EMILY ROOKER | «Maria Alone»
4 Janeiro 2025 17h30
EMILY ROOKER
«Maria Alone»
«Maria Alone»
PERFORMANCE | 4 January 2025, 18:30
ARTIST TALK | 4 January 2025, 17:30
ARTIST TALK | 4 January 2025, 17:30
Zaratan is pleased to present a preview of «Maria Alone», a one-woman show developed by Emily Rooker during her month-long residency.
The project combines spoken word and music to tell the story of Queen Maria I of Portugal. The performance itself is told from Queen Maria's perspective, as she oscillates between reminiscing on her life and descending into insanity. The show takes a particular interest in the sounds Maria heard through her life, and how they may have aggravated her eventual madness and contributed to her belief that she was in hell.
The project examines her relationship to those around her, including to the much more famous Marquês de Pombal and seeks to shed light on the first Queen of Portugal, an oft-forgotten historical figure.
The preview will offer an overview of the work in progress, featuring snippets of spoken monologue and musical performance.
Before the performance, Emily Rooker will host an artist talk to introduce her artistic practice, exploring her approach to art-making and offering insights into her previous work.
To coincide with the presentation of «Maria Alone», we are releasing a limited-edition risograph poster created by Emily in collaboration with Zaratan.
The project combines spoken word and music to tell the story of Queen Maria I of Portugal. The performance itself is told from Queen Maria's perspective, as she oscillates between reminiscing on her life and descending into insanity. The show takes a particular interest in the sounds Maria heard through her life, and how they may have aggravated her eventual madness and contributed to her belief that she was in hell.
The project examines her relationship to those around her, including to the much more famous Marquês de Pombal and seeks to shed light on the first Queen of Portugal, an oft-forgotten historical figure.
The preview will offer an overview of the work in progress, featuring snippets of spoken monologue and musical performance.
Before the performance, Emily Rooker will host an artist talk to introduce her artistic practice, exploring her approach to art-making and offering insights into her previous work.
To coincide with the presentation of «Maria Alone», we are releasing a limited-edition risograph poster created by Emily in collaboration with Zaratan.
BIO: EMILY ROOKER is a multi-hyphenate performer and artist. Recent endeavors include portraying “Chelsea” in Exodus: Memphis, an original participatory theater project (April 2023), composing an original score for a production of Dance Nation (March 2025), producing and performing in an immersive musical theater experience called Breakup Shakeup in the historic Elmwood Cemetery Church in Memphis, TN (Feb 2024) and writing, starring in, directing and producing her autobiographical original rock opera called The Long Goodbye (Sept 2022 and Jan 2023). During the pandemic, Rooker co-produced an online erotic dance showcase called Slut Recital, which hosted dozens of dancers across 10+ virtual shows.Rooker has an extensive performance history as a vocalist, pianist, and musician across the United States and has performed as a solo artist and in bands. She has released three albums as a solo recording artist – Late Night Secrets (2011), The Next Morning (2015), and The Long Goodbye (2022). Rooker was the recipient of the Memphis Songwriter Association’s 2022 Songwriter of the Year award, honored for her song “Don’t Come Home.” The music video for this song, which starred performers from Slut Recital, won the Indie Memphis Film Festival’s 2022 Best Hometowner Music Video Award. Rooker’s artistic practice is DIY, collaborative, and visionary, using vocal performance and music as the foundation for many of her artistic outputs. Rooker combines the dramatic with the cathartic. Her art is about big feelings and universal longings. Rooker writes a Substack blog called Sad Girl Enterprises.
LINK: @erookstagram