At Hand Productions’ producer Andrew Hanna talks about performance art

From: At Hand Productions, Inc.
Published: Tue Jul 05 2005


In some large modern cities outside of New York City, one will find productions of old operas and ballets that have been altered slightly to appeal to a specific audience or is a producer’s futile attempt to push the artistic bounds. At Hand Productions producer Andrew Hanna has a different approach to creating a production that separates him from his peers and associates. Hanna’s method is based around the idea of starting from scratch, which unlike his peers, does not take an existing structure and change the appearance or some other subtle element. Andrew Hanna producer at At Hand Productions talks about some of his productions and hints at newer productions that will be available.

When you create a production, how do you begin?

"I usually start with a theme or a simple idea that I’m looking to express that is overt and has some hidden meaning to it. I feel that this approach keeps the theme balanced. Afterwards, I start to think about the medium I’ll use to develop the production. In some productions I’ve used music and video. And in other productions I’ve used movement, music, video, prose, and other genres to express the theme. Once I’ve figured out what medium will be used, then I can determine how the story will develop."

What themes have you explored?

"In Prophecies of War, the theme that was presented was that war is predictable and when one looks through history books one will see that there have been many times in history, war could of been adverted. In "My Journal," the life of a woman with multiple personalities is explored through movement, video, and orchestral music. And there are other productions that explore certain aspects of human reality like Mind Storm and Values. I’m always looking for new ideas and techniques to try in developing and executing a production."

What themes are you working on now?

"I’ve been working on a few productions at this movement and started developing others. I want to investigate religion, sex, and a science-fiction as well."

You’ve mentioned sex and religion, are these themes part of one production or separate?

"In one production, both ideas are presented to the audience and in a few sketches that I’m working on religion alone is presented. I want to present this topics in a historical objective point of view. In other words let evidence and history speak for itself."

Why did you pick sex and religion as a theme for your production?

"Well, one can’t look around and not see these topics being spoken about in some form or another. Furthermore, these two aspects of humanity have been around for a long time and have had various effects on people throughout history and continue to do so. And I’ve found that these two ideas have been more or less inseparable in human history. So I felt it would be worthwhile to focus on these themes in my next production."

At Hand Productions officially began in January 2005 with its earliest origins dating back several years subsequent. It has set out to bring concerts and theatrical events to its audiences. Many of At Hand Productions' performances are designed by CEO and production manager Andrew Hanna. Some of Hanna’s more known pieces include ‘Prophecies of War’, ‘Values’, and ‘My Journal’. At Hand Productions is unique for its use of collective arts to portray its themes. In ‘Prophecies of War’, one will hear progressive rock, fusion, and spoken word. Along with these musical elements, ‘Prophecies of War’ uses video to give further depth to the production. ‘My Journal’, like ‘Prophecies of War’, uses much of the same elements, but unlike ‘Prophecies of War’, ‘My Journal’ incorporates movement and speech into the scheme. Furthermore, ‘My Journal’ uses an orchestra to create the musical atmosphere.

Interested persons are encouraged to go to At Hand Productions’ website (http://www.AtHandProductions.com) to find out more about At Hand Productions and its repertoire. Furthermore, production companies and other interested persons can directly contact At Hand Productions concerning rentals and buying materials for their company.
Company: At Hand Productions, Inc.
Contact Name: John Thompson
Contact Email: John@AtHandProductions.com
Contact Phone: 267-981-5461

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