Tony Winner Lemon Andersen to Close 2013 BEAT Festival

The BEAT Festival will kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 12th, with opening night at the Brooklyn Museum. The festival's entire lineup of innovative emerging Brooklyn artists in theater, dance and voice will be taking over the borough's largest cultural institution with performances throughout the museum. Visitors will receive a map with the artists' locations marked so they can choose their own cultural adventure. Opening night is free with a suggested donation to the museum.

The BEAT Festival is thrilled to announce that the Brooklyn-based, Tony Award winning playwright and poet Lemon Andersen will be performing at the festival's closing night, September 21st at Congregation Beth Elohim. Andersen will be introducing characters from his new play "ToasT" which has been commissioned by The Public Theater with help and development from The Sundance Institute. Through poetry and spoken word, "Toasting" is an oral tradition driven from the black experience. The unique cast of characters in Andersen's new play are folklore heroes engaged in narrative and telling stories based on this tradition. Andersen will be performing and may be joined by some special guests. Closing night, 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth Elohim's ballroom, is $20 and sponsored by the Brooklyn Brewery.

The BEAT Festival runs from September 12th through September 21st featuring artists and works focused on site-specific, journey-based performances in non-traditional venues spanning four Brooklyn communities. Performances - including artist mashups, flex dancing, an Odyssey Works piece for one person and much more - will pop up throughout Downtown Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Park Slope and Prospect Heights, injecting culture into unusual spaces. The full schedule, information about all of the performances and ticket information can be found at www.BEATBrooklyn.com. Use #followthebeat to participate in and follow the conversation throughout the festival.

The all-star lineup includes: in theater, Odyssey Works, the Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure from Brooklyn College, Ping Chong+Company/651 ARTS and Brave New World Repertory Theater; in dance, a canary torsi, Third Rail Projects, LeeSaar The Company and Storyboard P; and in voice, Freestyle Mondays and Nicholas Tamagna. The performances were all chosen and designed to move and engage audiences in new and different ways, with some acts actually leading audience members throughout the streets of Brooklyn. Highlights include:

· BEAT Opening Night - Thursday, September 12th at 7 p.m. - will turn the Brooklyn Museum into the Brooklyn Museum for the Performing Arts for one spectacular night. All the artists in this year's festival will be positioned throughout the museum for audience members to discover.

· Odyssey Works' immersive journey for one person involves hundreds of volunteers and performers, leading them throughout Brooklyn. RSVP at www.BEATBrooklyn.com if you want to participate in this incredible theatrical event.

· Brooklyn-based choreographer Yanira Castro, whose work has been performed all over the world, will premiere her new work, "Nancy" at Museum MashUp #1 on Sept 13th at the Brooklyn Museum. This new work has been created specifically for the BEAT Festival.

· Brooklyn 63 brings residents' real stories from the civil rights movement to life with internationally renowned theatre director, choreographer and visual installation artist Ping Chong.

· From the incredible minds of the Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure (IPA), which grew out of Brooklyn College's Performance and Interactive Media Arts program, performers will take over the Brooklyn Museum, transforming a traditional museum tour into unexpected, personalized journeys.

· A special performance in the synagogue at Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) will recount the stories of Hurricane Sandy relief volunteers to raise awareness about the continued need in the hardest-hit communities. All proceeds from this event will go to CBE Feeds, which has been helping victims since the storm hit.

Because the festival is dedicated to ensuring that contemporary art is open and accessible to everyone, it includes many free events and ticketed performances range from just $5 to $20, with festival passes and VIP packages also available at www.BEATBrooklyn.com. Other deals and offers will be available at the neighborhood hubs: La Defense Bakery & Bistro in Downtown Brooklyn, Café Dada in Park Slope, and Ms. Dahlia's Cafe and Bed-Vyne Wine in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

ABOUT BEAT (BROOKLYN EMERGING ARTISTS IN THEATER)

BEAT (Brooklyn Emerging Artists in Theater) is a performing arts initiative for the community of Brooklyn. BEAT seeks to present performance events that express our profound diversity, celebrate our finest spaces and unify our broad, expansive community. BEAT is wholly dedicated to fostering and creating new audiences for Brooklyn's finest performing artists. Ultimately, BEAT is committed to supporting and presenting performing artists who are offering tremendous innovation in the art of performance, and connecting these artists to each other in the hopes of birthing new work and new forms.

The BEAT Festival is a yearly fall festival showcasing the greatest works of Brooklyn's finest performing artists. It is a borough-wide festival, with shows in traditional theaters and unusual spaces. Through the events of the festival, new collaborations and performance experiences will be created.