Mary Ellen Childs

Composer Mary Ellen Childs creates fast paced, rhythmic, almost game-like performances with her ensemble Crash. She incorporates clapping games, baseball coaching signals and unlikely objects to create music set apart from any other.

Composer Mary Ellen Childs creates fast paced, rhythmic, almost game-like performances with her ensemble Crash. Her works are at once playful and serious. She incorporates clapping games, baseball coaching signals and unlikely objects to create music set apart from any other. Whether through body percussion, multi-screen video, or other freshly innovated theatrical devices, Childs' cascading cadences of sight and sound showcase how immersive her work has become. Besides serving as Program Director for the McKnight Theater Artists Program at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis, Childs founded an all female performing arts troupe called Wildfire, and has composed concert pieces for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Air Date 1/27/11