VALENCIA, CALIF.: The CalArts Center for New Performance has announced its 2017-18 season, which will see the works its developed premiere in China and France, and a new play about Emmett Till having its California premiere.
The season will open with Fantômas—Revenge of the Image, which will receive its world premiere Oct. 19 at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China. The multidisciplinary work incorporates live performance and film to explore urban violence. Center for New Performance artistic director Travis Preston will direct the project, which was developed in collaboration with Tom Gunning.
In the spring, CalArts will take Fore! abroad to France. The piece, conceived and directed by Arnaud Meunier and written by Aleshea Harris, is a coproduction with La Comedie de Saint-Etienne, where the piece will world premiere in February 2018. The investigative theatre work is an exploration of the cultural and political spheres in America and France, with a team of artists from both countries. Following its premiere, the piece will tour to Theatre de La Ville, Paris, Theatre National de Nice, and Theatre National, Bruxelles in February and March 2018.
The final production of the season, to premiere in Los Angeles, is Carolyn Bryant by Nataki Garrett and Andrea LeBlanc (May 2018). The work explores the exchange between Carolyn Bryant and Emmett Till that led to Till’s death. The artists are two of several artists-in-residence at CalArts next season.
Other artists-in-residence will develop new work at the theatre and present in-progress showings. First will be director Roberta Uno and writer/performer Dahlak Brathwaite, with a workshop staging of their Spiritrials (Sept. 18-Oct. 7). The play with music is an exploration of the prison industrial complex and its effects on black men.
Next, playwright Virginia Grise will workshop Rasgos Asiaticos (Nov. 6-22). The work follows the stories of Mexican runaways, Chinese refugees, and independent women trying to move beyond gender roles.
Also in October and November, Polish theatre director Natalia Korczakowska will be in residence developing an unnamed work.
CalArts Center for New Performance is the professional producing arm of the California Institute of the Arts. It produces, commissions and develops theatre, music, dance, media and interdisciplinary projects.
