team

ARTIST STATEMENT: I attribute my artistic style to a morphing of ideas, a constant seeking of, observing, learning, questioning and collaboration. I am a movement gatherer. My curiosity and thirst for knowledge leads me to work with educators, scientists, puppeteers, actors, musicians, singers, composers, videographers, photographers, digital artists, movers and dancers of diverse abilities. Within me is a seemingly never-ending desire for physical movement intertwined with the quiet stillness needed for process and reflection.

Ms. Plumb was born and raised in rural Vermont. She migrated to Hartford to attend Trinity Collect where she received a B.A. in Theater and Dance. Sonia has choreographed over 50+ dances during her career, launching SPDC as a non-profit in 1991. She was the first Artist in Residence at the University of St. Joseph, West Hartford, CT. During her time as Artistic Director she has developed numerous programs for the underserved ​​including: Moving Bodies/Moving Bodies for children on the Autism Spectrum, the Apprentice Training Program for BIOPC and Hartford Youth, launched a scholarship program for students age 7+ for the School of SPDC, developed multiple Arts Integration Residency programs based on the Kennedy Center Model for Multiple Intelligences, provided arts based learning in the Hartford Public Schools through Hartford performs and collaborated with educators through Connecticut.

During the pandemic she safely and successfully premiered three full-length works including: Dance of da Vinci 2.0, The Pearl and Penelope’s Odyssey. Like the rest of the dance world, she branched out into digital content creating dance on film: Touch, Odysseus’ Nightmare and Little Red Snow White, as well as webinars and podcasts.

In 2018 she began collaborating with international artists from the UK, Spain, Italy and Greece. Under her direction SPDC has been in residency at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, Nova Scotia and MudHouse in Crete, Greece. This fall the Company will be in residence in Iceland.

Early in her career her work was showcased in: A New Generation of Dance/SUNY Purchase, Southern Vermont Dance Festival, Brattleboro, VT, WaxWorks, Brooklyn, NY, Shared Space – Mark Morris Dance Group, Brooklyn, NY, Artists For World Peace, Old Saybrook, CT, 5×5 Dance Festival to name a few. Sonia is a three-time recipient of the Connecticut Office of the Arts Fellowship for Artistic Excellence, received a SURDNA National Teaching Fellowship (2013), and was one of only nine artists nationwide to receive a Community Legacy Project award in 2015.

She is the mother of one son who continually brings depth and meaning to her life and work as an Artist.

Ryan Glista (Penelope’s Odyssey Video Director) is a filmmaker and digital producer with a Film BA and Digital Media and Design MFA from the University of Connecticut. A skilled editor, photographer, music producer and multi-disciplinary digital artist, he works at the intersection of performing arts and new media. His short films have screened nationally and internationally, winning a New England Emmy and a CADC Excellence Award.

Ryan has also served as a video producer and teaching artist in partnership with many theaters, arts programs and non-profits across New England. He currently directs immersive video installations at The Bushnell Center for Performing Arts, leading the Local Arts Stage program. He also teaches film and multi-channel media production in the UConn School of Fine Arts.

Craig Gehr – Technical Director/Lighting Designer has been working with SPDC since 2000. He was Site TD for David Parsons at PS21 in Chatham, NY and has worked as event TD for many notables including Presidents Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Biden. In Hartford he has done lighting design for Daniel Salazar, Jr and Hartford Jazz Festival. Mr. Gehr dove into the technical world with his love for music and has been privileged to work events from BB King to The Village People. When not loading and unloading road boxes he cooks tacos and plays with his son.

Jeph Vanger is a sound artist, composer and music producer who works and lives between Athens and London. After his latest release of “Cyclothymia” EP, his music has been compared with artists such as Floating Points, Four Tet and Hildur Guðnadóttir by the British online magazine Resident Advisor. He has scored dance and theatre performances as well as films, museum spaces and created sonic installations paying tribute to the sound of the Foghorn. His works often combines multi-channel sound systems, autonomous generative music systems and handmade sound sculptures, focusing on the physical presence of sound in space as a moving and raw entity. Some of his own works and collaborations have been exhibited and performed in institutions, theatres and organizations in Egypt, China, the UK, and Greece such as Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Tate Modern, Beijing Today Art Museum, Sadler’s Wells, IKLECTIK & Megaron Athens to name a few. He has also been a Composer in Residence at the renowned EMS Elektonmusikstudion in Stockholm, supported by ARTWORKS (Stravros Niarchos Foundation) Artistic Fellowship (2021-22).

Michele Sansone – Costume Designer for Penelope’s Odyssey has been designing and building costumes and crafts for the past 30 years. After a short stint in the fashion worlds, she has come back to theater and is currently working full time with Hartford Stage, as well as her side work here with Sonia Plumb. With 250+ productions under her belt, she is always looking for the next opportunity to make beautiful things. Trained as a Draper, Tailor, craftsperson, and Milliner she likes to incorporate many techniques from across her knowledge to create new and interesting things.