'09 Philly Live Arts Fest Kicks Off 1st Weekend, Runs in Conjunction With the Philly Fringe 9/4-19

The 13th annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, which will run from September 4 - 19, 2009, opens this weekend with productions by six of the fifteen presenting Live Arts Festival artists offering five World and U.S. Premieres, alongside countless Philly Fringe shows, featuring a weekend of innovative dance, theater and performance art from the U.S. and around the world. Together, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe draw over 40,000 people who come to be a part of "Festival time" in the city, to see innovative work, meet new people, and interact with artists.

Opening weekend welcomes the critically acclaimed monologist Mike Daisey in How Theater Failed America. In this controversial piece, Daisey sinks his razor-sharp wit into the dystopian state of American theater - a shrinking world of gorgeous, empty buildings, with smaller audiences every year. Hailed as a "master storyteller" and "one of the finest solo performers of his generation" (The New York Times), Daisey combines autobiography, gonzo journalism, and unscripted performance to tell hilarious and heartbreaking stories. The production runs Sept. 4 - 6 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, home of Philadelphia Theatre Co. (480 South Broad Street). Daisy will also present the World Premiere of The Last Cargo Cult in the second week of the Festival, Sept. 10 - 13.

Festival veteran Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre (Babel, 2004) will offer the World Premiere of Kill Me Now, a cultural satire inspired by dance reality shows (Sept. 4 - 7, Arts Bank at The University of the Arts, 601 South Broad St). New Paradise Laboratories continues the pop culture trend with FATEBOOK, a theatrical production exploring how online social networking has fundamentally changed human relationships. The piece will be performed in cyberspace and real space (Sept. 4 - 18, 919 North 5th St), blurring the lines between fiction and reality.

Philadelphia favorite Pig Iron Theatre Company (Sweet By and By, 2008; Isabella, 2007) will test the boundaries of dance, drama, clown, puppetry, and music in the World premiere of Welcome to Yuba City, a collaboration with composer Michael Friedman and master teacher of physical performance forms Giovanni Fusetti. Preview performances begin Sept. 2 and 4, opening night is Sept. 5, running through Sept. 19 at the Festival Theater at the Hub, 626 N 5th St.

Experimental dance-theater takes center stage this weekend with four premiere dance performances. Kate Watson-Wallace and her company anonymous bodies will occupy an abandoned mega-store in a site-based performance piece with STORE (Sept. 4 - 9, Former Rite Aid, 4237 Walnut Street). SCRAP Performance Group (Between the Pages, 2007) celebrates the company's 15th anniversary with the World premiere of TIDE, an ever-evolving experimental dance-theater piece examining the disconnection of humans and the natural world. Urban Scuba, the latest creation from choreographer BrIan Sanders/JUNK, uses wild illusions created with movement and fantastical costumes, set in The Pool at The Gershman Y (enter from Watts Street, between Pine and Lombard). Preview performances begin Sept. 2, opening night is Sept. 4, running through Sept. 13.

Philly Fringe shows in opening weekend include Company (EgoPo), MICROWORLD(s) Part #1 (LUCIDITY SUITCASE INTERCONTINENTAL/Thaddeus Phillips), Wawapalooza 3: The Dark Roast (IdRatherBeHere), Bailout! The Live Action Sitcom (Off-Color Theatre Company), Missed Connections, A Craigslist Fantasia (Curio Theatre Company), POOF! (Pink Hair Affair), The Gonzales Cantata (Melissa Dunphy), the 9 muses (Music & Motion Dance), TOP/DOG UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks (Forbidden Culture), Trad: The Remount (Inis Nua Theatre Company), Like, So Totally 80s (ETC Theater), Inside Julia Child (Rebecca Wright and John Jarboe), Rare Bird Show with Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) and many others.

Opening weekend will also include the first of three Festival Plus programs. Held at the Arts Bank at The University of the Arts (601 South Street) on Sunday, September 6 at 1pm, Director Michal Zadara will participate in the panel discussion The Theaters of Witold Gombrowicz, joining Gombrowicz's widow and biographer Rita Gombrowicz in a discussion on Polish theater and its history. Zadara will present Operetta by Witold Gombrowicz during the second week of the Festival (Sept. 10 - 13, The Wilma Theater, 265 South Broad St).

The Festival will once again host The Festival Bar, a versatile after-hours space - designed and created specifically for the Festival - that will play host to thousands of festival-goers, artists and performers who gather to meet and mingle, grab a drink and enjoy art, music and more at the end of each Festival day. The bar officially opens on First Friday, September 4 at 10:00 p.m., kicking off the Festival in style with music by Lee Jones, the DJ behind the popular Sundae dance party. The Festival Bar presents an environmental atmosphere that evolves nightly. Philly's favorite barman Fergus Carey (Fergie's Pub, Monk's, The Belgian Café) will once again operate the bar, as visitors dance to a line-up of some of the city's best DJs and enjoy visual art and media installations designed and programmed by Philadelphia Open Studios Tour and local artists. Located in a former warehouse in Northern Liberties at 626 North 5th Street (Southwest corner of 5th and Fairmount Streets), The Festival Bar features complimentary on-site parking. Admission is free and 21+. Doors open at 9:00 p.m. Sunday - Thursday and 10:00 p.m. Friday - Saturday.

PROGRAM INFO/TICKETS
The Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival runs from September 4 - 19, 2009. Tickets for most shows cost between $10 and $30. Some shows are free. Ticket buyers who purchase tickets to multiple shows can save 20% when they buy tickets to 2 or more shows. Students and Festival goers 25 and younger pay $15 for Live Arts Festival tickets and receive $5 off Philly Fringe tickets which are priced above $10. Tickets are available for purchase now at www.livearts-fringe.org, or by calling the Box Office at (215) 413-1318, or visiting in person. The Festival Box Office at The Hub is located at the SW Corner of 5th and Fairmount Streets in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival features performances by renowned contemporary performing artists from the U.S. and around the world who are selected and invited to the Festival by Producing Director, Nick Stuccio. The Philly Fringe is an unfiltered Festival, where new and established artists of all kinds present their own work, free of a selection process. Together, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe establish Philadelphia as a city bursting with wild creativity, bringing audiences sixteen days of the most stimulating, provocative new art being created in Philadelphia, across the U.S., and around the world.

PNC ARTS ALIVE SUPPORTS THE FESTIVAL
PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC) is the presenting sponsor of the 2009 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe. The support is part of PNC Arts Alive, a five-year, $5 million investment from The PNC Foundation, to help area residents gain access to the arts, and help arts organizations expand and engage audiences. "The PNC Foundation has a long history of providing grants to non-profit organizations that strengthen and enrich the lives of our neighbors," said Bill Mills, president of PNC for Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. "We understand the valuable return that investing in arts organizations such as the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe can deliver. Today more than ever, the businesses we attract, the jobs we create and the visitors who extend their stay are drawn by what the region has to offer."

 

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