MEDIA CONTACTS:
Melanie Sole, Cashman & Associates for PIFA
melanie@cashmanandassociates.com
(o) 215-627-1060
(m) 856-261-8569
Amanda Conte, Kimmel Center
aconte@kimmelcenter.org
(o) 215-790-5847
(m) 516-510-2411
Tweet it!
New programs & details for #PIFA2016 just announced! Learn about exciting shows, installations, free events, and more at kimmelcenter.org/pifa
KIMMEL CENTER ANNOUNCES NEW DETAILS OF
PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
PLAZA INSTALLATION, PERFORMANCE DETAILS AND MORE
2015 MacArthur Genius Award Winner Mimi Lien
Unveils Design Concept for Festival Centerpiece Installation
Location for Festival’s Opening Performance of Article 13 Revealed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Philadelphia, January 21, 2016) –– The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts announced today new program details for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), including the design concept for the Festival’s centerpiece – an original, interactive Plaza installation by 2015 MacArthur Genius set designer Mimi Lien, lighting designer Tyler Micoleau, and sound designer Nick Kourtides, that utilizes the Kimmel Center’s vast vertical space. Other highlights announced during the January 21st event include the unveiling of Penn’s Landing as the location for PIFA’s Grand Opening performance of Article 13; performers for the Festival’s Gala performance; involvement of local video artists Klip Collective; the locations of public water fountains where French performance group Aquacoustique will perform; details of the project by The Clay Studio and artist Shay Church; and more.
PIFA takes place April 8–23, 2016.
During the event, media, partners, and key stakeholders heard directly from Lien the details on her concept for the large-scale installation that will consume the cavernous lobby of the Kimmel Center. A kinetic, modernist tree sculpture will live on Commonwealth Plaza during the daytime and serve as an interactive gathering place, inviting audiences to move throughout it. Each evening at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., the kinetic sculpture will undergo multi-sensory transformations facilitated by live performance and accompanied by light and sound, illustrating nature growing from an urban space.
Lien was part of the creative team behind the Eiffel Tower sculpture and light show during the first PIFA in 2011. The popular spectacle was witnessed by thousands of visitors daily during the Festival.
Among the other updates announced, the location for the large-scale experiential performance of Article 13 was revealed as Penn’s Landing. The multi-dimensional performance will encompass the space equivalent to nearly two football fields. Comprised of fire, sand, water, video, and performance, audience members wander through the performance, taking in the stories, sights, and sounds of migrants in search of a better world, including some participants from Philadelphia.
“We’re thrilled to welcome the return of Mimi Lien to the Kimmel Center. A 2015 recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award, her creative brilliance will be prominently displayed on Commonwealth Plaza with her Kinetic Tree installation,” said Anne Ewers, President & CEO for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. “And it is a great privilege for us to be able to spread PIFA beyond the Kimmel Center campus to the pockets of this city that we all know and love. Art has the unique ability to bring people together and can’t wait to experience that throughout PIFA 2016.”
A 16-day celebration of art, PIFA showcases innovation and a breadth of local and international performances and installations, all curated by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. With more than 60 events across genres and art forms, PIFA is bookended by Article 13 – a grand-scale fire, sand, and water installation that tells the story of migrants around the world – which serves as the grand opening of the Festival and culminates with the celebrated PIFA Street Fair.
Tickets
Tickets to individual performances are on sale to the public now and start at $10. Many of the performances listed below are free. Please check www.kimmelculturalcampus.org/pifa for the most up-to-date pricing for each show.
Multi-event ticket packages are also available and include the PIFA Sampler Pass (three shows), PIFA Immersion Pass (five shows), or the PIFA All-Access Pass; all come with a wide range of added benefits including access to exclusive events.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting kimmelcenter.org or calling 215-893-1999.
PIFA 2016 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
PIFA GALA PERFORMANCES
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
April 6, 2016
Prior to the Grand Opening performance, the PIFA Gala will take place, celebrating the return of the Festival and the art to come. Throughout the evening, a number of eclectic performing groups will entertain those attending the PIFA Gala. After the Gala dinner, Founder of Grammy Award-winning country blues and old time music band The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens [pronounce” REE-non GHI-dens], will perform on the Verizon Hall stage. For her final number, Giddens will be joined by French performance troupe Compagnie des Quidams [pronounce: Comp-ah-KNEE du key-DAHM], who will then perform their unique show Fiers a Cheval, or “Proud Horse.” Fiers a Cheval is an interactive show featuring a fantastical group of inflatable horse-puppets controlled by actors.
The Kinetic Tree
Commonwealth Plaza (Free!)
April 8 – 23, 2016, live performances at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
The centerpiece of PIFA 2016 will grow on the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Plaza in the form of The Kinetic Tree. Designed by 2015 MacArthur Genius Mimi Lien, with lighting design by Tyler Micoleau, and sound design by Nick Kourtides, the installation will be equal parts interactive spectacle and live performance.
The Kinetic Tree will take advantage of the Kimmel Center’s vast vertical space with an enormous installation in the form of a tree that will transform twice each evening during the festival. The transformation will be facilitated by a live performance directed by Kimmel Center Artistic Director Jay Wahl and featuring local performers.
Stand
The Clay Studio
Lobby of the Kimmel Center (Free!)
April 8 – 23, 2016
The Clay Studio will collaborate with artist Shay Church to create an ambitious, interactive public sculpture that will be on display in the Kimmel Center lobby throughout PIFA 2016. Stand will be an installment in Church’s body of artwork which he refers to as “Wet Clay Installations.” Church and team will use a crowd-sourced approach to build a forest of wood and clay, which visitors will contribute to. The public will be invited to help apply clay to multiple parts of the installation such as trees and a variety of animals to bring the forest to life.
Over the course of the festival, the installation will undergo a transformation. When the wet clay is applied, the moisture of the clay and marks left behind from all of the hands touching the piece breathe life into it. Over time the clay dries, begins to crack, and has an appearance of a dry-river bed. This drying takes the life out of the piece, illustrating the temporary nature of art and the circle of life in things both nature and man-made.
Urban Abstraction: PIFA in Light
Klip Collective
www.kimmelculturalcampus.org/pifa
April 8 – 23, 2016
Hot off their blockbuster exhibition “Nightscape” at Longwood Gardens, Klip Collective will create original video, showcasing the inclusiveness of PIFA and starring the city of Philadelphia. The video will illuminate ordinary street objects like lampposts and fire hydrants in some of Philadelphia’s most beloved pockets with colorful projections to show how art can transform every-day objects. The final video product will be showcased throughout the city in taxicabs, on Septa trains, and in other very visible and sometimes unexpected locations.
This project has been supported by PNC Arts Alive.
Article 13 (American Premiere)
Carabosse Company & Teatro Linea de Sombra
Penn’s Landing
April 8, 2016, 9:00 p.m.
April 9, 2016, 9:00 p.m.
April 10, 2016, 9:00 p.m.
Equal parts installation, spectacle, and documentary, Article 13 is a large-scale story made out of small stories in a constant state of evolution, based on current events related to immigration. A collaboration between Compagnie Carabosse ([pronounce: Comp-ah-KNEE Car-ah-BOSE] of France) & Teatro Linea de Sombra ([pronounce: Tay-AH-tro LEEN-yah de SOM-bra] of Mexico), Article 13 is a memorial to the thousands of migrants who have disappeared, and at the same time it gives back human face, flesh, and identity to the anonymous ones lost in search of a better world. Visitors interact and wander through the labyrinth of fire and sound in this artistic exploration of borders and exodus. Penn’s Landing has been selected as the location for these three, free outdoor performances. This visceral installation will encompass the equivalent of nearly two football fields.
The memorial, made of fire, sand, water, video, and performance, personifies the scope of the phenomenon of immigration through the non-traditional presentation of statistical data, economic evidence, geopolitical aspects, the forms of those who have disappeared, and how things relate to each other.
Along this path of inhabited installation, audiences are touched by words, snatches of conversation, and accounts given by migrants, providing seemingly lost perspective that these people — before they were statistics, or a number of ‘disappeared’ in the media, or even dangerous suspects — before all else, are human beings.
This will be the American Premiere of Article 13.
Knitting Peace (American Premiere)
Cirkus Cirkör
Merriam Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 8, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 9, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 10, 2016, 2:00 p.m.
Swedish circus troupe, Cirkus Cirkör [pronounce: Sir-KISS Sir-CORE]brings the American Premiere of Knitting Peace to PIFA 2016 in pursuit of an answer to one question: “Is it possible to knit peace?” In this contemporary circus performance, daring trapeze artists soar in graceful poses set to live music as they interact with elaborately woven and strangely entangled knitted structures and props. While touring, the work encourages local communities to contribute to the Knitting Peace movement in individual, site-specific ways.
In the performance, audiences will share in the experience of five circus artists and one musician, surrounded by a striking set design of white monumental knittings, big tangles, and enormous balls of yarn. The artists are all interacting with the material on stage and their disciplines all have some connection with white ropes, lines of string, and more. Inspired by the craft of knitting, approximately 75% of the set design is made of a thick cotton yarn made from waste product from the tricot fabric industry.
Local knitters are asked to submit a white knitted piece to potentially be used in the performance and to travel with the troupe. Pieces must be all white and can be mailed to or dropped off at the Kimmel Center lobby before April 2, 2016.
String Theory: Exploring The Nature, Craft and Soul of Musical Instruments
Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 8, 2016, 6:15 p.m.
April 13, 2016, 6:15 p.m.
The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents a two-part panel discussion which delves into the material culture of music, set on the backdrop of two chamber music concerts at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. String Theory explores the relationship between the things we create and their identity as independent artistic enablers.
The Friday, April 8th discussion will be between Samuel Zygmuntowicz, renowned instrument-maker in New York City, and Will Straw, Professor of Communications in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University (Montreal). They will examine the constantly-evolving art of violin-making and the unique voice each instrument holds in its design. This illuminating discussion will be followed by Christian Tetzlaff’s solo violin recital, featuring works by Ysaÿe, Bach, Kurtág, and Bartók.
On Wednesday, April 13th, Allen Roda, Professor of Music at New York University and enthomusicology expert, Yumi Kendall, Assistant Principal Cellist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Nick Kendall, the violinist from the popular cross-over group Time for Three, will discuss the identity of instruments as autonomous and dynamic agents, and the part they play in the interpretation of music. This will be followed by a concert with the Takács Quartet and pianist Garrick Ohlsson, in a program of works by Beethoven, Webern, and Elgar.
Paper Planet (Philadelphia Premiere)
Polyglot Theatre
Hamilton Garden at the Kimmel Center
April 9, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 10, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 13, 2016, School groups as scheduled
April 14, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 15, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 16, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 17, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 20, 2016, School groups as scheduled
April 21, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 22, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
April 23, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 2:00 p.m.
Australian-based theater company Polyglot Theatre brings its renowned Paper Planet to PIFA, transporting adults and children alike into a magical space full of creative invention. Paper Planet is a spectacular forest of tall cardboard trees inviting kids and adults to fill the world with fantastic paper creations. Each of the individual pieces that form the complete work are interactive engagements that draw upon the imagination and action of children and families to play, explore, invent, and encounter through touch, action, and drama. Each experience has at its core the belief that children must be given open-ended opportunities that allow them freedom, agency, and a space to engage imaginatively without mediation. This program is intended for children ages 3 to 8.
This will be the Philadelphia Premiere of Paper Planet.
Rivers of Sound (Philadelphia Premiere)
Amir ElSaffar
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 9, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Straight off a standing-room-only premiere at Lincoln Center, Rivers of Sound by Amir El Saffar features a 17-musician ensemble featuring traditional instruments from across North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, including the oud (lute), qanun (plucked zither), santur (hammered-dulcimer), nay (reed flute), as well as Western instruments, such as saxophone, trumpet, drum set, bass, retuned piano, vibraphone, guitar, and vocalists from corresponding traditions. Rivers of Sound consists of composed melodies, forms, and rhythmic formulas, but is performed in an improvisational fashion, fostering variations on the musical material and spontaneous interaction between musicians. The large ensemble’s combination of instruments, each with distinct timbral properties, allows for the emergence of new sonic textures and nuanced interaction between musicians, completely unique to each performance. Individual sounds disappear into the larger sound of the whole ensemble, forming a collective, "human" voice.
In the framework of a large ensemble of improvising musicians, this opens new channels for spontaneous communication based entirely on the music and sound rather than the rules or idiosyncrasies of a given genre. Melodies are not confined to the single-tonic system of the Middle East, nor are they bound by equal temperament. By freeing the pitches from fixed positions, traditional constructs/constraints/functions are allowed to fall away. As pitches become fluid, so do cultural boundaries, de-emphasizing elements that traditionally divide musicians from different backgrounds such as ethnically-specific modes or scales.
Audiences will experience a 75-minute performance that is highly dynamic and varied, with dense, ecstatic climaxes contrasted by meditative solo passages, tightly interlocking rhythms followed by unmetered melismatic lines, previously unheard harmonies and rich sonorities created by the unique combination of instruments, and a wide range of musical styles and philosophies interacting with one another. In some cases, the sounds blend together in consonant accord, and at other times they form tension and dissonance.
This will be the Philadelphia Premiere of Rivers of Sound.
Vision Song: Our Hearts, Our Voices, Our Future (World Premiere)
Jazz Bridge
SEI Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center
April 9, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 10, 2016, 2:00 p.m.
Jazz Bridge, in collaboration with Pew Fellow, jazz composer/bandleader/saxophonist Bobby Zankel, will present a new work for Zankel’s band, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound. The work has been inspired by the thoughts, feelings, and dreams of what middle-school-aged children (12-14 year-olds) believe the world will be like — ecologically, technologically, socially — when they are adults.
Vision Song was inspired by a conversation Dr. Suzanne Cloud, Executive Director of Jazz Bridge, had with her 12-year-old grandson as they were stuck in traffic. She asked him what he thought the world would be like in the future, and if he could make a film about it, what would be in the film? He said he'd start off with a picture of the planet, but he'd make it all brown. She asked him why, and he said, "because it probably won't be very nice when I grow up.” This response was the impetus for creating a piece that would help audiences understand how and what this younger generation is thinking and feeling about the future and the decisions being made about the environment today.
In the creation of the work, a group of children from diverse socio-economic, racial, and religious backgrounds at Philadelphia’s Grover Washington Jr. Middle School researched and discussed climate change all last year through a partnership with Need in Deed, a nonprofit that trains teachers to integrate civic responsibility and service learning with classroom curriculum in public and charter schools across the city. A short film by award-winning videographer Jason Fifield will be presented as part of the musical performance, which will incorporate storyboards created by the students, and jazz musician and middle school music teacher, Wendy Simon, will conduct the student performance section of the work. Dr. Cloud serves as director of the production and hopes this work will show how the power of art can give voice to children who are seldom heard.
This will be the World Premiere of Vision Song: Our Hearts, Our Voices, Our Future.
Attack Point (World Premiere)
Curtis Institute of Music featuring Gallim Dance and Choral Arts Philadelphia
Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center
April 10, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Choreographer: Andrea Miller, Gallim Dance
Music Director: Alan Morrison, Curtis Institute of Music
Organists: Bryan Dunnewald, Clara Gerdes, and Joseph Russell, Curtis Institute of Music
Choir: Choral Arts Philadelphia under the direction of Matthew Glandorf
The Curtis Institute of Music and Brooklyn-based contemporary dance company Gallim Dance come together for a night of dance-listening and organ-watching. Organ soloists perform works written for dance to an empty stage, allowing the audience to imagine the movement it was created for — dancing for the ears. By contrast, the dancers will perform to an organ and choral work not made for dance, exuding the sounds and breath of the majestic instrument from their bodies —organ for the eyes. The moment at which the pipe begins to speak, when the key is pressed, is the attack point. Music and dance meet in non-traditional fashion in this unique presentation.
This program is made possible through a donation by the Fred J. Cooper Restoration Fund as recommended by Frederick R. Haas and Daniel K. Meyer.
This will be the World Premiere of Attack Point.
Architecture in Motion (Philadelphia Premiere)
Diavolo
Merriam Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 14, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Diavolo brings two works to PIFA 2016, which explore the distinct relationships between the dangers of our environment and the human body, as observed through abstract and recognized structures. The company reinvents dance, reimagines theater, and redefines thrills as performers take movement, athletics, and daring to the extreme, creating abstract narratives through surreal architectural landscapes. The program, Architecture in Motion, is comprised of two individual works, Fluid Infinities and Cubicle.
Fluid Infinities is set on an abstract dome structure sitting on a reflection of itself. The performers explore metaphors of infinite space, continuous movement, and our voyage into the unknown future. The dome’s organic patterns evoke the craters of the moon, a honeycomb of bees, a shifting brain, or an undiscovered starship. As the trilogy concludes, Fluid Infinities investigates the persistence of life through struggle and the promise of life to change beyond the space of time.
Set in an abstract corporate America, Cubicle explores the human condition under cramped control and a monotonous reality, exposing an underlying counterbalance between freedom and anarchy in the workplace. Anonymity and confinement set the pace in this corporate sea of grey as we witness a multitude of shifting landscapes as abstract representations of a familiar work environment. Boxing in both their sanity and distinctiveness, we witness the struggle to maintain a sense of individuality on the corporate climb as the performers labor against a homogenized work mentality, finding solidarity only within themselves and each other.
The Wong Street Journal (East Coast Premiere)
Written and Performed by Kristina Wong
SEI Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center
April 14, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 15, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 16, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
The Wong Street Journal, a sharply hilarious solo performance written and performedby comedian Kristina Wong, illuminates the overwhelming issues of global poverty through the combination of self-skewering personal narrative and the theatric reimagining of dense economic theory. On a charmingly crude, hand-sewn set made from the finest discount felt, the incisive L.A. performer, social media phenom breaks down complex issues using uneasy-to-read charts, live hashtag wars, and riveting hand-crafted slideshows. Wong parallels the journey of being a self-taught/self-absorbed hack economist, with the desire for self-importance as nurtured by third world tourism. She tackles serious socio-economic issues through jazzercise, explores economic theaters which inspire her own brand of “Wongonomics,” NGOs (non-Governmental Organizations), “Missionary Efforts,” and other modes of first world engagement with the developing world and how these structures risk both alleviating and sustaining poverty.
The Wong Street Journal is primarily a solo work backed with degenerate puppets and flashy TED-style PowerPoints, underscored by sobering images from her travels through the developing countries of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Using her trademark acerbic humor and personal commentary, this multi-layered stage introduces the character of ‘Kristina Wong’. She’s a well-meaning do-good Asian American activist and social justice martyr who vocalizes a brand of progressive politics that consistently contradict with her ability to carry them out — especially when extracted from the comfort of social media and thrust into the non-Western world. The character of ‘Kristina Wong’ is emblematic of the problems of Western Aid in the third world, the cultural mistranslations and problems in 'presenting' third world poverty to the first world, and the theatrics involved in poverty reduction.
This will be the East Coast premiere of The Wong Street Journal.
Global Artistry (World Premiere)
PHILADANCO (PIFA Partner)
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 15, 2016, 11:00 a.m. (student matinee), and 7:30 p.m.
April 16, 2016, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
April 17, 2016, 2:00 p.m.
This new work speaks to PHILADANCO’s legacy of breaking barriers and building bridges across cultural divides, featuring original choreography by Than Dao (Vietnam), Francisco Gella (Philippines), David Brown (Jamaica) and Ray Mercer (USA).
Concerto in Sea Major (American Premiere)
Aquacoustique
Outdoor public fountains
April 15, 2016, 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. at Independence National Historical Park’s Magnolia Garden Fountain (on Locust between 4th and 5th Streets)
April 16, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. at the Rodin Museum Fountain
April 17, 2016, 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. at the Penn Museum’s Stoner Courtyard Fountain
Concerto in Sea Major is the first concert to be performed in the water, as performed by French group Aquacoustique [pronounce: ah-kwah-koo-steek]. The group’s three musicians, Jean-Philippe Carde, Florent Lalet, and Stephane Gratteau, use found and recycled objects to create aqua-instruments for this whimsical and free-to-the-public performance taking place in some of Philadelphia’s best fountains. Performing belly-deep in water, Aquacoustique transforms snorkels into flutes and watering cans into saxophones, among other ingenious creations — including using water itself as a musical and rhythmic instrument — helping audiences to discover another side of the precious element.
This will be the American Premiere of Concerto in Sea Major.
My Soul’s Shadow
Manual Cinema
The Barnes Foundation
Friday, April 15, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 16, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
Manual Cinema’s My Soul’s Shadow is a cinematic shadow puppet installation based on the poetry of Federico García Lorca. The shadow projections are created using six overhead projectors, five puppeteers, two screens, and dozens of handmade paper shadow puppets. Original music by Kyle Vegter is performed live by a chamber ensemble. The installation includes the text of the poems that are turned into moving images in the performance.
My Soul’s Shadow loosely adapts imagery, themes, and characters from Lorca’s poetry, dividing his body of work into three acts. The first act is based on poems Lorca wrote early in his career in Granada and Madrid; many of these poems take inspiration from Spanish folk tradition and are steeped in nature imagery, as well as portraits of Granada’s gypsy community. The second act is based on poems Lorca wrote while visiting New York City, and the third is based on The Divan Tamarit, which Lorca wrote near the end of his life, and which takes inspiration from the Arab-Andalusian poetic tradition. The performance of My Soul’s Shadow is bookended by the character of Lorca himself and is based on biographical details of his life, including his ultimate imprisonment and assassination at the hands of Nationalist militia in the early days of the Spanish Civil War.
These performances coincide with the Barnes Foundation’s major exhibition, Picasso: The Great War, Experimentation and Change, on view from February 21 through May 9, 2016.
Sneaker Suites (East Coast Premiere)
Antics
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 20, 2016, 12:00 p.m. (student matinee) and 7:30 p.m.
Los Angeles-based hip-hop dance troupe, Antics, brings the East Coast Premiere of Sneaker Suites to PIFA 2016. Through a multi-layered performance encompassing dance, poetry, voiceover, and theater, audiences will discover the iconic importance of sneakers in hip-hop culture and unravel the complexities of its roots in materialism. Performers ask attendees to bring a pair of gently worn sneakers or shoes. All shoes collected will be donated to Soles4Souls, a non-profit organization that collects new and used shoes and redistributes them to people in need. More information can be found at www.soles4souls.org.
Mi Voca Su Voca (World Premiere)
Written and Performed by Edwin Torres
SEI Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center
April 20, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 21, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
April 22, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Celebrated poet and self-proclaimed “lingualisualist”, Edwin Torres, integrates autobiographical poems alongside avant garde ones in a theatrical poetry slam that crosses borders between language and sound. With themes ranging from growing up Boricua in New York City to fatherhood, this one–man performance captures the transformative power of poetry inside language in a fascinating way.
This will be the World Premiere of Mi Voca Su Voca.
Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (Philadelphia Premiere)
Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center
April 22, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project is the latest astonishing multi-disciplinary project to emerge from the longtime collaboration of Grammy-nominated pianist-composer (and MacArthur Fellow) Vijay Iyer and poet-performer-librettist-emcee Mike Ladd. Three years in the making, the new work focuses on veterans of color from the last decade’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Holding It Down is a thought-provoking combination of music, poetry, song, video monologues, and visuals, created from the actual dreams of young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The creators have collaborated with Warrior Writers to collect stories from Philadelphia veterans to be featured in the performance. Many of the stories will be written and distributed on paper made through the Combat Paper Project, which provides papermaking workshops for veterans to turn their uniforms into paper. Veterans and civilians in the Philadelphia area are invited to attend a free, Combat Papermaking workshop at the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Plaza on February 20 at 10:00 a.m.
Additionally, the public is invited to attend a free panel discussion on March 10 at 7:00 p.m. in SEI Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center. During this discussion, Dr. Gala True will explore the topic of arts in the Veteran community.
Veterans and their families are invited to attend Holding it Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project for FREE! Veterans can email holdingitdown@kimmelcenter.org to reserve tickets* to this powerful performance. *Tickets are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis
Holding It Down has been supported by The Pew Center for the Arts & Heritage.
This will be the Philadelphia Premiere of Holding It Down.
PIFA STREET FAIR
Broad Street, Philadelphia
April 23, 2016
PIFA concludes with the celebrated PIFA Street Fair on Broad Street: six blocks of art, food, entertainment, and vendors that will take place all day Saturday, April 23, between Chestnut and South Streets.
KIMMEL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Located in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, The Kimmel Center’s mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience through diverse programming, arts education, and community outreach. The Kimmel Center campus is comprised of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, SEI Innovation Studio, and the Merck Arts Education Center), the Academy of Music (owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association), and the University of the Arts’ Merriam Theater. TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, is the season sponsor of The Kimmel Center’s 2015-2016 Season. American Airlines is the official airline of Broadway Philadelphia. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org.
# # #
For photography, please visit http://pifa.org/press-room/