The Mutables

THE MUTABLES weaves cutting edge technology for speech production with mythographies of the feminine monstrous to expand and reorient our intuitions for what can be put into words. Using a unique sensor-based instrument for embodied speech called BodyMouth, this eerie performance intertwines bodies and vocals as dancers sound out words phoneme-by-phoneme by enacting specific gestures in sequence, turning the body quite literally into a mouth. Situated at the edge of experimental opera and dance, the piece is inspired by female forest creatures in Balkan folklore called ielele whose voices were said to lead men astray and who could render listeners instantly mute. The project is a meditation on the question What does it mean to have a voice?—a provocation to the bleak histories of totalitarian rule where alternate modes of speech became an urgent form of survival and resistance.

Project Title: The Mutables

Dates: October 8-11, 2025

Credits:

Direction & script: Kat Mustatea

Creative producer: Alex Darby

Associate producer: Lara Edwards

Music: Kamala Sankaram

Cast: Rocky Duval, Marie Lloyd Paspe, Felix Bryan, Lo Poppy, Jonathan Colafrancesco

Interactive technology: Yonatan Rozin

Associate choreography: Marie Lloyd Paspe

Featured fashion: Camelia Skikos

Costume design: Paulina Olivares

Creative production: The Hybrid Studio

Lead photo: Bogdan Pastor

Photography by Maria Baranova