Stories By Hand Creative Team
Preeti Vasudevan: Artistic Director/Choreographer
Award-winning choreographer and cultural storyteller Preeti Vasudevan's provocative theatrical works redefine individual identity, uniting artists and audiences alike. Her creations have been lauded as a refreshing collision of eastern and western aesthetics pushing for a new expression in art-making. Using just about every mode of the performing arts (including dance, music, poetry, visual art, mime, and theater), Preeti invites cutting-edge collaborators to form a 21st-century language of expression. Her unconventional storytelling challenges the status quo of dance-theater, bridging ancient traditions with the contemporary world.
Known for igniting groundbreaking artistic partnerships, Preeti frequently collaborates with celebrated artists such as legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Guggenheim awardee Paul Kaiser and with leading ensembles like Silkroad. Preeti’s works have been commissioned by distinguished institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Glimmerglass Opera Festival NY, Guggenheim’s Works & Process NY, New Victory Theater NY, Morph Dance Company UK, and The Alliance Francaise, among others. She has been invited to sit on panels at the National Endowment for the Arts US, US Consulate panel on women creatives, Joyce Theater, and Asian American Arts Alliance.
Preeti’s vibrant international career has brought her to the world’s stages as a performer, curator, and thought leader. From her early start as an award-winning classical artist from India to recieving a cultural scholarship as International Choreographer in Residence at the American Dance Festival, she has emerged as an artist to watch by leading global institutions where she has been in residence. Her works have been supported by prominent organizations like TED; Centre National de la Danse, Paris; Lincoln Center, NY; Guggenheim Works & Process, NY; The Joyce Foundation, NY; and Mahindra Excellence in Theater Awards, India. In recent years, original works performed by her performing arts collaborative, Thresh, have earned international acclaim for their fresh juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary voices.
Paul Kaiser: Co-Creator and Literary Dramaturg
Paul Kaiser is a digital artist, filmmaker, and writer, and has created works in collaboration with Robert Wilson, Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown, the Flux Quartet, and Wayne McGregor.
Paul Jacobs: Sound
Paul Jacobs is one of India’s finest musicians and composers. Paul produced several collaborative efforts with folk and classical music working with award-winning producers and artists nationally and internationally, including winning the best documentary music award at the Cannes Festival in 1998.
Robert Wierzel: Production Designer
As a lighting designer, Mr. Wierzel has worked with artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds in theatre, dance, opera and contemporary music, with companies throughout the country and abroad. His theatre work has been seen on and off Broadway, including Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill, starring Audra McDonald; the musical Fela! (Tony Award nomination); Dreams and Nightmares; and productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater; Roundabout Theatre Company; Signature Theatre Company; Playwrights Horizons; Mostly Mozart Festival; BAM; The Acting Company; and the Lincoln Center Festival/American Songbook Series.
He has worked with the opera companies in Paris-Garnier; Versailles-Château de Versailles Spectacles; Tokyo; Toronto; Bergen & Kristiansand Norway; Folk Opera, Sweden; Dutch National; Wexford Festival Opera; New York City Opera; Glimmerglass Festival; Atlanta; Seattle; Boston Lyric; Minnesota; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Houston; Washington National; Chicago Lyric; Chicago Opera Theatre; Montreal; Vancouver; Florida Grand; Portland; Colorado; Wolf Trap; San Diego; Virginia and Gotham Chamber Opera.
Robert has also collaborated on productions at the Royal National Theatre of London; Savoy Theatre, London; Lyon Opera Ballet; Berlin Opera Ballet; Musée du Louvre and the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto.
Robert is on the faculty of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is a Creative Partner at Spark Design Collaborative.