Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble

Home
United States
New York, NY
Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble

Directions Website Contact the organization

The Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble was founded in 1997 in NYC by Artistic/Producing Director, Leese Walker.

Its mission is to promote empathy, free-thinking and greater social awareness through provocative theatre and educational outreach. The Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble is an inter-disciplinary ensemble theater that has been generating original performance pieces since 1997. The permanent ensemble is comprised of world-class jazz musicians, modern dancers, and actors. Performers collaborate through an ensemble-based, improvisational process to create politically-charged, original works that address socially-relevant issues. Its work is guided by the words of Bertolt Brecht, "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it."

09/29/2026

TONIGHT!! 🔥🙆‍♀️ Join us at Manhattan School of Music Manhattan School of Music for “TACTUS I” with guest Soundpainter Leese Walker!

7:30 PM
Stay On It - Julius Eastman
By Night - Betsy Jolas
Burdocks - Christian Wolff
Cheating, Lying, Stealing - David Lang

~INTERMISSION~

~8:20 PM
Soundpainting performance with the
TACTUS Contemporary Performance Ensemble Tactus Ensemble and special guest LEESE WALKER!

Ethan Burke - Bass Clarinet
Zheng Liu - Violin
Sarah Pedlar - Flutes
Mihail Babus - Percussion
Leo Martinez - Double Bass
Garrick Neuner - Baritone Voice
Isaac Dorio - Piano
Miles Wierer-Huling - Electric Violin
Sathvi Seshan - Violin
Claire Cathey - Flutes
David Holloway - French Horn
Emma Stewart - Percussion

Guests:
Leese Walker — Soundpainter
Henry Berberi — alto saxophone
Holden Meier — trumpet
Luke Bacani — vibraphone
Evan Furrow — drumset
Ealaph Tabbaa — viola
Eli Jort — cello

ATTEND IN-PERSON at ADES PERFORMANCE SPACE, Manhattan School of Music, 130 Claremont Avenue, New York, NY, 10027
FREE! No ticket required

Or tune in via LIVESTREAM! https://www.msmnyc.edu/livestream/tactus-2026-09-29/

See you there! 🎶

📸: Guillaume Le Baube

09/03/2026

The start of the school year is just around the corner—let’s bring your curriculum to life from day one!🎒

Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble pairs classroom teachers with professional teaching artists to co-teach dynamic, project-based K-12 arts residencies. We design and facilitate everything from multidisciplinary performance projects to active core-subject integration rooted in social-emotional learning.

We know how much heart you pour into your students. Let’s partner together to build a creative, inclusive classroom where they can truly flourish this year.

👉 Visit strikeanywhere.info right now to explore our bespoke residency options, or send us a DM / email at [email protected] to start planning!

08/31/2026

Out of office, into the woods!🌲🎭 The Strike Anywhere crew is officially on retreat in the Catskills this week, trading the city hustle for fresh air, deep training, and creative collaboration.

Since 2003, we’ve gathered every summer to sharpen our core skills and bond as an ensemble. This week, we are diving deep into research for our upcoming “POP UP: Tryon,” cooking up new ideas for “Tell Me Something,” Soundpainting together, and exploring the powerful links between our educational residencies and community performances.

Time to see what happens when inspiration strikes!⚡️

08/18/2026

SOUNDPAINTING THINKTANK RECAP • DAY 6

Reflecting on the final day of the 28th International Soundpainting Thinktank! ✨ We closed out an incredible week by taking the art off the traditional stage and bringing live composition directly into the environment.

On Sunday, 7/12, the entire Thinktank cohort migrated together across the gorgeous Vassar College campus to witness each Lab project bring their site-specific compositions to life in real time. Afterward, our Site-Specific Lab participants gathered to debrief and unpack the full 3-part experiential journey. The day ended with games and an outdoor feast catered by Twisted Soul.

Thank you to all the international artists and collaborators who made this final day—and the entire week—so unforgettable. 🙆‍♀️💕

🎭 Hosted by Powerhouse Theater at Vassar
📸 Photography by Buck Lewis Photography

08/12/2026

SOUNDPAINTING THINKTANK RECAP • DAY 5 ✨🙆‍♀️

Saturday moved from deep questions to exploration, rehearsal, and finally into seven entirely different worlds created live onstage.

We started with an inspiring Q&A with Powerhouse students. The conversation quickly shifted into a generational exchange about how Soundpainting shapes our careers, creative lives, and artistic paths. Afterward, Claude Whipple led a fascinating discussion on alternative ways to introduce the language to actors and dancers, proving just how many doors open into this single practice.

Then, we got on our feet. Dividing into small groups, performers and Soundpainters dove into rehearsals in preparation for the closing concert that night. Together, they explored vocabulary, signs, and physicalities.

The climax of the night was the closing concert, “An Evening of Soundpainting.” Attendees experienced seven Soundpaintings, seven composers, and seven completely different worlds. Each piece was shaped by the unique voice of the composer and the choices made in the moment—ranging from lyrical and hilarious to angular and wild. One night. Seven compositions. Gone as soon as they happened, except for what we carry forward.

Composers: Drew Pattison, Andrea Ariel, Audrey Vallarino, Leese Walker, Tomi Tsunoda, Marie Angeles Cuevas, and Walter Thompson.

Hosted by Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College at Vassar College
📸 Photography by Buck Lewis Photography
Video Editing by November Christine

08/06/2026

SOUNDPAINTING THINKTANK RECAP: DAY 4 🌱🎭

Day 4 at the International Soundpainting Thinktank at Vassar College was packed with bold ideas.⚡️

✨ HIGHLIGHTS:
• Evan Mazunik Evan Mazunik | Creativity Coach for Musicians explored a few Soundpainting signs to heighten an ensemble’s focus.
• Carina Dengler (joining from Germany) shared how Soundpainting is empowering social workers in therapeutic practice.
• Nicole Poole led an inspiring session on Soundpainting with veterans, civic spaces, and community trust-building.
• Walter Thompson welcomed young professionals in the Powerhouse Theater Training Program into his creative sandbox for live Soundpaintings.
• Tomi Tsunoda transformed plant biodata into live sound, inviting Soundpainters to perform with a potted plant as the soloist. 🌱
• Evan Mazunik and Gil Selinger offered an Intro to Conduction, another live composition sign language developed by Butch Morris.
• Sathya Socolovsky Soundpainting Ar 🇦🇷 wrapped up the day with physical theatre and clown techniques for dynamic stage presence.

The day concluded with many Thinktank participants attending a presentation of Godfriend, a new play in development through the Powerhouse Theater’s professional residency program—a wonderful opportunity to experience another creative process unfolding alongside the Thinktank.

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes moments from the 28th Annual Soundpainting Thinktank!

Hosted by Powerhouse Theater at Vassar at Vassar College
📸 Amanda Hinkle-Wallace Amanda Hinkle-Wallace

08/05/2026

SOUNDPAINTING THINKTANK RECAP: DAY 3
Ingesting & Responding: Light, Site, Sound & Space

Day 3 of the International Soundpainting Thinktank at Vassar College invited participants to slow down, observe, and respond.

🌿 Site-Specific Labs (Session 2): Led by Leese Walker and Andrea Ariel, four groups returned to their outdoor sites to develop performance palettes inspired by the sounds, smells, architecture, and atmosphere of each location. These site-specific Soundpaintings would come to life on Sunday.

⚡ The Guerrilla Takeover: After celebrating the Powerhouse Training Program students’ Soundpainted performance, Thinktank participants surprised audiences with an impromptu flash performance spilling into the courtyard and outside the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Unexpected, playful, and full of shared energy—it was a moment of genuine surprise and delight.

Follow along as we continue our recap series with more behind-the-scenes moments from the 28th Annual Soundpainting Thinktank.

Hosted by Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College
📸 Photography by Buck Lewis Photography & Amanda Hinkle Wallace

07/31/2026

DAY 2 RECAP: 28th International Soundpainting Thinktank 🙆‍♀️✨

Strike Anywhere Artistic Director Leese Walker and Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre kicked off Day 2 with part 1 of their multi-session lab on site-specific performance. They shared video of past work and sparked a group discussion on the challenges of this style of performance. such as outdoor acoustics, playing off the architecture, history and meaning of a site and embracing unpredictability during performance.

The momentum continued into the afternoon with specialized technique workshops. Ana Hernández introduced acting tools to help performers move past clichés and find genuine physical nuance. Samu Gryllus explored the balance of structure and freedom, showing how real-time signing can layer onto hybrid notation. Audrey Vallarino brought dancers and musicians together to experiment with space and body language.

We closed out the evening in Vassar College’s beautiful Skinner Hall with an Opening Performance featuring members of the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, Soundpainted by Walter Thompson, Leese Walker, and Tomi Tsunoda. Scroll through to enjoy the eclectic range of styles from each performance—or check out the full livestream on our YouTube page!

We’re just getting started on our tour of this year’s Thinktank—Stay tuned for more!

Photo credit: Powerhouse Theater at Vassar Season 2026. Photography by Buck Lewis Photography

07/30/2026

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! We are absolutely thrilled to share that the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble has been awarded a $40,000 Grant for Arts Projects from the National Endowment for the Arts!!! 🎭🚀

This funding will power our latest iteration of POP UP: An Artistic Treasure Hunt—conceived by Angélique Cormier and Strike Anywhere’s Artistic Director Leese Walker.

Strike Anywhere will be striking Tryon, North Carolina in June 2027 with this bespoke, community-reflective public art project! In partnership with the Tryon Fine Arts Center and local community partners, our multidisciplinary ensemble will devise a series of site-specific performances as an interactive artistic treasure hunt inspired by real interviews with local residents. So keep your eyes peeled as they “pop up” in storefronts, parks, and public spaces all across this beautiful mountain town! 🗺️ ✨

We’d like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the National Endowment for the Arts for their support and for continuing to champion vital community arts initiatives nationwide. We can’t wait to bring this project to life!

Head to www.strikeanywhere.nyc to learn how to bring POP UP to your community! 🙌❤️

📸: Rachel Warriner; POP UP Bethlehem, PA

07/23/2026

THINKTANK RECAP DAY 1: An Inside Look

✨ Day 1 at the 28th International Soundpainting Thinktank was all about getting curious. Hosted by Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College, Soundpainters from around the world came together to reconnect with the language, challenge old habits, and start building something new.

🌱 We kicked things off with Walter’s “Sandbox,” where Walter Thompson shared the stories and thinking behind the Soundpainting language, offering extra context on where key signs came from, how they’re used, and how to sign them with greater clarity.

💬 Then came Open Space where participants had the opportunity to propose additional sessions of interest to them. A session might explore new applications of Soundpainting, unpack specific signs, and continue conversations around the ideas that excited them most.

🧠 Audrey Vallarino’s “Inner Questions of a Soundpainter”deeply explored methods of composing, practicing,
and preparing with ensembles of all types, while remaining true to the spirit of Soundpainting. (Interested? You can watch the livestream replay now—link in bio!)

🎥🎛️ In “Creative Sampling,” Sam Day Harmet introduced participants to using a sampler as part of a Soundpainting. Everyone recorded their own sounds on a mobile app, then brought those recordings into live compositions, discovering entirely new textures they could conduct and shape in real time.

🎭 Rafaële Arditti then flipped familiar habits on their heads, using creative constraints on body, voice, and speech to reveal new ways of performing, listening, and responding.

🚗 We ended the evening with Walter Thompson’s “Parking Lot,” where everyone reflected on the day’s discoveries, surfaced new questions, and helped shape what was still to come.

🚀 And that was only Day 1! Follow along as we continue taking you behind the scenes of this unforgettable week at Vassar College.

📸 Powerhouse Theater Season 2026. Photos/Vids by Amanda Hinkle Wallace📸

Address

New York, NY

Website

http://www.strikeanywhere.info/, https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/tell-me-something-3

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble:

Heart River Center for Intuitive Healing

Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization in New York?