REDCAT Fall 2013 Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 16, 2013 Media Contact: Kelly Hargraves 213-237-2873 [email protected] REDCAT ANNOUNCES ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY SEASON The Radar L.A. International Festival of Contemporary Theater Launches the Fall 2013 Season of Performances, Film, and Literary Series Featuring: Cynthia Hopkins, Gregory Maqomba, Faifai, Tiger Lillies, Charlie Haden, Angel City Jazz Festival, Now Hear Ensemble, Morton Subotnick, Reinier van Houdt, Nicolas Rey, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jodie Mack, Bruce Baillie (Los Angeles, CA) – REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for contemporary arts, under the direction of Mark Murphy, announces its Tenth Anniversary Season, opening in September with the second Radar L.A. International Festival of Contemporary Theater, a one-week event with over 100 performances by 18 companies from Latin America, the Pacific Rim and Los Angeles highlighting the vibrancy of new theater works at historic downtown theaters and venues throughout Los Angeles, produced in association with Center Theatre Group and a consortium of local and national partners. The Gallery at REDCAT launches a new season under the direction of new Curator Ruth Estevez, hosting a series of inspiring international visual artists who are creating new work especially for the gallery. September 21st marks the start of the new installation, Different Kinds of Water Pouring Into a Swimming Pool by Andrés Jaque and his influential Office for Political Innovation, based in Madrid. REDCAT Executive Director Mark Murphy says, “The fall program offers you a range of experiences that exemplify the unique role and contributions of REDCAT and CalArts to the vibrancy of the region’s cultural ecology.” REDCAT opened as CalArts’ downtown center for contemporary arts at the inception of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. Envisioned as a downtown extension of CalArts’ unique interdisciplinary mission, 1 of 16 REDCAT Fall 2013 Press Release REDCAT introduces Los Angeles audiences to influential artists from around the world and is a laboratory for the development of new work by Los Angeles-based artists. REDCAT quickly established itself as an important national and international catalyst for the evolution of contemporary culture, and is widely respected for a decade of innovative programming in a variety of disciplines. The Tenth Anniversary season continues in October with a number of events ranging from a series of enticing film/video presentations, contemporary music and jazz events, stimulating conversations and symposia, and a mix of dance, theater and interdisciplinary performances from Los Angeles and around the world. A full calendar of events and exhibitions is below. A chronological calendar with links to each event is located at www.redcat.org. THEATER & DANCE Tuesday, September 24 – Tuesday, October 1, 2013 Radar L.A. Festival 2013, An International Festival of Contemporary Theater “A glorious convergence of contemporary performance." —Los Angeles Times Some of the world’s most influential performing ensembles are featured alongside innovative Los Angeles artists in this vibrant festival highlighting interdisciplinary approaches and new forms. Using multiple venues, the program features work from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand and Japan, and includes premieres of local and international collaborations. Curated by Mark Murphy, Executive Director of REDCAT, Diane Rodriguez, Director of New Play Production at Center Theatre Group, and Mark Russell, Director of the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater in New York, the festival includes 18 productions with an emphasis on work from Latin America, the Pacific Rim and Los Angeles. Radar L.A. is presented by REDCAT and CalArts in association with Center Theatre Group and a consortium of partners including the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Public Theater (New York), LA Stage Alliance, Los Angeles Theatre Center and Theatre Communications Group. Additional partners include the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Thursday, October 24 – Sunday, October 27, 2013 Cynthia Hopkins: This Clement World “When she wraps her big, rich, soulful voice around an anthem to the beauty of the natural world, 2 of 16 REDCAT Fall 2013 Press Release or the folly of our disregard for it, the show transcends.” —The New York Times West Coast Premiere This Clement World, a new work by the refreshingly original, Alpert Award-winning multidisciplinary artist Cynthia Hopkins, emerged from her three-week journey through Arctic waters where she documented stunning landscapes from aboard a century-old, double-masted Dutch ship. The result is a soulful musical performance that poetically but urgently speaks to Earth’s rapidly changing climate. Performed live with a 15-member chorus and band, the alluring production blends outlandish fiction and original folk songs with Hopkins’ own sublime footage from her Arctic expedition, infusing the global climate crisis with humor, artistry and immediacy. Hopkins’ mastery of multiple media yields a unique approach, allowing her to construct a charismatically personal and fiercely creative tribute to the world’s fragility. Thursday, November 7 – Sunday, November 10, 2013 Gregory Maqoma/Vuyani Dance Theatre: Exit/Exist “Maqoma has always been expert at conjuring the visionary and the magical.” —The Guardian Choreographer Gregory Maqoma returns to REDCAT with the exceptional South African vocal ensemble Complete, blending theater and dance in a new production inspired by Maqoma’s ancestral past. Through his powerful performance, Maqoma reveals the history of a 19th–century Xhosa warrior who fought to maintain cultural traditions in the face of colonial dispossession. Integrating traditional and contemporary dance from both Africa and Europe, Maqoma fuses storytelling with his own dynamic dance vocabulary and spirited live music. As supporting characters in the narrative, the musicians are interwoven in Maqoma’s vibrantly kinetic world, creating rich visual scenes that punctuate his exploration of race and political power, cultural tradition and personal legacy. Thursday, November 21 – Sunday, November 24, 2013 Faifai: Anton, Neko, Kuri In the multidisciplinary performance of Anton, Neko, Kuri, the experimental Tokyo-based theater company Faifai transcends a story about basic human relationships through an exuberant pop aesthetic. The action springs from encounters among residents in a housing block who come together around Anton, a stray cat suffering from leukemia. With pop visuals, energetic movement and a polyphonic soundscape, Faifai creates a rousing theatrical experience. Words and sentences spoken by performers are cut up, sampled and turned into music, complemented by an animated visual backdrop of English surtitles. With both sensitivity and humor, Faifai combines movement and technology to create a hybrid form of theater that draws from Kabuki, Noh and manga. 3 of 16 REDCAT Fall 2013 Press Release In Japanese with English surtitles. Saturday, December 7 – Sunday, December 8, 2013 Studio Fall 2013 Original, ambitiously inventive performances inspire L.A.’s most adventurous audiences for each edition of REDCAT’s Studio series. The program invites guest curators to join in crafting an interdisciplinary evening of experimental new works and works-in-progress by Los Angeles performing artists. Since its inception in 2003, Studio has brought 180 short works to the stage and featured an incredible array of artists and companies, including Mecca Vazie Andrews, Kathy Carbone and Vinny Golia, Sheetal Gandhi, Nataki Garrett, Brian Getnick, Los Angeles Electric 8, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Now Hear Ensemble, Emily Mast, Miwa Matreyek, Melinda Sullivan Dance Project, Hana van der Kolk, Peres Owino, Poor Dog Group, Jordan Saenz, Waewdao Sirisook, Roxanne Steinberg and Steve Lockwood, Wu Tsang, Kristina Wong and many more. Friday, December 13 – Saturday, December 14, 2013 CalArts Winter Dance The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts presents its annual Winter Dance Concert. This evening of new dance features works by 2013 Alpert-Award winning choreographer Julia Rhoads and CalArts faculty members Julie Bour and Colin Connor. MUSIC Friday, October 11, 2013 Angel City Jazz Festival 2013 Co-presented with The Jazz Bakery as part of the Angel City Jazz Festival FEATURING JIM BLACK, TIM LEFEBVRE, CHRIS SPEED TRIO & JOHN HOLLENBECK AND THE CLAUDIA QUINTET "Rich with ambition and empathetic...the Claudia Quintet doesn’t entirely sound like anybody else. Which is exactly what makes them worth seeking out." —Los Angeles Times The world premiere of the trio of Jim Black on drums, Tim Lefebvre on bass, and Chris Speed on saxophone opens this concert and brings together three of the most exciting and innovative improvisers of our time. 4 of 16 REDCAT Fall 2013 Press Release The Claudia Quintet has walked a unique path in contemporary jazz since their founding in the late 1990s. Unlike most jazz ensembles where the particular musicians may come and go, drummer, composer and leader John Hollenbeck always wanted Claudia to be a ‘band’ with a sound not only determined by the compositions and the instrumentation, but by the players who perform the music. Over the last 16 years the exceptional artistry and individuality of each musician has been skillfully revealed through Hollenbeck’s stunning original compositions. John Hollenbeck – drums, percussion | Chris Speed – reeds | Matt Moran