Ensler, Tomei, Etc. Set for Culture Project's Impact Fest

On the eve of its 10th Anniversary, Culture Project has announced its most ambitious project to date: Impact Festival 2006, a New York City-wide arts festival focusing on human rights, social justice, and political action, September 12 to­ October 22, 2006.

The 42-day festival, with more than 50 events, will take place at Culture Project (45 Bleecker Street) and at venues throughout New York City ­ from the New York Public Library to The Knitting Factory, and from El Museo Del Barrio to Town Hall. 

Among the hundreds of artists scheduled to participate in the dozens of festival events are: Marisa Tomei, Dylan McDermott, Richard Dreyfus, Jeff Goldblum, Charles Grodin, Eve Ensler, Steve Earle, David Strathairn, Samantha Power, Bob Balaban and Portia.

The Impact Festival will open on Tuesday, September 12, with the world premiere of the new Eve Ensler play, The Treatment.  Starring Dylan McDermott and Portia and directed by Leigh Silverman, The Treatment is "a two character drama that delves beneath the layers of power, fear and intimacy between a traumatized soldier (and former military interrogator) and the female psychologist Colonel who is assigned to give him a routine treatment.  What follows is a blunt exploration of torture, accountability and a soldier's 'duty' to commit atrocities in the name of democracy," according to press notes.

The Impact Festival theatre component will also include the U.S. Premiere of 6 Actors in Search of a Plot by the celebrated Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Thayer, and American choreographer Billy Yalowitz; the world premiere of A Political Cabaret by Elizabeth Swados; a stage adaptation of Speak Truth to Power: Voices from Beyond the Dark, edited by Kerry Kennedy, and adapted by Ariel Dorfman; and Voices of a People's History of the United States, a stage adaptation (by Rob Urbinati) of Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's vast anthology of the stories of unknown figures in American history; among many others.

On Friday, October 6, 2006 Bill Clinton will be the guest of honor at a special premiere benefit of "Speak Truth to Power" for the Kennedy Center.  This invite-only reading will be presented at the Chelsea Piers and kicks off the Culture Project¹s run of "Speak Truth to Power" on Sunday and Monday evenings during the festival.

Impact Dance will host an array of performers in new works, including Liz Lehrman Dance Exchange in Small Dances about Big Ideas, commissioned by Harvard Law School on the anniversary of the Nuremburg trials; a world premiere by celebrated MacArthur Grant recipient Rennie Harris in a solo performance, featuring his hybrid of politics and Hip-Hop dance forms; and Akim Funk Buddha leading an interactive performance blending tap, freeform movement, martial arts, body popping, belly dancing and music.

Impact Music will present two large-scale concerts and events featuring major performing artists:  "Concert to Close Guantanamo" (benefiting the Center for Constitutional Rights) is an evening of protest songs that revisits and re-contextualizes the history of the great American song form; and a celebratory concert to close the festival.

The Impact film component will focus on the power of American documentary cinema to cast a light on today's defining issues.  Among the films scheduled are The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends (Opening night, September 12), filmmaker Patricia Foulkrod's look at U.S. soldiers' experiences in the Iraq war; My Country, My Country, Laura Poitras' window to the 2005 Iraqi election through the personal Story of a conflicted Iraqi doctor and father of six, exploring (with the use of a single camera on the streets of Baghdad) questions of democracy, the legitimacy of elections, and the unpredictable will of an unoccupied people; Farmingville, Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandovol's exploration of the underlying forces and human impact of the largest migration of Mexican workers in U.S. history; and The Empire Africa, Philippe Diaz'ss courageous examination of the tragic and complex civil war in Sierra Leone; among countless other films. Intimate panels with filmmakers and others associated with these documentaries will follow each screening.  Impact Film programming partners include Media That Matters, WITNESS, Planned Parenthood, Rooftop Films, Gigantic Art Space, uNight, and Indie Kids.

Impact Debates will take place weekly at The New York Public Library (Bryant Park) and will feature prominent thinkers and humanitarian leaders.  Issues raised by the Impact Festival theater component will be debated, including: genocide, interrogation, human-rights activism, drugs, poverty and immigration.

Impact Comedy will line up the most progressive laughs in the country, partnering with Laughing Liberally to kick off their monthly Town Hall events.

As a backdrop to the festival'ss theatrical productions, the Culture Project lobby will feature a rotating series of exhibitions of globally-themed installations by celebrated photographers and artists including Harrell Fletcher, John Movius, Ethan Rafal, and Marie-Christine Katz.  In addition, chashama will host IMPACT on the GULF, a multimedia gallery and performance space dedicated to the effect of changing weather
systems on the Gulf Coast.  This program includes Innocent Eye, an auction of work by children who are living in the changed landscape of Mississippi (funds raised will go towards rebuilding Hancock County schools, libraries, and cultural resources), and Rising, a dialogue of photography, art and film by professional and amateur artists from New York and the Gulf.  Both exhibits will unveil the Disaster Registry, Statement Art's online interactive legacy project that connects donors to families in need and the local businesses that can serve them.

Culture Project (at 45 Bleecker) will also be an active hub of multi-disciplinary activity, featuring speaking engagements and jazz nights; and Shinbone Alley: A Political Speakeasy (in the theater¹s subterranean venue, 45 Below) featuring film, readings, cabaret, and more.

For the last decade, Culture Project has presented award-winning theatre at the intersection between politics and culture, bringing essential social, political and moral issues to life on a national stage.   The Exonerated, Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel, Guantanamo, Belfast Blues, Border/Clash and RFK all received their national premieres at Culture Project.  The acclaimed South African work, Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, is now having its New York premiere at the Culture Project.

Additional artists events, and the complete Impact Festival schedule will be announced shortly.  The Impact Festival will also mark the launch of the Culture Project's "Tickets for the People Program" ­ a program that will give away 7500 free tickets during the festival to non-traditional audiences.

Tickets will go on sale August 15th, 2006.  For further information call (212) 253-7017, or email katrin@cultureproject.org.