WHOOP DEE DOO: MMMountain—Matt Roche and Jaimie Warren

Whoop Dee Doo is a traveling, artist-led project that organizes elaborate site-specific installations and themed live performances as a process for creating meaningful art with communities around the world. Co-directors Matt Roche and Jaimie Warren engage youth groups and local performers in researching, developing and staging theatrical experiences envisioned as variety TV shows. Using simple materials, participants transform ordinary spaces into surreal and memorable environments.

Provo art educators Jethro Gillespie and James Rees worked with Whoop Dee Doo to plan a series of original performances that took place at the ARTcetera gallery on May 12, 2018. Eight students chosen from four high schools composed the cast and crew, and the Maple Mountain Ellevés drill team collaborated as performers, directed by Molly Brenchley. Jaimie and Matt led brainstorming, skill-building and art-making sessions. Supported by volunteers from the community and the Whoop Dee Doo co-directors, the high school crew fabricated all costumes, set elements and props to fit the group’s Mountain Magic theme. The final 15-minute show was generated over the course of just one week and presented live to the public six times. Each production included quick skits, a crowd-participation contest, two performances from the Ellevés, and a concluding group dance involving the cast, crew and audience.

Whoop Dee Doo’s multidisciplinary, educational process celebrates each community’s unique skills, experiences and cultural customs. By leading creative collaborations that emphasize shared ownership of art-making with diverse participants, the artists promote meaningful cross-generational and cross-cultural dialogue.

Created By: Claire Whipple; Rebekah Campbell; Aislynn Patchett; Cadence Peterson; Valerie Nelson; Savannah Dee; Hannah Smith; Savannah McKenzie; Brinley Cummings; Michael Churchill; Kristin Spencer; Isaac Van Wagoner; Matt Roche; Jaimie Warren;