FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joyce Linehan for ArtsEmerson, 617-282-2510, joyce@ashmontmedia.com
ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage
PRESENTS THE BOSTON PREMIERE OF
UNIVERSES’
AMERIVILLE
MARCH 13-18, 2012
High resolution photos available for download at http://www.ashmontmedia.com/AE_photos_season_ameriville.html
Press performance is March 13 at 7 p.m. Please respond to this email with requests.
(BOSTON – Feb. 10, 2012) The second season of international theatre programming by ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage continues with the Boston premiere of Ameriville. A collision of storytelling, spoken word and the infectious rhythms of jazz, gospel and hip hop, Ameriville redefines the concept of musical theatre. Performances take place March 13 – 18, 2012 at the Paramount Center Mainstage (559 Washington Street, in Boston’s Theatre District). Tickets, from $25 – $75, are on sale now at www.artsemerson.org or by phone at (617) 824-8400.
Using Hurricane Katrina as a jumping off point, Ameriville is a highly entertaining fusion of hip-hop, poetry, flamenco, standup comedy, music and spoken word. Universes weaves this electrifying theatrical exploration of race, class, poverty, immigration and political awareness into a great adventure about what it means to be American. The viscerally energetic and diverse young team Universes puts the state of the union under the microscope and into the microphone, spinning exquisite harmonies and beatboxing. They examine our country through the lens of Katrina and her aftermath. A modern-day variety show, the piece branches out from stories of post-Katrina New Orleans to the rest of the United States, giving voice to disenfranchised groups and articulating not just the difficulties, but also the underlying strength within America.
Universes (Gamal Abdel Chasten, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, William Ruiz aka Ninja and Steven Sapp) didn’t set out to write a play about Hurricane Katrina. The ensemble’s earlier work, including the hit Slanguage,was more local in its scope, exploring the rhythms, voices and landscapes of its members’ New York neighborhoods, with a unique fusion of poetry, theatre, jazz, hip-hop, down-home blues and Spanish boleros. With Ameriville, they pan out to examine not only New Orleans, but the country at large. According to co-founder, writer and performer Steven Sapp, the project has been in the works since before the storm hit. “After Slanguage, we started to tour a lot,” Sapp explains. “We went all around the country, and the more we saw, the bigger our new pieces became. Because what we were looking at was bigger. In the beginning, we weren’t even trying to write a new piece. Our initial thought was to look at the state that the country was in, this fear about everything. We were interested in exploring the history of fear in America. And then Katrina happened.”
On one level, Ameriville serves as a reminder to the rest of the nation. “We’re a selective country in terms of what we remember,” says Sapp. “Since Katrina, we’ve had forest fires in California and floods in Iowa. It’s like flipping the channel: we move on. But if you go down to New Orleans now, six years later, there are sections that look like it just happened. It’s chilling.” The play also seeks to expose deeply ingrained social inequities that existed before the levees toppled, but which came to national attention only in the storm’s wake.
Years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, our memory betrays us. The storm drowned thousands of city residents in their bedrooms and attics, forced more than one million to flee for safety, and put 80% of New Orleans under water. But its images have receded from the covers of our morning newspapers. News of levee breaches and rooftop rescues no longer confronts us when we turn on the television. The barrage of disturbing revelations—shoddy engineering, bad science, decades of irresponsible policy converging in a lethal, man-made maelstrom—has subsided. The country has moved on. But for the displaced New Orleans residents still living in FEMA trailers or scattered across America, the storm continues. Today the per capita murder rate in New Orleans is the highest in the nation. The Road Home Program, designed to compensate Louisiana homeowners affected by Katrina and Rita, has failed to address the state’s severe housing shortage. Many fear that rebuilding efforts will marginalize entire populations: gentrification neatly disguised as renewal. And although the Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding the levees, most experts agree that current plans are frighteningly inadequate. In Katrina’s wake lies an interminable sea of questions, about what and whom we value and how we care for our home and each other. In an era of fast news and short attention spans, they are questions we would do well to remember.
About Universes
Universes is a New York-based American ensemble company of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse poetry, theater, jazz, hip hop, politics, down home blues and Spanish boleros into their own unique brand of theater-based performances. The members of the Universes ensemble grew up in the housing projects in New York City and started performing poetry in the electrifying spoken-word scene of the late 1990s at venues such as The NuYorican Poets Cafe. They have since taken their original pieces around the world, electrifying crowds and sparking conversation about just what it means to be an American citizen, right here and right now. For more information, visit http://www.universesonstage.com/.
Recommended for ages 14 and up.
March 13—18, 2012
AMERIVILLE – Boston Premiere
Universes
Written and performed by Universes
Directed and developed by Chay Yew
Paramount Center Mainstage
Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission
Performances:
Tuesday, March 13, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 16, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 17, 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 18, 2 p.m.
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About ArtsEmerson
ArtsEmerson is the organization established by Emerson College to program the beautifully restored 590-seat Paramount Mainstage; the versatile, intimate Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre (“The Jackie”), which can seat up to 150 people; the state-of-the-art 170-seat Bright Family Screening Room (all located within the new Paramount Center, a cornerstone in the revitalization of downtown Boston); and the beloved, historic 1,186-seat Cutler Majestic Theatre in the heart of the Theatre District, fully restored by Emerson in 2003. Under the artistic leadership of Rob Orchard, ArtsEmerson gives Boston audiences a new level of cultural choice, bringing professional American and international work to its four distinct venues. In addition to its acclaimed theatre works, ArtsEmerson presents adventurous, independent and repertory films on weekends, and offers a diverse music program including cutting edge indie rock and world music. For more information, visit artsemerson.org.
About Emerson College
Located in Boston, Massachusetts, opposite the historic Boston Common and in the heart of the city’s Theatre District, Emerson is the only four-year private college in the United States devoted to teaching communication and the arts in a liberal arts context. The College has 3,453 undergraduates and 837 graduate students from across the United States and 50 countries. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and a renowned faculty, students participate in more than 60 student organizations and performance groups, 14 NCAA teams, student publications, honor societies, television stations including the Emerson Channel, and WERS-FM, the nation’s highest rated student-run radio station. Emerson is internationally known for its study and internship programs in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., the
For a complete list of film programming in the Bright Family Screening Room, visit http://bit.ly/aecinema
