Fall Photos: Kaneza Schaal ’06 “GO FORTH” Dress Rehearsal

Actor/director Kaneza Schaal ’06 offers a powerful meditation on loss, grief, and ritual in a performance incorporating projection, sound, text, and movement. Inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead–a 3000-year-old series of spells and incantations intended for the deceased as a blueprint to the afterlife–GO FORTH (2016) creates space for the presence of the absent, the imagined, and the longed for. A dress rehearsal for GO FORTH was held on September 15, 2016 in the CFA Theater.

Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography

Spring Photos: Wes Out-Loud: Stories of Place

Wes Out-Loud: Stories of Place, a site-specific auditory piece conceived and created through a collaboration between theater students and Assistant Professor of Theater Marcela Oteíza was held on Thursday, April 28th through Sunday, May 1st in the CFA Courtyard.

Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.

Spring Events Include New England Premiere and Connecticut Debuts

Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug performs the New England premiere of "OQ" on February 12, 2016 as part of the Performing Arts Series.
Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug performs the New England premiere of “OQ” on February 12, 2016 as part of the Performing Arts Series.

The Center for the Arts is one of the rare places in the state where you can consistently experience arts from around the world. This semester is no exception. In January and February, the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery hosts the work of ten contemporary Chinese artists born after the Cultural Revolution who are challenging traditional notions of Chinese identity and inventing new ways to shout out in the global arena. In February, Syrian singer Gaida brings her band to Crowell Concert Hall. At a time when her country is under siege, her soulful voice will remind us of the beauty and power of Syrian music and culture. And playwright Guillermo Calderón will discuss his award-winning works about Chile in the aftermath of the dictatorship.

The CFA is also the home of countless premieres. In April, you’ll be the first to hear Harlem Heiroglyphs, a new album by composer, vibraphonist, and Adjunct Professor of Music Jay Hoggard, both in concert and as the music for Storied Places, directed and choreographed by Dance Department Chair Nicole Stanton with text by Center for African American Studies Professor Lois Brown.

Finally, the Music Department will host a March symposium on the work of the legendary experimental music composer David Tudor and, in April, the Theater Department offers Wes Out-Loud, a site-specific work created by Assistant Professor Marcela Oteíza and her students.

The semester ends on May 7 with Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter, the second annual eco-arts festival featuring world music bands, educational exhibits, and site-specific performance works by area organizations at Middletown’s Harbor Park, located on the bank of the Connecticut River.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Pamela Tatge
Director, Center for the Arts

Fall Photos: Theater After Wesleyan

Five Wesleyan Theater Department alumni—producer Roberta Pereira’03, director Michael Rau ’05, playwright MJ Kaufman ’08, producer Rachel Silverman ’09, and scenic and properties designer Emmie Finckel’14—talked about their work and careers in theater after Wesleyan. The talk was moderated by Associate Professor of Theater Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento on September 24, 2015 in CFA Hall.

Click Here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.

Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan
Theater After Wesleyan

2015-16 Season Now On Sale! World, U.S., New England, CT Premieres

This year, we are looking forward to introducing you to artists who are asking important questions about our world today, questioning why things are the way they are, and helping us to envision how they might be.

Dorrance Dance make their Connecticut debut on September 25 and 26 as part of the Performing Arts Series.
Dorrance Dance make their Connecticut debut on September 25 and 26 as part of the Performing Arts Series.

Michelle Dorrance, described by the Chicago Tribune as “edgy, seductive and smart,” brings Dorrance Dance to the CFA Theater September 25 and 26. You’ll have the chance to see tap dancers push the boundaries of what tap dance looks and feels like: her company will dazzle you as they transform the stage into one sonic instrument.

At a time when our country is struggling to find its way in terms of race relations, we’ve invited writer/performer Daniel Beaty to campus for a residency that includes the October 9 performance of Mr. Joy, his highly acclaimed tour de force solo show about a community’s efforts to heal in order to dream again.

Composer, visual artist, and new media innovator R. Luke DuBois takes over the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery from September 16 through December 13 with his exhibition In Real Time, creating maps, scores, and videos that use real-time data flows and media footage to raise questions of artistic agency, privacy, and fair use. In time for the election season, the CFA has commissioned him to create a new work using research generated by the Wesleyan Media Project.

Dancer/choreographer Eiko Otake returns with a series of intimate performances in unlikely places, including a commissioned work in honor of the 100th-anniversary of Wesleyan’s Van Vleck Observatory.

This year’s Navaratri Festival of Indian music and dance features one of the world’s greatest veena players, Sri Rajhesh Vaidya, on October 10, and Bharatanatyam dancer Alarmél Valli on October 11.

All this shares the fall schedule with performances by faculty and students, including the final class performance by students of Adjunct Professor of Music Abraham Adzenyah, who is retiring after teaching Ghanaian drumming at Wesleyan for the past 45 years. You won’t want to miss that concert on December 4.

As always, we hope you will look to the CFA as a place of enlightenment and enjoyment in the months ahead.

Sincerely,

Pamela Tatge
Director
Center for the Arts

Spring Photos: Feet to the Fire – Riverfront Encounter

This event celebrated the river as a source of cultural inspiration and creativity on May 9, 2015 at Harbor Park in Middletown. “Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter” featured live music, visual art installations, plein air painters, a kids’ activity zone, environmental education exhibits, as well as a craft fair and farmer’s market–all designed to bring patrons closer to the rich culture, history, and science of the Connecticut River.

Click here to view the full album on flickr. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.

Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter
Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter