Nicholas Leichter Presents THE WHIZ: OBAMALAND at Abrons - June 16-19

Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black's take on "The Wiz/ard of Oz" for the Obama generation THE WHIZ: OBAMALAND will be at the Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand Street) in Manhattan June 16-19 at 8pm. Tickets are $20 at www.theatermania.com or by calling 212-352-3101 or via www.abronsartscenter.org. 

Featuring choreography by Leichter and a commissioned score by Black with added musical selections, THE WHIZ is a full-spectrum original show of song, dance, and theatrical extravaganza. The 75-minute work showcases an array of different dance, performance, and music styles-house, funk, postmodern, drag, hip-hop, contemporary, and psychedelic-which traverse a landscape of hopes, fears, dreams, and home. 

"Nicholas Leichter, whose slippery, rhythmic style slides between
street and classical, does mash-up more than subliminal."
Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times

"a modern day dance party for pluralism"
Maura Donohue, Culturebot

The cast for THE WHIZ: OBAMALAND includes the company [Lauren Basco, Wendell Cooper, Aaron Draper, Stephanie Liapis, Dawn Robinson, Laurie Taylor, Keon Thoulouis] plus Leichter, Black, and special guests. Following performances at Abrons Arts Center, THE WHIZ will be touring to Boston, MA, Bethlehem, PA, Washington D.C., Reston, VA, Tacoma, WA, & Lewiston, ME.
Performances take place Wednesday-Saturday June 16-19 @ 8pm at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street) in New York City. Tickets are $20 at www.theatermania.com or by calling 212-352-3101 or via www.abronsartscenter.org.

 

THE WHIZ was commissioned by DanceNOW [NYC] in partnership with Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, and Abrons Arts Center • Henry Street Settlement, with additional commissioning support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and supported through creative residencies at Dickinson College, Muhlenberg College, Hollins University, and Topaz Arts. The score for THE WHIZ was commissioned by the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program. THE WHIZ was funded by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) through the National Dance Project (NDP) with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation. Funds to underwrite the general operating support associated with this project were generously provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding for THE WHIZ was provided by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Founded in 1996, New York City based Nicholas Leichter Dance has performed in over 50 cities in 17 states and 10 countries at venues including: The Joyce Theater; BAM Howard Gilman Opera House with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; The John C. Wright Theater at CSU Fresno; The Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College, FL; The Jefferson Center in Roanoke, VA; Modlin Center for the Performing Arts at University of Richmond; The Duke on 42nd Street; Central Park Summerstage; The Dorothy H. Baker Theater at Muhlenberg College, PA; Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University; Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, NC; Tangente in Montréal; Theater Aegi, Hanover, Germany; the Fabuleus International Theater Festival, Leuven, Belgium; Kaohsiung Jazz Dance Congress, Taiwan; Freedance, Ukraine; and Time to Dance, Riga, Latvia. Leichter and company have received support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, TIAA-CREF, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund, The Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance project (NDP) with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation.