< Wonderboy

Joe Goode collaborates with master puppeteer Basil Twist, integrating yet another art form into his innovative cross-disciplinary work. Wonderboy is an unexpected tale of a peculiar superhero isolated by his gift of super sensitivity. A creature too strange to be socially acceptable is paralyzed by the power of his own feelings and unable to interact with others. Music by Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio) and Matthias Bossi.

< Humansville

Joe Goode Performance Group’s most recent home season shifted from presenting dance theater on a proscenium stage to a performance installation. Humansville takes audiences on an intimate journey through the hidden codes and meanings of human expression—both what can separate us, and connect us. In Humansville, the audience is able to proceed through multiple rooms, encircled by video, dance and music, which wrap around them in an exploration of the flailing, absurd condition of being human. Utilizing its celebrated fusion of theater, humor and high velocity dance, the company collaborates with video artist Austin Forbord and renowned composer/performer Joan Jeanrenaud to create an immersive and deeply moving theatrical experience.

< Maverick Strain

With its underpinnings of gay identity, Marilyn Monroe, and cowboy individualism, this deconstruction of Arthur Miller’s screenplay, The Misfits compliments Wonderboy using a more straightforward narrative technique. It’s the re-mounting of an iconic Joe Goode masterwork.

< Stay Together

For their 20th Anniversary in 2006, Joe Goode Performance Group presented the world premiere of Stay Together. The highly anticipated event was a collaborative effort with composer, celebrated conductor and music director of the San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Tho mas. Stay Together touched on the challenges of keeping sane as an individual, an artist, and a member of a relationship in the complicated 21st century.

< Grace

Joe Goode: “What is grace? I prefer to think of it as an absence, an empty space that opens up inside of us and let's us see nakedly, clearly. grace zeroes in on particular moments in time and events that reveal the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.” The characters' stories and circumstances are told through epiphanies in movement and sound. A collaboration with composer Mikel Rouse.

Grace was commissioned by the College of Saint Benedict-Benedicta Arts Center, St Joseph, MN as well as the generous support of Joe Goode New Work Fund donors.

< Hometown

“…an opportunity to see how one very original artist has managed to rethink dance, theater, and even, for that matter, musical comedy. Goode is one of the most brilliant and undervalued theater artists out there.”

–CulturalVulture.net 2005

< Folk

“Folk… is more like a musical with some dancing in it. While this may disappoint a few die-hard dance fans, it makes for some terrific theater. And theater is what Joe Goode says he is all about… it’s funny and moving and true.” But there is “some terrific dancing, principally Snake Boy’s tortured solo and Paulina and Miguel’s love pas de deux. The set – also designed by Goode – is a knockout, as is Beth Custer’s music, ranging from New Age electronic to Country and Western.”

–CulturalVulture.net 2003

< Gender Heroes

“The intricate partnering and effortless moving in and out of phrases left no doubt that these are accomplished dancers. Barrueto-Cabello's lines and lunging thrusts into space had a full and weighty look that perfectly complemented Morozumi's energetic monologue.”

–Criticaldance.com 2002

< Doris in a Dustbowl

“Doris in a Dustbowl” is a loopy duet about the broken promises of Hollywood dreams, told and danced with generous affection for those dreams and for Doris Day in particular… the whole affair us hysterical and moving.”

–San Francisco Chronicle 1999

< Mythic, Montana

“Mythic, Montana is about destiny and the desire to shape destiny, with some nods to the Greek mythic tradition. We see the character of Psyche being ‘built’ before us, metaphorically and literally, with Goode as our ‘chorus’ and guide. The monologues which become a dialogue between Psyche and Goode are hilarious, but although the character has been clearly thought through, it still has yet to develop the relationship between movement and character that is the hallmark of other works.”

–Criticaldance.com

< Deeply There

“one of Goode's most affecting and powerful works…. Rooted in the grief-stricken circumstances caused by the AIDS crisis.”

–Criticaldance.com

< What the Body Knows

“How can one really summarize and do justice to the makeshift cabaret,” of What The Body Knows, “the purple sequins, the Gothed-out backup troupe, but also the touchingly real moments and multi-faceted questions that he proposes? As with the best theater, it simply has to be seen, and if you can take away something from it, then you're that much richer. If you can't, well, you had a good laugh.”

–Criticaldance.com