2012 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival Lineup Announced

From September 7 – 22, the annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival will celebrate its 16th year with 16 days of cutting-edge dance, theater, music, visual and interdisciplinary works by renowned artists from the U.S. and international arts scene. With six world premieres and two U.S. premieres, the Festival is a platform for daring and innovative artists, bringing leaders of the contemporary performing arts world to Philadelphia stages.

The 2012 programming will showcase provocative theater works from Australia's Back to Back Theatre, Toshiki Okada's chelfitsch of Japan, and New York's Elevator Repair Service and Young Jean Lee Theater Company; daring contemporary, urban circus from Montreal's 7 Fingers; and groundbreaking theater and dance from Philadelphia's leading art makers such as Pig Iron Theatre Company, Headlong Dance Theater, BrIan Sanders' JUNK and Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental.

Works of public performance and art on a grand scale will take to the city's Benjamin Franklin Parkway with an interactive public art experience from Montreal-based new media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and the largest work in Live Arts Festival history with Sylvain Émard Danse's Le Grand Continental.

"Our mission to present important artistic voices from around the world alongside Philadelphia's best and brightest talent continues with our 2012 programming," says Nick Stuccio, Producing Director. "We'll offer the only American presentation of Back to Back Theatre's FOOD COURT - an experimental, yet emotionally moving, piece of performance that shines a light on who holds power in our society. We're also bringing back 7 Fingers for a second year for the U.S. premiere of their newest contemporary circus work, Sequence 8, and we're assembling 200-plus Philadelphia-area residents to dance in Le Grand Continental.

 "We're also very fortunate to continue to present the work of Philadelphia's pre-eminent artists. These artists have been part of our festival since its earliest years in the late 1990s. As we have grown, so have they developed as world-class contemporary art makers. Their work is now being seen across the country and around the world, and when we bring them together here at home, that's as solid a body of performance repertory as you'll find." 

Live Arts Festival performances take place in venues and alternative spaces throughout the city of Philadelphia, from the streets of Old City's historic district to the Merriam Theater on the Avenue of the Arts. Together, the curated Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and the unfiltered Philly Fringe draw tens of thousands of people who come to be a part of "Festival time" in the city - to see innovative work, meet new people and interact with more than 2,000 artists performing in 1,200-plus performances. 

Tickets to the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival will go on sale beginning in mid-June at 
www.livearts-fringe.org or via phone at 215-413-1318. A full schedule and tickets for the Philly Fringe will be available in July.

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