Images from workshops of WOWEO presented by Hatch Arts Collective, Kelly Strayhorn Theater and Center for New Work Development at CMU
Photos by Kitoko Chargois

with ourselves, with each other

Created, performed and co-directed by Maree ReMalia 
Co-directed by Adil Mansoor

Produced by Hatch Arts Collective and co-directed by theater artist Adil Mansoor, this new performance is a National Performance Network project co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Bates Dance Festival, Hatch Arts Collective, and NPN.

Design & Production Team
Sound Design and Composer: David Bernabo
Garment Designer: Rona Chang
Media Designer: Kolton Cotton
Dramaturg: Jenny Johnson
Scenic Designer: Sasha Jin Schwartz
Wardrobe Stylist: Rachel Vallozzi
Lighting Designer: Nicole White

Producer: Sarah Ashley Cain
Assistant Director: Iliana Tomasa Sharp

Additional Artists and Collaborators Who Have Contributed to WOWEO’s Development:
Karaoke Consultant: Eben Hoffer
Photo Documentation: Brannon Bowers, Kitoko Chargois, Anna Hanson
Props: Katie Mikula-Wineman
Video Documentation: Paul Kruse, Parker Stephens
Vocal Coaches: Jisook Kim, Lisa Velton Smith, Kara Staiger, Micaela Tobin
Artistic Advisors: Joseph Hall, Paul Kruse, Bebe Miller, Michael J. Morris, Ben Pryor, Nicole Shero, Rashana Smith
CDCP Project Team: Casey Droege, Eriko Hattori, Hannah Turpin

Community Partners:
Jaded, Mandu Handu, Melwood Screening Room, Helen Stickney/Pittsburgh Community Death Care, Millvale House

PROJECT description

Set in a karaoke-funeral-lounge, Maree ReMalia’s WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER (WOWEO) welcomes audiences into an evening-length solo performance blending dance, text, and pop music as a way to grieve a parent who raised her and a parent she never met. ReMalia steps into the work as a Korean adoptee and ballerina turned experimental dance maker, tracing the curiosity and ache of origin, while honoring the primal wound of early separation alongside the profound bonds formed with family not tied by blood. Drawing from karaoke’s unapologetic spectacle, ceremonial weight of funerals, and intimacy of a neighborhood lounge, WOWEO explores how a solo body becomes a gathering place and a mic becomes a lifeline. Unfolding like a live mixtape of confession and catharsis, WOWEO invites audiences to sing along, witness humor beside hurt, and inhabit their own multitudes. At its heart, the work asks how we carry grief and memory while still reaching for joy–opening space for meaningful connection and new pathways forward.

Images from workshops of WOWEO presented by Hatch Arts Collective and Casey Droege Cultural Productions in February 2024
Photos by Kitoko Chargois

SUPPORT

Produced by Hatch Arts Collective, WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER (WOWEO) is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) in partnership with Bates Dance Festival (BDF), Hatch Arts Collective (Hatch), and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. Developmental support for WOWEO has been provided by Opportunity Fund, Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Carnegie Mellon University Center for New Work Development in partnership with Hatch, KST, Casey Droege Cultural Productions, New York Live Arts, Lawrence University, Middlebury College, and University of Vermont. WOWEO for KST X NYC 2026 was made possible with support from the Ford Foundation and Heinz Endowments America’s Cultural Treasures initiative.

SPECIAL THANKS 

Jackie Baker, Anya and Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, Michele de la Reza, Joseph Hall, Jennifer Jourdan, Taylor Knight, Luke Niebler, Nicole Shero, Jil Stifel, Anna Thompson, Inter-, City Theatre, and Pittsburgh Playhouse.

DEVELOPMENT & performance history

  • New York Live Arts, Live Artery Festival, January 2026

  • Three Stories, Pittsburgh, in-process showing, November 2025

  • Inter-, Pittsburgh, developmental residency, June 2025

  • Fayetteville Movement Festival, Fayetteville, in-process performance excerpt, July 2024

  • Inter-, Pittsburgh, NEST residency, February 2024

  • Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Denton, in-process performance excerpt, October 2023

  • Resonator Institute, Norman, in-process performance excerpt, September 2023

  • Cleveland Public Theatre, Cleveland, in-process performance excerpt, April 2023

  • Lawrence University Esch Hurvis Studio, Appleton, in-process performance excerpt, September 2022