Animal Lover's Project

Jesse Richards and performing arts ensemble Hundredth Monkey sing, dance, laugh, cry and dream their way towards a greater understanding of animals and the human lives they touch.

"Animal Lovers' Project is a wonderful show. It comes straight from the heart, and that's an incredibly rare thing... a beautiful painting of the animal world."


Laurie Anderson

Imagine A Journey...

Creator/performer Jesse Richards and her multi talented ensemble Hundredth Monkey sing, dance, dream, and laugh their way toward an understanding of animals and the human lives they touch.

They tell the story of a woman, haunted by animal dreams, who sets off on a cross country journey in search of animal lovers. Along the way she meets a ninety-something man in a nursing home who finds reason to live when a beagle scampers into his room, a janitor who has witnessed something in a laboratory that gives him a cause worth going to prison for, and a treesitter, inspired to spend years in the arms of an old growth Redwood. Two hundred wolves provide magical descant to a love song, and a circus elephant reaches out from its concrete cell and touches the heart of a passing stranger.

Woven into this story are video projections of whales, wolves, and soaring eagles, along with real people telling of encounters with animals that changed their lives.

Animal Lovers' Project opened in March of 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and played in theaters, festivals and conferences in Washington DC, Toronto, Toledo, Detroit, and Chicago.

Said the Ann Arbor Observer, "Richard's voice is rich and lusty. Her dances, marked by wit and mischief, are a cross between Merce Cunningham and Mummenshcanz. The costumes are often playful, but her work has at its core something big, primal, and powerful. It drives her music and her dance."

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What They're Saying

Hundredth Monkey doesn't disappoint... Animal Lovers' Project is a rich offering of music, dance, and drama that explores the complex relationships between humans and animals.

Chicago Sun Times

I agree with the critics for their high praise of Jesse Richards and Hundredth Monkey.

Kenneth Fischer, President University of Michigan Musical Society

We'll play Animal Lovers' Project [the CD] on the bridge of our ship.

Captain Paul Watson, Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Jesse's work is highly imaginative. Her unique combination of theater, visual art, and original music culminate in more than a sharing of ideas, but also a celebration and uplifting of the spirit. [Hundredth Monkey] is one of the top companies I have seen walk through our doors.

Johanna Broughton, Executive Director of the Performance Network Theater

[Animal Lovers' Project] was awesome, remarkable, magnificent. The talent and the presentation of the show was the very best!

Doris Dixon, The Fund for Animals Inc.

[Animal Lovers' Project] is an idea whose time has come, and Jesse Richards seems to be just the one to

                             bring the idea to fruition. She is enormously gifted and has a talented energetic cast.

Jacquie Lewis, Executive Director of SPEAK

                                   Richards' voice is rich and lusty. Her dances, marked by wit and mischief, are a cross 

                                         between Merce Cunningham and Mummenshanz. The costumes are often playful,

                                               but her work has, at its core, something big, primal, and powerful. It drives her

                                                     music and her dance.

Rachel Urist, Ann Arbor Observer

                                                                                      Richards always gives viewers their money's worth

                                                                                   Animal Lovers' Project is packed with a bursting creativity

                                                                               encompassing multiple mediums. Hundredth Monkey's

                                                                           dancer-singers never miss a beat or drop their enthusiasm in  

                                                                          bringing Richard's wide range of songs to life. Richards never

                                                                       ceases to amaze with the soaring range of her own voice.

Christopher Potter, The Ann Arbor News

                                                            [Animal Lovers' Project] is a recipe for Saturday evening entertainment

                                                                with paws, claws, and a cause.

The Blade, Toledo

                                                          [Jesse Richards] continues to inspire me about what is possible from us

                                                               human beings.

Gregg Alf, Audience member

                                        I wish everyone could have their hearts opened in perfect balance with their bodies

                                              and minds enjoyment as we, the audience, had yesterday.

Georgia Olsen, Audience member

                                                    Jesse's voice is amazing!

Chris DeRose, Actor and Founder of LCA

 

Some Ways You Can Help Animals

by Doris Dixon
    •    Convince people to have their dogs and cats spayed or neutered.
    •    Tell a pet shop owner you would prefer they not sell live animals.
    •    Support an effective animal rights organization such as The Fund for Animals and/or your local humane shelter.
    •    Participate in fundraising events for at least one animal group.
    •    Write a letter to newspaper editors and politicians expressing your view in defense of animals.
    •    Ask local business owners who support rodeos or other forms of animal entertainment with advertising to withhold their support and withhold yours as well by not attending.
    •    Let hunters know what you think of their "sport."
    •    Encourage a friend to join an animal rights organization.
    •    Check companion animals for current ID tags and shots.
    •    Take time to investigate a stray animal and return it to its home or take it to the area humane shelter.
    •    Help distribute humane information literature.
    •    Teach the humane treatment of animals.
    •    Purchase fundraising products from an animal rights group.
    •    Convince someone not to let his or her dog run loose and unattended.
    •    Be vocal in defense of any exploited or suffering animal.
    •    Show a presently uninvolved animal lover this list.
    •    Educate people about the cruelty of overbreeding dogs and cats.
    •    Favor a healthy and humane vegetarian or vegan diet.
    •    Teach others about the importance of not purchasing or wearing animal fur. Emphasize suffering caused by leghold traps as well as the cruelties of "ranch-raising."
    •    Learn about and pass on the dire need for research alternatives to end the horrors inflicted on live animals in the name of science.

    •    carry the phone numbers of local animal rescues, and call to get help when you come across injured animals.

Each and Everything you do for the Animal Cause makes an important difference