Docurama Films Releases
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
On DVD/Digital
Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Feature-Length Documentary About America’s Cultural Treasure
Narrated by Mandy Patinkin
Bonus Features Include Full Dress Rehearsal of “The Green Table”

NEW YORK, NY – May 11, 2012 – Docurama Films is pleased to announce that Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, a feature-length documentary, directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man), will debut on DVD and standard digital platforms on June 12, 2012, following a festival premiere and nationwide theatrical release.

The 2012 film chronicles the legendary Joffrey Ballet from its humble beginnings touring the country in a borrowed station wagon to becoming one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies.  Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin, the documentary takes a look at this groundbreaking cultural treasure, known as the first truly American dance company.  Included on the single DVD is the 82-minute documentary film; a 12-page collectible booklet; full dress rehearsal of The Green Table ballet; “making of” featurette; deleted scenes (including one on the making of Robert Altman’s film The Company); French, Spanish and German subtitles.  Retail price is $29.95 (UPC: 7-67685-27078-3; ISBN: 1-4229-1886-6).  For more information, please visit www.newvideo.com/docurama/joffrey-american-dance and www.joffreymovie.com.

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, is the first film to tell the story of how the Joffrey Ballet revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet at a time when it was not routinely accepted. The Company broke other barriers too by accepting and cultivating a diverse group of talented dancers regardless of race and body type, by resurrecting nearly lost early 20th Century masterpieces, and by commissioning daring new works by cutting edge choreographers.

This insightful documentary, executive produced by Harold Ramis and Jay Alix and produced by Una Jackman and Erica Mann Ramis, examines the dynamic trajectory of the groundbreaking company by weaving a wealth of archival footage, behind-the-scene photos and interviews with former and current Joffrey star dancers. It documents the struggles and achievements of the Joffrey from its newfound beginnings in 1956 to the Company’s present international success. The film features rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as its breakthrough collaborations with choreographers Twyla Tharp, Leonid Massine, Laura Dean, and Kurt Jooss.  Founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino and a host of ballet notables, including Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Helgi Tomasson, Kevin McKenzie and more are featured in the film. The film is a rich chronicle of a ballet company that continues to reinvent itself, raise the bar and invigorate audiences worldwide.  See list of full credits at www.imdb.com/title/tt1829041/fullcredits.

 “A compelling film– a thrilling, touching and turbulent account – must be seen.” -Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema

The film had its world premiere in NYC in late January 2012 at the Dance on Camera festival held at Lincoln Center. It is currently touring the US with stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Seattle, Dallas, Denver, and many other cities (see updates at www.joffreymovie.com/screenings).

Multimedia – The Expanded Joffrey Story –
Hybrid Cinema is also releasing multimedia companion projects with exclusive content for fans wishing to further explore the Joffrey legend beyond the film.  There is a series of digital photobooks called Joffrey Maverick Moments.  Each new edition will be available for free from the film’s website and Facebook page.  The digital photobooks are based on themes and time frames found in the film such as Joffrey’s Nutcracker, the psychedelic rock ballet Astarte, Arpino’s most well regarded ballets (The Clowns, Trinity, Olympics, Round of Angels, Light Rain), and more with rare photos accompanied by quotes from Robert Joffrey, his friends and associates, as well as alumni interviews that provide further insight and background into the Company.  Hybrid Cinema also has started releasing a series of audio podcasts with exclusive new interviews of Joffrey alumni.  These podcasts are available on the film’s website.  The multimedia companion projects will be released leading up to the DVD release in June.  Regular content, including film clips, bonus outtakes, and blog articles, is also available on the film’s website and YouTube channel.

Director Bob Hercules –
Bob Hercules is an award-winning veteran producer/director (Forgiving Dr. Mengele, Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, Senator Obama Goes to Africa).  The co-founder of Media Process Group, his work has been seen widely on PBS, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel and the Independent Film Channel (IFC). He has also directed commercials for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Alzheimer’s Association, McDonald’s Corporation, Gap Clothing Stores and the Obama For President Campaign.  His documentary, A Good Man, co-directed by Gordon Quinn, chronicles the intense creative journey of Bill T. Jones – a 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient and two-time Tony® Award winner for Best Choreography.  It premiered on November 11, 2011 on PBS’ celebrated series American Masters.

The Joffrey Ballet –
For more than a half-century, The Joffrey Ballet’s commitment to taking world-class, artistically vibrant work to a broad and varied audience has created a solid foundation that continues to support the Company’s unprecedented capacity for achieving important “firsts.” Today, the Joffrey, which has been hugely successful in its former residences in New York and Los Angeles, lives permanently in a brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America – Chicago, Illinois. The Company’s commitment to accessibility is met through the most extensive touring schedule of any dance company in history, an innovative and highly effective education program including the much lauded Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and collaborations with myriad other visual and performing arts organizations.

Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become the organization’s principal choreographer, The Joffrey Ballet began as a DIY dance company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon. What started as a childhood dream quickly grew into one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Together, Joffrey and Arpino transformed the face of dance by merging classical ballet technique with bold new perspectives for edgy new ballets that challenged conventions. Aggressive touring took the Company from school auditoriums across America’s Heartland, to the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, on to Russia for a month-long tour during the height of the Cold War, and beyond.  They also garnered extensive media attention for their daring originality, which included appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the cover of TIME magazine, and in major motion pictures such as Save the Last Dance and Robert Altman’s The Company (which is based on the Joffrey).

Classically trained to the highest standards, The Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its Company, audiences and repertoire, which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and contemporary works. The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater and Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world. To learn more, please visit joffrey.org.

Hybrid Cinema –
Hybrid Cinema was created by filmmaker and author Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office, Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul) to help filmmakers navigate the ever-changing world of film distribution and marketing. Hybrid Cinema consults with filmmakers to help them with the new digital era of distribution and marketing by utilizing modern strategies of audience engagement, special theatrical events, as well as innovative merchandising and release patterns. Hybrid Cinema also supervises film releases. Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance is Hybrid’s second full release of a film following the graffiti documentary Bomb It. Indicative of the innovative release and audience engagement strategies used by Hybrid, the Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance release marks the first time that a film has simulcast its film festival world premiere throughout cinemas in the U.S. as the launch of its theatrical release.  Hybrid Cinema orchestrated this pioneering release strategy by, among other things, bringing the participating organizations together for these milestone premiere events.  For more information on Hybrid Cinema, please visit www.hybridcinema.com.

About Docurama Films –
In 1999, New Video launched Docurama Films® with the first feature documentary ever available on DVD: D.A. Pennebaker’s Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back. Twelve years and 300 award-winning, highly-acclaimed titles later, Docurama continues to discover and release the greatest non-fiction films of our time while spreading the word about filmmakers who are taking the form to new heights.  Docurama’s catalog features topics including the performing and visual arts, history, politics, the environment, ethnic and gender interests, and all-time favorites including The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides and King Corn. Recent titles include Oscar®-nominated films GasLand and Hell and Back Again. www.docuramafilms.com

Key Links –
- Official Movie Site – www.joffreymovie.com
- DVD – www.newvideo.com/docurama/joffrey-american-dance
- Amazon DVD Preorders – www.amazon.com/Joffrey-Mavericks-American-Sasha-Anawalt/dp/B0071BY1HE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334860883&sr=8-1
- YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/user/JoffreyMovie
- Facebook – www.facebook.com/JoffreyBalletMovie
- Twitter – twitter.com/#!/JoffreyMovie
- Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/joffreymovie
- Joffrey Ballet Site – joffrey.org

For more information, or to request screeners, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance

US Retail Price: $29.95
DVD Release date: 6/12/2012
Distributor: Docurama Films
Configuration: DVD Single
Run Time: 82 min + extras
UPC: 7-67685-27078-3
ISBN: 1-4229-1886-6
DVD Catalog #: NNVG270780
Closed caption: Yes
Subtitles: French, Spanish & German
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Director: Bob Hercules
Narrator: Mandy Patinkin

Cast: Kevin McKenzie, Helgi Tomasson, Lar Lubovitch, Ashley C. Wheater, Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Anna Kisselgoff, Adam Sklute, Christian Holder, Dermot Burke, Paul Sutherland, Francoise Martinet, Bruinilda Ruiz, Jonathan Watts, Dianne Consoer, Charthel Arthur, Maia Wilkins, Fabrice Calmels, Sasha Anawalt, Hedy Weiss

Crew: Mark Bandy (music composer), Melissa Sterne (editor), Michael Swanson (director of photography), Keith Walker (director of photography), Jay Alix (executive producer), Harold Ramis (executive producer), Una Jackman (producer), Erica Mann Ramis (producer), Bob Hercules (writer)

New Video: www.newvideo.com/docurama/joffrey-american-dance
Amazon Preorders: www.amazon.com/Joffrey-Mavericks-American-Sasha-Anawalt/dp/B0071BY1HE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334860883&sr=8-1

click for view trailer

Center Photo Caption & Credit:
Gerald Arpino’s “Light Rain” – Photo credit: Herbert Migdoll
Center Graphic Caption & Credit:
DVD Cover Art – Credit: Rafael Picco

]]> http://www.greengalactic.com/2012/joffrey-mavericks-dvd/feed/ 0 http://www.greengalactic.com/2012/live-talks-la-may-june-2012/ http://www.greengalactic.com/2012/live-talks-la-may-june-2012/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 16:40:50 +0000 lynn-hasty http://www.greengalactic.com/?p=3685 Live Talks Los Angeles, which produces talks with great speakers, will once again bring a roster of A-list personalities to the Aero Theatre, Track 16, and UCLA’s Fowler Museum in the coming months.  The schedule includes Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Gregg Allman, of the Allman Brothers Band, who will speak about the highs and lows of his legendary life (5/15, Aero), Hollywood Creative Force Garry Marshall, who will discuss My Happy Days in Hollywood (5/23, Aero), and National Book Award and Oscar-Winning Writer John Irving, who will talk about his upcoming novel, In One Person (6/21, Aero).  Most events start at 8:00pm with receptions preceding the talks.  Ticket prices range from $20 to $95.

Live Talks Los Angeles
Brings Gregg Allman, Garry Marshall, John Irving & Others
To the Aero Theatre, the Fowler Museum & Track 16
In May & June 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – May 11, 2012 – 
Live Talks Los Angeles, which produces talks with great speakers, will once again bring a roster of A-list personalities to the Aero Theatre, Track 16, and UCLA’s Fowler Museum in the coming months.  The schedule includes Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Gregg Allman, of the Allman Brothers Band, who will speak about the highs and lows of his legendary life (5/15, Aero), Hollywood Creative Force Garry Marshall, who will discuss My Happy Days in Hollywood (5/23, Aero), and National Book Award and Oscar-Winning Writer John Irving, who will talk about his upcoming novel, In One Person (6/21, Aero).  Most events start at 8:00pm with receptions preceding the talks.  Ticket prices range from $20 to $95.  Please visit Live Talks LA’s website for additional details, updates and tickets at livetalksla.org.

Live Talks LA hosts events at various venues throughout Los Angeles.  The May and June 2012 events will take place at The Aero Theatre (1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403; 310-260-1528; www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/aero_theatre_events), The Fowler Museum on the UCLA Campus (308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Los Angeles, CA 90025; 310-825-4361; www.fowler.ucla.edu) and Track 16 in Bergamot Station (2525 Michigan Avenue, Bldg C-1, Santa Monica, CA 90404; 310-264-4678; www.track16.com).

“Live Talks Los Angeles was launched in 2010 to showcase great speakers – artists, authors, humorists, musicians, scientists, and business thought leaders,” says Live Talks Los Angeles Founder/Producer Ted Habte-Gabr, “The idea is to just let them talk, in conversation with a provocative interviewer.”

Gregg Allman (Credit: Danny Clinch)

May 2012 Live Talks LA–



Tue. 5/15, 8:00pm
Reception 6:30-7:30pm
An Evening with Gregg Allman
In Conversation with Alan Light
Discussing his forthcoming memoir My Cross to Bear

The Aero Theatre, Santa Monica
Tickets: $25-95
Founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, Gregg Allman is a gifted natural interpreter of the blues, his soulful and distinctive voice one of the defining sounds in the history of American music. He will discuss his upcoming memoir, chronicling the highs and lows of his legendary life and music, My Cross to Bear. Like any genuine bluesman, his life has been colored by myriad triumphs and tragedies including a long battle with Hepatitis C.  His 2011 Low Country Blues, one of the defining albums of his recording career, received a nomination for “Best Blues Album” and the Allman Brothers Band was honored with the prestigious “Lifetime Achievement Award” at this year’s Grammy Awards. Alan Light is one of America’s leading music journalists, a frequent contributor to the New York Times and Rolling Stone; a columnist for msn.com; and the Director of Programming for “Live from the Artists Den,” a concert series now in its fourth season on PBS. Light is the co-author of Allman’s memoir. Additional event details and ticketing here.

Pico Iyer (Credit: Derek Shapton)

Thu. 5/17, 7:30pm
Pico Iyer In Conversation with Lisa Napoli

The Joy of Quiet: Desperate to Unplug
(or Coping with the Age of Always-On)

The UCLA Fowler Museum, Los Angeles
Tickets: $20
Join us for a lively discussion about the impact of modern era connectedness on our ability to think, create, and participate in the world. Pico Iyer (who has yet to own a cell phone) extols the virtues of peace and quiet. Iyer was born in Oxford, England, to parents from India, and educated at Eton, Oxford and Harvard, while officially growing up in Southern California. He is the author of eight works of non-fiction, including Video Night in Kathmandu (cited on many lists of the best travel books ever), The Lady and the Monk (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in the category of Current Interest) and The Global Soul (subject of websites and theatrical productions around the world). He wrote the novels Cuba and the Night and Abandon. He has also written for Time Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, and National Geographic. Iyer’s 2008 book, The Open Road, describes more than 30 years of talking and traveling with the 14th Dalai Lama. His most recent book, on Graham Greene, hauntedness and fathers―The Man Within My Head―came out earlier this year.  Journalist Lisa Napoli has worked for public radio, the New York Times’ CyberTimes, MSNBC, and CNN. She is also the local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KCRW. Additional event details and ticketing here.

Wed. 5/23, 8:00pm
Reception 6:30-7:30pm
An Evening with Garry Marshall
In Conversation with Sam Rubin
My Happy Days in Hollywood
The Aero Theatre, Santa Monica
Tickets: $25-95
A groundbreaking creative force in Hollywood for more than fifty years, Garry Marshall excels as a writer, producer, director, and actor, earning him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, numerous prestigious awards, and acclaim from critics and fans alike.  He wrote for hit television programs The Tonight Show, The Lucy Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. When Marshall ventured into producing with fellow writer Jerry Belson, they struck gold with The Odd Couple in 1970. Marshall’s career skyrocketed with his creation of some of the best-loved television series of all time including Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, and Laverne & Shirley. As a director, he gave life to star-studded films Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Beaches, The Other Sister, and The Princess Diaries. Throughout his career, he has been praised for his commitment to the advancement of women in Hollywood. New Year’s Eve, Marshall’s latest feature film, stars Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, and Sarah Jessica Parker, among others.  Live Talks Los Angeles is excited to host him on the occasion of his forthcoming memoir, My Happy Days in Hollywood.  Sam Rubin is the entertainment reporter for KTLA Morning News. He hosts the Emmy-nominated “Live from the Academy Awards,” syndicated nationally by Tribune Entertainment, “Sneaks,” a series of movie preview shows produced in conjunction with the Los Angeles Times, as well as a celebrity talk  show for the Reelz Channel.  He is also the co-author of two biographies, one on the former first lady Jacqueline Onassis and the other on actress Mia Farrow.  Additional event details and ticketing here.

Garry Marshall (Credit: Ron Batzdorf)

June 2012 Live Talks LA–

Thu. 6/7, 8:00pm
An Evening with Oscar Hijuelos
Track 16, Santa Monica
Pulitzer Prize-winning Latino author Oscar Hijuelos is the international bestselling author of eight novels, including The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.  He’ll discuss his memoir, Thoughts Without Cigarettes, which explores the people and places that have influenced his life and, in turn, his literature. livetalksla.org/blog/2012/01/16/an-evening-with-oscar-hijuelos/

Tue. 6/12, 8:00pm
Frank DeFord in Conversation with John Salley
Track 16, Santa Monica
Voted by his peers “US Sportswriter of the Year” six times, Frank DeFord discusses his career via his memoir, Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter. John Salley is a sports commentator and NBA veteran of 11 seasons with stints at the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and LA Lakers.
livetalksla.org/blog/2012/05/07/june-12-frank-deford-in-conversation-with-john-salley-thejohnsalley/ 


Thu. 6/14, 8:00pm
An Evening with Christopher Buckley
Track 16, Santa Monica
Prize-winning author of 15 books, Christopher Buckley was managing editor of Esquire Magazine, chief speechwriter to Vice President George H.W. Bush, and founding editor of Forbes FYI Magazine (now ForbesLife), where he is now editor-at-large.  He will discuss his latest novel, They Eat Puppies, Don’t They?
 livetalksla.org/blog/2012/01/17/an-evening-with-christopher-buckley/

John Irving (Credit: Jane Sobel Klonsky)

Thu. 6/21, 8:00pm
An Evening with John Irving
The Aero Theatre, Santa Monica

John Irving won the National Book Award for his novel, The World According to Garp, and an O. Henry Award for the short story, “Interior Space.” He also won an Oscar for “Best Adapted Screenplay” for The Cider House Rules – a film with seven Academy Award nominations. He will discuss his upcoming book, In One Person, his 13th novel. livetalksla.org/blog/2012/01/17/an-evening-with-john-irving/

Live Talks Los Angeles–
Live Talks Los Angeles, produced by Ted Habte-Gabr, brings great speakers to Los Angeles. Authors, artists, humorists, musicians, scientists, and business thought leaders are presented in the series in some of the city’s most amazing venues. The series has seen powerhouses Robert Reich, Ken Follet, Michael Caine, Hal Holbrook, Dave Barry, Jane Lynch, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, John Lithgow, Anne Rice, and many others. Proceeds from ticket sales support various literacy, arts and educational causes that benefit the lives of Angelenos. Live Talks Los Angeles hopes to raise awareness and support for the great work these organizations do in the community. For the 2011-12 season, funds from events support First Book, The Actor’s Gang, American Cinematheque, KCET, and Los Angeles Review of Books. Major sponsors are Bio.com and City National Bank. Media sponsors are 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio and KCET. livetalksla.org

For more information, press passes, photos, to interview Live Talks LA producer Ted Habte-Gabr and/or an upcoming guest speaker, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Please Save the Date….

WHAT:
Dance Camera West‘s 11th annual Dance Media Film Festival
http://www.dancecamerawest.org

WHEN:
Thu. June 28 – Sat. June 30, 2012
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
- The Hammer Museum

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Dance Camera West’s (DCW) 11th annual Dance Media Film Festival opens at LACMA with the screening of its highly anticipated shorts program, which will include special guests (TBD) on Thursday, June 28, 2012. The next day, Friday, June 29, also at LACMA, DCW pays tribute to Soul Train with a screening of the 90-minute documentary Soul Train: The Hippest Trip In America with special guest Jody Watley, as well as a longer shorts program.  The festival closes on Saturday, June 30, 2012 with a documentary program at The Hammer Museum.

This year’s festival marks Dance Camera West’s first year under the leadership of newly appointed Executive Director Tonia Barber, who is ushering in a brand new decade for the organization with an influx of new energy.  Dance Camera West’s Co-Founder and long-time Artistic Director Lynette Kessler stepped down in January 2012 to take on new challenges after leading the organization through its first decade.

SCHEDULE:

Fri. June 22 -
Pre-Festival Kick-Off:
 - As part of the Los Angeles Film Festival‘s free outdoor programming, there will be a Dirty Dancing Dance-A-Long at California Plaza
- celebrating the 25th anniversary of the film
- free salsa lessons by Contra-Tiempo
- special guests and a shadow cast consisting of performers from local dance companies to dance on stage below the screening during key scenes
- 7:00pm
- Grand Performances - California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071 – http://www.grandperformances.org

Thu. June 28 -
DCW Festival Opening Night in Association with Film Independent:
- DCW’s highly anticipated “Shorts Program” kicks off the festival
- with post screening panel Q&A moderated by Film Independent Curator Elvis Mitchell
- Reception to follow
- 7:00pm

Films Scheduled to Screen on 6/28/12:
- “Chant et Fugue” by Martin and Facundo Lombard
- “Falling” by Adriano Circulli
- “Origami” by RJ Muna/Katherine Fisher & Jaime Verazin
- “Gravity of Center” by Thibaut Duverneix/Victor Quijada
- “Painted” by Duncan McDowell/Dorotea Saykaly
- “Into Minds” by Azul Serra/Irineu Nogueira
- “Outside In” by Tove Skeidsvoll/Petrus Sjovik (also screened at the Cannes film Festival)
- “MOVE” by Dominique Palombo/Jermaine Browne

LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art - 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-857-6010; http://www.lacma.org)

Fri. June 29 -
Daytime Program:
- Longer shorts (30-40 minute films)
- 2:00 – 4:00pm

Films Scheduled to Screen on 6/29/12:
- Pro Motion Youth Screenings (2 shorts)
- “Black Train is Coming” by John T. Williams
- “Contact” by Mitchell Rose
- “Labyrinth Within” by Pontus Lidberg
- “The 818 Session” by Jessica Koslow
- “Ora” by Philippe Baylaucq/Jose’ Navas (also screend at TIFF)
- “Fanfare For Marching Band” by Daniele Wilmouth/Peter Carpenter

Evening Program:
- Tribute to Soul Train with screening of the 90-minute documentary Soul Train: The Hippest Trip In America by J. Kevin Swain followed with interviews with original Soul Train dancers including Jody Watley and a live Soul Train party. Hosted by Elvis Mitchell.
- 7:00pm
- LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art - 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-857-6010; http://www.lacma.org)

Sat. June 30 -
Closing Night:
- Going Somewhere – a creative documentary about Wayne McGregor by Catherine Maximoff
- Closing Night Awards Reception
- 7:30pm
- The Hammer Museum – 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310-443-7000; http://hammer.ucla.edu)

HOW MUCH:
All events are free to attend.

“Free Expression” by Martin & Facundo Lombard

ABOUT DANCE CAMERA WEST:
Dance Camera West is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance media from around the world. Founded in 2001 by Kelly Hargraves and Lynette Kessler, DCW connects diverse cultures and environments through its exploration of dance on screen, bringing thousands of challenging and provocative films to Los Angeles from around the globe, effectively bridging the gap between the uniquely influential Los Angeles film community and the significant local dance populace. The organization is unique in its artistic purpose, as no other organization in Los Angeles offers audience exposure to such a diverse range of work by international dance companies.

DCW strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance media by merging both performance and cinematic aesthetics. DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the world that present the thought-provoking adventure of dance media.  Known as one of the world’s premiere presenters of dance media, Dance Camera West aspires to awaken and infuse the public mainstream with critical creative programming.  DCW has expanded the audience for dance in Southern California with the presentation of more than 2,000 dance films from 47 countries since its inception.

LINKS:

- DCW Site – http://www.dancecamerawest.org

- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DanceCameraWestFilmFest
- Twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/dancecamerawest
- YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/dancecamerawestfest

- Image Gallery – http://gallery.me.com/lynnhasty#100301

#       #       #

For more information, press passes, photos, or to interview DCW’s director Tonia Barber, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

“MOVE” by Dominique Palombo

U-N-M-A-R-K-E-D

U-N-M-A-R-K-E-D & Highways Performance Space Present
The World Premiere Of
PATTY!
A PoP! Music Religious Revival
Created, Produced & Directed by Patrick Kennelly
With Performances & Album Release in Santa Monica
May 18-20 & 23-26, 2012
Inspired by the Mythic Histories of Patties Duke & Hearst

LOS ANGELES, CA – April 18, 2012 – U-N-M-A-R-K-E-D and Highways Performance Space present the world premiere of PATTY!, a PoP! Music Religious Revival inspired by the mythic histories of Patty Duke and Patty Hearst, with seven performances running May 18 to 20 and May 23 to 26, 2012.  In conjunction with a full album release, the project includes a two-week run of live, 360-degree, outerdisciplinary performances (equal parts dance-pop concert, fashion show and new media installation), created, produced and directed by Patrick Kennelly.  PATTY! features 15 female performers and choreography by Marina Magalhães (of Contra-Tiempo) with additional choreography by Jmy James Kidd (of MGM) and Kennelly.  Opening music acts for the run include Actually Huizenga, IE, Bai Ling, Kristin “Kevin Blechdom” Erickson and the M.T. Brain, Wet Mango, Maxi Wild, and more.

Nightly shows start at 8:30pm.  General admission tickets are $15 (standing only) and VIP admission is $30 for assigned seats.  Tickets are available online via https://www.elbowspace.com/servlets/cfd?xr4=&formts=2006-05-23%2012:16:21.515002.  Highways Performance Space at the 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310-315-1459, http://highwaysperformance.org/). For more information on PATTY!, please visit www.facebook.com/pattytherevival and  http://www.pattytherevival.com, which was designed by Adam Bech Harms as an interactive immersion into the world of PATTY!

The darkly comedic messianic fable is inspired by the redemptive, sorted (sic), exploited and mythic histories of Patty Duke and Patty Hearst.  In the process of building the cult of PATTY!, the project critiques the nature of commodification as it charts a modern woman’s bifurcated journey through a labyrinth of social, political and cultural bondage, exploring the way America’s male-centric media culture dominates and confuses female/feminine identities by generating representations of women as perpetually replaceable.

PATTY! is an enigma, an icon, diva, and saint.  She is all of these things, some say she is everything. However, the real PATTY! is a mystery.  Is she a liar, fraud, puppet, and cult leader?  All shall be revealed in her final live performance as her congregation joins her in a fight, once and for all, to destroy the system in order to free themselves from the ideals which enslave them!

The PATTY! album, with intense PoP! Music verve, features a 13-track score by Jonathan Snipes (of Captain Ahab) with Kristin “Kevin Blechdom” Erickson and Daveed Diggs with additional music by John Snyder. It features lyrics by Snipes, Diggs, Erickson, Sigrid Gilmer, and Patrick Kennelly.  Hear excerpts here:  http://patty.bandcamp.com.  Tracks will be available for streaming and eventually the whole album for purchase as a download.

Two behind-the-scenes videos for PATTY!
- trailer [1:55] – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOv26DmA53c&feature=youtu.be
- interview [3:29] – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYP_LM3kK4c

Opening Music Acts –
Opening music acts over the seven day run include:
- Fri. 5/18 – Actually Huizenga - http://actuallyhuizenga.tumblr.com
- Sat. 5/19 – IE - https://www.facebook.com/#!/IEMusic
- Sun. 5/20 – Bai Ling - http://www.officialbailing.com
- Wed. 5/23 – TBD
- Thu. 5/24 – Kevin Blechdom and the M.T. Brain (Kristin Erickson’s project)
- Fri. 5/25 – Wet Mango - https://www.facebook.com/#!/WetMangoMusic
- Sat. 5/26 – Maxi Wild - https://www.facebook.com/#!/maxiwildmusic

Credits –
Created, Produced & Directed by – Patrick Kennelly
Music by – Jonathan Snipes with Kristin “Kevin Blechdom” Erickson & Daveed Diggs
Book – Sigrid Gilmer & Patrick Kennelly
Lyrics – Jonathan Snipes, Kristin “Kevin Blechdom” Erickson, Sigrid Gilmer, Patrick Kennelly & Daveed Diggs
Choreography – Marina Magalhães (of Contra-Tiempo)
Additional Choreography – Jmy James Kidd (of MGM) & Patrick Kennelly
Scenic Design – Lianne Arnold
Sound Design – Jonathan Snipes
Costumes – Pilar Macchione
Hair/Makeup – Jen Kolhagen & Genevieve Garner
Technical Director/Production Manager – Ed Cha
Lighting Design – R. Christopher Stokes
Video Design – Lianne Arnold & Patrick Kennelly
Additional Video – Rodney Ascher & Cristina Bercovitz
Cinematographer/Additional Photography – Trevor Baker
Production Sound Mixer – David Crawford
Pre-Recorded Music Mixer – Steve Kaplan
Pre-Recorded Guitars – Justin Asher
Additional Music – Wes Medina, Nero’s Day at Disneyland & John W. Snyder
Additional Vocals – Rachel Hirshee & Megan Otteni
Graphic Design – Marie Fromont
Video Design – Lianne Arnold & Patrick Kennelly
Additional Video – Rodney Ascher, Cristina Bercovitz & Masha Tatarintseva
Cinematographer/Additional Photography – Trevor Baker
Website – Adam Bech Harms
Graphic Design – Marie Fromont

Performers –


Verity Branco,  Nikki Bohm, Heather Cadarette, Blythe Evans, Maya Gingery, Gemma Grey, Elizabeth Hahurst, Emma Hawley, Elaine Hammel, Chelsey Holland, Amber Morse, Jasmine Orpilla, Stephanie Tucker & Justine Woodford.



Patrick Kennelly, Creator/Producer/Director –


Patrick Kennelly’s direction, design, performance, and curation in the realms of theater, film, installation, performance and visual art has been presented in Los Angeles at a variety of venues, including Highways Performance Space and Gallery, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Track 16, CrazySpace, UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, Sophia Louisa Projects, Human Resources, and New Wight Gallery at the Broad Arts Center. His theatrical work has included original plays, large-scale performance installation, and image-based physical theater. He was a recipient of the 2008 Princess Grace Award for Theater, and has received fellowships and grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the City of Santa Monica, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. He is Co-Artistic Director at Highways, as well as serving on their board of directors.  He is also the Artistic Director of U-N-M-A-R-K-E-D.  Kennelly received his BFA in Film/Video from CalArts and an MFA in Theater Direction from UCLA.   http://www.patrickkennellyunmarked.com



Jonathan Snipes, Composer –
Jonathan Snipes is a composer and sound designer, specializing in electro-acoustic music and musique concrète; bridging the gap between music and sound design.  Equally at home in academic and commercial settings, his work has been heard in theater, film, television, and video games.  On screen, his music has been heard in Mask of the Ninja (Spike TV, 2008), Reversion (Sundance Festival, 2008), Snakes on a Plane (New Line Cinema, 2006), Room 237 (Sundance Festival, 2012), Step Up 3D (Touchstone, 2010), The Office (NBC, 2005-present), The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox, 2007-present), Battlestar Galactica (SciFi, 2004-2009), and Meteor:  Path to Destruction (NBC, 2009).  On the stage, his work has been featured in Meditations on Virginity (National Theater in Warsaw, Poland, 2004), Belfast Blues (Off-Broadway, 2004), Sock & Shoe (Actors Gang, 2009) and many more.  He has performed at some of the premier venues and festivals for music in the world including the Dour and Dissonant Festivals in Belgium, Bangface in London, Club Transmedial in Berlin, La Gaité Lyrique in Paris, Camp A Low Hum in New Zealand, and The Golden Pudel in Hamburg.  From 2008 to 2010, he taught theater sound design at UCLA and Culver City High School’s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.  He has given lectures at the Cal State L.A., Pinnacle College, and the Rhodopi International Theater Laboratory in Smolyan, Bulgaria.  He holds an MFA in theater sound design from UCLA.  http://www.jonat8han.com/



Kristin “Kevin Blechdom” Erickson, Composer –


Under the pseudonym Kevin Blechdom, Kristin Erickson has released 10 full-length albums and toured throughout six continents integrating computer music, live video, piano, and banjo into songs laced with deformed pop conventions and earnest autobiographical content. The albums are a mishmash of styles and production techniques. From Broadway musical to General MIDI rock opera to electro-smudge to aleatoric blatherings, her albums put a bizarre spin on what pop music can be for an era of attention span deficit. For the past ten years, Blechdom has been touring around the world playing live shows and collaborating. She has worked with artists such as Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Frith, Jad Fair, Kramer, Jamie Lidell, Kid606, Dat Politics, Mocky, John Bischoff, Chris Brown, Zeena Parkins, Cristian Vogel, Safety Scissors, Heidi Mortenson, the Organ Lady, Lumberob, Ching Chong Song, Irene Moon, Myrobotfriend, Charlie Engstrom, Christopher Fleeger, Chicks on Speed, Kim Hiorthoy, Andre Vida, Max Tundra, and Planningtorock. She has played shows in Brazil, Australia, Israel, Moscow, and across Europe and the United States.  http://www.kevyb.com/



“Colors” from PATTY! [5:08] – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfMmwwKFylc&sns=fb

Marina Magalhães, Choreographer –


Marina Magalhães is a Brazilian-born choreographer, dancer and teaching artist based in Los Angeles. Magalhães’ work draws from her unique background in traditional Samba and Postmodern techniques to create Dance Theater that is both playful and powerful, contemporary and deeply rooted in tradition. An emerging artist who graduated from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures, she is also a performer, teaching artist, resident choreographer and the rehearsal director of Contra-Tiempo, the LA-based dance activist company nationally and internationally recognized for its unique Urban Latin Dance Theater work. Marina is a co-founder and co-artistic director of Soul Lab Dance Project. http://www.contra-tiempo.org/



Jmy James Kidd, Additional Choreography –
Jmy James Kidd has danced for Stanley Love Performance Group, luciana achugar, Nancy Meehan, Sarah Michelson, Neil Greenberg, Walter Dundervill, The Mel Wong Dance Company and apprenticed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She has made work with Elizabeth Ward, Amy Granat, Eleanor Hullihan and is part of the trio MGM Grand, which has been presented by Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Creative Time at Miami Art Basel, The Kitchen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Theater Department, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Highways and PaceWildenstien as well as many private homes, galleries, gardens and garages.  She is a 2012 CHIME Southern California recipient and mentee to Julie Tolentino. She makes dancer-wear and dance costumes under the label James Kidd and designed for John Jasperse, Melanie Rios, Rebecca Bruno, Dawn Kasper, Sarah Michelson, Neil Greenberg, Anna Sperber and Ben Asriel.

U-N-M-A-R-K-E-D –
Led by Artistic Director Patrick Kennelly,  U-N-M-A-R-K-E-D is an arts collective dedicated to live and remote outerdisciplinary spectacle, horror, glamour, and social justice.  The organization is committed to ultra-violence through “art.” www.unmarkedcreations.com



Highway’s Performance Space –


Highways Performance Space is Southern California’s boldest center for new performance. Now in its 23rd year, Highways continues to be an important alternative cultural center in Los Angeles that encourages fierce new artists from diverse communities to develop and present innovative works. Recently described by the Los Angeles Times as “a hub of experimental theater, dance, solo drama, and other multimedia performance,” Highways promotes the development of contemporary socially involved artists and art forms.  http://highwaysperformance.org

For more information, press passes, photos, or to set up an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

photo credit: Trevor Baker

“Musical of the Year”
Re-Animator™ The Musical
Wins 6 LA Weekly Theater Awards
And Re-Animates Onstage
With New Hayworth Theatre Run
Opening May 3, 2012 in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA – April 17, 2012 – Earlier this month, Re-Animator™ The Musical won six LA Weekly Theater Awards including “Musical Of The Year.” It also won: “Original Music” – Mark Nutter, “Direction of a Musical” – Stuart Gordon, “Musical Ensemble” – The Cast, “Adaptation” – Dennis Paoli/William J. Norris/Stuart Gordon, and “Blood Effects” – Stuart Gordon! Now Re-Animator The Musical re-opens at a new location – The Hayworth Theatre – for a limited ten-week engagement, prior to its performance dates in New York and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  http://www.reanimatorthemusical.com/

In 1985, Stuart Gordon directed his first feature film and created a sensation. It was H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator, a smashing popular success produced by Brian Yuzna that delivered as many laughs as it did screams, making it a cult classic among horror fans and winning a Critic’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Gordon and his co-writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris, and composer/lyricist Mark Nutter turned Re-Animator into a musical for the stage, playing to rave reviews and standing ovations for a sold-out six month run.

Re-Animator tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences. “I guess he just wasn’t fresh enough,” is West’s constant refrain as his quest for fresh subjects results in the murders of half the faculty of the medical school.

The original cast is back! George Wendt, best known as the affable Norm from Cheers plays the Dean of the Medical School who West transforms into a mindless zombie. Chris L. McKenna, the star of Gordon’s neo-noir thriller King of the Ants is Dan Cain, Herbert’s hapless roommate who finds himself drawn into the mayhem. And operatic Jesse Merlin, who played the President of the United States in the long-running The Beastly Bombing is Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter (Rachel Avery) only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent, Dr. Hill is still able to take his curtain call with his head tucked underneath his arm. Rounding out the cast (in alphabetical order) are Mark Beltzman, Cynthia Carle, Brian Gillespie, Marlon Grace and Liesel Hanson, and featuring Graham Skipper as Herbert West.

Scene from Re-Animator The Musical with Graham Skipper, Jesse Merlin (and a headless Brian Gillespie). Photo by Thomas Hargis.

Special effects are being done by the same guys who did them for the 1985 movie: Tony Doublin, John Naulin and John Buechler, joined by Greg McDougal and Tom Devlin. And the blood will flow so freely that the first few rows will be designated as a “splash zone.” They also just won an LA Drama Critics Circle Award for their amazing work on Re-Animator The Musical.

Laura Fine Hawkes, who last designed The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Taper, will provide the creepy sets, Joe Kucharski the moldering costumes, and Jeff Ravitz the cadaverous lighting. Stage managing the madness is the unflappable Mike Lemek.

Mark Nutter is composer and lyricist who also won a LA Drama Critics Circle Award for his cheerfully disturbing score for Re-Animator The Musical. His previous stage credits include the international hit The Bicycle Men; Christmas Smackdown (created with the equally demented Cynthia Carle); and Wild Men. He’s also known for his work on 3rd Rock From the Sun and Saturday Night Live. His recent CD, Twisted Songs for Twisted Sophisticates, has been banned from the airwaves.

Song Samples:
“I Give Life” [1:46]
“Six to Twelve Minutes” [0:40]

Stuart Gordon directs. Prior to the Re-Animator movie, he spent fifteen years as the founder and artistic director of the Organic Theater of Chicago, where he co-created and directed 37 original productions including Bleacher Bums, and the world premiere of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Gordon has also directed four more films based on Lovecraft (among them From Beyond and Dagon.) Gordon’s most recent stage credits include the still running Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe starring Re-Animator film star Jeffrey Combs.

You won’t want to miss the award-winning Re-Animator The Musical. You only have 10 weeks before it heads off to New York and begins its international tour.

For more about Re-Animator‘s awards, check out http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2012/04/theater_awards_winners.php and http://ladramacriticscircle.com/2011-awards/

For more information, to request images, or arrange interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 and lynn@greengalactic.com OR Philip Sokoloff at 626-683-9205 and showbizphil@sbcglobal.net.

]]> http://www.greengalactic.com/2012/re-animator-musical-hayworth/feed/ 0 http://www.greengalactic.com/2012/create-fixate-snap-flash/ http://www.greengalactic.com/2012/create-fixate-snap-flash/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 07:22:48 +0000 lynn-hasty http://www.greengalactic.com/?p=3499 Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) is proud to participate in MOPLA (Month of Photography – Los Angeles hosted by the Lucie Foundation) with its all photography exhibit Snap Flash on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles. C:F’s signature blend features vibrant artwork and music produced by over forty local artists, DJs, and musicians. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview.  The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.  Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists works, please visit www.createfixate.com.

Create:Fixate Presents
Snap Flash
All Photography Show
At Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, April 28, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA - April 9, 2012 - Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) is proud to participate in MOPLA (Month of Photography – Los Angeles hosted by the Lucie Foundation) with its all photography exhibit Snap Flash on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles. C:F’s signature blend features vibrant artwork and music produced by over forty local artists, DJs, and musicians. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview.  The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.  Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists works, please visit www.createfixate.com. C:F can be reached by phone at 310-590-7199 for other inquiries.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. There is a $5 suggested donation during this period but kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry.  Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone.  Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the exhibit.  While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be 21-years old or older to enter after 7:00pm.

Snap Flash will present an array of images adhering to the premise that life can reside in a single moment in time – and in that millisecond, a whole story can be told. This show will honor moments in time that would have never been shared without the presence of a photographer and their remarkable vision.

The curatorial direction will include all photographic mediums and styles including film, digital, 3D, multi-media image manipulation, and even interactive. Anything goes as long as the original image was captured on camera by our participating photographers.

As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts the organization continues to empower youth through arts with its Young Creatives Art Program. C:F is currently working with A Place Called Home (APCH) through 2012.  The second session has commenced for the month of April as C:F works with their digital media students on a photography project to be exhibited at the Snap Flash show.  APCH is a safe haven in South Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well being; and are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world.

Snap Flash will feature the creativity of over twenty-five photographers in the “Optical Lounge,” the evening’s visual feast, presenting a stunning array of painting, photography, multi-media, interactive installation, and performance art. Highlights include:

• Dean Karr, a prolific music video/commercial director known for his directorial work with artists such as Marilyn Manson, the Dave Matthews Band, and Ozzy Osbourne, who will bring his cutting edge photographic images to Snap Flash.

• Andrew Matusik collaborates in the creative process of producing fantasy and impact-full images. He does not shy away from pushing new mediums into new unexplored territory. He will bring his fresh creative approach and an aggressive application of new technologies to the show.

• Tiffany Trenda is a video installation performance artist. Her process is to take technology (LCDs, video projectors, cameras, etc.) and create a digital environment with an embodied performance that simulates the human psyche. Her work is an investigation of how we are defined and redefined through the integration of technology.

• The LA 3-D Club (Stereo Club of Southern California) is a Los Angeles based organization dedicated to promoting the art, enjoyment and science of stereoscopic 3-D imaging. The club will be exhibiting The 54th Hollywood International Stereo Exhibition 2012 – featuring a digitally projected selection of award winning 3-D photos from around the globe. In addition, the group will share stereoscopic 3-D projection from members of the LA 3-D Club.

“The Audio Lab,” otherwise known as the music portion of the evening, completes Create:Fixate’s vision.  Highlights include:

• Garth Trinidad, the award winning, critically acclaimed radio personality, DJ, and culture critic who will bring his progressive mix of soul, hip-hop, and world rhythms to the night.

• Joplin whose musical style is eclectic, but for the last 13 years, she has been mainly recognized for her deep and funky house grooves.

• Space Ribbon who is foremost a composer/producer combining acid, dub, and techno elements; he has developed a mainly tech/deep house style of DJing.

• And expect surprises from Matthew DeMerritt & Friends. DeMerritt is known for saxophone (tenor, bari, & alto) and also plays flute, keyboards, percussion, and melodica.

Create:Fixate is an arts organization that has now completed a decade of serving the emerging art and music community of Los Angeles.  The organization is best known for its signature blend of art and music, along with thousands of art lovers and party goers in massive – and at times intimate – warehouse locations and alternative spaces on a quarterly basis.  Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple art show into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.

Optical Lounge:

Andrew Matusik -
Andrew Matusik is an image creator. His embracement of the digital medium of today has enabled him to advance the visual esthetic of photography.  His classic training, coupled with an aggressive application of new technologies allows him to produce surreal and impact-full images appealing to a new generation of visual consumers.

Avesha Michael -
Los Angeles based artist Avesha Michael is a photographer, designer and ceramicist.  The minimalist approach in Avesha’s work is very reflective of her process, very organic, honest and pure in nature.  As a commercial and fine art photographer, her work has been published in numerous magazines and publications and shown in galleries both nationally and internationally.  Her newest body of work, her “Paris in Puddle” series is highly graphic and abstract, yet gentle in contradiction.  The Puddle Series is an ongoing project and new direction for Avesha, as a photographic artist and has been very well received.

Cerraeh Dutchess Laykin -
Native L.A. photographer Cerraeh Dutchess Laykin has been drawing, painting and creating imagery since childhood. Though self-taught in photography, she has mastered capturing light, color and composition and has a passion for creating provocative images from ordinary objects, such as food and flowers.

David A. Knudsen (DAK) -
After years of practicing fine art photography, DAK has become almost entirely liberated from his DSLR. With the iPhone in his pocket, there’s never a lost opportunity to capture the beauty all around! With a primarily abstract style, DAK captures Reflections, Shadows, Textures and Patterns in our everyday world from a unique perspective. No apps or effects are used. It’s all about the composition and the aesthetic. He embraces the limitation of this instrument in creating captivating imagery.

When speaking of Director/Photographer Dean Karr, the one thing that people seem to agree about is that he is a true original. His signature style, often copied but never duplicated, has gained him international recognition as one of a small group of young media artists whose work interprets and defines our time.

Dean Karr -
Dean Karr’s prolific work as a music video/commercial director, and his cutting edge photographic images, have brought him to the forefront of his craft. His directorial work, with artists such as Marilyn Manson, the Dave Matthews Band, the Deftones, Ozzy Osbourne, Dr. Dre, Duran Duran and Velvet Revolver, reveals a highly-tuned sense of style, fashion, art, and storytelling. His music videos are constantly found at the top of MTV playlists, and have been nominated for major MTV, Much Music, Billboards, and MVPA Video Awards in each of the last several years.

Actively pursuing his feature film career, he is now in pre-production on his first major release “Condemned”. Karr’s photography has been the subject of numerous shows at galleries ranging from the Laguna Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Karnowsky Gallery, to a show that travelled throughout Russia and the Ukraine in mid 1999. His striking album and print work is familiar to the music buying public.

Always finding inspiration from reality, Karr has developed a sense of adventure in seeking out unique settings for his projects. Recent ventures have taken him to such varied locations as the Amazon Rain Forests, and the chilled waters of South Australia to film the Great White Shark.

Erik Borzi -
Erik Borzi is a seasoned fashion photographer and a 3D digital artist with over 20 years of feature film and television commercial experience. In a departure from working in fashion and on blockbuster films, Borzi’s mixed media, fine art photography focuses on his fascination with the human condition through the use of archetypes as an instrument for visual narrative. In this series of images, his focus is on transformation and the uplifting support of a strong community during trying times. Borzi works with encaustic beeswax, an outstanding archival medium that has been around for over 4,000 years, for its archival properties and for its refractive properties, which slightly warps the image in ways that gives it depth and creates an overall ethereal visual experience.

Franklin Londin – Interactive 3D Photography Displays -
“Beyond single lens photography, 3D photography has the magical ability to draw you into a space.  More than remembering the event from a flat image, you are reliving the moment by the active engagement of your eyes and brain. In essence you’re time traveling.”

Franklin Londin is a two time Academy Award winner for his animation work on the Titanic and Spiderman2 visual effects teams. His passion is shooting 3D photography and sharing that passion with others.

Through his work he loves contributing to the “wow” in peoples’ lives. He wants to remind people of the amazing blessing of binocular vision. His interactive displays have been seen at art events around Los Angeles. They are meant to be touched and enjoyed. Franklin is  also a member of the Stereo Club of Southern California and a graduate of NYU Film School.

Jamais vu -
Jamais vu is a term in psychology (from the French, meaning “never seen”) which is used to describe any familiar situation, which is not recognized by the observer. Often described as the opposite of déjà vu, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer’s impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.

Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognize a word, person, or place that they already know. As a photographer Jamais Vu uses a digital camera to take photographs of models, places, and things. He then combines these images into new compositions and realities.

Javiera Estrada -
Javiera Estrada was born in Acapulco, Mexico on Aug.6 making her a Leo Rooster with a Scorpio Moon.  She was creative from day 1, always getting into trouble for drawing on the walls and sometimes her face with nail polish.  After many years of traveling, Javiera decided to settle in Los Angeles, enrolling in Santa Monica College, ranked one of the top photography programs in the country.  In school she was one of three chosen to receive a grant as an award of excellence and was honored a coveted mentorship program given to one student every three years. Soon thereafter Javiera continued to exhibit in over 16 gallery shows in L.A.

In regards to the creative process, Javiera believes that every piece of art is a self-portrait, a physical expression of that inner world that is nameless; the part of us that goes beyond our thoughts and self-created paradigms.  The external factors of time, light and space are inescapable influences.  The sound of the camera’s click is the confluence of these two worlds, a place between reality and the ethereal.

Jimi Dava -
Jimi Dava, born in Tbilisi Georgia the former republic of the USSR, moved to New York City with his parents at the age of 5, where he was immersed in the art culture that NYC had to offer. Dava soon realized his calling and attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he focused his studies on film.

He has gone on to direct Music Videos and Commercials and is currently working on his first feature film. Enamored with the Visual aspect of film Dava is rarely seen not taking a photograph. He is inspired by form, composition and the play between light and shadows. Dava currently resides in Los Angeles and continues to chase his dreams of becoming a raconteur through visual arts.

Kathy B. Shapiro -
Kathy B. Shapiro is a fine art photographer specializing in contemporary color images.  She seeks to create abstract art through manipulation of her lens and camera settings.  Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Shapiro has lived in Laguna Niguel, California, since 1991.  Her work is currently on display and in the permanent collection of Hoag Hospital, Irvine, California.  She has been in various juried exhibits from Orange County, California to Middlebury, Vermont.  Shapiro has received awards in each of the past two years’ Single Image Contest in B&W + Color photography magazine.

Kristen Perman -
Kristen Perman is a California based photographer inspired by the urban suburban sprawl of her surroundings.   A Polaroid enthusiast, Kristen’s work unearths is an evocative collection of images of the everyday and familiar.  Kristen received a BFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and lives in Los Angeles.

Manoosh Nabavi -
Manoosh Nabavi has earned her degree in Photography and Acting from Youth Cinematographer Center in Tehran, Iran in 2006. Growing up in an artistic family, to cinematographer parents, inspired her to be a creative thinker since her early days. She has worked in different fields of photography such as advertising, portrait and modeling, theater and cinema photography, she has also worked with different singers and music bands. She moved to the United States in 2010 and continued working in the same field. Her photos have been published in Eastern Eye magazine in UK in 2011. She believes that ” It is always possible to enjoy life, discover new and exciting things by observing carefully in our surrounding environment, by paying attention to details in these settings and by capturing the moments on camera”. She learned from photography to be aware of any of these existent details that lot of people would just passed and don’t pay any attention to them.

Norman Golightly -
A feature film producer by trade but relentless photographer by hobby, Norman Golightly spent much of the last two years focused on his volunteer efforts with the Cura Rotary Home in rural Kenya, an orphanage to 50 children who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. Golightly spent months living at the orphanage capturing what he found to be an unexpected world of color and optimism. Further sharing his passion for the still image, Golightly put the children themselves behind the lens through the gift of cameras donated from around the world.

Michael Rababy -
Documentary/street photographer Michael Rababy likes taking pictures of people.  He studied art history at the University of San Diego before spending time in Paris. Taking influence from Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Cartier-Bresson, his ethnographic documentary book, American Bachelor details the highs and lows of the single male.   His credits include The VICE Magazine Photo Book, Mercedes-Benz, E!, the style network, Fine Living, LA Weekly, the Village Voice, Time-Out New York, Citizen LA, LA Canvas, and TLC’s LA ink.  Michael lives in Southern California with his record collection and is currently at work on his latest masterpiece.

Patrick McPheroi -
Patrick McPheron is a photographer and graphic designer based in Los Angeles, California. His work is inspired by music, pop culture, nature and—of course—his everyday life.

His nighttime long-exposure series takes the ordinary street corner and transforms it into an alien landscape whose sole function is design. Patrick will be showcasing new work that is printed on metal.

Paynie -
Steve Payne, oft known as “Paynie” started out working for the British rock journals NME and Melody Maker back in the early 80′s.  He then graduated to The Evening Standard (London’s newspaper) shooting editorial and portraits.  He did not attend any St. Martins College of Art nor read any fancy photography books.  He just used to take pictures and people seemed to like them.

He moved to LA in 1991 and worked as a video director, but never stopped taking pictures.  He still shoots some film/video, the latest being “The Revenge of the Electric Car,” directed by Chris Paine.  He is currently editing a DVD about the Seattle band, Candlebox. For years Payne has enjoyed shooting dancers, both stills and film, and one crazy evening these images got created with the fabulous Sonya Krimsky.

Robin Warner -
Robin Warner.  Discovered photography June of 2010.  Motivated by a feeling of emptiness due to life changes, she was encouraged by a friend to pick up a camera.  This is the first time she had ever been behind the lens.  Her whole world opened up, she saw things she had never noticed before, she saw beauty everywhere.  “Everywhere” included nature and, most interestingly, the streets, where she was particularly drawn to the homeless.  Moved by their stories and free spirits, so deeply inspired.  She thrives on capturing their soul, their spirit and their relationship to the environment.

Rex Bruce -
Rex Bruce has been working with art and technology for over two decades, distinguishing himself as an innovative artist, educator and curator working in a wide variety of computer related disciplines over the course of his career. Currently his focus is experimentation with a variety of low resolution digital cameras, using them as a starting point for inverting the conventions of photographic art and digital imaging. Bruce is the founder and director of Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. He founded the digital program at Artists Television Access (San Francisco) for which he curated exhibits and created curriculum. He received his masters from SFSU in Interdisciplinary Art where he also taught and developed curriculum for many years. His work has been shown internationally for over twenty years. Most recently he has emerged as a significant artist and organizer in the burgeoning Renaissance in downtown Los Angeles as well as becoming a leader in the exploding international scene revolving around art and technology. Video and photography from this current series have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Laznia Center for Contemporary Art (Poland), Guggenheim Gallery (Chapman University), California Museum of Photography (U.C. Riverside), New Media Center Santa Ana, Found Gallery, Niche.LA Video Art, Silver Lake Film Festival, Downtown Film Festival–Los Angeles, photoLA, photoSF, and Scope L.A. and LACDA.

R. Dean Larson -
R. Dean Larson has been a professional photographer and a photography teacher in Los Angeles for over 40 years.  His Fine Art work has been influenced by two very different styles of photography:  the Architectural Documentary and the Hollywood Glamour styles.  He photographs locations, buildings, anywhere that has a sense of ‘place’ as a documentarian, and then glamorizes them through digital manipulation.  He uses the backdrop of the sky to add emotionality to the image.  His work has been shown internationally and is in many fine art collections.

Stephan Canthal -
Technology is a key component in the work of Stephan Canthal.  He began experimenting with the photographic medium while pursuing a Fine Arts degree at California State University of Long Beach.  His interest in advancing this medium and its process has led him to printing on multiple surfaces including aluminum, wood, film, and specialty papers.  As he explores the idea of printing images on different surfaces, he starts to use it to not only accent the image but to also create a communication between substrate and imagery.

Stephen Hutchison -
Stephen Hutchison studied art at the University of California, Los Angeles. He works in the mediums of photography, video, and installation. His latest series engages traditional landscape imagery while withholding the concessions of material and scale.

Sven Dreesbach -
Based in Los Angeles, California since 2004, Sven Dreesbach has worked as a visual effects artist for some of the leading post production facilities in the industry. Like so many others, he wasn’t able to resist the American West’ temptations with all it’s glorious natural and urban landscapes, eccentric inhabitants, and a sunlight so appealing to many photographers. As a result, still photography became one of his essential creative outlets during his spare time from work. His diverse portfolio includes landscapes, portraiture, street as well as travel photography – which became one of his trademarks.

Wobsarazz -
Wobsarazzi is a self taught photographer from Costa Mesa, CA.  An Orange County native, he spent time studying graphic design at Cal State Long Beach and advertising at Cal State Fullerton.  It wasn’t until a couple years ago when he picked up the camera again that he had finally found his voice.  Wobsarazzi currently spends most of his time photographing weddings and events, but lives for those nights where he can explore the urban landscape.  Thriving in low light conditions, you’ll find him standing in the middle of the street with cars and buses passing by just a few feet away on any given night of the week.  His work draws inspiration from the speed of life and our constant battle against it.  By slowing down his scenes with long exposures, he aims to strike a balance of life’s constant motion and scenery that we often overlook.

Tiffany Trenda -
Tiffany Trenda is a video installation performance artist based out of Malibu, CA. She received her BFA from Art Center College of Design and her MFA from UCLA Design and Media Arts. She has exhibited at Robert Berman, Farmani Gallery, Photo San Francisco, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Korean Cultural Center, Highways, and Track 16. In 2009, she created an artist installation for Photo Los Angeles and performed live. Later that year she performed “Entropy” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Trenda won the prize of The Artist of the Year at the London Creative Awards in 2008 and 2009.  In 2010, she performed at the World Fair, Shanghai, China.  Most recently, she performed at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) and displayed new media works at the A + D Museum in Los Angeles.

Her process is to take technology (LCDs, video projectors, cameras, etc.) and create a digital environment with an embodied performance that simulates the human psyche.  Her work is an investigation of how we are defined and redefined through the integration of technology.

Fashion / Jewelry Designers:

Bel Kazan -
Bel Kazan is a line of contemporary women’s apparel inspired by the rich culture and natural beauty of Bali. The fit is universally flattering & modernly feminine, yet edgy. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, designer Belinda Kazanci, travels to the stimulating island each season in search of bold, new print combinations in vibrant colors to be reflected in her latest designs. The collection maintains its unique vibe through its original prints, exquisite detailing, and versatility.

Constitution Couture -
(bio coming soon)

Delevo Designs -
After graduating from Columbia College, Deborah Vogt became a founding member of The Conjugate Projekt, Transamoeba Studios and The Chicago Art Department, participating in the creation of many collectives, multitudes of events and performance art installations throughout Chicago. She began creating her line of jewelry, Delevo designs, in the year 2000, even traveling to Bali to teacppowntown. She now divides her time between curating and singing in her band, Early Bird Circus. Her jewelry is hand-crafted, elegant and simple, using fine woods, sterling silver and gold, precious and semi-precious stones and recycled materials to create universal and distinctive designs.

Kucoon Designs -
(bio coming soon)

(soy’-ka designs) -
Natalie Sojka found her first elements of inspiration for this line at an antique shop in rural Pennsylvania. After seeing the unique blend of metal shapes and textures she was inspired to produce her current line of jewelry.  Her goal with this line is to give her clients something unique, sexy, authentic, and edgy to wear, as well as a conversation starter.  All pieces are handmade, one of a kind, and made from all recycled materials.

Victoria Reyna Designs -
This designer is a native of Argentina, now residing in the USA. She graduated as an interior designer in Buenos Aires. Her excitement about design takes her to many ways of expression: interior design, landscape design and now jewelry and fashion accessories. The concept of her work is minimalist, contemporary and architectural.

Viola Living Jewels -
Jessica Viola is a botanical designer and the founder of Viola Living Jewels and Viola Gardens. For the past thirteen years, Viola has been cultivating her design portfolio and practice based on sustainability, whole-system solutions and artistic vision.  Viola Gardens was born nearly six years ago, specializing in permaculture-based botanical design, CA native plant restoration, drought-tolerant water-wise artscapes, edible gardens and organics.  Viola Gardens has worked with a large range of clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, both residentially and commercially.  Viola lectures on sustainable landscape design and permaculture at Santa Monica College, Venice Community Housing and Pepperdine University.  After many years of working in design, studying, stretching, exploring holistic living, traveling to South and Central America, playing music, singing, making art, creating gardens and teaching, Viola Living Jewels was born.  The collection features fashion-forward botanical jewelry; amulets of our wild essence.

Audio Lab:

Garth Trinidad (KCRW) -
Garth Trinidad is the award winning, critically acclaimed radio personality, DJ, and culture critic. Through his work in radio, music supervision, and as a voting member of The Recording Academy, he’s broken artists like MIA and Gnarls Barkley, exposed music of independent bands on HBO’s Emmy winning series, Entourage, and is credited in part for creating The Grammy Awards “Best Urban Alternative Performance” category. The LA based DJ is known for his signature style of finessing the airwaves to expose new and progressive international music while paying homage to the classic, by weaving together intergalactic tapestries of sound. Whether on the radio or live, Garth artfully explores a multitude of genres and movements. With skill and ease, he anoints with jazz, indie rock, hip hop, world rhythms, and electronic music to make his point. Over the years he’s satisfied dance floors in South America, Western Europe, and across the US, while his constant presence in Los Angeles and online has informed local and global music trends. http://www.garthtrinidad.biz

Space Ribbon (mirror-space/Berlin) -
In his teens, he was already a jet-set club kid migrating between the cultural capitals of EU & US. At 6 years old he began to play the keyboard, continuing on to teach himself cello, viola, drums, bass, and finally Ableton Live. Foremost a composer/producer combining acid, dub, & techno elements; he has developed a mainly tech/deep house style of DJ-ing, dramatic and climactic on the dance floor – but never forgetting to let the music breath.
Newest Mix: http://soundcloud.com/spaceribbon/flashback; Remix: http://soundcloud.com/space-ribbon/fever-ray-vs-minou-space-ribbon-remix

Joplin (Pocket, Pork & Beats) -
With an unusual and intriguing musical upbringing– spanning Bluegrass to Rock, Classical to Jazz and Punk to modern day Electronica-Joplin’s musical style can truly be called eclectic. For the last 13 years, she has been mainly recognized for her deep and funky House grooves, but her more recent repertoire extends far beyond to include Afro-Latin-jazz and Blues influenced Downtempo, Nu Disco, Broken Beat and Funk. http://pocketunderground.com/artist/joplin

Matthew DeMerritt & Friends -
Based in Los Angeles since 1997, Matthew DeMerrit has toured with Macy Gray, De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Rakim, Ghostface Killah, Pharoahe Monch, Breakestra and many more. He has recorded with George Clinton, Eels, Nine Inch Nails, Charlotte Gainsbourg w/ Beck, Everlast, Macy Gray, and many others. In addition to those he has toured with, he has performed with Santana, Mos Def, Common, Black Eyed Peas, , Benny Golson, Sharon Jones, Big Daddy Kane, Nikka Costa, Katy Perry, and many others. He has also contributed to numerous film and commercial projects. In addition to tenor, bari, and alto saxophones, he plays flute, keyboards, percussion, and melodica. www.mattdemerritt.com

Zygote (Architects and Heroes) -
Zygote is the brainchild of Stephen Ruiz, aka DJ Stephen R., founder of Architects and Heroes Records. With it’s origins in the Bay Area electronic music scene of the early aughts, Zygote was inspired by musicians that were at the forefront of the “laptop techno” movement. San Francisco Artists such as Kit Clayton, Kid606, J Lesser, Cex, Sutekh, Twerk, Safety Scissors and Matmos were all exploring new ways of producing and performing live electronic music at the time. It was this environment that was influential in paving the way for Stephen to launch his career as a recording artist, producer, DJ, and label owner.

The musical goal of Zygote has always been to use the mechanized process of electronic music production to convey complex human ideas through sound. With a decade of experience of navigating underground electronic music environs, Zygote is set to take these sound ideas to anew audience. With a newly formed line-up that includes new production partner Will Rosario (aka Asymmetrical Head), as well as guest contributions from a cast of vocalists and MCs, Zygote is embarking on the next chapter of sonic exploration. With a sound that’s influenced in equally by the early Warp Records,Hip-Hop, Techno, Dub and Experimental Music, the “Zygote Sound” is an aural landscape that is as much at home in an art gallery as it is on the dance floor - http://www.stephenruiz.com; www.architectsandheroes.net.

JC Chamboredon (Milan Records) -
JC Chamboredon, the head of LA based Milan Records, will provide his mix of downtempo, film scores and world beat.  www.milanrecords.com

#                #                #

For more information, images, or to request interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Twenty-Years After LA’s 1992 Civil Unrest
Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) Presents
Central Avenue: A Community Album
An Immersive Projected Exhibition Showcasing
South LA Residents’ Own Images of Life on Historic Central Avenue
With New Portraits by Sam Comen
April 14 – 21, 2012
Opening Reception – Saturday, April 14th 7 – 10:00pm
CicLAvia Open House – Sunday April 15th 10:00am – 3:00pm
Gallery Hours – April 16 – 21 10:00am – 6:00pm

SOUTH LOS ANGELES, CA – April 5, 2012 - Twenty-years after LA’s 1992 civil unrest, the City turns its attention to South Los Angeles, where a photography exhibition in the heart of the community is taking a personalized approach to telling the history of one of LA’s storied neighborhoods. Central Avenue: A Community Album, premiering on Saturday, April 14, 2012 from 7:00 to 10:00pm, is a curated collection of previously unseen vernacular photographs submitted by neighborhood residents exhibited alongside a series of new portraits made in the same community by documentary photographer Sam Comen.  The exhibition of over 150 photographs contributed by residents and business owners portraying their lives in the neighborhood will be displayed in an immersive series of multiple projections in a new 3,000 square-foot retail space in the heart of the Central-Adams neighborhood.  The exhibit will present a retrospective of the rich cultural heritage of the area and a contemporary view into the state of that community today. Nearby youth center A Place Called Home will provide a jazz quintet.  Local small business owners will serve complimentary light food and beverages. Sapporo will provide complimentary beer. The projected installation will be up through Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 2515 S. Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90011 at the corner of Adams Blvd. Central Avenue: A Community Album is part of Month of Photography – Los Angeles’ (MOPLA) citywide annual initiative that showcases the enormous photography community, inclusive of commercial, fine art and photojournalism.  For more about the project, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/263975363690596 and for more about photographer Sam Comen, visit www.samcomen.com.

Three photos collected from Central Avenue neighborhood residents.
From left to right: Erika Sanchez (1996); likely Walter Carnegie in Carnegie TV & Radio repair shop (1950s); Rigoberto Alonzo with his children (1986). Photos courtesy (left to right): Lluliana Alonzo, The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Lluliana Alonzo

On the following day, Sunday, April 15th, there will be an open house and bike tour from CicLAvia’s hub – one mile north of the exhibition – at the African-American Firefighter’s Museum (1401 S Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90021) down to the exhibit between 10:00am – 3:00pm.  See below for more information on that event.

Central Avenue was the vibrant epicenter of African American culture and commerce during Los Angeles’ early 20th century boom through the 1940s.  Since then, Central Avenue experienced economic decline and blight proliferated, punctuated by civil unrest in 1965 and again in 1992.  Like many other neighborhoods in Los Angeles, over the past 30 years the Central Avenue community has become predominantly Latino, adding to the cultural and commercial diversity of this historic neighborhood. 

It’s been 20 years since the 1992 civil unrest, and two months since the dissolution of the CRA/LA, the redevelopment agency charged with revitalizing the scarred portion of the city. It’s an opportune time, organizers say, to re-focus public attention on Historic Central Avenue, and highlight not only its rich cultural heritage, but also the thriving community it has become.

“Set against the backdrop of Central Avenue, these family photos are true first-person accounts of life and work in this neighborhood,” said Sam Comen, magazine photographer and co-organizer of the exhibition.  “We’re daylighting these extraordinary photos that would never have been otherwise seen, and adding them to the historic record.”

Comen also produced a new series of portraits of Central Avenue area residents, which will be featured alongside the residents’ own photos. Over the course of six weeks, Comen walked, drove, and pushed a cart of photo gear through the community, and made portraits of the people he met in his wanderings. Of the experience, Comen said, “It was an incredible way to shoot, and experience the neighborhoods. I’ve conveyed in my pictures that this is not the blighted ‘South Central’ people may think of.”

The project has unfolded over the past three months as a small group of artists, urban planners, and business owners canvassed businesses, churches, community organizations and residents’ homes to solicit contributions from family albums for the show. More than 600 photos were scanned from 40 individual contributors.

“Central Avenue is one of the most storied neighborhoods in the city, but many of these stories have never been heard by those outside of South Los Angeles,” said Jason Neville, an urban planner working on Central Avenue, and co-organizing the exhibition. “By inviting Angelenos from across the city to Central Avenue to see these stories through residents’ family photos, this project is more than simply an exhibition, it is an arts-driven community revitalization effort.”

Organizers wanted the exhibition itself to help build the growing awareness of the flourishing neighborhood; the event is being held in a new retail space at the heart of Central Avenue, and the process of daily canvassing and conversations has created a buzz among locals eager to see what photos made the final cut. The exhibition will transform the space into an immersive environment of multiple photo projections.

“I’d like to think that it was small businesses like ours, who stayed in the community through its ups and downs, that helped generate this renaissance underway on Central Avenue,” said Vivian Bowers, exhibit co-organizer and owner of Bowers and Sons Cleaners, which has been on Central Avenue for over 60 years.  “The story of this, our community, is as diverse as the families living here, and it is a story worth telling.  That’s why this photo project is so very special.”

CicLAvia Bicycle Tours –
The exhibition was planned alongside the fourth CicLAvia, a one-day event in Los Angeles where 10 miles of roads are closed to cars, and 120,000 cyclists and pedestrians take to the streets.  CicLAvia will for the second time reach out to South LA, and Central Avenue: A Community Album organizers will lead hourly bike tours from the CicLAvia hub one mile to the exhibition. CicLAvia organizers have embraced these tours as a way to further engage South LA in their efforts. Tours will depart from the CicLAvia hub at the African-American Firefighter’s Museum at Central Ave. and 14th Street on the hour at 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, and 2:00pm. To learn more please visit http://www.ciclavia.org.

MOPLA –
In April 2009, the inaugural Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) showcased the enormous photography community, inclusive of commercial, fine art and photojournalism. As the second largest photography community in the United States, Los Angeles provides a distinctive backdrop to the celebration of the photographic image. MOPLA was established and exists to advance the celebration of photography through a variety of events and programs designed to inspire and invigorate the photography professional, enthusiast, emerging professional and collector. MOPLA’s two-fold mission is to advance dynamic programming designed to engage and stimulate the photography community, as well as to present a comprehensive resource of exhibitions and events in April.

Central Avenue: A Community Album sponsors include Meta Housing, MOPLA, Samy’s Camera, Smashbox, Quixote, Box Brothers Downtown, Bowers And Sons Cleaners, Coalition for Responsible Community Development, CDTech, Primera Taza Coffee House, and A Place Called Home.

For more information, to request images, or arrange interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com. For more information in Spanish, please contact Azusena Favela 323-401-1201 or afavela@cdtech.org.

 Sam Comen’s new documentary portraits examine the same community portrayed in photos collected from area
residents’ family albums.  Photo credit Sam Comen.

LOS ANGELES, CA – March 19, 2012 – The Industry presents the world premiere of Crescent City, a hyperopera by composer Anne LeBaron and librettist Douglas Kearney, under the direction of Yuval Sharon, from Thursday, May 10 to Sunday, May 27, 2012 at Atwater Crossing in Los Angeles.  The massive new site-specific production, which audiences will experience in 360-degrees, is set in a mythical cityscape with abstract sets by an extraordinary group of six installation artists.  Collaborating visual artists include Mason Cooley, Brianna Gorton, Katie Grinnan, Alice Könitz, Jeff Kopp, and Olga Koumoundouros – all notable members of the vibrant Los Angeles art scene.  The installations will be on view on select days for the run of the production, then transformed in the evening with performances of the opera.  For more information, www.TheIndustryLA.org.

With a gala opening of the opera on Thursday, May 10, 2012, Crescent City will run for three weeks, Thursdays through Sundays, closing on May 27, 2012.  All performances begin at 8:00pm.  Ticket prices range from $25 to $100 and will be available via www.TheIndustryLA.org/tickets starting April 1, 2012.  Performances are suitable for audience members 12-years-old or older.  On the following night, Friday, May 11th, The Industry will host an artists’ reception on set, inviting guests to see the installations up close. Installations are on view to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays from noon to 6:00pm, with guided tours hourly during the run of the production. Atwater Crossing is located at 3245 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039 (www.atwatercrossing.com).

Cityscape Set Installations – left: Mason Cooley’s “Good Man’s Shack” model right: Brianna Gorton’s “Cemetery” model

The Art of Crescent City -
In one of the most stunning aspects of the production, Crescent City‘s talented design team will collaborate with six of Los Angeles’ most exciting visual artists to transform Atwater Crossing’s 25,000 square foot industrial warehouse space with an extreme landscape. The participating installation artists are:

Mason Cooley –
Sculptor Mason Cooley lives and works in Los Angeles.  He received his MFA in 2000 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. His work has exhibited at Beacon Arts, Angles, China Art Objects and High Desert Test Sites in the Los Angeles area, Swiss Institute in New York, Royal College of Art in London, and the Cologne Art Fair in Cologne, Germany. He has taught at Art Center College of Design, California State University Long Beach, and the University of Southern California.  He was also a visiting artist at University of California in Riverside.  His work has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, i-D Magazine, and LA Weekly. For Crescent City, Cooley is designing the set for “Good Man’s Shack.” http://masoncooley.blogspot.com

Brianna Gorton –
Brianna Gorton lives and works in Los Angeles. She has a BA in English from UC Berkeley, a Post Baccalaureate in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MFA from Art Center College of Design (2011). Gorton also has a background in modern dance. She studied Martha Graham technique at UC Berkeley and Cunningham Technique at the Cunningham School in New York. She has performed at venues such as Grand Performances in Los Angeles and the Bowery in New York. Her sculptural work explores modes of theatricality. Sculptures transform the space of the gallery into a kind of stage, acting as prop, character, costume, and creating functional settings. Her work has been exhibited at galleries such as Workspace, Los Angeles and the Sam Francis Gallery, Santa Monica. Gorton is currently working as curator and associate artist for The Industry.  She is designing the “Cemetery” set. http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html

Katie Grinnan –
Katie Grinnan was born in Richmond, Virginia and received an MFA from University of California in Los Angeles in 1999. She has had solo exhibitions at The Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria in New York, the Aspen Art Museum in Aspen, Colorado, and at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles. Grinnan has been included in many group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Real World: The Dissolving Space of Experience at Modern Art Oxford in Oxford, England, and The Artist Museum at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. Her work is included in collections at MOCA, the Hammer Museum, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and a Pollock-Krasner grant. She lives and works in Los Angeles and is represented by Brennan and Griffin Gallery in New York. For Crescent City the “Junk Heap” set is Grinnan’s design. http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/honigman/honigman8-4-04.asp

Alice Könitz –
Alice Könitz was born in Germany. She received Masters degrees from California Institute of the Arts and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her work has been exhibited at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, Villa Arzon in Nice, LAX Art Los Angeles, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, and many other places. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, Frieze, Flash Art, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. Her work is featured in the catalogue The Shape of Things to Come: New Sculpture by the Saatchi Gallery, and other publications. She currently lives in Los Angeles and will be designing the “Swamp” set for Crescent City. http://alicekonitz.com

Jeff Kopp –
Jeff Kopp was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and is currently based in Los Angeles.  He received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford.  His work takes on various forms including sculpture, photography, intervention, and text.  Often subverting the language and visual devices of signage, Kopp is interested in “objects that draw attention both to and away from themselves.” He has exhibited throughout North America at venues including Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, and Western Front Exhibitions, Vancouver. Recent group exhibitions include Behind the Green Door, Harris Lieberman, NY, and The Secret Knows: A LAND Exhibition, Virgin Mobile Freehouse, Austin, TX.  He was recently commissioned to produce a permanent, large-scale public artwork for Culver City’s Art in Public Places Program.  He is represented by Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles. Crescent City’s “Hospital” set is being designed by Kopp. http://redlingfineart.com/artists/jeff-kopp

Olga Koumoundouros –
Olga Koumoundouros designed the set for the “The Dive Bar” in Crescent City.  She was born in New York City and lives and works in Los Angeles.  She received her MFA from the California Institute for the Arts.  Koumoundouros’ work has been exhibited at venues nationally and internationally including Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), Salt Lake City Art Center, The Studio Museum of Harlem, Stadshallen Bellfort, Bruges, Belgium and the Hammer Museum, among others. www.vielmetter.com/artists/olga-koumoundouros.html

Cityscape Set Installations – left: Alice Könitz “Swamp” model  center: Olga Koumoundouros’ “Dive Bar” rendering  right: Katie Grinnan’s “Junk Heap” model

More About Crescent City –
In the wake of a devastating hurricane, Crescent City is a shell of its former self where the few remaining inhabitants struggle for survival.  The bad waters of an impending new storm wake up the notorious ghosts of the city’s past, including the legendary voodoo goddess Marie Laveau (played by Gwendolyn Brown).  Marie pleads with the awakened voodoo gods to save the city.  They agree to come to her aid on one condition: they must be able to find one good person among the ragtag and desperate citizenry.  Crescent City becomes a travelogue in search of the one who will make the city worthy of salvation.

Anne LeBaron’s hybrid sound world encompasses an otherworldly brew of electronica, bluegrass, jazz, and improvisation. The production includes a live 16-piece orchestra (including Timur and the Dime Museum) with such diverse instrumentation as laptop, chromelodeon, and shakuhachi.

Audience members will be seated in and around the city, seeing and hearing the action in every other part of the city through live video streams and sophisticated sound technology.

“I’m excited by the different ways audiences will be able to experience the work,” says Director Yuval Sharon. “Letting imaginations run wild when the space is open during the day should increase people’s curiosity about how the opera plays out by night.”

To listen to “The Nurses’ Scene,” an excerpt from a Crescent City workshop performance at New York City Opera’s VOX in 2006, please click http://theindustryla.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Crescent-City-excerpt-nurses.mp3.

A detailed synopsis of Crescent City can be viewed at http://www.annelebaron.com/Crescent_City_synopsis.pdf

Hyperopera –
Hyperopera, a concept that has evolved in LeBaron’s work and teaching at California Institute of the Arts, is a mega collaboration bringing together artists from many different disciplines.  Crescent City unites not only the creative voices of the writers and producers, but also contemporary visual artists with the set, lighting, video, and sound designers.  Crescent City is LeBaron’s most ambitious experiment with this theory to-date.

Crescent City Credits –
- Composer – Anne LeBaron – www.annelebaron.com
- Librettist – Douglas Kearney – www.douglaskearney.com
- Director – Yuval Sharon – www.yuvalsharon.com
- Conductor – Marc Lowenstein
- Producer – Laura Kay Swanson
- Curator – Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html
- Set Designer – Sibyl Wickersheimer – www.sawgirl.com
- Costume Designer – Ivy Chou
- Lighting Designer – Elizabeth Harper – www.eharperdesign.com
- Sound Designer – Martin Gimenez
- Video Designer – Jason Thompson
- Technical Director – Eric Nolfo

Cast –
The cast of 18 includes:
- Marie Laveau – Gwendolyn Brown – http://www.gwendolynbrown.com
- The Good Man – Cedric Berry – http://www.cedricberry.com/Cedric_Berry/Home.html
- Deadly Belle – Timur Bekbosunov – www.theoperaoftimur.com
- Homesick Woman - Lillian Sengpiehl – http://tinyurl.com/Robert-Gilder-L-Sengpiehl
- Jesse – Ashley Faatoalia – http://www.ashleyfaatoalia.com
- The Nurses – Maria Elena Altany and Ji Young Yang
- The Cop – Jonathan Mack – http://www.jonathanmack.la/

Anne LeBaron –
Anne LeBaron’s compositions embrace an exotic array of subjects encompassing vast reaches of space and time, ranging from the mysterious Singing Dune of Kazakhstan, to probes into physical and cultural forms of extinction, to legendary figures such as Pope Joan, Eurydice, Marie Laveau, and the American Housewife. Widely recognized for her work in instrumental, electronic, and performance realms, she has earned numerous awards and prizes, including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Alpert Award in the Arts, a Fulbright Full Fellowship, an award from the Rockefeller MAP Fund for her opera, Sucktion, and a 2009-2010 Cultural Exchange International Grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for The Silent Steppe Cantata.  Also an accomplished harpist, LeBaron is renowned for her pioneering methods of developing and implementing extended harp techniques, electronic enhancements, and notation in compositional and improvisational contexts.  She currently teaches composition and related subjects, such as Concert Theater and Hyperopera, at the California Institute of the Arts. http://www.annelebaron.com

Douglas Kearney –
Douglas Kearney’s work as a poet, performer and librettist has been featured in many fine publications and venues in print, in-the-flesh and in digital code.  His first full-length collection of poems, Fear, Some, was published in 2006 (Red Hen Press).  His second manuscript, The Black Automaton, was chosen by Catherine Wagner for the National Poetry Series and was published by Fence Books in December 2009.  In 2010, it was named a finalist for the Pen Center USA Literary Award in poetry.  In 2008, he was honored with a Whiting Writers’ Award.  He lives in the San Fernando Valley with his family and teaches courses in African American poetry, opera and myth at California Institute of the Arts. http://www.douglaskearney.com

Yuval Sharon –
Yuval Sharon’s directorial work has been described as “magical” (The Village Voice), “ingenious” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “a major event, where surprise sidesteps operatic convention” (Los Angeles Times).  He has worked both with international houses like the San Francisco Opera, the Mariinsky Theater, the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, and the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as experimental venues like Berkeley Opera, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Deitch Projects.  He was Assistant Director to Achim Freyer on the Los Angeles Ring Cycle. Sharon was Project Director for four years of New York City Opera’s VOX, an annual workshop of new American opera, which became the most important crucible for new opera in the country under his direction.  Sharon will also be directing Jessye Norman, Meredith Monk, and Joan LaBarbara in John Cage’s Song Books this March as part of San Francisco Symphony’s Mavericks Festival, which includes a Carnegie Hall performance.  The Los Angeles Times also just named Sharon a “Face to Watch” in 2012. More information is at http://www.yuvalsharon.com.

Marc Lowenstein –
Marc Lowenstein conducted the world premieres of several new operas including The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, Dice Thrown, WET, The Scarlet Letter, and The Peach Blossom Fan, as well as the American premieres of R. Murray Schaefer’s Loving and Georges Aperghis’ Sextuor.  For four years, he conducted with the New York City Opera’s new music festival VOX and conducted on the Monday Evening Concert Series, with Jacaranda, the California Ear Unit, the Vinny Golia Ensemble, the Kadima Conservatory, the CalArts New Century Players, and Ensemble Green.  He was the founder and music director of the Berkeley Contemporary Opera, a company that produced four seasons of contemporary operas.  As a singer, he specializes in contemporary music and has performed over twenty-five opera roles including the premiere of What to Wear by Michael Gordon and Richard Foreman and he recently sang the American premiere of Frank Denyer’s Out of the Shattered Shadows.  Lowenstein has written a full-length opera based on the screenplay of The Fisher King and is working on two others.  He has written several shorter chamber works as well.  He occasionally moonlights as a professional whistler and amateur Klezmer clarinetist.  He teaches theory, conducting, composition and history at California Institute of the Arts.

Laura Kay Swanson –
Laura Kay Swanson brings a wide range of experience to The Industry. A graduate of the MFA Producing Program at California Institute of the Arts, she produced Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and was musical director and assistant producer for Hellzapoppin’, a musical adaptation based on the 1941 film.  She was the associate producer for the world premiere of the CalArts Center for New Performance production of Gertrude Stein’s Brewsie and Willie, winner of three 2011 LA Weekly Theater Awards.  She also produced and directed a music video of the aria, “Hymn to the Sun” from Akhnaten by Philip Glass, which premiered at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) in 2011 as part of the CalArts Film/Video showcase.  Other producing credits include Rain Coloring Forest at REDCAT, featuring Indonesian artist and choreographer Sardono Kusumo and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, and The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, a contemporary chamber opera by Veronika Krausas.  Prior to becoming a producer, she was a professional opera singer and has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, REDCAT, Carnegie Hall, and New York City Opera.

The Industry –
Founded by Artistic Director Yuval Sharon and Producing Director Laura Kay Swanson, The Industry produces new interdisciplinary work that merges music, visual arts, and performance to expand the traditional definition of opera.  The Industry is a recipient of the MAP Grant from The Doris Duke Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. http://theindustryla.org

Atwater Crossing –
Spanning five industrial buildings across two city blocks, Atwater Crossing houses an array of creative offices and studios, artisanal manufacturing facilities, locations for photography and film shoots, theaters showcasing original productions, LEED platinum loft homes and Atwater Crossing Kitchen, serving wood-fired, Mediterranean-inspired fare.  Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (atxkitchen.com).  Public programs, events, and workshops feed the evolving culture and community of ATX.  Learn more at http://www.atwatercrossing.com.

Links –
- Website – www.TheIndustryLA.org
- Image Gallery – http://gallery.me.com/lynnhasty#100277
- Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Industry/124606140952622
- Twitter – TheIndustry_LA
- YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheindustryArts
- Tickets – http://theindustryla.org/tickets/  (sales start 4/1/12)

For more information, images, or to request interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Hybrid Cinema

San Francisco Dance Film Festival
Presents the San Francisco Premiere Of
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
At Film Society Cinema
During its Third Annual Festival
Sunday, March 18, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – February 10, 2012 – Hybrid Cinema is pleased to announce the San Francisco premiere of the feature length documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance at the third annual San Francisco Dance Film Festival on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 6:00pm.  The film, directed by Bob Hercules, chronicles the legendary Joffrey Ballet from its humble beginnings touring the country in a borrowed station wagon to becoming one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies.  The San Francisco premiere will feature a Q&A immediately following the screening moderated by the film’s director, Bob Hercules with former Joffrey Ballet dancers as panelists including Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet; Helgi Tomasson, Artistic Director, San Francisco Ballet (subject to availability); Tina Le Blanc, former principal dancer, Joffrey Ballet and San Francisco Ballet; and Henry Berg, current director of The Ballet Studio, San Francisco.  Presented at Film Society Cinema, which is located at 1746 Post Street (bet. Webster & Buchanan), San Francisco, CA 94115, the evening is co-produced by Words On Dance, and the film serves as the closing night event of the festival.  Tickets cost $20 to the screening and live Q&A afterwards.  VIP tickets are available for $100, which include an invitation to an exclusive catered after-party at a private residence in San Francisco where guests can mingle with the artists. Currently an extremely limited block of early-bird tickets are available for $75.  For tickets and information on the festival please visit www.sfdancefilmfest.org.  For more information on the film please visit http://www.joffreymovie.com.

The San Francisco Dance Film Festival, presented in collaboration with the Ninth Street Independent Film Center and Words on Dance will run from March 15th through March 18, 2012 with screenings held at the Delancey Screening Room, the Ninth Street Independent Film Center, and the Film Society Cinema. Tickets are $10 – $100.  For media inquiries about the festival please contact Gregg Schoenberg at gregg@sfdancefilmfest.org or 415-336-4383.

Gerald Arpino's "Light Rain" Photo credit: Herbert Migdoll

Synopsis –
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
Director: Bob Hercules
Country: USA, 2012, 90min.
This insightful documentary, executive produced by Harold Ramis and Jay Alix and produced by Una Jackman and Erica Mann Ramis, examines the dynamic trajectory of the groundbreaking American ballet company – The Joffrey Ballet – which daringly combined traditional ballet and modern dance at a time when it was not routinely accepted. Weaving a wealth of archival footage, behind-the-scene photos and interviews with former and current Joffrey star dancers, director Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man) documents the struggles and achievements of the Joffrey from its newfound beginnings in 1956 to the Company’s present international success. The film features rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as breakthrough collaborations with choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Leonid Massine, Laura Dean, and Kurt Jooss. Founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino and a host of ballet notables, including Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Helgi Tomasson, Kevin McKenzie and more, are featured in the film. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin, the film is a rich chronicle of a ballet company that continues to reinvent itself, raise the bar and invigorate audiences worldwide.  See list of full credits at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1829041/fullcredits.

Distribution –
Following the film’s world premiere in NYC in late January, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance will embark on a U.S. tour through Spring 2012 with stops not only in Los Angeles but also in Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Aspen, St. Louis, and many other cities. Special one-off events with Joffrey alumni and limited theatrical engagements are planned. The documentary will then have a VOD/DVD/digital release in June of 2012 through New Video.

Multimedia – The Expanded Joffrey Story –
Hybrid Cinema is also releasing multimedia companion projects with exclusive content for fans wishing to further explore the Joffrey legend beyond the film.  There is a series of digital photobooks called Joffrey Maverick Moments.  Each new edition will be available for free from the film’s website and Facebook page.  The digital photobooks are based on themes and time frames found in the film such as Joffrey’s Nutcracker, the psychedelic rock ballet Astarte, Arpino’s most well regarded ballets (The Clowns, Trinity, Olympics, Round of Angels, Light Rain), and more with rare photos accompanied by quotes from Robert Joffrey, his friends and associates, as well as alumni interviews that provide further insight and background into the Company.  Hybrid Cinema also has started releasing a series of audio podcasts with exclusive new interviews of Joffrey alumni.  These podcasts are available on the film’s website.  The multimedia companion projects will be released leading up to the DVD release in June.  Regular content, including film clips, bonus outtakes, and blog articles, is also available on the film’s website and YouTube channel.

Director Bob Hercules –
Bob Hercules is an award-winning veteran producer/director (Forgiving Dr. Mengele, Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, Senator Obama Goes to Africa).  The co-founder of Media Process Group, his work has been seen widely on PBS, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel and the Independent Film Channel (IFC). He has also directed commercials for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Alzheimer’s Association, McDonald’s Corporation, Gap Clothing Stores and the Obama For President Campaign.  His documentary, A Good Man, co-directed by Gordon Quinn, chronicles the intense creative journey of Bill T. Jones – a 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient and two-time Tony® Award winner for Best Choreography.  It premiered on November 11, 2011 on PBS’ celebrated series American Masters.

The Joffrey Ballet –
For more than a half-century, The Joffrey Ballet’s commitment to taking world-class, artistically vibrant work to a broad and varied audience has created a solid foundation that continues to support the Company’s unprecedented capacity for achieving important “firsts.” Today, the Joffrey, which has been hugely successful in its former residences in New York and Los Angeles, lives permanently in a brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America – Chicago, Illinois. The Company’s commitment to accessibility is met through the most extensive touring schedule of any dance company in history, an innovative and highly effective education program including the much lauded Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and collaborations with myriad other visual and performing arts organizations.

Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become the organization’s principal choreographer, The Joffrey Ballet began as a DIY dance company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon. What started as a childhood dream quickly grew into one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Together, Joffrey and Arpino transformed the face of dance by merging classical ballet technique with bold new perspectives for edgy new ballets that challenged conventions. Aggressive touring took the Company from school auditoriums across America’s Heartland, to the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, on to Russia for a month-long tour during the height of the Cold War, and beyond.  They also garnered extensive media attention for their daring originality, which included appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the cover of Time Magazine, and in major motion pictures such as Save the Last Dance and Robert Altman’s The Company (which is based on the Joffrey).

Classically trained to the highest standards, The Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its Company, audiences and repertoire, which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and contemporary works. The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater and Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world. To learn more, please visit http://joffrey.org/.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival –
The San Francisco Dance Film Festival’s mission is to support collaboration between dancers and filmmakers and to provide these artists with a Bay Area platform to show their work.  The organization also seeks to bring works of historical importance to a wider public audience and to provide education and support for emerging dance filmmakers.  Dancers and filmmakers have worked together since the invention of the motion picture, but the dance film genre exploded in recent years as digital technologies became more accessible to independent choreographers.  Against this backdrop and with the support of the Ninth Street Independent Film Center, the San Francisco Dance Film Festival emerged from a series of local screening events produced by the dance film organization Motion Pictures, founded by choreographer/filmmaker Greta Schoenberg in early 2008. http://www.sfdancefilmfest.org

Hybrid Cinema –
Hybrid Cinema was created by filmmaker and author Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office, Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul) to help filmmakers navigate the ever-changing world of film distribution and marketing.  Hybrid Cinema consults with filmmakers to help them with the new digital era of distribution and marketing by utilizing modern strategies of audience engagement, special theatrical events, as well as innovative merchandising and release patterns.  Hybrid Cinema also supervises film releases. Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance is Hybrid’s second full release of a film following the graffiti documentary Bomb It.  Indicative of the innovative release and audience engagement strategies used by Hybrid, the Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance release marks the first time that a film has simulcast its film festival world premiere throughout the U.S. as the launch of its theatrical release.  Hybrid Cinema orchestrated this pioneering release strategy by, among other things, bringing the participating organizations together for these milestone premiere events.  For more information on Hybrid Cinema, please visit http://www.hybridcinema.com/

Key Links –
Official Movie Site – http://www.joffreymovie.com/
Movie YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/JoffreyMovie
Movie Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/JoffreyBalletMovie
Movie Twitter – http://twitter.com/#%21/JoffreyMovie
Joffrey Ballet Site – http://joffrey.org

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For more information, or to request screeners, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com

LOS ANGELES, CA – February 6, 2012 – Nonprofit organization Overtone Industries presents the world premiere of its new opera The Woman in the Wall, with two weekends of performances opening Friday, March 23, 2012 at the Masonic Lodge in Culver City.  Reuniting the award-winning Overtone creative team of the critically-acclaimed 2010 Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands, The Woman in the Wall is an operatic work by Composer O-Lan Jones and Librettist Kathleen Cramer, conducted by David O, and produced by Vibrant Production Management.  Inspired by the 14th Century tradition of The Anchoress, the opera is a “mystery play” in the ancient tradition; it explores the openings and paths inside that are revealed when all doors are locked shut.  For more information, please see http://www.overtoneindustries.org and https://www.facebook.com/overtoneindustries

The opera, which is written in Medieval modes using instruments of the time, will run for two weekends – on Fridays and Saturdays – from March 23 to March 31, 2012 with performances starting at 8:00pm.  Ticket prices are $25 for Peasants (seating closest to the performers), $40 for Royalty (seating in the middle of the performance space), and $50 for the Virtuous (reserved seating on an elevated platform).  Online tickets can be purchased via http://www.overtoneindustries.org or by calling Overtone Industries at 323-655-2410.  Performances, which are ceremonial in nature, will be held in the atmospheric Masonic Lodge at 9635 Venice Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232 (http://culvercitymasons.org; 310-836-0467). The show is suitable for mature teen and adult audiences.

The subject of the production is inspired by the 14th Century tradition of The Anchoress – a woman who volunteers to be enclosed for the rest of her life in a church cell – with one window open to the sacred world and the other open to the ordinary world.  Over the course of seven days, which cover seventeen years, we follow The Anchoress, “Marianna” (Gretchen Johnson), as she becomes the inspirational advisor to everyone from the peasants to the king.  As we follow her journey inward through her temptations, doubts, revelations, and fears, we see how she transforms the people’s questions in relation to the Seven Virtues that light her way.  Ultimately, the work is a “mystery play” in the ancient tradition; it explores the openings and paths inside that are revealed when all doors are locked shut.  The production features an orchestra of 10 instrumentalists, a cast of a dozen principal singers, and a 30-member chorus from the Angel City Chorale, led by Sue Fink.

 

The Woman in the Wall is a new operatic work written in Medieval modes by Composer O-Lan Jones and Librettist Kathleen Cramer. In balcony - Livia Reiner, Kathleen Kelso, and Octavia Leclerc-Jones. Below - Gretchen Johnson as Marianna. Photo Credit: Emily Brooke Sandor

Credits –
The Woman in the Wall reunites the innovative Overtone Industries creative team of Composer O-Lan Jones, Librettist Kathleen Cramer, Conductor David O, and producer Vibrant Production Management, that most recently collaborated on the critically-acclaimed experimental opera Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands, which was honored with Ovation Award nominations for Music Direction and Scenic Design, and a win for Costume Design for the 2009-2010 season.

- Composer & Director – O-Lan Jones
- Librettist – Kathleen Cramer
- Music Director – David O
- Scenic & Costume Designer – TBA
- Marianna, The Anchoress – Gretchen Johnson
- Remaining Cast & Orchestra – TBA
- Producer – Vibrant Production Management

O-Lan Jones, Director & Composer –
O-Lan Jones is the Artistic Director of Overtone Industries, guiding her company in the creation of new mythological operas and theatricales. Miz Jones is a full-service artist – an award-winning actor, sound designer, writer and composer.  She has been consistently involved in experimental theater, music and opera since the age of 16.  She originated roles in the plays of Sam Shepard, Julie Hebert, and Beth Henley, among others.  The press has referred to her as an “uncategorizable legend.”

As an actress she has worked with directors Tim Burton, Jonathan Demme, Ivan Reitman, Paul Schrader, John Schlesinger, Oliver Stone, Peter Weir, and Paul Bartel who directed Shelf Life, a movie she wrote and starred in.  She is perhaps best known for playing Esmeralda, the reclusive Christian organist in Edward Scissorhands, and numerous waitress roles (Seinfeld, Shoot the Moon, Miracle Mile, Natural Born Killers, and The Truman Show).  A repeat member of Burton’s ensemble casts, she also played hick trailer-dwelling mama Sue Ann Norris in Mars Attacks! Television credits include Lonesome Dove and The X-Files; and she was a series regular on CBS’s Harts of the West.

Last summer she sang a major role in Terry Wolverton & David Ornette Cherry’s opera Embers at Grand Performances in downtown LA.  She will soon appear in Aram Rappaport’s new film Syrup.

Miz Jones has worked as a composer creating original music, songs, sound designs and scores for more than 40 productions.  On the West Coast she has written music for Padua Hills Playwrights, LA Women’s Shakespeare Company, San Diego Rep, the Taper Too and California Shakespeare Festival in the Bay Area.  On the East Coast, her music has been showcased at Playwright’s Horizons, the Workhouse, La Mama, and the Kurt Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

She was the director, choreographer and one of the 11 composers who created Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands.  The critically-acclaimed opera was called “an ambitious, possibly groundbreaking new opera” (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times), “epic avante-garde opera… a carnival fun house” (Anthony Byrnes, KCRW), and “a feast for the senses” (Mayank Keshaviah, LA Weekly).

She has composed three short operas; five musicals; and has scored two short films.  Jones is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Overtone Industries, whose work the Los Angeles Times called “audaciously experimental entertainment.”  www.o-lanjones.com

Kathleen Cramer, Librettist –

Kathleen Cramer is a Bay Area artist who has written for Overtone Industries for many years.  In San Francisco, she began a serious collaboration with O-Lan Jones, yielding five operas.  In addition to The Woman in the Wall, she collaborated with Jones on the critically-acclaimed Songs & Dances Of Imaginary Lands in 2010.  She also wrote Happy Hour Becomes Electra, for Overtone’s production String of Pearls, and collaborated with Jones on The Man Whose Brother Was Eaten by Wolves and The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater, which premiered at [INSIDE] the Ford.

After beginning her career in New York’s Off-Off Broadway scene, working with many cutting edge playwrights, Cramer co-founded the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival in Los Angeles, which held both a school and an acclaimed festival every summer for 18 years. She also writes for the magazine Works and Conversations as a contributing editor.


David O, Music Director –
David O is an award-winning composer, performer, and musical director.  His work has been featured at Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Mark Taper Forum, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as other venues in Los Angeles and around the world.  His choral composition, A Map of Los Angeles, was commissioned by the LA Master Chorale with performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2008 and 2009.  Thousands of Los Angeles children and their parents know David as “The Professor” for his six years of performances with Summersounds at the Hollywood Bowl, produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  His original musicals include The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip and The Legend of Alex, both commissioned by Center Theatre Group’s P.L.A.Y. Program, and Imagine, commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theater. The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip was performed as part of the inaugural season of the Kirk Douglas Theater.

David is the musical director, arranger, and co-composer for Disney Creative Entertainment’s new production, Toy Story: The Musical, which opened at Disney California Adventure in 2011.  Some of David’s most unique work includes non-traditional theater pieces for which he served as both musical director and composer.  Most notably, he created an entirely a capella score for Hippolytos, a new translation of Euripides’ tragedy commissioned to inaugurate the Fleischman Theater at the newly-refurbished Getty Villa in Malibu.  In addition, David was the composer, musical director, and on-stage pianist/percussionist for A Noise Within’s production of Ubu Roi, for which he received the 2006 Ovation Award for Sound Design in a Large Theater.  For the 2009-2010 season, he was nominated for an Ovation Award in Music Direction for Overtone’s Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands.

David has musically directed countless musical theater productions in the Los Angeles area, including the world premiere of 13, the musical by Jason Robert Brown.  He has also served as musical director for the West Coast premieres of Michael John LaChiusa’s The Wild Party and Little Fish.  Other notable productions as Musical Director include The Last 5 Years (Pasadena Playhouse), The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World ([INSIDE] the Ford), and Divorce: the Musical (Hudson Mainstage). http://www.davidomusic.com

Gretchen Johnson, The Anchoress “Marianna” –
The Woman in the Wall, written especially for her by O-Lan Jones and Kathleen Cramer, is Gretchen Johnson’s fourth collaboration with Overtone Industries. Johnson performed in the company’s epic performance of Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, staged in a sprawling, empty Culver City car dealership where the production received rave reviews, including one from the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed.  She appeared in the Overtone presentations of Herakles and the Hydra at The Met Theater and New York’s Carnegie Hall, and The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater, also written for her, at [Inside] the Ford.  She is currently at work on a recital of under-sung and unsung music of Hollywood composers and poets.  In addition to concert stages and recital halls, she has produced and performed recitals at the Goethe Institute and other local venues including coffee houses, private salons, retirement villages and the historic steps of Echo Park’s Delta Street.  A specialist in new music theater, she has premiered works by Meredith Monk and the BOBS and, in a role written especially for her, she toured for two seasons with the Los Angeles Opera’s community production of Who Wants To Be An Opera Singer?  An active recitalist and concert performer, she has performed new works by Los Angeles-based composer Enrique Gonzáles-Medina, including Siete Poeminimos, Los Versos de la Maestra, and concert presentations of his opera Serafina y Arcángela.

Angel City Chorale –
Angel City Chorale, conducted by Founder/Artistic Director Sue Fink, i
s a multi-talented, multicultural choir ensemble of 160 men and
 women that truly reflects the spirit of Los Angeles, the city it calls
 home.  Performing an extraordinary repertoire, ranging from Classical a
nd Folk to Pop and Gospel, has become the group’s hallmark.  Angel
 City Chorale has appeared at such venues as Staples Center, the Los A
ngeles Convention Center, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the John A
nson Ford Amphitheater.  The choir has performed with Stevie Wonder,
 Luther Vandross, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.  Angel City Chorale has b
een selected by internationally acclaimed Music Director and Record Producer Frank McNamara to appear in an hour-long PBS special, The
 American Tenors. http://www.angelcitychorale.org

Vibrant Production Management, Producers –
Vibrant Production Management works with artists of various disciplines to create and manage original, vivid artistic experiences. Vibrant offers comprehensive production services from concept to completion. Beginning with a shared vision, the firm assembles teams of artists and managers to provide energy and movement to a project. The firm handles logistics, allowing the artistic product to be presented as high-quality, seamless entertainment. Providing hands-on production management coordination from scheduling to show calling, Vibrant works in collaboration with artists to bring ideas to life. Vibrant Production Management is a partnership between Sara Adelman and Michelle Magaldi.  Adelman and Magaldi have been producing and managing live events together for over ten years in and around Los Angeles as independent contractors and employees of award-winning arts organizations. 

http://vibrantmgmt.com

Overtone Industries –
Emmy and Dramalogue award-winning Overtone Industries creates vivid, original myths and fables, bringing them to life in the form of opera and music/theater.  The organization is passionate about live performance and its transformational power, created as performers and audiences participate together in each unfolding moment.  Overtone believes that artistic expression is an essential ingredient to our lives; a catalyst for artists and audience members to understand themselves and each other in a fresh new way.  By exploring new relationships among words, acting, movement, and music, the non-profit ultimately seeks to create work geared to invite a broad demographic of people to experience together the Big Questions and the Big Joy of being alive.  Overtone Industries’ work has been performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and in New York at the Kurt Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall. http://www.overtoneindustries.org

Support –
Overtone Industries currently receives support from Achilles Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Metabolic Studio, The National Endowment for the Arts as well as a plethora of generous individual donors.

For more information, to request images, or arrange interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

The Woman in the Wall, a “mystery play” in the ancient tradition, explores the openings and paths inside that are revealed when all doors are locked shut. Foreground - Gretchen Johnson as Marianna. Background - Livia Reiner, Octavia Leclerc-Jones, and Kathleen Kelso. Photo Credit: Emily Brooke Sandor