Pivot Arts Fest Offers World Premiere Lineup For 2019

Pivot Arts, which celebrates innovative, multidisciplinary performance, announces the lineup for its seventh annual Pivot Arts Festival showcasing theatre, dance and music performances, including five world premieres. The Festival runs May 31-June 9 at various locations in Chicago's Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods. Tickets go on sale April 3 at pivotarts.org/festival.

The Pivot Arts Festival is an annual opportunity for audiences to experience unique music, theatre, dance, all-ages shows, discussions and more. The festival aims to create a culture of contemporary performance works in Chicago, bring diverse people together through the arts and contribute to the economic vitality of the Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods.

The 2019 lineup, comprising almost entirely world premieres, follows.

Chicago Fringe Opera and BraveSoul Movement present The Rosina Project: May 31 at 7:30 p.m., June 1 at 8 p.m. and June 2 at 7:30 p.m., Alternatives, 4730 N. Sheridan Road. A contemporary adaptation of Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville that mixes hip-hop MCs, opera singers and street-dance artists with a live DJ and beatboxer to perform an original story of female empowerment and interracial friendship as an immersive house party. Originally developed in the 2018 Pivot Arts Incubator Program at Loyola University.

Art Union Humanscape presents "To the Shore: ETHOS Episode I" by Ayako Kato: June 1 at 11 a.m., June 2 at 1 p.m., Colvin House/Creative Co-Working, 5940 N. Sheridan Road, culminating at Thorndale Beach. This meditative performance combines dance, movement and music to illuminate the connection between everyday human gesture and wisdom from the past. Part one of a three-part project, ETHOS reflects upon how contemporary humans have evolved both spiritually and physically from ancient times

Brittany Harlin presents Don't Forget Your Mother: June 6 at 8:30 p.m. and June 8 at 8 p.m., the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. Harlin's choreographic memoir is dedicated to her mothers here on Earth and her ancestors beyond. Using storytelling, poetry, song and dance, accompanied by a live band, the performance connects Harlin's personal experience with trauma to pieces of African Diasporic culture, granting herself the heritage that threatens to be erased over time.

Search Party by Erin Kilmurray: June 6 at 7 p.m., June 8 at 9:30 p.m. and, closing the Festival, June 9 at 8 p.m. at the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. This live dance work exists somewhere between a nightclub and a sports arena. Featuring a group of women, Search Party considers the boundaries we face during this charged political #MeToo moment. Kilmurray, a co-creator of the popular Fly Honey Show, choreographs an experience that is part fight club, part contemporary dance show, part sports event and part house party.

Girasol: An Evening of Latinx Performances curated and hosted by Isaac Gomez and Nancy Garcia Loza: June 7 at 9 p.m., the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. A mix of live music, spoken word, live lit and comedy hosted by two of Chicago's most prominent Latinx artists. Full lineup to come.

TRIA Theatre presents Gilgamesh and Enkidu by Ahmed Moneka (U.S. debut), Jesse LaVercombe and Seth Bockley: June 7 at 7 p.m., June 8 at 3 p.m. and June 9 at 6 p.m. at the Edge Theater 5451 N. Broadway. A collaboration between Toronto-based musician/actor Ahmed Moneka, an internationally acclaimed artist from Canada, where he sought political asylum, and actor/writer Jesse LaVercombe with Chicago playwright and director Seth Bockley. This two-man epic reanimates the world's oldest written narrative with maqam-style Iraqi music and 21st century biography, highlighting Moneka's own exile from Baghdad. Gilgamesh and Enkidu fuses highly physical theatre, soul-filled musical expression, ancient text and intimate storytelling, illuminating the tale's eternal mysteries of mortality and the universal balm of friendship. Gilgamesh and Enkidu was developed in partnership with Tarragon Theatre, Guthrie Theatre and the support of Canada Arts Council. Gilgamesh and Endiku is supported by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Illinois Arts Council and the Crane Group.

In a special event for families, Storytown Improv presents Ice Cream and Improv! (Well, Custard...) June 9 at 11 a.m. at Lickity Split Custard & Sweet Shop, 6056 N. Broadway, featuring an interactive kids' improv show plus custard and sweets for purchase. Tickets for the 2019 Pivot Arts Festival range from free to $25 per event
and are available at pivotarts.org/festival beginning April 3.

Festival passes and more information will be available April 3 at pivotarts.org.

Pivot Arts, which produces and presents contemporary and multidisciplinary performance on Chicago's far North Side, envisions a vibrant community where collaborations between artists, businesses and organizations lead to the support and creation of unique performance events. Pivot Arts supports multidisciplinary artists through its arts incubator program and fosters the creation of imaginative performance events. In addition to the Festival, Pivot Arts host a Live Talk series that includes performances and discussions and creates site-specific works throughout the year.

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