Bent - 2017 - London Articles Page 10

Composer Heidi Rodewald, known for her collaborations with Stew on Passing Strange and The Total Bent, strikes out on her own in The Good Swimmer, a "pop requiem" that addresses issues of war, heroism, sacrifice, loss, and idealism. The moody, multi-layered song-cycle for guitar, bass, piano, trumpet, woodwinds, strings, drums, and vocals is performed by a nine-piece band led by singer David Driver. Set in the early days of the Vietnam War among a group of lifeguards, Donna Di Novelli's lyrics are a radical recontextualization of found texts, including a defunct lifesaving manual. A cast of young singers in their teens and early 20s at the start of their professional careers-Jeremy Weiss, Sophia Byrd, Naseer Sleets, Joey LaPlante, Luke Bob Robinson, Papa Holt, and Kennedy Kanagawa-vividly conveys the sense of young people being thrust into a historical moment they have no control of. Their shattering experience brings the audience to a galvanizing realization: we truly honor our fallen soldiers only when we defy the political drumbeat of a senseless war.  

Apollinaire Theatre Company is thrilled to announce our 2018/2019 Season

The Marie-Josee Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic, which recognizes a composer for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music, has been awarded to South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. One of the world's largest new-music prizes, the Kravis Prize includes $200,000 and a commission to write a work for the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Chin's new orchestral work will receive its World Premiere by the Philharmonic in a future season. Funding for the Kravis Prize comes from a $10 million gift to the New York Philharmonic in 2009 by Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josee, for whom the Prize is named. Past Prize winners include Henri Dutilleux, Per Norgard, and Louis Andriessen.

Following rave reviews and audience acclaim at off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company this past spring, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon announced today that Tony Award winner and San Francisco native BD Wong will reprise his role as 'Wen Chang' in award-winning Bay Area playwright Lauren Yee's The Great Leap, performing at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater (415 Geary St., San Francisco) from Wednesday, March 6, through Sunday, March 31, 2019. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. 

AFI FEST 2018 presented by Audi will host An Evening With Nicole Kidman. The event will include a conversation with the Academy Award®-winning actor in tribute to her illustrious career, followed by a Gala screening of her latest film, Annapurna Pictures' DESTROYER (DIR Karyn Kusama), on Tuesday, November 13, at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre.

Just in time for Halloween, The Snapshots Collective presents the ghoulish musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street from October 10-31, 2018 at Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop in Vancouver's historic Gastown. In this immersive, site-specific production, audiences will get up close and personal with the demon barber himself. Featuring an incredible cast of accomplished performers, visionary director Chris Adams and award-winning choreographer Nicol Spinola tell the gruesome tale of Sweeney Todd, a tormented man bent on revenge and his unholy alliance with the resourceful pie-maker, Mrs. Lovett. Halloween thrill-seekers will delight in this macabre journey of murder, music, and seriously sinister pies.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, announced the cast of the first production of its 2018-19 Season: Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle & Here We Go, two one-act plays by Caryl Churchill, directed by Bryn Boice. The production runs November 7-18 at the Black Box Theater, Sorenson Center for the Arts at Babson College in Wellesley.

Reyes Projects is pleased to announce KUDDELMUDDEL, a two-person exhibition by Michelle Segre and Scott Reeder, opening on Friday, September 28 from 6-8 PM. Both artists employ a style of art making that seams together the audacious, and unnatural while examining today's unavoidable material culture.

The Cognac Geographical Indication will debut its popular Cognac Classic Crawl for the first time in the Windy City and City of Angels on October 1st, 2018. Running until the end of October, this program offers cocktail lovers a taste of several classics mixed with the iconic spirit, at some of the cities' best and most inventive bars.

Multi-genre songstress, vocalist and producer Sôra reveals latest riveting single titled “Sakura” set for release on 28th September via Colligence Records as part of her upcoming and most ambitious release to date, “Number One” EP, out on 9th November. To the delight of fans and new listeners alike, one of the singles from the new EP,“Lifestorm”, will be released via French music and fashion label Kitsuné on October 12. Near the end of 2017, Sôra collaborated with established Parisian electronic producer Uppermost providing exquisite vocals for his hit single “Step By Step”, which saw inspiring support from various publications such as PAPER Magazine and Magnetic Mag as well as Youtube channels Tasty, Chill Masters and Wobblecraft after receiving just under 1 Million hits via various streaming platforms.

The 25th annual Lotus World Music & Arts Festival will fill the streets of downtown Bloomington, Indiana with sights and sounds from around the globe (September 27-30, 2018).  Thirty international artists, free large-scale art installations, and events for all ages will fill 14 downtown Bloomington venues with palpable energy and an eclectic blend of global sound and spectacle. Venues range in style from the historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater, to contemplative church settings, to pavement-quaking outdoor dance tents and even a pop-up 360° video-immersion space. Music genres span continents and cultures, including Colombian marimba, Hawaiian hula, Malian desert groove, high-energy Congolese soukous, Swedish folk rock, contemporary American string music, and more.  A complete list of artists is available below or at lotusfest.org.  All-inclusive, weekend, and single-day passes are available for online, phone, and walk-up purchase via the BCT Box Office.  

Tuscany-based alt rockers, Piqued Jacks, share their debut single, 'Loner Vs Lover,' from their forthcoming, third album, The Living Past, due out October 26th. Atwood Magazine, who premiered the video, say the song is 'an intimate self-reflection full of dark energies and nuanced emotion. Erupting with passion, Piqued Jacks remind us that we have the power to control our own narrative, to effect change in our lives, and to determine the outcomes.'

The Tank will present the World Premiere of When We Went Electronic, written by Caitlin Saylor Stephens

Buran Theatre's inaugural CartHorse Fellow Cara Scarmack will see her play some higher glimmer in the landscape of flat premiere as a culmination of the fellowship. Under the direction of Sarah Hughes, the immersive and genre-defying work-straddling theatre, dance and music-will see a three-week run at The Collapsable Hole in the West Village from October 20-November 3.

Following two successful years, Brighton HorrorFest returns to Sweet Venues with its biggest events programme yet.

UTA Fine Arts is proud to present Cao / Humanity, a new exhibition by the acclaimed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, which will open at UTA Artist Space on October 4th. Cao / Humanity, in tandem with two other Los Angeles exhibitions, marks an exciting milestone for both Ai and the city of Los Angeles, where he is exhibiting for the first time. Having designed the new UTA Artist Space location in Beverly Hills, Ai's Cao / Humanitywill offer a one-of-a-kind experience for visitors-an expansive celebration of his artistic practice in a space he himself designed, the only architectural project he's undertaken in the United States.

Composer Patrick Grant re-releases his first album 'FIELDS AMAZE and other sTRANGE music' on his label Peppergreen Media. It's remixed, remastered, and reimagined - with bonus material.

DANCE NOW announces the lineup for the 2018 Festival ENCORE! The one-night-only performance will feature the 10 choreographers/companies selected by the DANCE NOW producers for having most successfully met the DANCE NOW Challenge: to create a clear and complete artistic statement in five minutes or less for the specifics of the stage at Joe's Pub.

Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor's professional theatre with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents the Michigan premiere of "The Totalitarians" by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb.

 GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, has announced the English voice cast for MFKZ. MFKZ is a collaboration from French comic artist Guillaume “Run” Renard, original creator of the comic series, and ultra-hip Japanese animation house Studio 4°C, creators of the acclaimed anime features “Tekkonkinkreet,” “Genius Party,” and “Mind Game.” The film will feature the voices of Michael Chiklis (The Shield, American Horror Story), Giancarlo Espositio (Breaking Bad, The Usual Suspects), Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life, Son of Jaguar), Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black, Joy), RZA, Vince Staples, and Danny Trejo (Machete, Predators). The “Tekkonkinkreet” dream team of co-director Shojiro Nishimi and art director Shinji Kimura reunite to bring to life MFKZ, a dark but stunningly animated sci-fi vision mélange of anime, film noir, and Lucha Libre, which made its world premiere at the 2017 Annecy International Film Festival. The Fathom event will include an exclusive behind-the-scenes look and interview with the film's creators.

A confession of a young girl bursting at her welded seams to score big in popularity, this story is filled with the must-haves of every teenage girl's life. With a mother hell bent on God-fearing normalcy, a flaccid father who will bend to her every whim, the fault is not on Mary Sue for what she had to do. At the cost of her friendships, her virginity, her innocence, Mary Sue has been chosen by God. Maybe the conception wasn't so immaculate, but no one important knows that! Until now…

It's … ALIVE! The UK's biggest festival of live horror performance is resurrected for its 8th year. The London Horror Festival continues to grow to evermore monstrous size with help from their sponsor, Horror Channel. This year it returns to the Old Red Lion Theatre with over 30 productions to curdle your blood, chill your spine, and split your sides. For four weeks this Halloween season, theatre-goers will be subjected to shocking experimentations in drama, comedy, musicals, and spoken word.

L.A. Theatre Works has announced its 2018-19 season of seven plays, each to be recorded in front of a live audience for future radio broadcast and online distribution. All performances take place at the James Bridges Theater, located on the campus of UCLA in West Los Angeles. In addition, the company will introduce audiences to its signature style of radio theater at venues across the country during its 15th national tour.

California Repertory Company (Cal Rep) announces its 30th Anniversary season which celebrates 3 decades of risk-taking theater by showcasing the work of local artists and bringing a range of World, West Coast and Southern California Premieres to Long Beach.