Steppenwolf Presents 'Miyumi Project'

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 2008 Traffic Series with Tatsu Aoki's Miyumi Project:  East Meets the Rest - Friday, May 9, 2008 in the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.

Chicago avant-garde jazz is fused with taiko drumming from a variety of cultures in an energetic performance by Tatsu Aoki and his band, The Miyumi Project, celebrating a long history of collaboration between African-American and Asian-American jazz artists.  Aoki's ensemble is a multi-generational group comprised of Chicago's leading musicians, including Mwata Bowden, Jeff Chan, Jonathan Chen, Amy Homma, Cinatsu Nakano, Yoko Noge, Melody Takata, Joel Wanek, Francis Wong and Hide Yoshihashi.  The performance will also feature members of the Japanese American Service Committee's Tsukasa Taiko Youth Program.

A musician, composer and educator, Tatsu Aoki has recorded more than 100 albums featuring many of Chicago's musical legends.  He is the founder and artistic director of the Chicago Asian-American Jazz Festival and is an artist-in-residence at the Japanese American Service Committee.

The May 9 performance at Steppenwolf will also mark the official release of Tatsu Aoki's newest recording The Miyumi Project Live in Poland on Chicago label Southport Records.  Mr. Aoki and members of the ensemble will be signing copies of the new CD following the performance.

"Traffic continues Steppenwolf's season-long conversation about what it means to be an American - this time with a decidedly made-in-Chicago focus. Traffic provides a vibrant platform for dialogue between our multi-generational audience and an eclectic pool of artists," comments Director of the Traffic Arts Series, Sylvia Ewing.  "Traffic provides the opportunity for Steppenwolf to be a place where people come together for an experience that bridges entertainment and discovery, the familiar and the unknown," press notes state.

Steppenwolf's Traffic Series brings together artists of all disciplines and casts them as storytellers in one night only presentations on the Steppenwolf stage. Traffic provides an intimate and unique intersection of language, lyrics, poetry and music, creating a fresh perspective on expressing the American story.

Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ, 91.5 FM) is planning to re-broadcast the one-night only Traffic events as part of its partnership with Steppenwolf.

Traffic artists stay at The Talbott Hotel, the official hotel of Steppenwolf's Traffic Series.

Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible.  Street and lot parking are available.

Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon.  The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work.  Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of forty-one artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation. 

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