FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2008
Contact: Anthony Lupinacci
Director of Public Relations, Shubert Theater
Tel. 203.624.1825
AnthonyL@CAPA.com
International Festival of Arts & Ideas Announces Its Events for the 2008 Summer FestivalLiterary Traditions in Drama Featured with New Works by Nobel Prize-Winning Poet Seamus Heaney and Acclaimed Irish Novelist Sebastian Barry(New Haven, CT ? April 21, 2008) Mary Lou Aleskie, Executive Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, has announced the artists and events for the 13th annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas running Saturday, June 14 through Saturday, June 28, 2008. This year's Festival includes a full complement of theater, dance, music, family performances, community events as well as its popular Ideas programs, a series of stimulating discussions, thought-provoking debates and engaging seminars hosted by today's leading thinkers, writers and speakers. The various programs and events are woven together by the Festival's themes of personal liberty, social responsibility and spirituality.
Tickets for all events with admission prices will go on sale to the public on Monday, May 5. Tickets can be purchased at the Shubert Theater Box Office (located at 247 College Street, New Haven) and by phone at 203-562-5666 or 888-736-2663. For a complete listing of events and to order tickets online, log on to www.artidea.org. As in past years, a large percentage of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas events and programs will be FREE.
A highlight of the 2008 Festival are the U.S. premieres of two new theatrical productions originating from Irish and U.K. stages that will bookend the two-week festival. The Festival's opening weekend kicks off with the Nottingham Playhouse production of "The Burial at Thebes," a new translation of Sophocles' Antigone by Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney that runs through the first week of the festival, followed by the Fishamble Theatre Company production of Sebastian Barry's "The Pride of Parnell Street" that runs during the second week and culminates during the closing weekend. Both will be presented at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven. These productions come to the Festival following critically praised runs at London's Barbican Centre and Dublin's Theater Festival, respectively.
Mary Lou Aleskie, Executive Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas commented, "These highly praised productions continue the International Festival of Arts & Ideas' rich tradition of bringing the world's outstanding theater productions to U.S. audiences."
Highlight events listed below - for a comprehensive list of all events: www.artidea.org
THEATER EVENTS
THE BURIAL AT THEBES
U.S. Premiere of the Nottingham Playhouse Production
June 14-15, 17-19, 2008
Saturday, June 14 @ 4pm; Sunday, June 15 @ 2 & 7pm;
Tuesday, June 17 @ 8pm; Wednesday, June 18 @ 2 & 8pm; Thursday, June 19 @ 8pm
Location: Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive
Admission: $36 / $20 / $10
"The Burial at Thebes" is Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney's translation of Sophocles' "Antigone" performed by the Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company. Partly inspired by the war in Iraq, Heaney's captivating and lyrical adaptation lends Sophocles' tragic heroine, Antigone, a 21st century voice. Under the direction of Lucy Pitman-Wallace, the Nottingham Playhouse production makes its U.S. Premiere during the opening weekend of the 2008 International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
TEATRO DI PIAZZA O D'OCCASIONE (TPO), THE JAPANESE GARDEN
June 18-22, 2008
Wednesday thru Friday, June 18-20 @ 2 & 6pm; Saturday & Sunday, June 21 & 22 @ 11am & 3pm
Location: Arts Hall, ACES/ECA, 55 Audubon Street
Admission: $15
Italy's leading young people's visual theater company, Teatro Di Piazza o d'Occasione (TPO), takes audiences on a magic carpet ride through an ever-unfolding Japanese Garden. Using innovative sound, light and digital technology, live actors and audience members bring the stories to life in a spellbinding theatrical installation that appeals to children and families.
THE PRIDE OF PARNELL STREET
U.S. Premiere of the Fishamble Theatre Company's play by Sebastian BarryJune 24-28, 2008
Tuesday thru Friday, June 24-27 @ 8pm; Saturday, June 28 @ 3pm
Location: Long Wharf Theatre - Stage II, 222 Sargent Drive
Admission: $25
This U.S. premiere production of Sebastian Barry's "quiveringly beautiful" (Sunday Independent) play is "exquisitely phrased" with an "intensely powerful conclusion" (The Times). The original Fishamble production premiered in London in 2007 and was the hit of the Dublin Theatre Festival, receiving The Irish Times' Irish Theatre Award nomination for Best New Play.
GLOBAL SCENES International Play Reading Series
June 21 & 22
Saturday, June 21 @ 1 & 4pm; Sunday, June 22 @ 1pm
Location: Long Wharf Theatre - Stage II
Admission: $15
This co-production between the International Festival and Long Wharf Theatre focuses on the works of contemporary Eastern European playwrights. Continuing social and political upheaval provides rich subject matter for the three readings:
June 21, 1pm: "Death of the Squirrel Man ," by Malgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk, traces a thin line between patriotism and terrorism and will represent Poland in the prestigious "New Plays from Europe" festival in Wiesbaden this year.
June 21, 4pm: "G?za-boy," by J?nos H?y, a poignant comic portrait of subsistence on the periphery of Hungarian society that was named the "Best Hungarian Drama of 2002."
June 22, 1pm: "For a Barbarian Woman," by Saviana Stanescu, tells parallel love stories two millennia apart with Romania as the place where contemporary American and ancient Roman values converge.
Playwrights featured in Global Scenes' readings will also be included in the Festival's IDEAS program, Symposium on International Theater, on Sunday, June 22 at 4pm
DANCE EVENTS
CHUNKY MOVE: GLOW
June 18-22, 2008
Wednesday thru Friday, June 18-20 @ 6:30 & 8:30pm; Saturday & Sunday, June 21 & 22 @ 5 & 7pm
Location: New Theater, 1156 Chapel Street
Admission: $15
Australian dance company Chunky Move has earned an enviable reputation for producing a distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying dance performance. Utilizing the latest in interactive video technologies a digital landscape is generated in response to a dancer's movements to create a "glow" on stage, rendering no two performances the same.
SMALL DANCES ABOUT BIG IDEAS
June 25, 2008, Wednesday @ 8 pm
Location: Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street
Admission: $20
Liz Lerman's Small Dances About Big Ideas, Commissioned by Harvard Law School for the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, examines challenging questions about the scope of the law and the nature of mass violence. Audience stories are woven into a theatrical fabric that reflects on events in Nazi German, Bosnia and Rwanda. Staged in a courtroom-like environment, this unique performance will incorporate the added dimension of commentary from some leading New Haven voices in the field of law and religion.
APPARATUS THEATRE GROUP: DOORS
Concept, Choreography and Set Design by Sasha Pepelyaev
June 25-28, 2008
Wednesday, June 28 @ 2:00pm; Thursday & Friday, June 26 & 27 @ 8:00pm; Saturday, June 28 @ 3:00pm
Location: New Theater, 1156 Chapel, New Haven, CT
Admission: $25
Visionary Russian choreographer and dance theater director, Sasha Pepelyaev, has created a theatrical experience that references the surreal literary world of Russian writer, Daniil Kharms. The company's seven dancers integrate elements of classical ballet, modern and Russian folk in a performance with real and virtual doors.
LIZ LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE - "613 Radical Acts of Prayer"
Various events running throughout the Festival
Location: Various locations in New Haven
Admission: FREE
Throughout the Festival, the Dance Exchange will present dozens of site specific pieces in myriad sacred, public and theatrical spaces around New Haven.
Grand Finale Performance: June 28, 2008, Saturday @ 7pm, New Haven Green
The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and hundreds of citizen-dancers join on the New Haven Green for the final act of "613 Radical Acts of Prayer" and the Festival Grand Finale!
MUSIC EVENTS
MAVIS STAPLES
June 14, 2008, Saturday @ 8pm
Location: New Haven Green
Admission: FREE
The Festival could not have a more exhilarating launch than a free concert by Mavis Staples, one of the most recognizable voices in gospel and soul.
RAY LEE'S SIREN
U.S. Premiere
June 14 & 15, 17-21, 2008
June 14, 15 & 21 @ 3pm & 6pm; June 17 @ 12pm & 2pm; June 18, 19, 20 @ 5pm & 7pm
Location: The English Building, 839 Chapel Street
Admission: $15
Artist, composer and performer Ray Lee's transfixing audio-visual project is a whirling, spinning spectacle of mechanical movement, electronic sound and light. A series of rotating sirens emit pulsing electronic tones creating a celestial choir of sound as audiences wander and explore.
GAMELAN GALAK TIKA and ENSEMBLE ROBOT
June 15, 2008, Sunday @ 7pm
Location: New Haven Green
Admission: FREE
Gamelan Galak Tika is a traditional 30-piece Balinese wood and metal percussion orchestra. They are joined by Ensemble Robot and their eye-popping, remote-controlled music-making machines with super-human sonic and rhythmic capabilities.
Courtyard Concert: VIJAY IYER QUARTET
June 17, 2008, Tuesday @ 8pm
Location: Yale Law School Courtyard, 127 Wall Street (Rain location: Woolsey Hall, corner of College & Grove Sts.)
Admission: $30
The son of Indian immigrants, he is a largely self-taught creative musician grounded in the American jazz lexicon and drawing from a wide range of Western and non-Western traditions. "An extravagantly gifted new jazz pianist and a quick-witted composer?" - The New Yorker
Courtyard Concert: ORCHESTRA BAOBAB
June 18, 2008, Wednesday @ 8pm
Location: Yale Law School Courtyard, 127 Wall Street (Rain location: Woolsey Hall, corner of College & Grove Sts.)
Admission: $30
Orchestra Baobab, Senegal's legendary cult band, gained attention from American media in 2003 when musicians Trey Anastasio and Dave Matthews performed with the Orchestra in the documentary "Trey and Dave go to Africa" which aired on VH1. "?unmistakably African in its amiable mix-and-match of elements?" - The New York Times
Courtyard Concert: PUERTO PLATA
June 19, 2008, Thursday @ 8pm
Location: Yale Law School Courtyard, 127 Wall Street (Rain location: Woolsey Hall, corner of College & Grove Sts.)
Admission: $30
"Born Jos? Manuel Cobles, Puerto Plata is an 84-year-old sonero who's a virtual encyclopedia of the acoustic guitar traditions of the Dominican Republic." - Billboard.com
ROSANNE CASH and MARK O'CONNOR: Poets & Prophets
June 20, 2008, Friday @ 8pm
Location: Shubert Theater, 247 College Street
Admission: $48 / $36 / $20 / $10
Singer-Songwriter Rosanne Cash teams up with America's most beloved violinist and composer, Mark O'Connor, on a new collaboration of original songs and instrumentals inspired by the music of Johnny Cash. The concert includes Mark's special arrangements made for Rosanne from Jonny Cash's rich songbook.
OPERA ON THE GREEN - With A Twist: East Village Opera Company
June 21, 2008, Saturday @ 8pm
Location: New Haven Green
Admission: FREE
The East Village Opera Company - two classically trained singers, string quartet, electric bass, guitars, keyboards and drums - reinvents classic arias by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Bizet, et al, as joyous rock anthems.
GRUPO FANTASMA with PISTOLERA
June 22, 2008, Sunday @ 7pm, headliner at 8:15pm
Location: New Haven Green
Admission: FREE
A megawatt Latin double bill that is not to be missed! PISTOLERA, the irresistible electric alt-folklorico band, opens for GRUPO FANTASMA who perform an astonishing array of traditional Latin music styles mixed with a contemporary flair.
MAYA BEISER, Cellist
World Premiere of "Provenance"
June 24, 2008, Tuesday @ 8pm
Location: Long Wharf Theater- Mainstage, 222 Sargent Drive
Admission: $48 / $36 / $20
Described as a "cello goddess" by The New Yorker, Maya Beiser has captivated audiences worldwide with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument's boundaries. Following its Festival premiere, "Provenance" will have its New York debut at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in the fall of 2008.
BEN ALLISON & MAN SIZE SAFE
June 27, 2008, Friday @ 8pm
Location: New Haven Green
Admission: FREE
New Haven native Ben Allison is an internationally recognized jazz musician. He teams with Man Size Safe, his new ensemble of guitar, saxes, trumpet and drums, to create a cinematic, rock-meets Americana sound.
DENYCE GRAVES with Brian Zeger, piano: An evening of favorite arias and songs
June 27, 2008, Friday @ 8pm
Location: Shubert Theater, 247 College Street
Admission: $48 / $36 / $20 / $10
Recognized worldwide as one of today's most exciting vocal stars, Denyce Graves has performed in the world's great opera houses in the Metropolitan Opera where she made her debut during the 1995-96 season in the starring role of Carmen.
IDEAS PROGRAMS
Arts and ideas are inseparable. The IDEAS programs illuminate this connection through a series of panel discussions and lectures that engage and entertain audiences, and expand upon the themes inspired by the Festival's programs and performances. All IDEAS programs are FREE.
ROBERT PINSKY: FAVORITE POEM PROJECT
June 15, 2008, Sunday @ 3pm
Location: Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street
Three-term U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky, discusses the evolution of poetry in America and the enormous ongoing response to the national Favorite Poem Project (favoritepoem.org).
INVISIBLE FORCES: THE MYSTIC CROSSROADS OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND ART
June 17, 2008, Tuesday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
Ray Lee, creator of the sound installation, "Siren," discusses the invisible forces of radio, magnetism and the electro-magnetic spectrum - continual sources of fascination and inspiration for his work.
HABEAS CORPUS: FROM RACIAL JUSTICE TO THE WAR ON TERROR
June 18, 2008, Wednesday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street
Panelists Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Judge H. Lee Sarokin, as well as award-winning journalist Jack Hitt and Georgetown University law professor, David Cole, discuss how Habeas Corpus, a writ against unlawful restraint, has come under siege in the name of the War on Terror. Moderated by Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School.
LIZ LERMAN: BREAKING RULES / MAKING RULES: ART IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
June 19, 2008, Thursday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
Choreographer and political philosopher Liz Lerman, the creative force behind "613 Radical Acts of Prayer," will discuss the artistic and political philosophies that sustain her efforts to catalyze connections between art and community.
THE ARTS: THE VALUE IS INTRINSIC
June 20, 2008, Friday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
Don M. Randel, the music historian recently appointed to head the $6 billion Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and former president of the University of Chicago, will discuss the experiences that have guided his investments in the fine and performing arts and offer insights into how and why the arts make us profoundly human.
ART SPIEGELMAN: COMIX 101.1
June 21, 2008, Saturday @ 3pm
Location: Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street
Pulitzer-Prize-winner Art Spiegelman's acclaimed lecture and slide show, "Comix 101.1," chronicles the cultural evolution of comics and comix' role in a post-literate culture.
GLOBAL SCENES: Symposium on International Theater
June 22, 2008, Sunday @ 4pm
Long Wharf Theatre - Stage II, 222 Sargent Drive
Global Scenes playwrights join in a discussion about what it means to share narratives across cultures, the importance of translation, and other issues effecting theater in an increasingly international community. Joseph Roach, professor of theater studies at Yale, moderates a conversation with Polish dramaturge Malgorzata Semil and Huzir Sulaiman, artistic director of Singapore's Checkpoint Theatre.
PEACE THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM
June 24, 2008, Tuesday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
Gidon Bromberg, director of EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East, shares his thoughts on how stewardship of the Jordan River, a water source shared by Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians, can serve as a new model for transnational cooperation for the region.
MUSLIM IDENTITY: The Personal and the Political
June 25, 2008, Wednesday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
Huzir Sulaiman, political satirist and Malaysia's leading playwright, and Mohamed Baba, founder of MEX-IT Intercultural Management, a group promoting social cohesion throughout the Netherlands, explore political and personal facets of being Muslim in today's world.
JUDE KELLY: ARTS AS CATALYST TO A CREATIVE ECONOMY
June 26, 2008, Thursday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
As ideas replace heavy industry as the engine of our economy, what roles can art, artists and creativity play? Jude Kelly, director of London's Southbank Centre, offers thoughts based on her experiences as an artist, entrepreneur, UNESCO cultural representative and chair of London's 2012 Olympic Committee.
PAUL MULDOON and SEBASTIAN BARRY: CONTEMPORARY IRISH VOICES
June 27, 2008, Friday @ 5:30pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
Meet two giants of the contemporary Irish literary scene, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon ("Horse Latitudes," "Sixty Instant Messages to Tom Moore") and Sebastian Barry, whose novel, "The Secret Scripture" comes to American readers in June and whose play, The Pride of Parnell Street, has its U.S. premiere as part of this summer's Festival.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2008: HOT TOPICS
June 28, 2008, Saturday @ 3pm
Location: Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street
With just five months to go before the election, join analysts, reporters, scholars and pollsters spanning the political spectrum for a discussion of the presidential race. Moderated by Douglas Schwartz of the Quinnipiac (University) Polling Institute.
THE BIG READ
Various events running throughout the FestivalAdmission: FREE
The 2008 Festival will offer a variety of programs and events as part of The Big Read, a national initiative that encourages literary reading by asking communities to come together to read and discuss one book. After more than 50 years, "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury's cautionary tale of book-burnings and state-enforced thought control, still strikes a nerve. The book's themes of civil liberties, social activism and spirituality supply inspiration for a variety of events from film screenings to music, theater, dance, tours and thought-provoking panel discussions that run through the Festival.
For a complete list of events visit www.artidea.org Tickets for all events with admission prices will go on sale to the public on Monday, May 5. Tickets can be purchased at the Shubert Theater Box Office (located at 247 College Street, New Haven) and by phone at 203-562-5666 or 888-736-2663. For a complete listing of events and to order tickets online, log on to www.artidea.org. As in past years, a large percentage of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas events and programs will be FREE.
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas plays host to 100,000 people each year. Since its founding in 1996, the Festival has presented more than 13,000 artists and thinkers in over 3,500 events, celebrations, explorations, forums, exhibitions, debates, presentations and more. The Festival takes place in more than two dozen venues in and around New Haven, Connecticut, including theaters, concert halls, courtyards and the streets. More than 75 countries have been represented in the Festival since its inception. In 2007, the Festival played host to performers from countries such as France, Japan, Brazil, Africa, Russia, Canada, and the United States.
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The International Festival of Arts & Ideas receives support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Yale University. The Festival is a participant in the Greater New Haven Arts Stabilization Project, a joint venture of the Greater New Haven philanthropic community.