“Ferguson creates spaces where things can happen that don’t happen anywhere else. He and his collaborators so clearly trust and inspire one another that you walk out of the theater into a world that feels richer than you’d realized it was before you went in.”
WLDRNSS is a live performance company focused on the creation of new work, led by Artistic Director Jon Ferguson. The company creates art that is profoundly thought-provoking, delightfully playful and totally accessible. WLDRNSS is an ever-evolving ensemble committed to exploring what it means to be alive through the creation and presentation of deeply moving and poetic narratives. The company embraces the impulse to create the unforgettable and bring life to art that exists beyond ourselves.
Jon Ferguson - Artistic Director - jon(at)wldrnss.org
Jon Ferguson is from Durham in the Northeast of England. He trained at Middlesex University in London with leading physical theater practitioner John Wright. He has worked with leading theater companies and practitioners in the UK and US including Hoipolloi (UK), John Wright & Told by an Idiot, Mary Zimmerman, Mark Rylance and The Guthrie Theater. He is currently based in Minneapolis, MN. Jon’s work has been profiled in American Theater Magazine, published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, and received critical recognition and numerous awards. Jon was named "2005 City Pages Artist of the Year", and his production Please Don’t Blow Up Mr. Boban, with Live Action Set, was chosen by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as the "Outstanding Experimental Theater Production of 2005" and named "Best Stage Production" by the Minneapolis City Pages - Best of the Twin Cities 2006. Other recognition includes: Sunday Times Best Ensemble (at the National Student Drama Festival Scarborough), Time Out London Critic’s Choice, Victoria Fringe (Canada) “Best Comedy” Award and numerous Top 10 Plays of the year. Jon has taught acting, directing, play, physical theater, clowning, mask, Commedia dell'arte and devising throughout the UK and US, including teaching extensively for The Theatre Royal Bath, The Bristol Old Vic Theatre, The Guthrie Theater and The University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, as well as teaching countless independent workshops. Jon is the founder and Artistic Director of WLDRNSS for which he has directed and co-created all of their work since 2012 including, A Bun For a Door Handle (Forage Modern Workshop), The Brutes (The Machine Shop), Muy Very Authentic (Open Eye Figure Theater), The Big Show (Southern Theater), The Nature Crown (Guthrie Theater), Good Job Horses (Southern Theater) and The Venetian Twins (Southern Theater), When I Nod My Head You Hit it with The Hammer (Southern Theater). Selected previous work includes; Please Don't Blow up Mr. Boban (The Soap Factory and Loring Theater), We Are Ugly But We Have the Music (Bryant Lake Bowl), Ligustrum Vulgare (Bryant Lake Bowl), Or The White Whale (Southern Theater), You're my Favorite Kind of Pretty (Southern Theater), Animal Farm (Southern Theater), Super Monkey (Guthrie Theater), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Red Eye Theater), Ubu Roi (CSB/SJU), Cymbeline (St. Olaf College), Rhinoceros (Concordia University). From 2018 - 2022 Jon was the Creative Director at Screenology Film School and Production Company in Bristol, England. Recently his film The Cartographer won Best Short Feature and Audience Award at the 2022 Berlin Short Film Festival.
Lauren Rae Anderson - Producing Director and Associate Artistic Director - lauren(at)wldrnss.org