Eleven Reflections on September
ELEVEN REFLECTIONS ON SEPTEMBER
Written, Directed & Performed by Andrea Assaf
Video Creation & Choreography by Pramila Vasudevan
Music created & performed by Salah Abdel Fattah, Tim O'Keefe, & Aida Shahghasemi
Sound Design by Owen Henry & Keegan Fraley
Lighting Design by Kat Lovell
Eleven Reflections on September is a poetry/spoken word-based, multi-media performance on Arab American experience, Wars on/of Terror, and “the constant, quiet rain of death amidst beauty” that each autumn brings in a post-9/11 world. This production is based on the series of poems Andrea Assaf has been writing since 2001, spanning the fall of the towers, the on-going wars, and the current revolutions sweeping through the Arab world. Aesthetically, the poems explore the disintegration of language in the face of violence, prejudice, and unspeakable horror; as such, they progress from lyrical to abstract and broken. The annual witnessing of autumn leaves becomes a metaphor for the fallen--the fighters and the innocent.
This multi-disciplinary project includes performances with interactive media design and live music; community dialogues; a visual arts exhibit; open mics, panels and opportunities for action through partnerships with Iraq Veterans Against the War and other peace organizations.
TOURING 2011-14! Premiere performance: April 2011, Pangea World Theater, Minneapolis. Touring dates/locations: October 2011, Carpetbag Theatre, Knoxville TN. December 2011, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa FL, in conjunction with the National Performance Network (NPN) Annual Meeting ... and more dates coming in 2012-13! Look for updates on our NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE in 2014!!
Eleven Reflections on September is an Art2Action production, commissioned by Pangea World Theater's 2011 Alternate Visions Festival, and supported in part by the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Theater Fellowship program, the National Performance Network (NPN) Performance Residency program, and United States Artists. Earlier readings of the poetry series have been featured at the Centro Cultural Tijuana (Mexico 2010); the Zero Budget Festival, organized by the WorkCenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards (Wroclaw, Poland, November 2009); the Bowery Poetry Club in NYC (October 2007); and the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center (April 2007). Excerpts and work-in-progress showings have also been performed at DIWAN Forum for the Arts (CUNY 2011); the BAAD! Ass Women's Festival (Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance, 2011); the RAWI Conference (Ann Arbor, MI 2010); the Alternate ROOTS Annual Meeting (2008); and Hedgebrook’s NYC alumnae gathering (2007). Some poems from this series have been translated and published in Spanish and Polish; translation in Arabic is forthcoming (2011). Audio recordings by Andrea Assaf can also be found on the Radio Tahrir website, under "a poem, a song..."
ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING - NOW AVAILABLE!
www.cdbaby.com/cd/andreaassaf
For more information & samples, visit:
Art2Action TV: http://www.youtube.com/user/art2actionTV
WKFAI "Art Matters" Interview & Live Performance excerpt, with Andrea Assaf & Aida Shahghasemi http://soundcloud.com/art2action/art-matters-eleven-reflections
Pangea World Theater - http://pangeaworldtheater.org/performances/eleven-reflections-on-september/
Art2Action (website IN DEVELOPMENT, please check back later in 2012!) - www.art2action.org
For bookings, contact: art2action@earthlink.net
