National treasure, Ricky Ian Gordon has had his musical’s performed on Broadway and has had his compositions performed at every major opera house and concert halls in the country. His songs have been performed and or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renee Fleming, Judy Collins, Kelli O’Hara, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Marcovicci, and Betty Buckley. His acclaimed musical theatre and opera triumphs include “The Grapes of Wrath,” which he discussed with The Big Read Door County audiences at Björklunden in 2008, and “Intimate Apparel” (with Lynn Nottage). Gordon will develop new work titled…

THIS HOUSE

Presented Thursday, September 21. THIS HOUSE is Gordon’s next collaboration with Lynn Nottage, who is teaming up with writer Ruby Aiyo Gelber. In his presentiaton, Gordon will play and sing new songs from this work, and read passages from his soon to be released biography. In the spirit of the DKAF hyphenate, he will also read select poems from his collection.

Morgan Middleton wowed DKAF audiences last year with a breathtaking aria and a wild and witty television pilot. She’s back this year with a powerful film…

DER ERLKÖNIG

Most recently, she was named a Young Artist with Chicago Opera Theater (COT). She received a 2018 Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was a 2017 Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera. A two-time winner of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Spouses’ Heineken Performing Arts Scholarship, Middleton is equally active as an arts producer. Through a highly competitive process, she was awarded grants by New England Conservatory of Music’s Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department and by The Boston Foundation to produce and perform a one-woman show, Remember When, at the historic Coolidge Corner Theatre.

Flying Foot Forum has created numerous original percussive works that have toured both nationally and internationally, re-imagining the potential of percussive dance and percussion to explore their full range of dramatic and musical possibilities, mixing percussive dance with theater, video, music and other performing arts. Unpredictability is its trademark. Imagination and virtuosity are at its core. Their new piece in development is called

KEEPING TIMES or 30 YEARS OF DANCING TOGETHER

In this ever-evolving dance piece, Artistic Director Joe Chvala & constant collaborator Carla Grotting will create a new work that reflects the history of their relationship and the way they celebrate their work together.  It will be a mix of live performance, film and talking with an audience.

Company To X For is David Chervony & Liam Bradley, a grassroots contemporary circus company based in Chicago, whose drive to make intimate performance allows them to convey a deeper sense of our humanity. This exciting and adventurous duo will be developing their brand new piece entitled:

WORN-THROUGH

A new skirt. An old jacket from your grandfather. The jeans that finally show your knees… Two bodies explore clothing as plaything, as function, as expression. This exploration of fabric aims to expose our own relationship with what we wear - whether bundled up or thread-bare… WORN-THROUGH is a work in development. Company to X For is on a mission to create circus from things ordinary and accessible: clothing. How does the simple act of clothes transform us? Texture, shape, and form are explored through the lens of a juggler. Vignettes of thrift and kinetic sculpture, inventive clothing manipulation, and acrobatic movement research are melded into a cohesive whole that tells us something about ourselves and the human condition.

BEYOND THIS POINT takes audiences on a bizarre, hilarious, surreal journey through a lecture - It's a veritable Schrödinger's Cat of contemporary music and absurdist theater. It is an exploratory collaboration seeking to investigate resonances and intersections across several practices including theater, movement, media/film, non-traditional musical forms, sculpture, text, and installations both static and performative. Their multi-disciplinary approach is a perfect fit for DKAF, and their piece in development is titled:

SOUND PROJECTIONS

This collaboration between Composer/Media-Artist David Bird and Beyond This Point, which is made up of Adam Rosenblatt and John Corkill, builds on Bird's previous works, Decoder and Dark Ethnography. The brand new work aims to delve deeper into the practice of "projecting" sounds onto non-sounding objects or bodies to create surreal and uncanny experiences. During the workshop period at Door County, David Bird will bring sound banks and rough sketches, and together with Beyond This Point, they will engage in combinations of sound projections to identify the most meaningful and compelling ways to construct a sonic narrative for the final performance.

Robert Simonson writes about cocktails, spirits, bars and bartenders for The New York Times. He is the author of the books “The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail” and “A Proper Drink,” the first-ever history of the cocktail renaissance, and “Three-Ingredient Cocktails,” which was nominated for a 2018 James Beard Award. He was a major contributor to “The Essential New York Times Book of Cocktails.” His writing have appeared in Imbibe, Whiskey Advocate, Eater, Food & Wine, Saveur, Lucky Peach and Punch, where he is a contributing editor. His line of custom Old-Fashioned glass was recently released by Cocktail Kingdom. He lives in Brooklyn. 

Robert started his Art of the Cocktail demonstrations every night, before every events during the second annual DKAF Festival and has been an inspiration with artists and audiences ever since. Catch his Cocktail Workshop, September 22nd at 4:00 to fully absorb the depth and breadth of his arts and spirits wisdom.

Brian James Polak is an award-winning playwright born and raised in New Hampshire. His plays include WELCOME TO KEENE, NH, THE PATIENT (The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award), LAST TO DIE FOR A LOST CAUSE (The Kennedy Center’s John Cauble Award), HERE RESTS THE HEART, THE GRAVEDIGGERS UNION, and others. His work has been published by Smith & Kraus, Talon Review, Commonplace Books, NoPassport Press, Next Stage Press, and Canyon Voices. Brian is the producer and host of American Theatre Magazine's "The Subtext," a podcast by/for/about playwrights and playwriting. He received his MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California

THE CALL LIST

A dispirited paralegal is tasked with calling individuals on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide. The work assignment could not come at a worse time, as they are dealing with their own life/work existential crisis while their mother and sister badger them via text message. Wanting to connect with their estranged father, it's a few kind words from a stranger that might give them what they ultimately need.

DJ Trent Magik has been collecting vinyl for many years and has always loved sharing his knowledge of music through his collection. Sharing the sounds he discovers from 70’s French disco, 80’s and 90’s underground hip hop, new jack swing and RnB, or his love of 60’s-80’s soul and funk from all over the world, He’s bound to catch your eardrums one way or another. He plays in Door County locally at Sway Brewing, and at Noble Square in Fish Creek weekly. 

Starting out battle scratching on the turntables in the early 2000’s, to producing music for hip hop groups in the Midwest, his love for the tables and vinyl stems from digging in the crates across the country and producing music for radio shows and podcasts such as startalk with Neil DeGrass Tyson and the Skeptics Guide To The Universe.

Katherine Duffy is an actress, singer and standup based in New York, found often in Door County. A Wisconsin native called "stunning, exhibiting prodigious range and intelligence as an actor" by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Duffy made her professional debut in Hair at Skylight Music Theater before spending a year in residence at The Milwaukee Rep. On the peninsula, she has performed with Third Avenue PlayWorks and Peninsula Players where favorite credits include Bridges of Madison County, The Amish Project, Educating Rita and Sylvia. She is currently developing a solo show: Katherine Duffy Live at Trixie's. @thekatherineduffy www.katherineduffy.com

The Knobs are Northern Door County's Premiere Improv Troupe. Formed in Mid 2022. Abbie approached Owen, then they approached Matt and they soon assimilated with Brandon, Josh, and Hope, forming a supreme six person improv troupe. Owen Alabado came in with over a decade of Improv under his belt in Los Angeles as an instructor and experience on top level teams... Top. Level. Teams. Matt Stone was a comedy genius on the UW Madison team and his energetic, hilarious brother, Josh Stone, was involved with improv troupes including Comedy Sports. Cousins Brandon and Hope Bogenschutz, had experience in theater and comedy. Brandon's outside of the box thinking and Hope's quick wit were great additions to the team. While comedy timing queen Abbie Deubler brought her skill from Chicago improv classes. With their vast experience, they were able to rehearse and learn and teach and duck and dive and dodge, to ready themselves for their first show on October 12th, 2022. They have since been performing at their home venue of the Peach Barn Brewery in Sister Bay as well as venues like the White Gull Inn, and soon, Carrington's at the Landmark Resort. Then, the world. Then... the moon. 

weekly pass $60

monday pass $20

tuesday pass $20

Friday Pass $20