The cast of seven dancers are choreographed by Cuban/Spaniard Miami native Teresa “Toogie” Barcelo (she/her), an internationally acclaimed choreographer and movement artist. She is on Billboard’s top 12 most iconic Choreographers of the Decade list for her work on Dua Lipa’s “New Rules,” and has received for Dua’s “Electricity” an MTV VMA nomination for Best Dance Video. Trained classically and culturally in a plethora of movement techniques and philosophies from ballet to popping to improvisation, she is a pioneer of the hybridization of classical and street techniques.

“Collaborating with the incredible Toogie Barcelo and Megan Doheny on the movements, we focused on matching the dynamic rise and fall of the three-song suite, using Yaz’s instrumental changes and vocal phrasings as inspiration for 12 distinct one-minute scenes, each corresponding to the 12 hours in our fictional day,” Pecknold said. “Megan’s range of movement and emotion gives the character an uncertain vulnerability alongside a fierce confidence that felt like the perfect reflection of PAPER TIGER.”

Eliza Bagg (she/her) is a Los Angeles based experimental musician, working primarily as a vocalist in the field of contemporary classical music along with producing her own work. Opera Philadelphia Channel fans will recognize her as the voice of Angélica Negrón’s 2021 digital commission The Island We Made, in which her performance is lip-synched on screen by drag superstar Sasha Velour. Bagg’s singing in the film was called “ethereal” by the New York Times and “gossamer” by the New Yorker. She has collaborated across genres with prominent experimental artists ranging from performing in Meredith Monk’s opera Atlas with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to touring regularly as a member of Roomful of Teeth. Bagg has performed as a soloist in new music projects with major symphonies including the NY Phil and the LA Phil. Her compositional work explores the “valley between authenticity and artifice” (The Guardian), often combining medieval and minimalistvocal styles and idioms with electronic processing.

New York-based musician Margaret Sohn (they/she) created Miss Grit to function as an outlet for their own analysis and expression of self. Called a “polymath” by NME in early 2019, their process is introspective, their vision precise. Their debut album Follow the Cyborg, released on February 24, 2023, a concept album about a cybernetic organism gaining sentience and venturing out into the world, was called “a stunning debut” by Rolling Stone and “timeliest album of the year” by NPR. In March, Lancaster, on violin, joined Miss Grit to perform the album’s title track on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Mary Prescott (she/her) is a Thai American interdisciplinary artist, composer and pianist based in Minneapolis and New York City who explores the foundations and facets of identity and social conditions through experiential performance. She aims to foster understanding and create pathways for change by voicing emotional and human truths through artistic investigation and dissemination. Prescott’s output includes several large-scale interdisciplinary works, improvised music, opera, sound journaling, film music, solo and chamber concert works. Featured in “21 for ‘21: Composers and Performers Who Sound Like Tomorrow,” The Washington Post describes her work as “a bright light cast forward... uncompromising,” and “masterfully envisioned.”

Megan Doheny (she/her) is a movement artist and choreographer currently based in Southern California. From 2015-2022, Megan worked as a dancer for the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company where she performed the works of artistic director Rami Be’er throughout Israel, as well as international tours to more than 20 different countries. In 2021, she was awarded the Yair Shapira Prize for her contribution to contemporary dance in Israel. Megan is the co-creator of “Outrun the Bear,” a collaborative dance project whose works have been performed and screened throughout Europe, the United States, Israel, Mexico, Singapore, and South Korea. 

PAPER TIGER
An Opera Philadelphia film
Music, Text, Sound Production – Yaz Lancaster
Filmmaker – Sean Pecknold
Primary vocals – Eliza Bagg
Secondary vocals – Miss Grit
Piano – Mary Prescott
Lead Dancer –Megan Doheny
Creative Producer – Sarah Williams
Producer – Ash Marshall
Production Designer – Adi Goodrich
Choreographer – Toogie Barcelo
Director of Photography – Travis Waddell
Art Director – Courtney Cooper
Sound Engineer, Additional Production – Tyler Neidermayer
Recording Engineer – John Kilgore
Dancers – Maggie Canady, Orlando Agawin, Baylie Olsen, Riley Higgins, Josie Anders, Justin Porter