With your support Flood, begin again will premiere September 26th in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with original music and lighting.

Flood, begin again is a site-responsive, immersive dance work from The Naked Stark that transforms Philadelphia's historic Fairmount Water Works' former Kelly Pool into a site of regeneration, a fantastical riverbed, and portal to new beginnings. The dancers slip between real and imagined currents, as audiences witness risk, trust, and the collective effort necessary to ride and become the wave. 

Co-created and performed by The Naked Stark artistic collaborators, Amalia Colón-Nava, Chloe Marie, Harlee Trautman, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Marcie Mamura, and Meredith Stapleton with original live music by Andy Thierauf and lighting installation and design by Harbour Edney 

Flood, begin again premieres on September 26, in the Philly Fringe Festival and runs through October 3. 

New, original music by Philadelphia-based sound designer Andy Thierauf will activate the space with a live performance using percussion instruments and found objects. Lighting designer Harbour Edney will build an environment that moves like water. The six dance artists will propel, cascade, and ebb through the textural landscapes of concrete, river, fabric, sound and lighting that flood the pool and offer uncomfortable, humorous, and risky possibilities.

We are thrilled to be working with these two incredible designers on sound and lights for this immersive production that culminates 2 years of work.   

Your contribution ensures our ability to cover major production costs and bring Flood, begin again to life. 

With your support, we can realize this production and share it with YOU at the premiere September 26th in the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and running through October 3rd. 

Everyone’s finances are different, and every dollar makes a difference. We appreciate the generosity of every contribution. Thank you!

Flood, begin again brings the audience on an immersive journey that compels us to consider our shared stewardship of water, place, and each other. At times resisting and at times striving to soften into their fragility, the dancers search for shared horizons, at least one thing they can see, believe in, orient themselves to, and, in the right moment, turn it upside down and begin again.

Flood, begin again emerged from the Bodies of Water project which began with a residency at Fairmount Water Works in 2024. The Naked Stark became FWW’s Partner in Movement in 2025, our short commissioned work was performed in the Main Exhibit Space in tandem with gallery tours of the FWW art exhibit “CONFLUENCE”, May 3, July 12, and July 26. And in the Fringe, we shared a three-part journey through the Fairmount Water Works that included a work-in-progress in the former Kelly Pool. 

Movement research for this project is made possible through the generous support from the Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Creative Sector Flex Fund and our monthly sustaining contributors. 

The Naked Stark is a West Philly-based modern dance company that crafts up-close, immersive dance experiences that delve into the intricacies of the human experience, question the status quo, nurture imaginations, and offer hope.

The company’s creative collaborative structure engages multidisciplinary artists who value intergenerational connections, and who find joy in this process of deep research and world building.  The current TNS Artistic Collaborators, Amalia Colón-Nava, Chloe Marie, Harlee Trautman, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Marcie Mamura, and Meredith Stapleton, have been collaborating since 2022. 

Andy Thierauf is a Philadelphia-based percussionist specializing in the creation and performance of contemporary music. His creative research centers on integrating technology into performance to produce collaborative, multimedia presentations with writers, dancers, actors, choreographers, and composers. Andy teaches at Settlement Music School and is an adjunct professor of percussion at Kutztown University. 

Harbor Edney, Lighting Designer, is the Lighting Supervisor at the University of Pennsylvania, where they currently oversee lighting operations, bringing life to performances through visual storytelling.