Additional pieces from Jomama Jones’s collection of Oana Botez originals
Props and Scenic, Patrick Smith
Camera Assistant / Photography, Rafael Hernandez
Camera Assistant / Photography, Angel Origgi
Crew, Ry Burke, Cy Kraft, Carter Prentiss
Line Producer, Rui Xu
Lead Producer, George Lugg

Except
VENUS – “Hymn to the Child of Venus” directed by Adelina Anthony for Aderisa Productions
With additional filming for SUN – “Hymn to Be Good” by Cat Gund

CONSTELLATION CONVERSATIONS CREDITS

Creator and hosted by Daniel Alexander Jones
Co-created by Kyla Searle
Featuring
Sue Jaye Johnson
Langston Kahn
Rhonda Ross
Oak
Deborah Paredez
and more