Now in our 7th year, BRICstudio's 2008 Season shatters the boundaries of the creative process by connecting you to cutting edge dance, music and theater by artists from Brooklyn to the Mississippi Delta. See new work, learn about the development process, and offer feedback during BRIClab. Discover local choreographers at Danspace Project. Witness one-of-a-kind collaborations straddling genre and geography with 651 Arts. BRICstudio'08 is your invitation to new and emerging performance in Brooklyn.
Amy Evans: Daughter’s Mother
THURSDAY & SATURDAY
April 10 + 12 @ 8PM
A powerful and redemptive exploration of the problems and misconceptions connected to suicide in communities of color, Daughter's Mother is inspired by the playwright's personal experience. What happens to loved ones left behind when the act is unforeseen and the motives remain murky? Evans' empathy in approaching these questions lifts the difficult subject matter to a sublime and revelatory pathos.
Creative Advisor: Morgan Jenness, Literary Agent & Dramaturg, Abrams Artists Agency.
Danspace: Out of Space @ BRICstudio
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
April 18 + 19 @ 8:30PM
Pele Bauch, joined by Christine Sandifer, offers an up-close experience with the duet –ism. Kelly Donovan’s De Facto Dance performs Many-Many-Many. Jeremy Laverdure’s solo Empty Every Night is the third in a series that have been described as “Dada meets razzle-dazzle.” Rebecca Lubart presents Keep clicking, Dorothy, and Dawn Springer performs a new solo work using bravery and solitude as a spring-board.
Curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones.
Out of Space @ BRICstudio, co-presented by Danspace Project and BRICstudio, returns for its fifth season. Featuring two weekends of celebrated, contemporary artists brought together by new series curator, Ishmael Houston-Jones, this diverse and dynamic showcase is sure to delight.
Andrew Nemr & CPD Plus: Music of the Spheres
THURSDAY & SATURDAY
April 24 + 26 @ 8PM
This dazzling ensemble of young hoofers led by Andrew Nemr takes a high-energy and high-concept crack at "Gershwin Piano Prelude No. 1," re-envisioning an a cappella arrangement of the composition with a dancer assuming each vocal role and translating the parts into visually dynamic and percussive movement. CPD will perform accompanied by the original prelude, playfully creating a musical game that brings Gershwin’s melodies to life in a whole new way.
Creative Advisor: Tommy James, Music Director, Bring In ’Da Noise, Bring In ’Da Funk (Tour)
LAVA: The Paradise Project
THURSDAY & SATURDAY
May 1 + 3 @ 8PM
The new work from this Brooklyn-based dance company, known for pushing the limits of dance and the female form by incorporating theater, music, acrobatics, wrestling, trapeze, and contact improv, is a collaboration with singer-songwriter Toshi Reagon. The Paradise Project is about neighborhoods and examines the delicate balance of harmony, revolution, separatism, community, and integration. LAVA’s distinctive approach is sure to create a uniquely intimate and personal performance. Directed by Sarah East Johnson. Music Direction by Toshi Reagon.
Creative Advisor: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Founding Artistic Director, Urban Bush Women
Hal Willner: The Bill Withers Project
THURSDAY
May 8 @ 8PM
SUNDAY
May 11 @ 7PM
Visionary music producer Hal Willner, who has brought three of his epic, live multi-artist explorations of a single songwriter’s work to Celebrate Brooklyn (Came So Far for Beauty: An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs Under the Stars, 2003; Dream Comfort Memory Despair: The Songs of Neil Young, 2004; and I Count The Tears: Songs and Journals of Doc Pomus, Hitmaker, 2007), commandeers BRICstudio for a week of sessions to prepare for a 2008 celebration of the music of acoustic R&B pioneer Bill Withers.
Creative Advisor: To be announced
Commissioned by the Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival
In Memory: Oni Faida Lampley (1959–2008)
We are deeply saddened to announce that Oni Faida Lampley, the beloved playwright and actress of stage and screen, passed away on Monday April 28th, 2008. Oni was preparing for a BRIClab residency with her latest production Tambourine Moon, in association with MUD/BONE Theater where she was playwright in residence. A story of overcoming fear through the light and love of family, Tambourine Moon would have been her third presentation at BRICstudio (Tough Titty, 2004; Here to Put My Father in the Ground, 2006).
Oni's tremendous spirit continues to be an inspiration to everyone she touched, on stage and off.
For more information about Oni and the scholarship fund which has been set up for her two sons, please visit www.theonifund.com.
Danspace: Out of Space @ BRICstudio
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
May 23 + 24 @ 8:30PM
This two-part series is curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones, bringing celebrated contemporary artists to BRICstudio for an innovative showcase. Lynn Neuman's Vic and Dee: Through the Years ironically highlights friendships and growing up in the 80s. Eva Schmidt presents To Horse! Strike Tents. New works-in-progress bloom with Fiona McCrotty-Dolega’s JUBILATE AGNO and Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins/Eternal Works’ The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Holds the World. Aki Sasamoto’s Modified Habits unravels the memories of objects, and Arturo Vidich presents mechanical entities have complex emotions.
Curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones.
Out of Space @ BRICstudio, co-presented by Danspace Project and BRICstudio, returns for its fifth season. Featuring two weekends of celebrated, contemporary artists brought together by new series curator, Ishmael Houston-Jones, this diverse and dynamic showcase is sure to delight.
651 ARTS: Delta Rising
Directed by Talvin Wilks
TUESDAY &WEDNESDAY
June 3 + 4 @ 8PM
This new theater work by acclaimed directors Ping Chong and Talvin Wilks uses the life stories of people who come from the Delta. Delta Rising follows the format of Chong's Undesirable Elements projects and provides a beautiful and historical testament to the diversity, vibrance and complex history of the Delta region.
651 ARTS: Dianne Mcintyre/Olu Dara: Peaches, Plums and Pontifications (a work-in-progress)
TUESDAY &WEDNESDAY
June 3 + 4 @ 8PM
Longtime collaborators, musician Olu Dara and choreographer Dianne McIntyre have created a number of pieces whose narrative elements take shape through music and dance. In this work-in-progress, McIntyre and Dara explore stories from the Mississippi Delta, the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, and tales gathered from storytellers, friends and family. Camille A. Brown, Tess Reese, Kyle Primous, Alonzo Gardner and Shireen Dickson complete the cast.
PROUD SPONSOR of BRICstudio 2008
Supporters
BRICstudio's 2008 spring season has been supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Councilmember Leticia James, Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries, State Senator Martin Golden, and the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly and Senate. Additional funding for Tambourine Moon provided by NYSCA and the Bronx Council on the Arts.