Thank You

Generous support for the 2011–12 Friends of the MCA Stage Become a Friend of the MCA Stage season of MCA Stage is provided by Elizabeth A. Liebman, David Amphion Foundation, Inc. Support the voices and visions of Herro and Jay Franke, Susan and Katherine A. Abelson and our time by directly investing in Lew Manilow, Lois and Steve Eisen Robert J. Cornell the work of living artists. Our and The Eisen Family Foundation, Janet Alberti and Fred Schneider Friends of the MCA Stage receive Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred Leigh and Henry Bienen exclusive benefits such as L. McDougal, The Weasel Fund, Greg Cameron recognition in MCA Stage program Mary Ittelson, Carol Prins and Pamela Crutchfield notes, exclusive ticket offers, John Hart/The Jessica Fund, Ellen Lois and Steve Eisen and invitations to receptions with the Stone Belic, and Richard and Ann The Eisen Family Foundation artists, and access to behind-the- Tomlinson. David Herro and Jay Franke scenes rehearsals. Bill and Vicki Hood Foundation Season Sponsor Mary E. Ittelson Become a Friend of the MCA Stage Elizabeth A. Liebman today by calling 312.397.3864. Susan and Lew Manilow Nancy Lauter McDougal and Fred McDougal Maecenas Charles L. Michod and Official Airline Susan A. Michod Maya Polsky Sarai Hoffman and Stephen Pratt Elizabeth Price and Lou Yecies In-Kind Equipment Sponsor Mr. and Mrs. John Seder Ms. Patricia F. Sternberg Ellen Stone Belic Richard and Ann Tomlinson Anonymous Hotel Partner As of January 9, 2012

MCA Chicago is a proud partner of the National Performance Network. Welcome to the Edlis Neeson Theater

I am proud to announce an extraordinary gift from Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson to name the MCA Theater, home of the MCA Stage since 1996–97. The newly named Edlis Neeson Theater is the primary space in which we celebrate and support live arts.

For more than thirty-five years, Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson have been extraordinary supporters of MCA Chicago. In his longtime role as Trustee, Stefan has been particularly involved in the care and preservation of the MCA’s Josef Paul Kleihues–designed build- ing. By extension, Stefan and Gael’s support of this theater is of paramount importance to the MCA, as it is a place where artists and audiences come together around the most sig- nificant art and ideas of our time.

Stefan and Gael share our vision of the MCA as an artist-activated, audience-engaged muse- um for producing art, ideas, community, and conversation around the creative process—in our galleries, theater, and beyond. We are deeply thankful to them and truly thrilled by this affirmation of multidisciplinary programming at the MCA.

Enjoy tonight’s performance!

Madeleine Grynsztejn Pritzker Director Welcome to the Edlis Neeson Theater Photo: Bethanie Hines

Marc Bamuthi Joseph/ Thursday– The Living Word Project Saturday, with Theaster Gates April 12–14, 2012 red, black & GREEN: a blues

Edlis Neeson Theater Artists Up Close

The Residency laborator Theaster Gates, speaking tour. This event was Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s collab- to the Dorchester Projects. copresented by the MCA with oration with Theaster Gates for Participating members of The University of Chicago and red, black & GREEN: a blues youth programs Kuumba Lynx, portoluz as part of WPA 2.0: a was the catalyst for an MCA YOUmedia, and the MCA’s brand new deal. Stage residency. Part instal- Teen Creative Agency reunite lation and part performance, with Joseph and Gates this First Nights rbGb synthesizes movement, week for the SHareOUT, as Thursday–Saturday, April 12–14 verbal and visual languages, the artists turn their theater set Following each performance of and social and political content. over to these talented young red, black & GREEN: a blues, Joseph and Gates devised the people to express their own the artists invite audience set/installation, which refer- realities through word, beats, members to join them on the ences George C. Wolfe’s The media, and conversation. set for one-on-one conversa- Colored Museum, to represent tions. the four seasons, four cycles of Talk: “At Your Own Risk: life, four rooms of a house, and what is to be done” Educator Symposium four cities: Chicago, Houston, This Tuesday, the International Friday, April 13 New York, and Oakland. They House at the University of Fostering lively discussion harvested material, literally Chicago hosted Marc Bamuthi on the role of contemporary and figuratively, for the project Joseph and Van Jones, envi- art in arts education, this over several years during inter- ronmental advocate, civil rights year’s biannual MCA Educator views and community events in activist, and former advisor to Symposium features Marc each city. the White House, in a riveting Bamuthi Joseph as one of discussion about environmen- the keynote speakers on the A crucial intention of rbGb is tal racism, social ecology, and critical engagement with and the involvement of community. collective responsibility in an investigation of those ideas MCA Chicago has organized era of dramatic climate change. that relate specifically to peda- these opportunities for the Throughout their long friend- gogy, curriculum design, and community to engage with the ship, Joseph and Jones have teacher professional develop- artists and gain insight into paved unique paths toward a ment. their creative process. Many of national conversation about these encounters take place jobs, manufacturing, and green Installation Hours directly on the artists’ playing economy as experienced Friday, April 13, 1–5 pm space. among members of the black Saturday, April 14, 10 am–1 pm working class. Jones is leader During specified museum This March, Joseph engaged of Rebuild The Dream, the hours, visitors can experi- a number of youth and educa- growing movement to rebuild ence Theaster Gates’s rbGb tors for a week of peer-to-peer America’s middle class, and set/installation, The Colored discussions; dialogues; and this talk is his only local Museum. a studio visit, led by his col- appearance during a national red, black & GREEN: a blues

SHareOUT Created by Marc Bamuthi Saturday, April 14, 1:30-4 pm Joseph/The Living Free with museum admission Word Project or rbGb ticket Directed by Michael Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s mul- John Garcés timedia collaboration with Set/Installation Concept Theaster Gates imagines what and Design by environmental justice can Theaster Gates look like in America’s forgot- ten neighborhoods. For this Produced by MAPP SHareOUT, they turn their International Productions theater set over to young people who are expressing Media Design by David Szlasa their own realities through Lighting Design by word, beats, media, and James Clotfelter conversation. Participants Choreography by Stacey Printz include Young Chicago Documentary Films by Authors, Kuumba Lynx, Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi YOUmedia, FilmLAB@1512 Music composed by and AgLAB@1512 of the Better Tommy Shepherd aka Boys Foundation, and the Emcee Soulati MCA’s Teen Creative Agency. Costume Design by Mai-Lei Pecorari Sound Design by Gregory T. Kuhn Stage Management by Rebecca Cullars Photography by Bethanie Hines

Performed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Theaster Gates, Traci Tolmaire, and Tommy Shepherd a.k.a. Emcee Soulati Dance

Armitage Gone! Dance Drastic-Classicism and Three Theories Apr 26–28, 2012

“Dance that explodes in every sense, dazzles the eye, and remains vividly imprinted in your memory.” Le Nouvel Observateur For tickets, visit mcachicago.org or call 312.397.4010. Photo: Julieta Cervantes Photo: Julieta Cervantes (CAC) network, administered by administered network, (CAC) initiative of NEFA’s National NEFA’s of initiative leading art centers and brings and centers art leading The New EnglandNewTheFoundation for Trust; The MAP Fund, a programTrust;Fund,MAPTheaof This project is made possible made is project This the Arts’theNational DanceProject, the BoeingtheCompany Charitable to support collaboration and work and collaboration support to curators arts performing together major with (NEFA), Arts the for Foundation England New the co-commissionedYerbaBuenaby and the Rockefellertheand Foundation; additionalfundingfrom the a programMAPPInternationalaof across disciplines. across receivedgenerous support fromThe sionedAmericaThebyProject, red, black & GREEN: a blues blues a GREEN: & black red, red, black & GREEN: a blues a GREEN: & black red, support from the Doris Duke Doris the from support generous support is provided is support generous AndrewMellonW.Foundation and Arts at UniversityArtsat Houston, of FamilyFoundation. Foundation;ZellerbachTheand FordFoundation Nathantheand East Bay CommunityEastBay Foundation, CreativeCapitalsupported theby CummingsFoundation. CenterArts,theforCynthia Charitable Foundation. Additional Foundation. Charitable Productionswithsupport from The by Mary Ittelson. CAC, an CAC, Ittelson. Mary by Centers Art Contemporary the by NationalEndowment Arts;thefor DorisDukeCharitable Foundation DukeCharitable Foundation and Dance Project, is comprised of comprised is Project, Dance withmatching supportfrom withleadfundingDoris from the UnitedStatesArtists; PantaRhea University.alsocommisisIt WalkerCenter,ArtLehighand WoodsMitchell Centerthefor has is - ity, and inspiration. We thank We inspiration. and ity, The collaborative team would like would team collaborative The Technical Residency Program at Z at Program Residency Technical their durability, receptiv- durability, their to thank the citizens of uptown of citizens the thank to for Zack Avshalomov, Mona Baroudi, Mona Avshalomov, Zack received generous individual sup- individual generous received of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Chapel Carolina, North of red, black & GREEN: a blues a GREEN: & black red, Acknowledgments Anderson, Evangelia Antonakos, Evangelia Anderson, port from Kamari Alexander, Neal Alexander, Kamari from port Cook, Van Jones, Chinaka Hodge, Chinaka Jones, Van Cook, Alexandra Byer, Cera Begley, Josh Chicago; 3rd and 5th Wards in Wards 5th and 3rd Chicago; Rolando Brown, Jeff Chang, Brett Chang, Jeff Brown, Rolando Katharine Dere, Karen Cuya, Chang, Sebastian Ellen Carroll, Song, Dana Suttles, Fred Henry Fred Suttles, Dana Song, Audrey Simon, Todd Shields, Diane Rodriguez, Faviana Riley, Critical production support production Critical Stevie Gray, Leslie Lisa Greene, Lisa Leslie Gray, Stevie Performing Arts at University at Arts Performing Space. been provided by Carolina by provided been Knock Radio, Jewel Kinch, Estria Kinch, Jewel Radio, Knock Awakenings the Lynx, Kuumba Kanoelani Sharita Connor, Elz Connor, Sharita Kanoelani Osato, Vivian Phillips, Deborah Phillips, Vivian Osato, GLJ, Yanick Joseph, Mama Katt, Mama Joseph, Yanick GLJ, National Steel guitar), and guitar), Steel National Nicole Lee, Jocelyn Engeline Jocelyn Lee, Nicole DeFremery, Freddi Price (slide Price Freddi DeFremery, Houston; Harlem, New York; and York; New Harlem, Houston; Dysart, Laura Faure, Alex Grace, Alex Faure, Laura Dysart, Debra Dumbleton, Kate DeShaw, David G. O’Dell, Joan Kimiko Joan O’Dell, G. David Krosney, Connie Knox, Halili Hippensteele, Yolanda Harris, Developmental residencies have residencies Developmental Miyashiro, K Dub, Ms. Valerie at Valerie Ms. Dub, K Miyashiro, Hard Harris, Reginald Movement, Min, Uno Nam, Lisa Nelson-Haynes, Lisa Nam, Uno Min, Katya Martin, Monique McGrath, Renee Stephani Mccormick, E. Lisa Harrington, Michael West Oakland, California for California Oakland, West Wright. Steve Wolff, Nina Williams, Lucia Washington, Glynn II, Walti rbGb was provided by the by provided was has The author wishes to dedicate to wishes author The permis- for (Cello) Wong Theresa this piece to Kanoelani Connor Kanoelani to piece this throw to wish we support, tional institu- collective their to tion the of Farber Karen thank to families in greeting, acknowl- greeting, in families put We grit. and love their for edgement, and yielding. and edgement, and Youth Speaks, especially to especially Speaks, Youth and and life is living . . . . . living is life and life, is Love Davis. Hodari and out hands to the hearts of our of hearts the to hands out MAPP at teams the around arms our addi- In did. we before “it” see original their re-sample to sion performances. We further wish further We performances. Cathy Zimmerman and Joan Osato, Joan and Zimmerman Cathy Mitchell Center for being able to able being for Center Mitchell Commentary

A Rite to Heal spoken word artist who has launched a suc- cessful career in both solo and ensemble per- In April of 2011, a dozen artists and designers formance, creating signature intermedia pieces gathered in a large warehouse turned Z Space such as the break/s: a mixtape for stage and Studio. “I don’t know what this is yet,” said Marc Word Becomes Flesh that tested conventions Bamuthi Joseph, clearing a safe space for him- for speaking about race, masculinity, class and self and the other members of the group who cultural difference. Bamuthi simultaneously was gathered in a circle to hear his text in process. a co-founder of Youth Speaks, an organization He began to read, starting with a preamble that expanding from the spoken word form to create described a cast of characters. “Four characters. school and community programs that developed One speaks through text and body, one speaks the expressive skills of young people. We can through character and movement, one speaks also recount his shock upon hearing in 2007 through song and sculpture, one lives in sound that the EPA had decided to loosen rather than and fury.” The lyrical phrasing outlined the con- strengthen environmental restrictions, a moment tours of the collaboration that was taking shape. that prompted him to focus his own performance practice on environmental issues while also Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s red, black & GREEN: a bringing a more complicated racial perspective blues (rbGb) is a multi-disciplinary performance to Green politics. Bamuthi began by organiz- experiment. It mixes visual art, spoken word, ing gatherings in the parks of under-resourced choreography, theatre, and film in ways that communities to prompt citizens to reflect upon expose the boundaries that still exist amongst environmental issues from toxic dumping to toxic these art forms; its composition is an aesthetic eating that affected their communities. The effort act that integrates ritual, critique, and com- prompted one of many recalibrations. munity engagement at once. Now there is a great deal of fine work out there that aspires to “I was using a vocabulary and a world view similar goals. Choreographers are siting their that I had inherited from scientists, and work in museums as often as theatres; sculp- that wasn’t appropriate because we had tors are organizing interactions instead of cre- a different project . . . our message was ating objects; and videographers are creating about creating a safe space for learning, installations in spaces other than the cinema. which has been a problem for the Green Meanwhile, much of this work aspires to social movement.” 1 engagement with this cross-media mixing, searching for new ways to activate viewers and The experience provoked a name change and mobilize communities. rbGb, in its making and its a philosophical one: “we moved toward Life.”2 dissemination prompts a recalibration of what we De-emphasizing a Green rhetoric that seemed think collaboration can be. not to address the basic needs of daily survival in under-resourced communities, Bamuthi and We can start with the journey of Marc Bamuthi Youth Speaks decided to focus on the language Joseph himself—he who “speaks through text of Living. The Life is Living (LiL) project has and body”—and recall his roots as a champion since coordinated festivals in four cities that mix games, public art, and food into occasions for a community, or in the frame of performance art. asking “what sustains Life” in one’s community. The frame for development of all of these things The invitation prompts a wider imagining of what is all pedagogical, all environmental, the impulse qualifies as sustenance and what counts as is to enable an active participation, an immersion, Life. Bamuthi’s environmental art practice thus an ownership, amongst as many platforms as coincides with a number of progressive urban possible in order to advocate for that safety.” 4 planning movements. His world view coincides with that of AbdouMaliq Simone who argues that red, black & GREEN: a blues is divided into dif- “people” function more deeply as a self-sustaining ferent components, each with their own form “infrastructure” in urban neighborhoods where of relational encounter; first comes the colored traditional material infrastructures have broken museum, followed by colors and muses; the down.3 performance ends with back talk, an extended discussion with all artists and audience members. red, black & GREEN: a blues distills and trans- Recalling but redefining the form and content of forms the practice of Life is Living. The form and George C. Wolfe’s canonical play “The Colored content of Life is Living drives that of rbGb; audi- Museum,” four quadrants of the space in the ences will find it in the video projected, in the colored museum each have a color and are lit murals displayed, in the handwritten texts pinned and activated to feature stories and movements to walls of a modular set that has been construct- from four urban regions. As a mode of reception, ed entirely of found materials. As stories unfold the “museum” form makes that modulation more and bodies dance, performers will move and be acute through the offer of both proximity and moved by a set that represents four cities of LiL’s mobility. Receivers can get close to the structure, urban engagement--Oakland, New York, Houston, touch it if they want. Decisions to stand, to walk, and Chicago—each of them occupied by distinc- or to walk faster belong to them. Receivers can tive characters who field the complex politics of move in close to hear the stories better; they can poverty, violence, and gentrification. also find themselves backing away. Each deci- sion has an ethics. While the codes of museum If today’s urban neighborhoods rely on a display activate a traditionally seated theatre living infrastructure of exchange and sup- audience, conventions of reception are also chal- port, then rbGb’s cast enacts that relation- lenged in reverse. A traditionally mobile museum al reality in their material movements and spectator is arguably less used to encountering embodied gestures. an object that talks back, much less one that meets her gaze. When asked about the difference between the creation of community festivals and the creation The first section of rbGb is thus a space of aes- of scripted and choreographic works like rbGb, thetic as much as social re-calibration, a place Bamuthi says, “I don’t see them as two different where the conventions of performing art and visu- types of creativity. In general, we seek to be col- al art fields are redefining each other, moment to laboratively generative. We seek many ways to moment. As such, the colored museum is also create safe space, whether it is in a classroom, in a place to reflect upon another dimension of this collaboration, specifically the infrastructural con- that of other socially-engaged architects such tribution of artist Theaster Gates who designed as Houston-based Rick Lowe.7 Known most the “set” and performs as well. Theaster Gates— widely for his Project Row Houses, Lowe argues he who “speaks in song and sculpture”—is for the use of art in urban recovery and was a known to many in the artworld as a rising figure key collaborator in the Life is Living Festival in in expanded visual art practice. For over a dozen Houston; he appears as a character in the rbGb years, he has cultivated a profile as a ceramicist, text. Integrating these and other influences into learning the techniques of Japanese pottery as the design, Theaster Gates’s “set” is striking, well as those of the largely white, male craftsmen not only for its use of recycled materials, but of the California school. Gates began to think also for a modularity that makes different kinds more deeply about what it meant to be an African of “happenings” possible. As in Gates’s own re- American craftsman, creating contexts for pursu- inhabited houses — as in most experiences of ing that question that simultaneously exposed urban dwelling—performers in this space have the repressed raced and classed politics of the to become comfortable with constant shifts in object world. Such questions widened the scope their experience of privacy and publicity. of his practice to considerations of space and the built environment; re-inhabiting abandoned After the colored museum ends, audiences return houses in his native Chicago, he has remade to their seats to bear witness to the colors and structures into libraries, bookstores, and “soul muses portion of the evening. This longer section food” kitchens, undoing the interiority of a private takes us on rotations from city to city, extend- home for local public use.5 ing beyond the conversation with the Sudanese mother in Chicago to introduce us to central Gates says of his practice: “I want to enun- figures in Houston, New York, and Oakland. ciate PLACES that already exist and occu- Along the way, Bamuthi’s central questions py those Places with happenings . . . While around environment and racial justice refract and I may not be able to change the housing change. As the piece moves from city to city, we market or the surety of gentrification, I can encounter stories that demonstrate the distinctive offer questions within the landscape. To landscape of different cities. It is in Harlem that question, not by petitioning or organizing we encounter a poetics that reflects on the title of in the activist way, but by building and the piece as well as its relationship to a history of making good use of the things forgotten . . . African American literature and culture.

Creative people have the right to be concerned “In winter the harlem bells can’t ring loud with the built environment and should engage enough . . . / Red blood black people green the tools of architecture as a way of making land and such / Red black and green like meaning of their spaces. . . . Beautiful objects a mossiah messianic dream / Like an belong in blighted spaces and creative people afternoon wedding shot dead at dawn in can play a pivotal role in how this happens.”6 queens / Silent. Bell.” As Gates’s visual art practice “expanded” along architectural lines, his work coincided with With the under-punctuated stream of words, Bamuthi’s torrent sees today’s Harlem residents own artistic network, collaborators whose rela- as descendents of those who first launched the tions of affect, responsibility, and technical skill historic red, black, and green of the Pan-African produce their own living infrastructure. Bamuthi’s flag. Designed in 1920 by Marcus Garvey and hope is that “everyone involved grows by the his followers, the flag was created strategically exponent of collective investment,” and Michael to define African peoples as citizens and unite John Garcés’ focus as a director is to make them as comrades. Red referred to the blood sure that it happens. 8 For Garcés, collabora- that they shared and shed, black to their distin- tion is “not about just hoping that something will guished race, and green to the verdant natural happen;” it is more precisely about creating a resources of the African continent. The pedigree structure that frees creativity. “My job is to start of the play’s title thus also makes another aspi- making decisions, allowing them to be subject to ration of the play clear, for if Bamuthi seeks to change . . . Collaboration is two or more people introduce a racial consciousness in an environ- coming together to reach a goal that is as yet mental movement, he is also asking us to shake unclear, and that means they share a willing- free a new understanding of “GREEN” in the ness to try things, and being willing to change long history of African American and civil rights them, trusting that we’ll get there.” 9 It should be movements. If the color green has mobilized civil said that many artists trained in their respective rights, it is now time to complicate its referents, fields would find it impossible, aesthetically as to question any association that would position well as temperamentally, to commit to such a “Africa” romantically or exploitatively as a natu- process. Collaboration across the arts not only ral resource capable of infinite bounty. Another means “working with others” but also allowing layer of political complication emerges when the boundaries of your own art form to be subject rbGb returns to Bamuthi’s hometown of Oakland to change; it means that the script will change where he finds himself taught by a roomful of on the actors, that a set will be used in ways young female poetry students who share stories unintended, and that a documentary film will sud- of sexual violence. “Men go where we are not denly serve as “background” for a “happening.” wanted and fuck shit up.” he recalls, “Continents. As artists with multi-disciplinary talents, however, Constitutions. Coastal reefs. Women’s bodies.” this ensemble is willing to take the risk. Asking feminist questions of environmental imag- ining and racial solidarity, their words connect red, black & GREEN: a blues hopes to the dots between social degradation and acts encourage growth “by the exponent of col- of destruction that are still so central to insecure lective investment.” conceptions of secure masculinity. At the end of the show, audience members will Elements of a social puzzle emerge and recede, be asked to enter the playing space for con- adding layers of emotion and complication with versation. For Bamuthi, it is essential that the each story. The “people” who form the infra- conversation exceed the conventions of a typi- structure of these American cities are embedded cal “post-show” discussion. Garcés reminds us in tangled networks of affect and responsibility. that call and response is central aesthetically Moreover, representing these people requires its and socially to Bamuthi’s process. “Bamuthi challenges notions without making assumptions dismantling the institution of art and for staging of those notions . . . He came in with an inquiry radical experiments with groups of (largely white) that was about the Green movement and people kindred spirits. If Life was a generalized term for of color, and his sense of the goal changed many of these artists, Life is Living brings for- because of how people answered him when he ward other urgent connotations, implicitly asking asked them questions. And I think that’s fairly whether and how the issues of survival and jus- rare. . . . The process really defined what the tice can animate the Life experiments of the artis- show became. It’s really about an aesthetic rigor- tic avant-garde. From another direction, though, ous process.” 10 While the rigor of the process has the term Life is not robust enough to address involved researching the arguments of environ- a highly wrought and historic system of racial mentalists and racial justice advocates who have inequality; for those who consider the degree documented the economic and physical health to which “social death” has been a principle of city-dwelling Americans, Bamuthi’s inquiry structural activator of African-American history also means stepping away from the professional and identity, Life is too naïve a term. For social “glossary” of sustainability when necessary. historian Orlando Patterson and subsequent gen- erations of African-American thinkers who gave “There has to be a certain protection of up on Garveyism long ago, no vision of African- terms to maintain a standard and efficien- American subjectivity is complete without a clear- cy, but in this case, we are talking about eyed understanding of the systemic obstacles to our environment. So while there has to be racial survival.11 Bamuthi says he gets this too. a certain standard, it’s also in all of our best interests to be as inclusive as pos- “Green isn’t necessarily a shared value; life sible. . . . I am a language guy, so I get it. . . isn’t necessarily a shared value for black . I could say that this is about obesity, dia- males under the age of 24. The leading betes, and food justice, but the purpose of cause of death for black males age 16 to using broad language is to acknowledge 24 is violence perpetrated on each other. that all of these things are like an eco- So injecting that word Life is to shift the system.” perception of what it means to be environ- mentally literate and what it means to sus- Post-show conversation is thus about broaden- tain our communities.”12 ing this already broad language, devising new glossaries together and reminding each other of Life then is not a given, nor is it a given that Life who and what resides in the eco-system that we is good. But in a dire context, loaded with irony share. and justified pessimism, Bamuthi argues for what he calls “his rite to heal.” To claim such a right But even as non-controversial as the word “Life” and to craft such a rite is thus a highly charged may sound, it comes loaded with conceptual his- political act. tory from different quarters. The word Life was a signature term for avant-garde artists of the This note is excerpted from a longer essay by Shannon Jackson, University of California, Berkeley. sixties who touted “Art-into-Life” as a mantra for It is commissioned by the Contemporary Art Centers Photo: Bethanie Hines

(CAC) network, an initiative of NEFA’s National 2011. Dance Project administered by the New England 9 Author’s Interview with Garcés, June 2011. Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), with major sup- 10 Author’s Interview with Garcés, June 2011. port from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; The 11 See Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death America Project, a program of MAPP International (Harvard UP, 1985) and, more recently, Jared Sexton, Productions. Amalgamation Schemes: Antiblackness and the Critique of Multiculturalism (University of Minnesota Press, 1 Author Interview with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, June 2008); Frank Wilderson, Incognegro, A Memoir of 2011. Exile and Apartheid (South End Press, 2008) and his 2 Author Interview with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, June Red, White, and Black: Cinema and the Structure of 2011. U.S. Antagonisms (Duke UP, 2010). 3 AbdouMaliq Simone, “People as Infrastructure: 12 Author’s interview with Bamuthi Joseph, June Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg,” Public Cul- 2011. ture 16.3 (Fall 2004): 407-429. 4 Author Interview with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, June 2011. 5 See, for instance, “The City as Studio: Theaster Gates,” The Pulitizer: http://vimeo.com/9055177; and projects posted on his website at: http://theaster- gates.com/home.html. 6 http://theastergates.com/home.html 7 Of the many writings on Lowe’s work, see Aimee Chang, “The Artist and the City: New Models for Creative Public Practice,” Transforma (2005-2010): 11-24 and Michael Kimmelman, “Art is Where the Home Is,” New York Times (December 17 2006). 8 Author’s Interview with Bamuthi Joseph, June About the Artists

Marc Bamuthi Joseph popular commentator on National Public Radio, is one of America’s vital voices in performance, and carried adjunct professorships at Stanford arts education, and artistic curation. In the fall of University, Lehigh University, Mills College, and 2007, Joseph graced the cover of Smithsonian the University of Wisconsin. Joseph’s proudest Magazine after being named one of America’s work has been with Youth Speaks where he Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. mentors thirteen- to nineteen-year-old writers He is the artistic director of the seven-part HBO and curates the Living Word Festival and Left documentary Russell Simmons presents Brave Coast Leaning. He is the cofounder of Life is New Voices and is an inaugural recipient of the Living, a national series of one-day festivals United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, designed to activate under-resourced parks and which annually recognizes fifty of the country’s affirm peaceful urban life through hip-hop arts “greatest living artists.” Additionally, Joseph was and focused environmental action. recently announced as the 2011 Alpert Award lifeisliving.org winner in Theater. He is maintaining a dedicated alpertawards.org practice in performance, while currently serv- ing as the Director of Performing Arts at Yerba Michael John Garcés Buena Center for the Arts in . is the artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company, a community-engaged ensemble in After appearing on Broadway as a young actor, where he is currently directing Café Joseph has developed several poetically based Vida by Lisa Loomer, and has also directed work works for the stage that have toured across by Jeffrey Hatcher, Naomi Iizuka, Page Leong, the United States, Europe, and Africa. These Tom Jacobson, and Julie Marie Myatt. He is very include Word Becomes Flesh, presented by pleased to be continuing his collaboration with MCA Stage in 2006, as well as Scourge and Bamuthi, which began with the break/s. Other the break/s, which co-premiered at the Humana recent directing credits include Oedipus El Rey Festival of New American Plays and the Walker by Luis Alfaro at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Arts Center in the spring of 2008 and was pre- Company, where he is a company member; sented by MCA Stage in 2009. Joseph’s Word Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy Becomes Flesh was re-mounted in December at CalArts; and the tenth-anniversary production 2010 as part of the National Endowment for the of N.E. 2nd Ave by Teo Castellanos at the Arsht Arts’ American Masterpieces series and will tour Center for the Performing Arts. Other theaters throughout North America and through at which he has directed include The Guthrie 2013. In addition, Joseph wrote the commis- Theatre, The Children’s Theatre Company, New sioned libretto, Home in 7 for the Atlanta Ballet York Theatre Workshop, Hartford Stage, Second in 2011, and is directing Dennis Kim’s Tree City Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, INTAR, Legends at Intersection for the Arts in 2012. Yale Repertory Theatre, The Cherry Lane, The Atlantic Theater Company, and Repertorio A gifted and nationally acclaimed educator Español. Garcés is on the executive board of and essayist, he has lectured at more than the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. two hundred colleges and universities, been a For Cornerstone he wrote Los Illegals, created in collaboration with communities of day labor- lations, and exhibitions include Black Monks ers and domestic workers, which was published & the Gospel of Black (Van Abbemuseum, in the summer 2011 issue of Theatre Magazine Eindhoven, Netherlands); Black Monks of (Yale School of Drama/Duke University Press). Mississippi–If You See Jesus Tell Him Where I Other plays he has written include THE WEB Am (Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago); Branded (needtheatre), points of departure and cus- Alongside the Cabinet of Curiosities (Milwaukee toms (INTAR), and Acts of Mercy (Rattlestick Art Museum, Wisconsin); Tea Shacks, Collard Playwrights Theater). Short plays include hymn Greens & the Preservation of Soul (Center in three parts (Chalk Rep), inhabited (Red Fern for Proliferation of Afro-Asian Artifacts, Theatre Co.), tostitos (EST Marathon of One-Act Chicago); Plate Convergence (Yamaguchi Plays), on edge and the ride (Humana Festival), Institute, Chicago); Mississippi Houses (Inax audiovideo (Drama League/Directors Project), Ceramic Museum, Tokoname, Japan); and and catch and sandlot ball (Mile Square). He The American Negro: Too good to be true (St. wrote the text for the oratorio Stations, com- George Cathedral, Cape Town, South Africa). posed by Alexandra Vrebalov, recently per- Gates received an interdisciplinary master’s formed at the NOMUS Festival in Novi Sad, degree in Urban Planning and Public Sculpture Serbia. Garcés is a recipient of the Princess from Iowa State University in 2005. He is cur- Grace Statue, the Alan Schneider Director rently Director of Arts and Public Life and Artist Award, and a TCG/New Generations Grant. He in Residence at the University of Chicago. is a proud alum of New Dramatists.

Theaster Gates David Szlasa is a Chicago-based artist whose practice cov- is a media artist, curator, and producer. He is ers performance and installation, urban plan- the recipient of the Gerbode Award, Future ning and design, and the traditional fine arts. Aesthetics Artist Award, and Lighting Artists in His work in performance, installation art, and Dance Award for innovative use of video in per- public intervention offers a platform that opens formance. The called up challenging issues by presenting them Szlasa’s ongoing work with interactive technol- not as acute encounters but as invitations to ogy “so timely as to feel timeless.” His work has engage hard information creatively. His instal- been presented in a range of venues from the lation at the Museum of Contemporary Art Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to the Sydney Chicago, Temple Exercises, built of wooden Opera House and the Harare International boards recycled from a factory in Chicago’s Festival of the Arts, Zimbabwe. Szlasa has col- post-industrial heart, not only encouraged laborated with artists including Marc Bamuthi people to see these discarded materials in light Joseph, Sara Shelton Mann, Rennie Harris, Deb of modernist art, but to reflect on cultural tradi- Margolin, Hope Mohr, Synaesthetic Theater, tions that depend on scrap for survival. The and Bill Shannon. In addition, Szlasa produces installation housed performances by the Black and curates programming at Z Space in San Monks of Mississippi, a music ensemble which Francisco and has worked on staff at The Gates founded. Other performances, instal- Culture Project, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, The Drama League, and Dance Theater recipient of the New Work Fellowship from Workshop in New York. Szlasa is currently the Marin Arts Council. Printz received sociol- engaged in a commission awarded by the ogy and dance degrees from the University National Science Foundation and the Geissler of California, Irvine. In addition to teaching at Group in Theoretical Chemistry at the University San Francisco Dance Center, she has been of California, Berkeley. davidszlasa.com on faculty at St. Mary’s College, Sonoma State University, and RoCo Dance Studio. She has James Clotfelter taught master classes and workshops across is committed to the creation of collaborative and the United States, as well as internationally in socially conscious work for theater and dance. Switzerland, Italy, Amsterdam, Belgium, Russia, He is Artistic Associate with Pig Iron Theatre Lithuania, and Ireland. Highly interested in Company (Chekhov Lizardbrain, Welcome to collaborative experiences, Printz had the plea- Yuba City), Resident Lighting Designer and sure of working with Marc Bamuthi Joseph on Production Manager for Miro Dance Theatre Scourge and the break/s. printzdance.org (Punch, Spooky Action), and Company Member of johannes wieland (newyou, Progressive Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi Coma). In 2005 he cofounded Mlab, a labora- has traveled the world capturing the voice of tory for innovations and design technologies in international hip-hop and documenting the art of the live arts which has realized numerous sce- storytelling around the globe. After graduating nic, light, and video designs specifically tailored from the University of California, Berkeley, while for efficient and sustainable touring. Recent still enrolled in the MA program at New York collaborations include work with Rennie Harris, University’s Tisch School for the Arts, he com- John Jasperse, Bill Shannon, Thaddeus Phillips, pleted his first acclaimed international documen- Sara Shelton Mann, Rainpan 43, Southern tary, Inventos: Cubano, in 2005, win- Repertory Theatre, and Lubelski Teatr Tanca. ning the prestigious Student Filmmaker Award jcld.net at the Pan-African Film Festival. He then cre- ated Homegrown: Hip Life in Ghana, the story of Stacey Printz Hip Life (a combination of hip-hop and Ghana’s is artistic director of the Printz Dance Project native High Life music style), that documents (PDP). Founded in 1998, PDP has performed the band VIP’s ten years journey from the ghetto extensively in California with home seasons at in Accra to their first international tour. Jacobs- the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, and has Fantauzzi launched Fistup.tv, an online channel toured all over the United States, including New dedicated to documenting the global hip-hop York, Los Angeles, Memphis, Arizona, Colorado, movement. Episodes have featured Los Rakas and internationally in Lithuania, Russia, and (Panama), Las Krudas (Cuba), Ana Tijoux Ireland. Printz has been commissioned to cho- (Chile), and Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana) and reograph for many companies in California and have also covered the 2011 South By Southwest has received awards from the Zellerbach Family music/film conference in Austin, Texas. Jacobs- Foundation, the W&F Hewlett Foundation, and Fantauzzi works as an educator and activist, Fort Mason Foundation. She is also a recent teaching in the Ethnic Studies Department at UC Berkeley, and as a documentarian for The Intersection for the Arts’ GROUNDED? festival Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution of new works. Other credits include co-compos- in Ghana. He has worked with Sacramento er/collaborator/performer with the Jazz Mafia Youth Speaks, Sol Collective Arts and Cultural Symphony; performing the world premiere of Center, and the National Institute of Culture and The Joshua Norton Suite; creating the score History in Belize. Jacobs-Fantauzzi was recently for Donald Lacy’s Color Struck, which was per- awarded a grant from the National Endowment formed at the National Black Theatre Festival for the Arts for “Breaking the Paradigm: The and for the National Black Congress leading Reciprocal Relationship Between Traditional up to President Obama’s election. Shepherd Cultural Artforms and Contemporary Hip Hop.” was a commissioned artist, co-creator and He is currently curating the second annual Fist performer of Raw Dios for headrush crew, Up Film Festival and working on a new film which toured Berkeley, Denver, and the famed in Medellin, Colombia, titled Revolucion Sin El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista. Muertos (Revolution Without Death). He re-created the previously unfinished Duke Ellington musical Queenie Pie, which premiered Tommy Shepherd at the Oakland Opera in 2008. Shepherd has a.k.a. Emcee Soulati, is an actor, playwright, performed and toured internationally with Marc composer, educator, b-boy, rapper, drummer, Bamuthi Joseph, collaborating on Scourge and and beat boxer. He is a cofounder of the live hip- the break/s. hop collective, Felonious: onelovehiphop, which plays music throughout the world and creates Traci Tolmaire original theatrical productions from their base is an actor, dancer, and singer from Chicago. as a resident company at Intersection for the Her training in theater arts and dance includes Arts. Felonious’s last project was Angry Black a BA in Theatre from Spelman College; the- White Boy, adapted from the Adam Mansbach atrical studies at ’s Tisch book by Dan Wolf, for which Shepherd created School of the Arts; and dance training at the original music and performed. Shepherd has Sammy Dyer School of Theatre in Chicago, also been a longtime Hybrid Resident Artist at Joel Hall Dance Center, Lou Cante/Hubbard Intersection, a member of Campo Santo, and Street Dance Company, and classes with mas- a performer with Erika Chong Shuch’s ESP ter teachers Katherine Dunham and Savion project. He acted in and created the score for Glover. Her theatrical credits include Anansi Nobody Move and Hamlet: Blood in the Brain the Spider (Marin Theatre Company); Rejoice! by Naomi Iizuka; and created the sound design (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre); IPH . . . a and score with Howard Wiley for A Place To translation of Iphigeneia at Aulis by Euripides Stand. He also acted, beat boxed, and com- (Brava Theater/African-American Shakespeare posed a live score with Scheherazade Stone for Company); Mirrors In Every Corner (directed Domino by Campo Santo with Sean San José, by Marc Bamuthi Joseph for Intersection which premiered at Yerba Buena Center for for the Arts/Campo Santo); Susan Lori the Arts. In 2007 he created and performed his Parks’s 365 Days/365 Plays series (Hartford first one-act solo, The MF in ME, premiering at Stage Company); Joseph and the Amazing Photo: Bethanie Hines Technicolor Dreamcoat (Fulton Opera House); Gregory T. Kuhn The Darker Face of the Earth (Take Wing and is a multidisciplinary creator and collaborator in Soar Productions); Trouble in Mind (Actor’s the performing and fine arts since 1986 as com- Express); and Breath, Boom (Synchronicity poser, sound designer and engineer, visual artist Theatre Group). She was an understudy for Lisa and designer. After receiving a BA in Music from Kron’s play In the Wake at Berkeley Repertory Swarthmore College, he worked with Relâche Theatre and appeared twice in the New York and New Music America 1987, and at the Yellow International Fringe Festival as a leading actress Springs Institute in the Philadelphia area. Since in original productions Fantasy, Girl (also cho- 1988, he has collaborated on a great diversity of reographer) and Eggs and the Rebound Guy. projects in the for the- Tolmaire has worked as choreographer for ater, multimedia, exhibition, dance, and experi- Hartford Stage Company’s production of Gee’s mental and contemporary music performances. Bend, Connecticut Critics Circle award winner Recent recognition includes the 2007 Isadora for best ensemble, and Rejoice!, a holiday musi- Duncan Award for San Francisco Ballet’s Ballet cal at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. She resides Mori (with Ken Goldberg and Randall Packer) in the San Francisco Bay Area.tracitolmaire.com and the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for Unique Theatrical Experience for Rinde Eckert’s Horizon Mai-Lei Pecorari (directed by David Schweizer). Ongoing activi- is an independent costume designer and ward- ties include new works by Paul Dresher, Joan robe stylist based in San Francisco and New Jeanrenaud, Karla Kihlstedt, Margaret Jenkins, York. She began her career as a designer while Joe Goode, Larry Reed, Wayne Vitale, Rafael attending college at the University of Florida, Landea, Traveling Jewish Theater, the San where she completed her bachelor’s degree Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Eco in costume design. Moving to Atlanta, she Ensemble, and Other Minds. designed shows with Jomandi Productions and worked with neighboring theaters such as Rebecca Cullars Virginia’s Mill Mountain Theater. These projects a.k.a. B^2, worked on Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s granted her the opportunity to work with artists the break/s as Stage Manager and Lighting such as choreographer Moustapha Bangoura Director. Based in New York, she has worked of Les Ballets Africains; Chuck Davis, artistic on The NYC Downtown Urban Theater Festival director of DanceAfrica; and Marc Bamuthi as Stage Manager; Fyvush Finkel Live, Two Joseph on the production of Scourge. Since Brothers, and Metamorphose as Interim her move to the West Coast, she has been a Production Manager, Video Supervisor, and wardrobe stylist, costume supervisor, and key Master Electrician; Perfect Fit as Lighting costumer on film and video sets. Currently her Designer; Nathan the Wise as Assistant Lighting focus is on commercial and advertising produc- Designer; Hip Hop Monologues: Inside the Life tions, with clients ranging from the Gap and Levi and Times of Jim Jones as Stage Manager; Strauss & Co. to Microsoft and Apple, Inc., to Cyclone and the Pig-Faced Lady as Assistant Adidas and New Balance. Lighting Designer; and Any Night as Technical Director. She has worked as Sponsor Liaison for the Marty Markowitz Brooklyn Summer Concert black & GREEN: a blues (Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Series and is lighting designer for Brooklyn directed by Michael John Garcés, 2011) and Center for the Performing Arts of gospel acts Tree City Legends (Dennis Kim, 2012). Since including Mary Mary, Tye Tribbett, Hezekiah 2008, LWP has produced LIFE is LIVING Walker, Kirk Franklin, The Clark Sisters, JJ across the country in underutilized parks in Hairston, and Richard Smallwood. urban cities. LIFE is LIVING establishes a new model for partnerships between diverse and Bethanie Hines under-resourced communities, green action aims for her photography to “move [Hines] agencies, and the contemporary art world. through the world with her whole heart . . . [so Highly successful LIFE is LIVING events have that] those on the other side of her lens feel the taken place in Harlem, Chicago, Houston, and reverence she holds for life.” Hines is committed Oakland. Joan Osato is Producing Director. to a practice of mindfulness, which connects her to moments that could easily be missed. She MAPP International Productions strives for her photography to evidence vulner- develops sustainable environments for artists ability, emotion, intimacy, and connection to her to create, premiere, and tour performing arts subjects. projects and advances appreciation of diverse cultures and perspectives through arts, humani- bethaniehines.com ties, and public dialogue. Our curatorial vision leads us to seek out artists on the cutting edge The Living Word Project (LWP) of their disciplines—artists who lead the way in is the resident theater company of Youth tackling complex subject matter and experiment- Speaks, committed to producing literary ing with form, and whose works are the engine performance in the verse of our time. that continually push the cultural conversation Aesthetically urban and pedagogically Freirean, forward in our society. We realize our mission LWP derives personal performed narratives through our interconnected programs—New out of interdisciplinary collaboration. Although Works, Artist-Public Dialogues, and MAPP on its methodology includes dance, music, and Tour—and through our national and interna- film, the company’s emphasis is on spoken tional programs, The America Project and The storytelling. LWP creates verse-based work that Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium. Since is spoken through the body, illustrated by visual its founding in 1994, MAPP has produced thirty and sonic scores, and in communication with acclaimed multidisciplinary performing arts proj- the important social issues and movements of ects created and performed by more than three the immediate moment. LWP is the connection hundred artists, and our productions have been from Shakespeare’s quill to Kool Herc’s seen in forty-two US states and sixteen coun- turntables, from Martha Graham’s cupped hand tries. MAPP has introduced the US public to to Nelson Mandela’s clenched fist—a new voice artists from twenty-two countries in Asia, Africa, for a new politic. Recent highlights include the Europe, Australia, and the Caribbean. break/s (Marc Bamuthi Joseph, 2009), Mirrors in Every Corner (Chinaka Hodge, 2010), red, SHareOUT Partners

Better Boys Foundation (BBF) mentary/animation); Angelo Williams: Moon’s has worked for fifty-one years to improve the (2010, documentary); Aurelia Turner: Train In quality of life of the North Lawndale commu- The Closet & The Call (2011, narrative/anima- nity through youth development programming tion); and Monique Morgan & Boshea Brown: designed to respond to the academic, social, Hard Work (2012, documentary.) and emotional needs of the community’s chil- dren, youth, and families. BBF’s current focus Follow YouthLAb at http://www.betterboys.org/ is on out-of-school time programming for ele- programs-services/youthlab-1512/. For the latest mentary-age children and high-school-age youth from AgLAB @1512 please visit http://bbf-aglab. and post-secondary preparation and support for tumblr.com/ young people going on to college or vocational school. Its two core programs are kidLAB@1512 The Creative Agency at MCA (TCA) (serving children ages five to twelve), and is a new two-year program in which the MCA YouthLAB@1512 (serving youth ages thirteen to partners with local teens to explore art and cul- eighteen). Approximately two hundred children/ ture through the lens of their individual creative youth are served by BBF’s programming on-site questions and passions. Members meet weekly each day. BBF’s goal is to realize the power of with the program’s Lead Artist, Jason Pallas, potential in each child/youth it serves via inten- and focus on themes of critical interpretation, sive academic support services and innovative public speaking, and cultural participation. and expert-led apprenticeships offered currently in eight core areas: The founding TCA members are Harlan Ballogg, Chi Arts ; Alejandro DiPrizio, Loyola Academy; —Organic gardening and urban food policy work Kara Franco, Elk Grove HS; LaMar Gayles, (AgLAB@1512) Kennedy-King College Prep; Nick Jackson, —Drawing, painting, and sculpture Jones College Prep; Richard Jackson, Harold (ArtLAB@1512—to launch summer 2012) Washington College; Ella Kinsman, Glenbard —Digital music production (BeatLAB@1512—to South HS; Benjamin Marshall Jr, Chi Arts; launch summer 2012) Matthew Moen, Whitney Young; Alexis Moore, —Bicycling and bicycle mechanics in partnership Marine Math and Science Academy; Rosa with West Town Bikes (BikeLAB@1512) Novak, Evanston Township HS; Xavier Smith, —Film, video, and new media (FilmLAB@1512) EPIC Academy; Andrew Yaus, Oak Park- River —Knitting, crocheting, and textile arts Forest HS; and Lucy Wang, Hinsdale Central HS. (KnitLAB@1512) —Writing and graphic design (LitLAB@1512) Follow The Creative Agency @TCAatMCA —Beginning and advanced tap dancing (TapLAB1&2) Kuumba Lynx was founded by Jacinda Bullie, Jaquanda The members of BBF screening their video work Villegas, and Leyda “Lady Sol” Garcia in 1996 for SHareOUT at MCA Stage are Kia Clair & as an interdisciplinary performance ensemble Stephenie Gipson: BBF Dreamers (2012, docu- and arts education organization. Hailing from the north, south, and west side of Chicago, Washington) after school hours. DYN is other- members include artists of all ages dedi- wise not bounded by walls or time of day. The cated to preserving community story through core of the model spans the worlds of school, “edutainment”-a term coined by hip hop emcee, home, and after-school activities. It provides philosopher, and activist KRS 1. The ensemble youth with access and training in the use of fuses hip hop movement, text, and music to cre- new media literacy tools; meaningful activities ate urban narratives that explore culture, spiri- where the development of new media literacies tuality, social responsibility, and cross cultural is essential for accomplishing goals; and a con- understandings. Kuumba Lynx is a Chicago tinuum of established new media mentors (from Park District Arts Partner with Clarendon Park. It high school students to professionals) who has performed throughout Chicago as well as in develop students’ technical skills, serve as role Atlanta, Cuba, California, New Mexico, and New models, and provide access to the communi- York. ties of practice surrounding technology-based careers. The members of Kuumba Lynx participat- ing for SHareOUT at MCA Stage are Dashay The members of YOUmedia participating for Barlow, Sahara Burton, Askia Bullie, Hamid SHareOUT at MCA Stage are Sam Carrol, Bullie, Jacinda Bullie, Jahliegh Bullie, Quenton Malcom London, Vanity Robinson, Kush Cole, LeSuga Eagens, Joshua Garcia, Anniece Thompson (poets) and Ramon “Prince Talent” Grays, Leslie Guzman, Marshan Hall, Kenisha O’Donnell (audio.) Harper, Key-kee Itson, Michael Johnson, Maya Odim, Aliyah Olemade, Jeremiah Perry, Keith Follow YOUmedia at Redmond, Tatianna Serrato, Tanya Smith, redblackgreenabluesyoumedia.tumblr.com. Jaquanda Villegas, Neiyah Villegas, and Sejahari Villegas. Young Chicago Authors was founded in 1991 by Dr. Robert S. Boone, a Follow Kuumba Lynx at kuumblynx.org. published author and educator with extensive experience teaching teens in urban and subur- YOUmedia ban Chicago settings. He assembled a group is a collaboration between the Chicago Public of educators, writers, and philanthropists who Library and Digital Youth Network (DYN). DYN all believed that young people should have is a hybrid digital literacy program begun at more exposure to creative writing. YCA directly the University of Chicago’s Urban Education serves 2,500 teens a year through workshops Institute and now administered by DePaul and performance and publication programs, University. In its partnership with the Chicago and reaches 30,000 young people and adults Public Library, DYN supports new ways of acti- through readership of its publications and audi- vating and exploring themes found in traditional ences at its events. It also develops programs literature through the development of multimedia that serve young writers and educators. YCA’s projects and applied technology by youth who Writing Teachers Collective, formed by and for meet at the main Chicago Public Library (Harold writers who teach and teachers who use writing Photo: Bethanie Hines in the classroom, offers workshops on special The members of Young Chicago Authors partici- topics in creative writing. WTC has been integral pating for SHareOUT at MCA Stage are Leah in several initiatives, such as the Chicago Teen Barber, Nina Coomes, Eric Gaston, Cece Tate, Poetry Slam; WordWide; GirlSpeak; Men as and Keith Warfield. Allies: Swaggerzine; and Say What, a literary magazine tying together creative writing with Follow Young Chicago Authors at youth culture and personal expression. YCA is youngchicagoauthors.org. widely celebrated as producer of Louder Than A Bomb, which brings hundreds of teens together from across the United States and across racial, gang, and socio-economic lines in a friendly competition that emphasizes self-expression and community via poetry, oral storytelling, and hip-hop spoken word. Courtesy Guidelines and Information

As one of the nation’s largest multidisciplinary museums devoted to Parking the art of our time, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago offers Validate your ticket at coat exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art of today. The museum’s check for $11 parking in the MCA garage (220 E. Chicago Avenue) performing arts program, MCA Stage, is the most active presenter of and Bernardin garage (747 N. theater, dance, and music in Chicago, featuring leading performers Wabash). The $11 parking is from around the globe in our 300-seat theater. limited to six hours on date of performance.

MCA Stage is committed to presenting groundbreaking performances Lost and found that focus on collaboration; working closely with artists; converging To inquire about a lost item, call the museum at 312.280.2660. with the larger programming of the museum; and offering a contem- Unclaimed articles are held for porary view of the traditional roots of performance. 30 days.

Seating Switch off all noise-making Mary Ittelson, Performance Programs devices while you are in Chair of the Board of Peter Taub, Director the theater. Trustees Yolanda Cesta Cursach, Late arrivals are seated at the Madeleine Grynsztein, Associate Director management’s discretion. Food Pritzker Director Surinder Martignetti, Manager and open beverage containers are Janet Alberti, Antonia Callas, Assistant not allowed in the seating area. Deputy Director Kevin Brown, Michael Darling, House Management Associate Reproduction James W. Alsdorf Chief Alicia M Graff, Unauthorized recording and Curator House Management Associate reproduction of a performance Quinlan Kirchner, is prohibited. Performance Committee House Management Associate Museum of Contemporary Art Lois Eisen, Chair Eboni Senai Hawkins, Intern Chicago Katherine A. Abelson 220 E. Chicago Avenue Ellen Stone Belic Theater Management Chicago, Illinois 60611 Pamela Crutchfield Dennis O’Shea, mcachicago.org Ginger Farley Manager of Technical Gale Fischer Production General information 312.280.2660 Jay Franke Richard Norwood, John C. Kern Theater Production Manager Box office 312.397.4010 Lisa Yun Lee Volunteer for performances Elizabeth A. Liebman Box Office 312.397.4072 Lewis Manilow Matti Allison, Manager [email protected] Alfred L. McDougal Phongtorn Phongluantum, Paula Molner Assistant Manager Contact the Performance department Sharon Oberlander Molly Laemle, Coordinator [email protected] Maya Polsky Jena Hirschy, Associate D. Elizabeth Price Lucy Pearson, Associate Museum hours Carol Prins Gabriel Garcia, Associate Tuesday: 10 am–8 pm Cheryl Seder Wednesday–Sunday: 10am–5pm Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, Patty Sternberg Program notes compiled by Christmas, and New Year’s Day Richard Tomlinson Yolanda Cesta Cursach