ILLUSIONS, CHALK AND SOOT, Phyllis Chen World Premiere and More Highlight Fall 2014 at Baryshnikov Arts Center

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) announces the Fall 2014 performance season, which runs September 17 to December 18. The BAC Presents series will feature the World, U.S., and New York Premieres of contemporary theater, dance, music, and multimedia works that have either been commissioned by BAC or created by artists who have been in residence at BAC. The season lineup also includes BAC Space 2014 -- a new initiative of BAC's Residency Program -- which reflects BAC's core mission to support artists at various stages of their artistic development, and expose audiences to innovative, contemporary new work.

Kicking off the fall season in September, BAC presents award-winning playwright Ivan Viripaev's Illusions, bringing to the U.S. a leading contemporary voice in Russia's theater scene. The director, U.S.-born Cazimir Liske, a graduate of Moscow Art Theatre School who has been based in Moscow for the past decade, also translated the text. With significant residency and technical support from BAC, Liske has developed a new staging of the work, which will have its U.S. Premiere in the Jerome Robbins Theater on September 17-20, and 23-24. Illusions is created with a team of local designers and is performed by a cast of New York-based actors who narrate intertwining stories of two married couples looking back on their lives, in a darkly comedic examination of true love.

In October, partnering once again with Lincoln Center's White Light Festival, BAC co-presents the New York Premiere of Chalk and Soot in the Jerome Robbins Theater on October 9-11, a collaboration between BAC Resident Artist alumni Dance Heginbotham and Brooklyn Rider. Choreographer John Heginbotham and composer Colin Jacobsen join artistic forces in this neo-absurdist work based on Dadaistic poems by 20th-century Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. With music performed live by Brooklyn Rider and vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, Heginbotham's theatrical choreography fuses with Jacobsen's inventive score, conjuring eerie figures suggested in Kandinsky's text.

For three weeks in November, BAC makes way for BAC Space 2014: an intensive period of residencies for 22 artists and companies who will develop new projects and collaborations simultaneously in all of BAC's studios and theaters. Resident Artists working in dance, theater, music, poetry, and multimedia will have dedicated time and space for creative investigation, as well as opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with other artists across disciplines. BAC Space will also involve a series of public events (to be announced), including studio showings and roundtable discussions with the artists.

The fall performance season closes in December with two new music works commissioned by BAC. Multimedia artist Stephen Vitiello will customize his sound installation Light Readings (New York Premiere) for BAC's Studio 6A. Photocell devices responding to light frequencies from BAC's expansive studio windows blend with urban street sounds to create an immersive sonic and visual score. Light Readings is on view December 8-18, with a live performance on December 9.

Accomplished pianist, toy pianist, and composer Phyllis Chen will perform a BAC commission -- the World Premiere of an original composition for hand-made music boxes, clavichord, accordion, and prepared auto-harp. The program on December 10 in the Jerome Robbins Theater also includes Chen's performance of works for clavichord, toy piano, and piano by composers William Byrd / John Dowland, Silvia Corda, and Alvin Lucier.

All tickets for BAC Presents are on sale now and can be purchased online or by phone: BACNYC.ORG / 866 811 4111. A complete schedule of BAC Presents Fall 2014 Presentations follows.

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BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER: BAC Presents Fall 2014

THEATER

Illusions (U.S. Premiere)

Written by Ivan Viripaev

Translated and Directed by Cazimir Liske

September 17-20 and 23-24 (Wednesday through Saturday / Tuesday and Wednesday at 8PM)

Jerome Robbins Theater

Tickets: $25

BAC presents the U.S. Premiere of a new production of Illusions by Russia's foremost contemporary playwright, Ivan Viripaev, translated and directed by U.S.-born theater artist Cazimir Liske. Through intertwining stories of two married couples looking back on their lives, Illusions playfully unravels paradoxes of passion and death, loyalty and betrayal, truth and fiction, hope and despair, in a darkly comedic exploration of true love.

Running Time: 80 Minutes

BAC Resident Artist Cazimir Liske developed Illusions in residence at BAC.

DANCE / MUSIC

Dance Heginbotham and Brooklyn Rider featuring Carla Kihlstedt

Chalk and Soot (N.Y. Premiere)

October 9-11 (Thursday through Saturday at 8PM)

Co-presented by Lincoln Center's White Light Festival

Jerome Robbins Theater

Tickets: $30 Orchestra / $25 Balcony

Choreographer John Heginbotham and composer Colin Jacobsen join artistic forces in this neo-absurdist work based on Dadaistic poems by 20th-century Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. With music performed live by the acclaimed Brooklyn Rider string quartet and vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, Heginbotham's theatrical choreography fuses with Jacobsen's inventive score, conjuring eerie figures suggested in Kandinsky's text.

Running Time: 75 Minutes

Dance Heginbotham, Brooklyn Rider, and ICElab participant Carla Kihlstedt are all BAC Resident Artist alumni.

DANCE / THEATER / MUSIC / MULTIMEDIA

BAC Space 2014 - Artist Residencies

Studios 4A, 4B, 6A, 6B, and the Jerome Robbins Theater

BAC hosts 22 artists in residence November 3-22 who will develop new projects and collaborations simultaneously in all of BAC's studios and theaters. Artists working in dance, theater, music, poetry, and multimedia will have dedicated time and space for creative investigation, as well as opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with other artists across disciplines. The intensive residency period--BAC Space 2014--will involve a series of public events, including open studio showings and roundtable discussions among the artists about points of connection and community between their practices.

BAC Space 2014 Resident Artists include:

Ernie Brooks and Peter Zummo (Music / Poetry); Nora Chipaumire and Charlotte Brathwaite (Dance / Theater / Installation); Jim Findlay (Theater / Video); Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith (Dance); Pig Iron Theatre Company (Theater); Pam Tanowitz (Dance); and Terrence O'Brien (Theater). BAC also hosts twelve artists in association with Danspace Project's Platform 2015, which pairs current or former City Ballet members with contemporary dance artists exploring new ideas in ballet and modern dance. The six pairings are: Jillian Peña and Troy Schumacher; Jodi Melnick and Sterling Hyltin; Silas Riener and Adrian Danchig-Waring; Rashaun Mitchell and Sara Mearns; Yve Laris Cohen and Emily Coates; and Will Rawls and Kaitlyn Gilliland.

The schedule of BAC Space 2014 public events is TBA.

MUSIC / MEDIA INSTALLATION
Stephen Vitiello
Light Readings (N.Y. Premiere)
December 8-18
Studio 6A

On View:

December 8, 10-12, 15-18 (3PM-8PM)

December 9 (Tuesday, 3PM-5PM)

December 13 (Saturday, 12PM-6PM)

Tickets: Free Admission / No Reservations Required

Performance on December 9 (Tuesday at 7PM)

Tickets: $15

Running Time: 45 Minutes

Light Readings is an interactive media installation from composer Stephen Vitiello that explores how sound and light transform one's experience of place. Vitiello sculpts a real-time composition by using small photocell devices to translate light frequencies into an ambient soundscape. Shifts in natural light from BAC's expansive studio windows, and shadows of people moving through the space blend with bursts of urban sounds from the street below to create an immersive sonic and visual score.

The N.Y. Premiere of Light Readings is commissioned by BAC.

MUSIC

Phyllis Chen

December 10 (Wednesday at 8PM)

Program

Phyllis Chen: World Premiere, New Work for hand-made music boxes, clavichord, accordion, prepared auto-harp

John Dowland / William Byrd: Pavana Lachrymae, clavichord

Silvia Corda: Tre ritratti del tempo, toy piano and toy dulcimer

Alvin Lucier: Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings

Jerome Robbins Theater

Tickets: $25

Accomplished pianist, composer, and "one of the world's leading proponents of the toy piano" (Chicago Reader), Phyllis Chen uses unconventional instruments and sound-making devices in her compositions. She performs the World Premiere of a new work scored for hand-made music boxes, clavichord, accordion, and prepared auto-harp, inspired by the collected photographs of women around the world by Paola Gianturco. The program also includes Chen performing music for clavichord, toy piano, and piano by composers whose innovative works influenced her newest composition.

Running Time: 60 Minutes

ICElab participant Phyllis Chen is a BAC Resident Artist alumna. Her new work is commissioned by BAC.