3rd Date Added for Melvin Van Peebles 'Sweet Sweetback Baadasssss Song' At BRIC Arts

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn is pleased to announce that, due to overwhelming demand, a third work-in-progress preview has been added to the performance schedule of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (the Hood Opera), Melvin Van Peebles' musical theater adaptation of his groundbreaking 1971 film of the same name. Previews will now be February 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Ahead of its premiere at the Sons d'Hiver Festival in Paris, Sweet Sweetback at BRIC will give audiences a unique opportunity to experience the intimate process of artistic collaboration between BRIC Artists-In-Residence Van Peebles and music ensemble Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, along with a large cast of actors and singers, as they bring to the stage one of the most influential films of the African-American cinema.

The work-in-progress previews will conclude with an audience dialogue with the artists, followed by a book-signing with Melvin Van Peebles.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.bricartsmedia.org and at the door two hours ahead of showtime on the day of each performance at the BRIC Box Office. BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn is located at 647 Fulton Street, 2nd floor (entrance on Rockwell Pl.) in Downtown Brooklyn. Telephone is 718-855-7882.

A fiercely independent artist whose work on Broadway has earned him eleven Tony nominations, Mr. Van Peebles financed, wrote, directed, scored, and starred in the original film version of Sweet Sweetback, paving the way for the success of future independent black films. An important work in the history of African-American cinema, it tells the story of a deprived African-American man on his flight from the white authority in satirical, realistic and often humorous detail. The original musical score was performed by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Burnt Sugar has been described as a "funk-rock-electronic-samba-soul-jazzfusion-whatever ensemble" and counts among its influences Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis, Funkadelic, Bad Brains, Band of Gypsys, Sun Ra and Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi. Bandleader Greg Tate "plays the band" using a technique called conduction, which gets its name from the field of physics, and was developed by jazz conductor Butch Morris. Employing a series of gestures, baton twirls, eye contact, and facial expressions that are used to communicate directions to the band, the bandleader can change the melodic and harmonic structure, creating a one-time composition that could not have been predicted nor repeated.

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn is a multi-disciplinary arts and media non-profit dedicated to presenting contemporary art, performing arts, and community media programs that are reflective of Brooklyn's diverse communities, and to providing resources and platforms to support the creative process. All of our offerings are free or low cost, to enhance the public's access to and understanding of arts and media. Each year, upwards of a million people in Brooklyn and citywide are served through our programs. www.bricartsmedia.org

BRIC's performing arts programs present emerging and established artists in music, dance, theater and multidisciplinary performances to broad audiences from Brooklyn and throughout New York City, while supporting the development of new work. Signature programs include Celebrate Brooklyn!, a performing arts festival that presents over 25 free performances each summer at the Prospect Park Bandshell, and BRIClab, a commissioning and residency program presented at BRICstudio.

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