Los Angeles is a big city. As anyone who lives here knows,
Angelenos come from all walks of life and have a wide range of
interests. In a city this large, it appears almost impossible to
pique the curiosity of every resident.
UCLA Live’s 2006-2007 season, however, emerges fully
capable of taking on such a challenge as the program matches the
city of Los Angeles in its own eclecticism.
“UCLA Live is one of the really unique things about the
university in terms of the arts. Its diversity and the range of
material it presents are unlike any other performing arts
programs,” said Chris Waterman, dean of the School of the
Arts and Architecture at UCLA. “Our program includes not only
performers who are already touring around the country at
universities, but also a lot of new and very innovative
work.”
UCLA Live is making no exception this year, boasting a
remarkable lineup in theater, music, dance and spoken word. A
returning highlight of the season is the International Theater
Festival, which will run for its fifth year. The festival offers a
unique combination of seasoned performances and is also premiering
works from around the world.
“I think the secret to the festival’s success is
that it’s always excellent for one thing, it’s always
interesting, and it really is a great mix of your classical and
then your experimental (theater),” said Karen Nelson, UCLA
Live’s senior publicist.
The festival opens on Sept. 29 with the L.A. premiere of
“The Peony Pavilion,” an ancient Chinese opera trilogy
adapted by Kenneth Pai.
The following day introduces a more modern subject with the
world premiere of Heather Woodbury’s play “Tale of
2Cities.” “Tale,” which will run from Sept. 30 to
Oct. 8, revolves around the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1957 move from
New York to Los Angeles. The play explores the cultural impact the
move had on the community and its people. Woodbury found the
displacement resulting from the baseball team’s move as her
inspiration for the work, as areas in Los Angeles once frequented
and beloved soon became unrecognizable.
“In order to build the stadium, Los Angeles’
topography was drastically changed,” Woodbury said.
“They literally had to raze to the ground one of the highest
hills in Los Angeles.”
According to Woodbury, the themes in “Tale” are
still relevant today.
“All of these themes seemed to me not only to be
interesting from a historical perspective, but also a very
contemporary perspective of seeing things so drastically altered
that you can’t even have a memory of it,” she said.
The play does not just center around the baseball team. A unique
set of characters, beginning with a young DJ who spins a mix after
his grandmother passes away, figure at the play’s core.
“You don’t have to have a background with the
Dodgers to be interested in the play,” Woodbury said.
“It’s about having condos built over our favorite old
store as much as it’s about the Dodgers.”
Another anticipated festival event is the L.A. premiere of
“Slava’s Snowshow,” which will bring snow to the
city this winter as the Russian clown Slava Polunin performs his
renowned act at Royce Hall.
“It’s this amazing combination of clowning, miming
and theater. Every performance includes a huge snowstorm with snow
literally flying past your face,” Nelson said.
The UCLA Live program remains at the forefront musically. The
Roots Music Series will feature “Poetry Said, Poetry
Sung,” a rare collaboration of Lucinda Williams and her
father, poet Miller Williams, on Nov. 30.
The Artists Without Limits Series is proud to showcase former
Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s “40th Anniversary Tribute to
Pet Sounds” on Nov. 1, a concert devoted to what’s
largely considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
This season music fans can also expect a wide array of world
music artists hailing from Brazil, Morocco, Burundi, Tibet, Israel,
Japan, Iran and Mexico.
A highlight of the season for dance comes in May with the
pairing of Royal Ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem and
dancer/choreographer Akram Khan, who will blend ballet and
classical Indian Kathak dance in their work “Sacred
Monsters.”
In “An Evening with Garry Trudeau,” part of the
Spoken Word Series, the acclaimed “Doonesbury” creator
and cartoonist visits Royce Hall on Oct. 25.
Although the UCLA Live season offers a number of big names,
Nelson stresses the benefits of checking out all of the artists
appearing.
“I think that is one of the greatest things that UCLA Live
does ““ it presents such a mix of things that it entices you
to take a chance on artists that you may not know already,”
Nelson said.
For his part, Waterman agrees.
“There’s nothing like seeing a live performance and
being in the room with these incredible and talented human beings
doing something in real time,” he said. “Just the sheer
range of the program is really amazing. UCLA Live is just a great
place to get your consciousness expanded.”