Performance Playbill
Beacon Dance
Presents
Paper Stories: things could have gone differently
October 24-26, 2025
The B Complex Gallery
1272 Murphy Avenue SW
Atlanta, GA
Playbill
Paper Stories: things could have gone differently
Choreographic Direction: D. Patton White
Music: Rhucle, Ran Bagno, morimoto naoki, Cyril Tawney/Windborne
Costume Design: The Performers in collaboration with D. Patton White
Scenic Design: The Performers
Video Projection: D. Patton White
Performed by: Leah Behm, Eleanor Brownfield, Jaehn Clare, Lynn Hesse, Susan Keller, Alex Spitzer, Onur Topal-Sumer, D. Patton White and Carly Wynans
Choreographic Direction: D. Patton White
Music: Rhucle, Ran Bagno, morimoto naoki, Cyril Tawney/Windborne
Costume Design: The Performers in collaboration with D. Patton White
Scenic Design: The Performers
Video Projection: D. Patton White
Performed by: Leah Behm, Eleanor Brownfield, Jaehn Clare, Lynn Hesse, Susan Keller, Alex Spitzer, Onur Topal-Sumer, D. Patton White and Carly Wynans
From the Artistic Director:
For as long as I can remember, my mother got me into the habit of saving meaningful bits of paper—awards from field day in elementary school, report cards, special greeting cards, and so many other types of paper ephemera. 10 years ago I finally set aside some time to try to organize the collection I had amassed, and the idea of The Paper Project was born. In the first few years Beacon investigated various properties of paper. We took a field trip to the Paper Museum on the Georgia Tech campus. We engaged with our community in story sharing. And we presented several performances in collaboration with presenting organizations. And then we set the project on the shelf for several years as other arts projects—and COVID 19—consumed our attention.
I decided last January to return to this project so that we could give it a proper finish and farewell. When we reassembled the full cast of the project, I decided to include two newer Beacon performers when they expressed interest in participating. These newer voices in the project have brought perspectives—and papers—from a younger generation, keeping the project vibrant and alive.
We invite you to engage throughout the space in whatever ways you may wish, and hope that you will find familiarity as well as surprise around each corner.
One way that we invite you to be present is to imagine that this is 2125, and you are encountering an archeological ‘dig’. What was this culture like? What can we learn from the individuals who made up the culture? How was each individual valued as an individual? And how did they relate to one another?
--Patton
For as long as I can remember, my mother got me into the habit of saving meaningful bits of paper—awards from field day in elementary school, report cards, special greeting cards, and so many other types of paper ephemera. 10 years ago I finally set aside some time to try to organize the collection I had amassed, and the idea of The Paper Project was born. In the first few years Beacon investigated various properties of paper. We took a field trip to the Paper Museum on the Georgia Tech campus. We engaged with our community in story sharing. And we presented several performances in collaboration with presenting organizations. And then we set the project on the shelf for several years as other arts projects—and COVID 19—consumed our attention.
I decided last January to return to this project so that we could give it a proper finish and farewell. When we reassembled the full cast of the project, I decided to include two newer Beacon performers when they expressed interest in participating. These newer voices in the project have brought perspectives—and papers—from a younger generation, keeping the project vibrant and alive.
We invite you to engage throughout the space in whatever ways you may wish, and hope that you will find familiarity as well as surprise around each corner.
One way that we invite you to be present is to imagine that this is 2125, and you are encountering an archeological ‘dig’. What was this culture like? What can we learn from the individuals who made up the culture? How was each individual valued as an individual? And how did they relate to one another?
--Patton
Event Staff
Stage Manager and Sound/Video Operator: D. Patton White
Tech Crew: Andre Lumpkin
Volunteer Coordinator: Dana Lupton
Welcome Table: Nancy White
Concessions, Parking Volunteers: Jessica Scudder, Dana Lupton, Chris McCord, Shannon Turner and friend, Kathy Colbenson, Armandee Drew
Videographer: Lori Teague
Photographer: John Ramspott
Stage Manager and Sound/Video Operator: D. Patton White
Tech Crew: Andre Lumpkin
Volunteer Coordinator: Dana Lupton
Welcome Table: Nancy White
Concessions, Parking Volunteers: Jessica Scudder, Dana Lupton, Chris McCord, Shannon Turner and friend, Kathy Colbenson, Armandee Drew
Videographer: Lori Teague
Photographer: John Ramspott
Beacon Dance Board of Directors 2025-2026
Eleanor Brownfield, Lynn Hesse, Susan Keller, Chris McCord, Kimberly Merritt, Jacquelyn Pritz, Ann Ritter, Alex Spitzer, D. Patton White
Eleanor Brownfield, Lynn Hesse, Susan Keller, Chris McCord, Kimberly Merritt, Jacquelyn Pritz, Ann Ritter, Alex Spitzer, D. Patton White
Artist Biographies
Leah Behm (Performer/Installation Artist)
Leah Behm (she/her) is a dance artist who is inspired by the connections and relationships between people and how that can shape the self. She is involved with many local artists in the freelance dance scene as well as being a company member with EXCAVATE BODY and Beacon Dance. As a 2021 graduate from Emory, Leah cherishes being a part of the ever flourishing dance community in ATL and all of the amazing artists and humans she has the pleasure of knowing because of it.
Eleanor Brownfield (Performer/Installation Artist)
Eleanor Brownfield is a native Atlantan, reared in Alabama, formally educated in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Additional learning came from living in Boston, Little Rock and Sarasota at various times, coming back to Atlanta in 1971. She has enjoyed working in theater, dance and music for more than sixty years, is devoted to cats (at present two tabbies, Dinah and McConaughey) and organic gardening, enjoys reading, crosswords and jigsaw puzzles. She lives in a home filled with many kinds of paper and is glad to share in this Beacon Dance exploration.
Jaehn Clare (Performer/Installation Artist)
JAEHN (pronounced "Jane”) CLARE is a theatre artist with more than 50 years of experience in the performing arts. She is trained as an actor, director, producer, playwright, teaching artist, access advocate/activist, and arts administrator. Jaehn earned a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of MN, and she holds an M.A. in Dramatic Literature from the University of Essex. She has worked with a variety of professional theatre companies, both in the U.S. and abroad, including a two-year tour with Illusion Theater. Locally, she has worked with the Alliance Theatre Institute and performed with Full Radius Dance as well as Beacon Dance. Jaehn also wrote and has produced two solo performances, BELLE’S ON WHEELS and TAIL TELL TALE. She has performed each work for domestic and international audiences, including participation in three VSA International Arts Festivals. As an artist with an acquired disability, her personal and professional mission is to foster the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in our communities, to support and contribute positive public images of persons with disabilities, and to engage in progressive social change.
Lynn Hesse (Performer/Installation Artist)
Lynn Hesse performed with the Atlanta Interplay SoulPrint Players at Waller’s Coffee Shop for International Peace Day in September 2025, Beacon Dance Bodies/ Moving Hearts/Moving Minds III: An Evening of Five New Dance Works, April 2025, and with Mind The Gap, New York Theatre Workshop, at the Braver Angels, National Annual Conference in Kenosha, Wisconsin, July 2024. Currently, she serves on the Beacon Dance Board and is a troupe member of the Atlanta Interplay SoulPrint Players and The Dancing Flowers for Peace. She has performed many of her dance works and short plays at Agnes Scott College, FIELD at Emory Schwartz Center, and CORE, as well as in some performances with the Louise Runyon Dance Company and Gateway Productions. The dance duet video “Blue Steel” is in the Georgia State University Women’s Archive Section documenting Lynn’s choreography and her role as a female police officer. "Blue Steel" was performed at the Beacon Theatre in Decatur and at the 2011 Atlanta Modern Dance Festival. She is a lifetime member of the Sacred Dance Guild, taught dance at the United Methodist Church’s Jurisdictional Conferences at Young Harris College, and facilitated dance for adults and children for over twenty years.
Susan Keller (performer/installation artist)
Susan took her first ballet class at age 4. She discovered modern dance in college and Contact Improvisation in her late twenties. She still loves to move about. And she is grateful to Beacon Dance and other choreographers open to working with nonstandard dancers.
Alex Spitzer (Performer/Installation Artist)
Alex Spitzer is a professional choreographer and dancer in Atlanta. Currently he dances with Beacon Dance since 2014 and Secretary on their Board of Directors. For the National Dance Society, he is the Chair for the Performing Arts Council and was on the Board of Directors 2023–2025. He was Artistic Director of the Spitzer Dance Company from 1992-2014. Alex has danced with Infinity Dance Theater in New York City and Duende Dance Theater in Atlanta. In 1999 he received his B.A. in Dance from Texas Woman's University. He studied dance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and while there his work was presented in the American College Dance Festival Gala Concert in San Marcos, Texas. Alex has studied in modern, ballet, jazz, and integrated dance techniques.
Onur Topal-Sumer (performer/installation artist)
Onur has a B.F.A. in dance from Istanbul and an M.F.A. in dance & digital technology from UC, Irvine where she worked with pioneering dance artist such as Donald McKayle, Ismael Ivo, Douglas Dunn, Milton Myers, Yvonne Rainer, Pina Bausch Company members David Zambrano, Paul Clayden-DV8, Janet Panetta, Susanne Linke and many more.She has professionally created and performed for over two decades as a dance artist, freelance dance & multimedia artist, designer, producer, educator, and dance film curator (2D&VR). Onur is Dance Camera Istanbul Festival Curator and also builds national and international collaborations on creating immersive dance works.She has staged her original dance, film, and video installations at many acclaimed festivals, universities and events across Europe, USA & Asia. As a teaching artist, Onur taught dance, performance, and dance & multimedia throughout Turkiye, USA, Germany, Holland, Austria, Italy, and Romania. Onur has extensive experience and passion for working with dance and digital technology, organizing and producing events, festivals, panels, and leading cultural administrative work. Onur explores the interdisciplinary world of extended reality (XR) technologies focusing on performing arts and human computer interaction.
D. Patton White (Choreographic Direction, Performer/Installation Artist)
D. Patton White has worked as a dancer and choreographer since 1982, for the stage, site-specific work, and dance for the camera. As Artistic/Administrative Director of Beacon Dance since 1990, he has sought innovative ways to bring art to the public, including site works throughout DeKalb County parks and nature centers, the High Museum of Art, in the former Sears building in Atlanta, in Freedom Park, at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, the B Complex in southwest Atlanta, the Emory University Campus, and on the Atlanta Beltline. White was the Company Manager of Core Dance from 2008-2019, and currently teaches part time at Emory University. He has been an artist in residence at UNLV, Rice University, and Emory University, and has conducted numerous community residencies and his work has been funded by the NEA, South Arts, GCA, Florida Council on Arts & Culture, among others. He has been a member of Alternate ROOTS since 1997.
Carly Wynans (performer/installation artist)
Carly Wynans (she/they/he) is an Atlanta-based performer, choreographer, and stage manager. Originally from Nashville, TN, Carly moved to Atlanta to study at Emory University, receiving degrees in Dance and Movement Studies and Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. Following graduation, Carly has premiered choreographic work at Beacon Dance's Moving Bodies/Moving Hearts/Moving Minds and Fall for Fall, and she was also a Fellow at Bates Dance Festival. Carly has recently performed in works by Graham Shelor, Kristin O'Neal and Greg Catellier, Corian Ellisor, Leah Behm, Patton White, and Ashlee-Jo Ramsey. She can also be found working behind the scenes with companies like Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre, staibdance, and Emory Dance Company.
Leah Behm (Performer/Installation Artist)
Leah Behm (she/her) is a dance artist who is inspired by the connections and relationships between people and how that can shape the self. She is involved with many local artists in the freelance dance scene as well as being a company member with EXCAVATE BODY and Beacon Dance. As a 2021 graduate from Emory, Leah cherishes being a part of the ever flourishing dance community in ATL and all of the amazing artists and humans she has the pleasure of knowing because of it.
Eleanor Brownfield (Performer/Installation Artist)
Eleanor Brownfield is a native Atlantan, reared in Alabama, formally educated in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Additional learning came from living in Boston, Little Rock and Sarasota at various times, coming back to Atlanta in 1971. She has enjoyed working in theater, dance and music for more than sixty years, is devoted to cats (at present two tabbies, Dinah and McConaughey) and organic gardening, enjoys reading, crosswords and jigsaw puzzles. She lives in a home filled with many kinds of paper and is glad to share in this Beacon Dance exploration.
Jaehn Clare (Performer/Installation Artist)
JAEHN (pronounced "Jane”) CLARE is a theatre artist with more than 50 years of experience in the performing arts. She is trained as an actor, director, producer, playwright, teaching artist, access advocate/activist, and arts administrator. Jaehn earned a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of MN, and she holds an M.A. in Dramatic Literature from the University of Essex. She has worked with a variety of professional theatre companies, both in the U.S. and abroad, including a two-year tour with Illusion Theater. Locally, she has worked with the Alliance Theatre Institute and performed with Full Radius Dance as well as Beacon Dance. Jaehn also wrote and has produced two solo performances, BELLE’S ON WHEELS and TAIL TELL TALE. She has performed each work for domestic and international audiences, including participation in three VSA International Arts Festivals. As an artist with an acquired disability, her personal and professional mission is to foster the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in our communities, to support and contribute positive public images of persons with disabilities, and to engage in progressive social change.
Lynn Hesse (Performer/Installation Artist)
Lynn Hesse performed with the Atlanta Interplay SoulPrint Players at Waller’s Coffee Shop for International Peace Day in September 2025, Beacon Dance Bodies/ Moving Hearts/Moving Minds III: An Evening of Five New Dance Works, April 2025, and with Mind The Gap, New York Theatre Workshop, at the Braver Angels, National Annual Conference in Kenosha, Wisconsin, July 2024. Currently, she serves on the Beacon Dance Board and is a troupe member of the Atlanta Interplay SoulPrint Players and The Dancing Flowers for Peace. She has performed many of her dance works and short plays at Agnes Scott College, FIELD at Emory Schwartz Center, and CORE, as well as in some performances with the Louise Runyon Dance Company and Gateway Productions. The dance duet video “Blue Steel” is in the Georgia State University Women’s Archive Section documenting Lynn’s choreography and her role as a female police officer. "Blue Steel" was performed at the Beacon Theatre in Decatur and at the 2011 Atlanta Modern Dance Festival. She is a lifetime member of the Sacred Dance Guild, taught dance at the United Methodist Church’s Jurisdictional Conferences at Young Harris College, and facilitated dance for adults and children for over twenty years.
Susan Keller (performer/installation artist)
Susan took her first ballet class at age 4. She discovered modern dance in college and Contact Improvisation in her late twenties. She still loves to move about. And she is grateful to Beacon Dance and other choreographers open to working with nonstandard dancers.
Alex Spitzer (Performer/Installation Artist)
Alex Spitzer is a professional choreographer and dancer in Atlanta. Currently he dances with Beacon Dance since 2014 and Secretary on their Board of Directors. For the National Dance Society, he is the Chair for the Performing Arts Council and was on the Board of Directors 2023–2025. He was Artistic Director of the Spitzer Dance Company from 1992-2014. Alex has danced with Infinity Dance Theater in New York City and Duende Dance Theater in Atlanta. In 1999 he received his B.A. in Dance from Texas Woman's University. He studied dance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and while there his work was presented in the American College Dance Festival Gala Concert in San Marcos, Texas. Alex has studied in modern, ballet, jazz, and integrated dance techniques.
Onur Topal-Sumer (performer/installation artist)
Onur has a B.F.A. in dance from Istanbul and an M.F.A. in dance & digital technology from UC, Irvine where she worked with pioneering dance artist such as Donald McKayle, Ismael Ivo, Douglas Dunn, Milton Myers, Yvonne Rainer, Pina Bausch Company members David Zambrano, Paul Clayden-DV8, Janet Panetta, Susanne Linke and many more.She has professionally created and performed for over two decades as a dance artist, freelance dance & multimedia artist, designer, producer, educator, and dance film curator (2D&VR). Onur is Dance Camera Istanbul Festival Curator and also builds national and international collaborations on creating immersive dance works.She has staged her original dance, film, and video installations at many acclaimed festivals, universities and events across Europe, USA & Asia. As a teaching artist, Onur taught dance, performance, and dance & multimedia throughout Turkiye, USA, Germany, Holland, Austria, Italy, and Romania. Onur has extensive experience and passion for working with dance and digital technology, organizing and producing events, festivals, panels, and leading cultural administrative work. Onur explores the interdisciplinary world of extended reality (XR) technologies focusing on performing arts and human computer interaction.
D. Patton White (Choreographic Direction, Performer/Installation Artist)
D. Patton White has worked as a dancer and choreographer since 1982, for the stage, site-specific work, and dance for the camera. As Artistic/Administrative Director of Beacon Dance since 1990, he has sought innovative ways to bring art to the public, including site works throughout DeKalb County parks and nature centers, the High Museum of Art, in the former Sears building in Atlanta, in Freedom Park, at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, the B Complex in southwest Atlanta, the Emory University Campus, and on the Atlanta Beltline. White was the Company Manager of Core Dance from 2008-2019, and currently teaches part time at Emory University. He has been an artist in residence at UNLV, Rice University, and Emory University, and has conducted numerous community residencies and his work has been funded by the NEA, South Arts, GCA, Florida Council on Arts & Culture, among others. He has been a member of Alternate ROOTS since 1997.
Carly Wynans (performer/installation artist)
Carly Wynans (she/they/he) is an Atlanta-based performer, choreographer, and stage manager. Originally from Nashville, TN, Carly moved to Atlanta to study at Emory University, receiving degrees in Dance and Movement Studies and Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. Following graduation, Carly has premiered choreographic work at Beacon Dance's Moving Bodies/Moving Hearts/Moving Minds and Fall for Fall, and she was also a Fellow at Bates Dance Festival. Carly has recently performed in works by Graham Shelor, Kristin O'Neal and Greg Catellier, Corian Ellisor, Leah Behm, Patton White, and Ashlee-Jo Ramsey. She can also be found working behind the scenes with companies like Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre, staibdance, and Emory Dance Company.
With Deepest Gratitude!
Our performances this weekend have been made possible by the generosity of our individual donors as well as several public funding agencies. Listing represents gifts made between July 1, 2025 and October 24, 2025. We sincerely regret any omissions.
Franklin Abbott, Lou and Leon Clymore, Trisha Clymore, John and Martha England, Sybil McWilliams, Margo Miller, Brock Savage, Robin Schmitt, D. Patton White, Nancy White
We also acknowledge that every artist and member of our technical crew for this production has contributed of their time that is above and beyond the amount of their financial compensation for this production.
This program is supported in part by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. .
Our performances this weekend have been made possible by the generosity of our individual donors as well as several public funding agencies. Listing represents gifts made between July 1, 2025 and October 24, 2025. We sincerely regret any omissions.
Franklin Abbott, Lou and Leon Clymore, Trisha Clymore, John and Martha England, Sybil McWilliams, Margo Miller, Brock Savage, Robin Schmitt, D. Patton White, Nancy White
We also acknowledge that every artist and member of our technical crew for this production has contributed of their time that is above and beyond the amount of their financial compensation for this production.
This program is supported in part by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. .
