LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theater) is presenting New Original Works by local dance, music and multimedia artists. Nine regional artists will showcase their current experiments in this three-weekend event.The first week begins with Christine Marie & Ensemble's "4TRAINS (from Signaling Arcana)," a live shadow theater piece with actors and other artists that hearkens back to the silent movie era. The new work is enhanced by hand-built stereoscopic 3D technologies and a score by Dan Cantrell. Promotional materials state that "this wordless fable reveals a 19th century nation forging full-steam into an unknowable future." A returning artist to this festival, Christine Marie has elegantly taken historical time periods and brought them to life in new and imaginative ways before.
Spoken word artist Molly Delilah Roundtree (a.k.a. Mecca Vazie Andrews) will premiere "Molly Maps Erratic," which is reported to be "a cathartic, high-energy anthem of liberation and release." Described as part-William S. Burroughs and part-Whoopi Goldberg, "the funny and poignant, Andrews' alter-ego speaks from the clear haze of her anxious but perceptive mind, while her ensemble of dancers fight to contain their compassionately rebellious energy."
Former Viver Brasil Dance Company member Samantha Goodman leaps "into the fluid boundary between the present moment and the remembered past" in her collaboration with jazz pianist Reggy Woods and cellist Isaac Takeuchi. "Depth of Surface" includes Goodman's large-scale video projections that are said to "submerge the stage with reflected imagery and generate an unstable environment for the five dancers . . . as they merge elements of contemporary Afro-Brazilian and postmodern dancing with live music improvisation." They're calling the resulting environment a rich "intersection of visual and sonic landscapes."
The three artists are exploring and investigating in this open-to-the-public laboratory, so be prepared! Hopefully, things will happen that have never been seen before, envelopes will be pushed and our minds will be expanded.
Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:30 pm. Buy tickets for this week's show here and get ready for a great summer's ride!