The 2021-2022 season of the Elevator Project, a program from the AT&T Performing Arts Center that features the work of small and emerging arts groups throughout the center’s campus, has been released.
Produced by David Denson, the season encompasses new productions from eight Dallas-based performing arts companies, as well as one local company rescheduled from the 2019-20 season (thanks, COVID-19).
Of the dance, theater, music, multi-genre, and a spoken word performances, six productions will be staged in the Studio Theatre, located on the sixth floor of the Wyly Theatre; two will be outdoors in Strauss Square; and one will be in Hamon Hall in the Winspear Opera House.
It begins October 28-30, 2021, in the Studio Theatre with Sangeet Millennium and Art Nomadic's Clear Light of the Void, a multidisciplinary, multi-media, multi-linguistic performance installation exploring the notion of a journey through a metaphysical world. Three distinct but related mystical traditions are enacted through music, movement, spoken word recitation, light installations, and video projections.
Soul Rep Theatre Company's production of Do No Harm is next, March 10-19, 2022, in the Studio Theatre. Written by Soul Rep's co-founder Anyika McMillan-Herod and commissioned by theologian Dr. Evelyn Parker and the Association of Practical Theology, the play explores the story of three enslaved women — Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy — who were experimented on without anesthesia by Dr. J. Marion Sims, credited as "the father of modern gynecology."
Do No Harm was filmed in November 2020 in a slave cabin at Dallas Heritage Village and made its world premiere as a hybrid play/film for Soul Rep’s recent 25th anniversary season. This will be a traditional play for the stage, with a live audience — as the company first intended it.
Janelle Gray's Rage is a one-act play that explores the stories of "Black U.S.-ian women" throughout the history of the United States. Ten women take their place onstage to share their stories of strength, resilience, perseverance, and struggle, from the 1842 Cherokee Revolt to the Streetcar Boycotts of 1900-1906, and the continuing injustices of today. It runs March 31-April 9, 2022, in the Studio Theatre.
Rescheduled from the 2019-20 season, Indique Dance Company will use pure dance and storytelling to explore the different ways in which perspective shapes our relationships in Maya: The Illusion We Live. It is human nature to allow our personal biases and assumptions to become a pair of tinted glasses that color everything we see, but what happens when we remove the filters? Find out April 14-16, 2022, in the Studio Theatre.
Urban Arts Collective takes us outside to Strauss Square June 2-4, 2022, with Love You Madly: Celebrating the Music of Duke Ellington. Get transported back to 1920s New York City at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, celebrating the big band era through music, dance and spoken word. The entire band is comprised of Dallas musicians under the direction of Dallas’ premiere jazz band director, Dean Hilland, and the show is choreographed by JuNene K. and directed by Obie Award winner Ed Smith.
Also in Strauss Square is Bandan Koro African Drum and Dance Ensemble's Griots: Celebrating a Compilation of Dallas’ Cultural Storytellers of the African Diaspora. "Griot" is a French word that originated in the 13th century from the Mande empire of Mali, West Africa, and for centuries they have told and retold the history of the empire, keeping their stories and traditions alive. Pay homage to an array of Dallas' key artistic and cultural storytellers, such as Erykah Badu, Vicki Meek, Michelle Gibson, Baba Hassan, the late Afiah Bey, Bandon Koro’s own Tony Browne and Nana Kweku, plus many, many more. It runs June 17-18, 2022.
Rhythm and Rhapsody from Verb Kulture is an artistic fusion of storytelling and poetic expression that shares stories that reflect social challenges in the African-American community. The stories presented are inspired by news headlines, Dallas community interviews, and personal experiences. It runs July 14-16, 2022, in Hamon Hall.
Justin Locklear is deconstructing Shakespeare's The Tempest with Enter Several Strange Shapes, Bringing in a Banquet, a genre-bending work that plays with elements of dance, theater, performance art, and multi-media. Utilizing none of the characters from the original work, the play instead builds a world from the themes and metaphors of The Tempest, creating a new myth altogether. It runs August 4-13, 2022, in the Studio Theatre.
Bombshell Dance Project finishes out the season with In the Conservatory with the Knife, an immersive dance experience loosely inspired by the game of Clue. With a unique, free-form nature, audiences will choose for themselves how and when to move throughout the Studio Theatre, guaranteeing a different experience for each person. It runs August 26-28, 2022.
All shows are $29.50 general admission, and tickets are available to purchase now at www.attpac.org or by calling 214-880-0202.
