FirstWorks Announces 7th Season to Run Sept 25-Nov 13
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Lucky number seven, evidently.
FirstWorks announced it seventh season lineup today for the FirstWorks Festival 2010, and it's a big one. The festival will draw artists from around the globe for a celebration of theater, dance, music, new media and visual arts centered in downtown Providence.
This year’s festival kicks off on September 25th at Providence Performing Arts Center with a mesmerizing mash-up of vintage comics and dance as Pilobolus – the Cirque du Soleil of the dance world – collides with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman. The festival culminates on November 13th at the VMA Arts & Cultural Center with an electrifying performance by Sweet Honey In TheRock® featuring the New England premiere of “Indaba”, a musical dialogue between youth and elders that unites the first women of song with the Junior Providence Singers.
The Festival will span seven weeks and include innovative art and sound from new media artists in PIXILERATIONS [v.7], the New Media Fringe Festival @ FirstWorks, cutting-edge drama, direct from Ireland; and a vibrant 12-piece orchestra from New York City who will take salsa back to the street. Tickets are on sale now at first-works.org. “This year’s FirstWorks festival unites the artistic talents of our city with the talents of exceptional artists and creators from the world’s stage,” said Kathleen Pletcher, Executive Artistic Director, FirstWorks. “Incredible new partnerships with the VMA Arts & Cultural Center, Culture Ireland, and the Taiwan Cultural Council have propelled the FirstWorks Festival to new heights in 2010. See, hear, feel, move, share—this is a festival that connects audiences to experience of the art of what’s new.”
FirstWorks Festival 2010 Schedule At–a–Glance
PILOBOLUS
Festival Opening Night – All-New Program!
A Spellbinding Spectacle of Art, Dance and Music
Saturday, September 25, 8pm $28-$48
Providence Performing Arts Center
ppacri.org, 401-421-ARTS (2787)
This year’s festival kicks off with a mesmerizing mash-up of vintage comics and dance as the Cirque du Soleil of the dance world collides with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman. An absolute one-of-a-kind company, Pilobolus dazzles audiences with ingenious choreography, daring physicality, and raw athleticism, spiced with the sensuality of the human body and a hefty dose of humor. Pilobolus returns to the FirstWorks Festival stage with a thrilling performance of new and classic works, not to be missed. Presented in partnership with PPAC.
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK®
She Rocks!
An Electrifying Evening of Life, Love and Song
Saturday, November 13, 7:30pm
VMA Arts and Cultural Center $18-$42
vmari.org, 401-421-ARTS (2787)
Sweet Honey In The Rock have been inspiring audiences for more than 30 years with their soul-stirring blend of gospel, blues, jazz and hip hop. Famous for their vocal virtuosity and vast repertoire of historically African American music, this Grammy-award winning a capella ensemble was dubbed a “National Treasure” by First Lady Michelle Obama. FirstWorks Festival 2010 culminates with an electrifying performance featuring “Indaba”, a musical dialogue between youth and elders that unites the first women of song with the Junior Providence Singers. Presented through the VMA Arts and Cultural Center/ FirstWorks Partnership.
AUREA
The Search: A Soundscape of Music, Words and Imagery
Sunday, September 26, 3pm $22, $16
RISD Chace Center
ArtTixRi.com, 401-621-6123
A Rhode Island treasure, Aurea returns to FirstWorks with its unique alchemy of music and the spoken word. Aurea and illustrious architect/artist, Morris Nathanson, collaborate in a dynamic, eclectic juxtaposition of words and music, with images and inspiration from Nathanson's early allegorical/autobiographical print series: The Search. Engaged in a
joyous pursuit to investigate the harmony of music and the spoken word, Aurea celebrates Nathanson’s 80th birthday with this special World Premiere.
PIXILERATIONS [v.7]
New Media Fringe Festival @ FirstWorks
September 30 – October 10, noon to 8pm daily*
Various locations
Pixilerations gathers groundbreaking works from the liveliest minds in digital media, music and art. This year’s festival sweeps to the far reaches of the global frontier with provocative installations by Taiwanese artist Dar-Kuen Wu and Rhode Island’s Megan and Murray McMillan; dynamic performances at Firehouse 13; and exciting new work by Mark Cetilia and Joe Cantrell at Machines With Magnets. Pixilerations extends its reach to new venues on the West Side of Providence and Pawtucket, and will include concerts, screenings and club nights of cutting edge works from around the world. Presented in partnership with Brown University & Rhode Island School of Design.
Locations:
RISD’s Sol Koffler Gallery, 169 Weybosset Street
FirstWorks Gallery, 65 Eddy Street
Machines With Magnets, 400 Main St, Pawtucket
Grant Recital Hall, Hope Street & Young Orchard Avenue
Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street
Firehouse 13, 41 Central Street
For a complete schedule of exhibit and event information including locations and openings,
visit: first-works.org . *Times vary for special events
IBEX Puppetry
Panther and Crane: A Mythic Journey Through Our Earth’s Waterways
Sunday, October 3, 4pm $22, $16
RISD Auditorium
ArtTixRi.com, 401-621-6123
IBEX Puppetry’s Heather Henson carries forward the legacy of her father Jim Henson, summoning soaring puppets, beautiful projections, and fluid movement that envelope you into a universe of mythical imagery and dreamlike metaphor. Delve into the world of migrating cranes, pacing panthers and wading alligators, as they dance through challenges threatening their way of life.
LOSTWAX PRODUCTIONS
BLINKING: A Visual Interplay of Dance and New Media
Thursday, October 14, 8pm
Friday, October 15, 8pm
Saturday, October 16, 7:30 & 9:30pm $22, $16
Pell-Chafee Performance Center
ArtTixRi.com, 401-621-6123
We blink 10 times a minute. But what is lost in these liminal moments? Inspired by author Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, choreographer Jamie Jewett explores the fascinating human process of understanding pattern, information and perception with a provocative new work by multi-media dance company Lostwax. In this groundbreaking premiere — another FirstWorks first — BLINKING traverses the visceral cusp between installation, performance and narrative through technology, music and movement.
COMING OUT / COMING OF AGE
Stories of love, faith and courage
October 22-23, 7:30pm, October 24, 4:00pm, FREE
URI/CCE Shepard Building
A premiere performance developed from the oral histories of Rhode Island’s older gay community members by Frank V. Toti, Jr. The play is an enlightening journey through the shared struggles and successes of our neighbors, friends and families, to live openly and authentically in Rhode Island from the 1950’s to the present. Presented in conjunction with Coming Out, a mixed media exhibition curated by Steven Pennell, October 4-31.
LA EXCELENCIA
Taking Salsa Back to the Street
Saturday, October 23, 8pm $22, $16
LUPO’s Heartbreak Hotel
ArtTixRi.com, 401-621-6123
This vibrant 12-piece orchestra from New York City reclaims the salsa dura (hard salsa) of the 1970s with unstoppable dance music that merges hectic percussion, screaming horns and impassioned singers — who also revive salsa dura’s political consciousness, singing about the hard life of the barrio and Latin unity. Wherever these revolutionary, new-generation salsa ambassadors perform, their contagious rhythms bring audiences to their feet. Bailamos! Presented in partnership with LUPO’s.
GARE ST. LAZARE PLAYERS IRELAND
First Love: A One-Man Triumph of Irish Theater
Friday, October 29, 7:30pm $22, $16
RISD Chace Center
ArtTixRi.com, 401-621-6123
Direct from Ireland, Gare St Lazare brings the black humor of playwright Samuel Beckett to the FirstWorks Festival stage in an adaptation of one of Beckett’s early novellas. Hailed as the world’s greatest living interpreter of Beckett, actor Conor Lovett’s solo tour de force has mesmerized audiences around the world. Lovett’s gripping performance, which The New York Times acclaimed “supremely funny,” captures the author’s distinctive dark humor in this masterpiece of Beckettian perversity. Presented with support from Culture Ireland.
CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY
Out of My Hands: Classical Piano Meets Alternative Rock
Saturday, October 30, 8pm $22, $16
RISD Auditorium
ArtTixRi.com, 401-621-6123
From his groundbreaking transcriptions of Radiohead, R.E.M., Portishead, and Pink Floyd to his sublime interpretations of classical repertoire, indie pianist Christopher O'Riley turns concert music on its ear. His genre-bending approach stretches the piano beyond conventional boundaries, garnering the only four-star review ever given by Rolling Stone to a classical pianist. Between his acclaimed performances, O'Riley also hosts NPR's popular weekly series From the Top. Make sure to catch this FirstWorks premiere!
