On a recent Wednesday evening, 11 artists waited patiently backstage for their names to be called at Maelstrom Collaborative Arts (MCA), a studio space located on the corner of West 54th Street and Detroit Avenue in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood.
The artists were in a dry run of their tech rehearsal to test the stage, prop setup and lights for this weekend’s Shortform show. The performance art show will be the first of a series of summer events from MCA this year.
“Lights or no lights?,” Jasmine Golphin, associate artistic director of MCA, said into a headset.
Golphin was doubling as showrunner and stage manager.
“Let’s try no lights,” said Jeremy Paul, founder of MCA, who was working as technical director.
After a few minutes of troubleshooting, each artist was called to the stage to perform their 10-minute experimental art piece.
First Mira Shah danced in a flowy pearl-colored dress and performed her version of Kathakali, a traditional Indian dance. Issa Vybe emerged from a yellow cocoon and danced burlesque as Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” played on a loop. Lauren Lash practiced an interactive theatrical monologue about anxiety.
“You all should be proud of yourselves,” Golphin told the artists at the end of rehearsal. “We’re creating something special that will showcase what [MCA] is all about.”
‘Art that can mean a whole different thing’
Paul, who has worked as a film director, designer and multimedia artist, founded MCA in 2006 under the name Theater Ninjas. It started as a traveling theater company in Cleveland.
Paul said he only worked with actors at his company. But, over time, he began collaborating with poets, musicians, filmmakers and painters to put on small theatrical shows and help them develop visions for more experimental performances.
He changed the name of the company to Maelstrom Collaborative Arts in 2018. He also bought the studio space in Gordon Square that same year, Paul said.
“We still try to bring that nomadic and chaotic sensibility of walking into a blank room and figuring out how you can turn the space into a theatrical environment,” Paul said. “So that idea is still baked into the DNA of this space and who we are as a company.”
‘A home for the weird and wonderful’
Maelstrom Collaborative Arts also rents out its studio space at little or no cost to artists to use for their pop up performances, workshops and gallery showings. That has led to interesting collaborations, Golphin said.
“I like to say our studio has become a home for the weird and wonderful [artists],” Golphin said. “Our studio fills in those gaps for people who are looking to try and do something different.”
Vybe, a burlesque dancer and production company owner, said she used MCA’s studio space last year to hold an erotic workshop day which offered yoga and different forms of artistic Japanese bondage like Shibari.
Instead of paying for studio time with money, Vybe said she paid for it in sweat equity.
“I worked the door at different events [MCA] had afterward, I even came and cleaned up the studio space to cover my costs,” Vybe said. “They know that artists can also be starving artists. It helped me support the studio and space in a way I could.”
‘It’s the reason I keep coming back’
Susie Underwood, mixed media, performance and installation artist, said Maelstrom Collaborative Arts has been a great place to experiment.
Underwood has worked with MCA since 2017, long before the company moved into its studio space in Gordon Square.
In her first collaboration, she created her dream performance, experimenting with music, storytelling and costume design to create a new art piece about about an intergalactic reality TV star exploring the ruins of Earth. It was an experience that made her a fan of MCA, she said.
“[MCA] gives you the level of freedom as an artist that you may not find at other institutions or spaces in the city,” Underwood said. “And for that reason alone, it’s why I keep coming back.”
