The Center at West Park Reveals Lineup for 2023 Evolution Festival

THE CENTER AT WEST PARK has revealed the lineup for The 2023 Evolution Festival, a multi-disciplinary performance festival featuring three original works-in-progress of theater, dance, and music by NYC-based artists.

CWP's 2023 Evolution Festival is curated by artists Nick Browne, Haruna Lee, and Sloan Pearson, and features new works by Christian Flynn, Franck Muhel Dance Ensemble, and Sheer Spectacle. The festival will run at The Center at West Park from September 14 to 30, 2023. The festival is line produced by Madelyn Paquette, stage managed by Jamie Chen and Dailee Morrone, and production managed by Merie McCown.

The 2023 Evolution Festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Center at West Park is located at 165 West 86th Street, at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 86th Street, with access to the 86th street stops on the 1, C, and B subway lines. For more information and tickets, visit www.centeratwestpark.org/evolution-festival-2023.

INTRODUCING THE 2023 EVOLUTION FESTIVAL ARTISTS

September 14-16: Christian Flynn, Gamepiece

A play created live on the spot by the actor, director, and you the audience!!!

There's no script. Okay?!?!??! You're going to see five scenes and in between each the play is going to stop and you're going to help the actors figure out what happens next. The director is going to be right there with you on stage, so don't worry; he'll make sure everything goes okay. You can also get up during the scenes and hand characters props and something will happen. There will be lights, live music, and madness. Gamepiece is a play so interactive it isn't a play-it's a game. Play it. Play it. Play it.

Christian Flynn (he/they) is a mixed race Puerto Rican writer, director, and performer in NYC. His play "everyone in new york is beautiful" was a semifinalist for the 2023 Meditative Writing fellowship and breaking & entering theatre collective's 2023 season. Their screenplay "Something Beautiful" was a quarterfinalist for the 2020 Big Break Screenwriting Contest. He hosts a popular monthly show, The Kids Are "Alright" at the People's Improv Theater. Check out his plays on New Play Exchange!

September 21-23: Franck Muhel Dance Ensemble, Lambi "The call of freedom"

Lambi is the journey of a determined slave who escapes a plantation in the West Indies in search of justice. Through his long haul, he travels from various Caribbean islands and reaches New York, the land of freedom. This rebirth of his soul consecrates a singular destiny which is also that of humanity. In the end, dignity, courage and strength prevail and are the framework of this spectacular show. The Lambi (creole word for conch shell), transformed into a wind instrument, was used during slavery for unification, communication and the slave revolution.

The choreographer Franck Muhel, in memory of enslaved women and men of these painful and historic times, invites us to travel via music and dance through the islands of the Caribbean. Let's come together to celebrate life!

We will take the audience on a journey from the Caribbean to New York City, showcasing traditional French Caribbean folkloric dances (Mazurka, Bele, Gwoka, Afro-Cuban) passing through Cuba and bringing the evolution and journey to what we know today as Mambo and Salsa dance.

Franck Muhel is the Executive Producer of Salsa the Celebration, an all-star and music extravaganza at the Manhattan Center with Eddie Torres The Mambo King, Mitch Frohman, Frankie Morales among others, sponsored by American Airlines and Martinique with charitable contributions going to Haitian earthquake victims.

Franck has performed on stage with internationally acclaimed orchestras including: The Mambo Legends Orchestra (formerly of Tito Puente), Eddie Torres and his Mambo Kings Orchestra, Orlando Marin Orchestra, Mitch Frohman and the Bronx Horns, Bobby Sanabria, The Jimmy Bosch Orchestra, The Latin Jazz Quartet...

Performed on stage at New York's major venues including, Lincoln Center, The Apollo Theater, Manhattan Center, Lehman Center, Summer stage, Teatro Latea, and dancer featured in the movie "In The Heights"

September 28-30: Sheer Spectacle, Kissing Friends

Kissing Friends is a collection of stories told by a group of young artists gathering to share their greatest hopes and desires. We are in the process of creating a script to partner with our choreography. The movement and dialogue fold in and out of reality and daydreams inside the overarching container of friendship in relation to intimacy. As the show continues to unfold the audience acts as the performers' inner psyche. It's a mirror reflecting our dreams back at us. We are reaching towards memories and make-believe wishes that tie us together. Moments that hold our collective aliveness.

Kali Petrizzo was born in Bricktown, New Jersey, in 1997, and Lily Mello was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1998. The duo began collaborating in 2018 while in school at The University of the Arts. In 2019/2020 they both received their BFA in dance from the university, under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. Their developing research is in, "Drama as Action." Kali and Lily utilize voice performance alongside grandiose movement and queer intimacy to make performances embellished in expressionism and fantasy. In January of 2022 they founded the dance theater company, Sheer Spectacle, which currently is based out of Philadelphia, PA. Sheer Spectacle debuted their first self produced evening length work, Ripped Tights, Stoned Heart to three sold out performances in May of 2022. From August-December 2022 they were commissioned by the University of the Arts to create a new work on the third and fourth year undergraduate students. The 19-minute work, I Spit Out the Gold, explored triumphant wins, devastating losses and the aftermath of failing in dedicated dreams. This April, Sheer Spectacle made its NYC debut at the 92nd St Y. They were selected by Dante Puleio to share an excerpt of I Spit Out the Gold as part of the Future Dance Festival, curated by Taryn Kaschock Russell. Sheer Spectacle has been in process since February 2023 for their newest full length, Kissing Friends. This work will premier at Philadelphia's Fringe Arts Festival, with support from the Cannonball Festival this September. They are so excited to be back in NYC to share Kissing Friends for The Evolution Festival at The Center at West Park's Sanctuary Space.

ABOUT THE CENTER AT WEST PARK

The Center at West Park (CWP) is a secular, 501(c)3 not-for-profit community performing arts center based in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church, a New York City landmark on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The mission of the Center at West Park is to build a more inclusive and intergenerational community with equal access to the arts for New York City. From its Upper West Side neighborhood location, CWP presents diverse, engaging, and boundary-pushing artistic and cultural programming; provides affordable performance, rehearsal, and event space to artists and community members; develops mentorship programs connecting established and emerging artists; and preserves the West Park Presbyterian Church's historic edifice. CWP aims to create and maintain a vibrant cultural hub, a forum for conversations and connections that transcend barriers to address the important issues facing our society today, to promote social responsibility, and to build an inclusive and diverse community.

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