2014 – 15 Performing Arts Season Brochure

P E R F O R M I N G A R TS S E A S O N

CONTE M PORARY ARTS CE NTE R N EW OR LEANS

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Cover Image: The Grand Parade. Aerial theater comes to the CAC Warehouse in March of 2015. Photo by Maria Baranova

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Denis O’Hare An Iliad

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Meshell Ndegeocello Comet, Come to Me

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Sam Green’s The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller, accompanied

by Yo La Tengo

September 27 & 28, 2014

October 10, 2014

November 7, 2014

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The Rude Mechanicals Now Now Oh Now

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Sidra Bell Dance New York ReVUE

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November 20 – 22, 2014

December 5 & 6, 2014

2014–15 Visual Arts Season Highlights

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Arturo Sandoval

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Meklit Hadero

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Double Edge Theatre The Grand Parade

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Joey Arias Sings Billie Holiday

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Birdfoot Festival at the CAC

January 23, 2015

March 6 & 7, 2015

March 20 – 22, 2015

April 17, 2015

May 29, 2015

The CAC is supported by City of New Orleans | Edward Wisner Donation; The Helis Foundation; Hunt Brothers of Louisiana, LLC | Hunt Telecom; The New Orleans Advocate; Nola Paint and Supplies; Premium Parking; RosaMary Foundation.

The CAC is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans and administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.

The CAC is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, and administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.

Performing Arts programs @ the CAC are supported by The Boettcher Fund, The Hotel Modern, National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts. The CAC is a NPN Partner of the National Performance Network.

Education & Outreach programs @ the CAC are supported by Cox Communications; Ella West Freeman Foundation; The Hearst Foundations; Keller Family Foundation; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation; New Orleans Rotary Fund, Inc.

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CAC STAFF Neil A. Barclay, Director and CEO Merit Shalett, Senior Associate Director

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As I begin my second year as director of the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, I am pleased to welcome and introduce the work of our new Curator of Performing Arts, Raelle Myrick-Hodges. The season she has curated reflects the CAC’s long-standing interest in producing and presenting the art of our time by assembling a group of performing artists whose work has been celebrated throughout the world.

As we look forward to naming the CAC’s new curator of visual arts, a host of world-renowned visual arts curators—including Regine Basha, Carol Thompson, Claire Tancons, and Krista Thompson—join artist Dan Tague to bring us a series of beautiful and provocative exhibitions. These exhibitions will expand our audience’s understanding and appreciation for the aesthetic range and diversity of contemporary artists working today.

This year we welcome to our stages a true jazz master; an Emmynominated and Tony award-winning actor in a tour de force solo performance; and two of the nation’s most celebrated “devised” theater companies. Two internationally acclaimed artists—an Ethiopian-born singer and an emerging voice in contemporary dance—make their New Orleans debut. A provocative singer and bassist, whose musical ambitions know no bounds, joins the lineup, as well as an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker’s latest project, set to the score of a legendary indie rock band. The season closes with one of the most original performance artists of his generation as he celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the birth of one of his many muses, Billie Holiday, and with a performance by one of the region’s fastest growing festivals of new music.

Please join us often this year at the Contemporary Arts Center. For the best seats and prices, become a member of the CAC! Neil A. Barclay Director and CEO

Allison Abney, External Affairs Coordinator Lindsay Barfield, Exhibitions Coordinator and Chief Preparator Jessica Chevis, Development Coordinator Christine T. Dunaway, Development and Membership Manager Freddi W. Evans, Associate Director of Education and Public Programs Jennifer Francino, Visual Arts Manager Michele Frentzos, Financial Services Manager Lisa Kirwin, Building Manager Ken Korman, Development Specialist Ludis Mergins, Cafe Supervisor Shelley Middleberg, Associate Director of Rentals and Hospitality Services Ivy Mouledoux, External Affairs Manager Courtney Mouton, Finance Associate Raelle Myrick-Hodges, Curator of Performing Arts Sam Oliver, Special Assistant to the Director Lindsay Ross Owens, Associate Director of External Affairs Nanette Saucier, Associate Director of Finance and Human Resources Mariana Sheppard, Education Coordinator BOARD OFFICERS Steve Dumez, President Gregg Porter, Vice President Debbie Brockley, Treasurer Stephanie Huger, Secretary BOARD OF TRUSTEES Bryan Bailey Debra Barnewold Judy Barrasso Dawn Barrios Denise Berthiaume Anthony Campbell Jacquee Carvin Sandra Chaisson Gretchen Chase Nicole Eichberger Jonathan Fawer Krystle Ferbos Jonathan Ferrara Cherie Gauthier

Grant Harris Mark Jeanfreau Kelly Juneau Colleen Levy Kathleen Loe Lori Mahfouz Rhesa McDonald Orelia Minor Wendy Newlin Staci Rosenberg Robyn Dunn Schwarz Christina Tears-DiLeo Wayne Troyer Bush Wrighton

EMERITUS BOARD MEMBERS Sydney J. Besthoff Patricia Chandler Thomas B. Coleman Sandra Garrard Barbara Motley Jeanne Nathan Michael J. Siegel M.K. Wegmann

P U B LI C P R O G R AM S Check each page for workshops, talks, and more. Visit cacno.org for events added throughout the season.

T I C K E TS ADVANCE $35 General Admission | $25 CAC Members DAY OF SHOW $40 General Admission | $30 CAC Members SEASON COMBO PRICING $100 Pick Three | $120 Pick Four | $140 Pick Five Season Combo pricing is only available at the CAC Box Office.

CURATOR’S RECOMMENDED SEASON COMBOS AT CACNO.ORG/TICKETS

BUY ONLINE

Purchase Tickets Online 24/7 @ cacno.org Online orders incur a 10% handling fee.

BUY AT CAC BOX OFFICE

Hours: 11am to 5pm daily Call or Visit: 504.528.3800 | 900 Camp Street Phone orders incur a 15% handling fee. This fee is waived for CAC members at the Center Stage level and above.

All ticket purchases incur a $1 facility fee per ticket.

All events are subject to change.

JOIN THE CAC today for discounts on performing arts tickets, early access seating for shows, and free gallery admission year-round.

Membership starts at $35. JOIN at cacno.org

R E NT TH E CE NTE R The CAC ranks as one of New Orleans’ most unique spaces for private and corporate entertaining, and film locations. Our event space features 30,000 square feet of turn-of-the-century warehouse spaces, and the award-winning architecture of our atrium, galleries, and theaters. cacno.org/facility-rental

E D U CATI O N The CAC offers a year-round slate of education programs including Field Trips, Summer Arts Camp, Teen Board and much more. cacno.org/education

The DISTILLERY Artist Residency Swap Meets FREE Performances: • June 23, 2014 • August 22, 2014 • September 19, 2014 neworleansdistillery.org

September 27 & 28, 2014

THEATER

The gods roar overhead as Obie Award-winner Lisa Peterson directs Tony Award-winner Denis O’Hare in a breathtakingly-relevant, modern retelling of Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad.

$25 – $40 Pre-show Cocktails & Curatorial Discussions: A Contemporary Look at War through Theater

This performance is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Louisiana State Arts Council.

“Pure theatre: shocking, glorious, primal and deeply satisfying.”

September 27& 28

CAC Freeport-McMoRan Theater

“Theatrical storytelling at its most vital.”

—Boston Globe

—Time Out, New York

AN I LIAD Adapted by Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson based on Robert Fagles’ translation of The Iliad Directed by Lisa Peterson Winner of the 2012 Obie Award for Outstanding Performance

cacno.org/iliad

Photo: Joan Marcus

Performed by Denis O’Hare

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discounts & early seating for CAC members | join at cacno.org/membership

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MUSIC October 10

“Meshell Ndegeocello’s Comet, Come to Me is an adventure, and it’s worth tagging along.”

—Los Angeles Times

“Comet, Come to Me is one of those rich works that keeps changing inside the listener’s head—an oftenquiet set of songs with intense staying power ...”

—NPR

M E S H E L L N D E G E O C E L LO Photo: Jason Rodgers

Singer-bassist Meshell Ndegeocello returns to New Orleans with her band to perform her critically-acclaimed new album, Comet, Come to Me—an introspective, unwavering look into memory, lost love, and human fallacies. cacno.org/meshell

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SPUN cafe @ the CAC | open for coffee & cocktails during CAC performances

October 10, 2014 CAC Freeport-McMoRan Theater Tickets: $25 – $40 Curatorial Discussion Hosted

by CAC Teen Board: Music Performance in a Visual Arts Setting

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Accompanied by Yo La Tengo November 7, 2014

“It is a movie being born as you see it and hear it, as alive as music.”

CAC Warehouse Tickets: $25 – $40 Pre-show Cocktails & Curatorial Discussion: Music in Film

LIVE DOCUMENTARY

Created & Narrated

by Sam Green

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November 7

—Rebecca Solnit, Writer, Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient & Two–Time Recipient of NEA Fellowship in Literature

Accompanied by indie rock band Yo La Tengo, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green narrates this live documentary on the life of R. Buckminster Fuller— neo-futuristic architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor. cacno.org/yolatengo

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discounts & early seating for CAC members | join at cacno.org/membership

Photo courtesy Stanford University Libraries and the Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

T H E LO V E S O N G O F R. B U C K M I N STE R F U LLE R

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THEATER November 20 – 22

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“The sense of discovery is the play’s greatest strength ... Now Now Oh Now is a delightful way to have your mind blown.”

—Austin Chronicle

“Rude Mechanicals cultivate a stunning virtuosity that ... is essential viewing for anyone interested in theater.”

—LEO Weekly

R U D E M E C H A N I C A LS

Photo: Patrick Bresnan

Genre-defying theater company Rude Mechanicals merges themes of evolutionary biology, murder mystery theater, and gaming with Now Now Oh Now, an interactive puzzle of a piece that calls to the inner nerd in us all.

cacno.org/rudemechs

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Now Now Oh Now November 20 – 22, 2014 CAC Freeport-McMoRan Theater & Warehouse Tickets: $25 – $40 Public Workshop with Rude Mechanicals: Creating Ensemble Work Pre-show Cocktails & Curatorial Discussions: Starting a New Theater Company in the 21st Century

Funded in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

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SPUN cafe @ the CAC | open for coffee & cocktails during CAC performances

“It was a ‘ReVUE’ unlike any other, a blend of vaudeville, Fellini, and Cirque du Soleil. Ms. Bell proved that she had her finger on the future of dance where ballet and hip-hop coexist on the same plane.”

“[ReVUE] is a work meant for lovers of oddity and avant-garde, and for those who see bits of themselves in the yearning eyes of the pariah.”

—Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s “2010 Best in Dance” issue

—Uptempo Magazine

DANCE December 5 & 6

Atmospheric and spectacular, Sidra Bell’s ReVUE— an explosion of sexuality, gender politics, and darkly fantastical themes—pushes societal boundaries and eludes traditional expectations of dance.

Photo: Jubal Battisti

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S I D R A B E LL DAN C E N E W YO R K

ReVUE Choreographed

by Sidra Bell December 5 & 6, 2014 CAC Warehouse Tickets: $25 – $40 Master Class with Choreographer Sidra Bell Post-show Discussions

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cacno.org/sidrabell discounts & early seating for CAC members | join at cacno.org/membership

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VISUAL ARTS

2 0 1 4 - 1 5 V I S UA L A R TS S E A S O N H I G H L I G H TS Mark of the Feminine

August 2 – October 4, 2014

International Sculpture Center: Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards August 2 – October 4, 2014

Prospect.3: Notes for Now

October 25, 2014 – January 25, 2015

EN MAS’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean March 7 – June 7, 2015

Radcliffe Bailey: Recent Works March 7 – June 7, 2015

Visit cacno.org/exhibitions for the complete visual arts schedule.

cacno.org/exhibitions

Radcliffe Bailey, Memory as Medicine Courtesy the High Museum of Art

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receive cac member–only perks | join at cacno.org/membership

Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean

VISUAL ARTS

E N M A S ’: March 7 – June 7, 2015

EN MAS’ is co-curated by Claire Tancons and Krista Thompson; organized and presented by the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), New Orleans; and co-organized as a traveling exhibition by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York.

EN MAS’ is made possible by an Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award. Additional support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Visual Arts Programs @ the CAC are supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Dathel & Tommy Coleman, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Independent Curators International, National Endowment for the Arts, Aimée & Mike Siegel, Sydney & Walda Besthoff Foundation

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Ebony G. Patterson, Invisible Presence: Bling Memories Performance, April 27, 2014, Kingston, Jamaica cac performance, visual arts, education, & public Photo: Monique Gilpin and Philip Rhoden

events @ cacno.org/calendar

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MUSIC

“[Sandoval] moves comfortably across genres and instruments—using the trumpet to generate an apocalyptic range of sounds, alternately majestic, humorous, and romantic.”

January 23

—Los Angeles Times

“... [Sandoval has] the freedom to roam through many sound worlds and instruments which informs his delightful, irresistible way of making music.”

—LondonJazz News

A R T U R O S A N D O VA L Photo: Manny Iriarte

January 23, 2015 CAC Freeport-McMoRan Theater Tickets: $25 – $40 Pre-show Cocktails & Curatorial Discussion: Jazz Tradition in the 21st Century

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cacno.org/arturosandoval

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Trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval, Cuban-born protégé of Dizzy Gillespie and winner of ten GRAMMY Awards, six Billboard Awards, an Emmy Award, and the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom, appears for this one-night-only jazz performance featuring a selection of works from his five–decade career.

SPUN cafe @ the CAC | open for coffee & cocktails during CAC performances

CAC Freeport-McMoRan Theater

MUSIC

March 6 & 7, 2015

Tickets: $25 – $40 Songwriting Workshop with Meklit Hadero

“... lilting, sensuous, capable of the leap from staccato jazz-cat to honeyed songbird, she conveys both fragility and great strength in a single line.”

March 6 & 7

Post-show Discussions

—San Francisco Bay Guardian

“She’s a blithe-voiced daughter of Joni who considers music a path to higher ground, with rest stops for the likes of Talking Heads and Lou Reed.”

—Village Voice

Internationally-renowned Ethiopian singer-songwriter turned bandleader Meklit Hadero delivers this soulful and provocative showcase of her most recent album We Are Alive—a passionate brew of jazz, folk, and East African influences. cacno.org/hadero

Photo: Rus Anson

M E K LIT HAD E R O

BUY TICKETS discounts & early seating for CAC members | join at cacno.org/membership

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THEATER March 20 – 22

“[this] production reminds us how frequently culture is used as a benchmark for collective memory ... a rich, audacious vision of American history that should dazzle theatergoers from any generation.”

—DC Theatre Scene

D “Marvelous.”

—Time Out, New York

T H E G R A N D PA R A D E (of the 20th Century)

Photo: Maria Baranova

Double Edge Theatre makes its regional debut with The Grand Parade—an amalgamation of movement, text, and fleeting images that evoke the mythology of the 20th century.

Equal parts circus, vaudeville, and magical realism, this aerial performance perfectly encompasses humanity’s simultaneous predilection towards creation and destruction in the pursuit of progress.

On March 20, SweetArts 2015 (A CAC fundraiser) will offer a special preview performance of The Grand Parade

cacno.org/grandparade

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BUY TICKETS

SPUN cafe @ the CAC | open for coffee & cocktails during CAC performances

Directed by Stacy Klein Composed by Alexander Bakshi March 20 – 22, 2015 CAC Warehouse Tickets: $25 – $40 Pre-show & Post-show Curatorial Discussions: Collaboration in Theater for the 21st Century Artist Exchange school field trips available with Double Edge Theatre Funded in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

MUSIC

April 17, 2015 CAC Warehouse Tickets: $25 – $40

April 17

Post-show Conversation with the Artist

“Eerie, entrancing, filthy and phenomenally talented, Arias is not to be missed.”

—Time Out

“Makes Lady Gaga look like Greta Van Susteren.”

—The New York Times

In celebration of Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday, New York cabaret and drag icon Joey Arias channels the trailblazing vocalist and jazz legend in a spectacle of old-Hollywood Big Band glamour. cacno.org/joeyarias

Photo: Santiago Felipe

J O EY AR IAS S I N G S B I L L I E H O L I D AY

BUY TICKETS discounts & early seating for CAC members | join at cacno.org/membership

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MUSIC

“Birdfoot ... succeeded in bringing high-quality chamber performances to New Orleans in a way that was entertaining and accessible.”

May 29

C —NOLA Defender, 2013 festival review

B I R D F O OT F E S T I VA L AT THE CAC

Photo: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee

Chamber music excites at the Birdfoot Festival, a vibrant showcase of the New Orleans classical movement. These transcendental performances fly in the face of traditional fare while acquainting new audiences with this timeless genre.

May 29, 2015 Check website for details

CALENDAR of 2014-15 EVENTS at the CAC

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August 2, 2014 Whitney White Linen Night (A CAC Fundraiser)

October 24, 2014 Prospect.3 Gala (prospectneworleans.org)

October 4, 2014 CAC’s Art For Arts’ Sake Downtown

March 20, 2015 SweetArts 2015 (A CAC Fundraiser)

October 16 – 23, 2014 25th Annual New Orleans Film Festival

June 2015 Bourbon & Burlesque (A CAC Fundraiser)

SPUN cafe @ the CAC | open for coffee & cocktails during CAC performances

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Cover Letter from the Director and CEO Denis O’Hare An Iliad September 27 & 28, 2014

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Meshell Ndegeocello Comet, Come to Me

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Sam Green’s The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller, accompanied by Yo La Tengo

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The Rude Mechanicals Now Now Oh Now

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Sidra Bell Dance New York ReVUE

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October 10, 2014

November 7, 2014

November 20 – 22, 2014

December 5 & 6, 2014

2014–15 Visual Arts Season Highlights

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Arturo Sandoval

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Meklit Hadero

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Double Edge Theatre The Grand Parade

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Joey Arias Sings Billie Holiday

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Birdfoot Festival at the CAC

January 23, 2015

March 6 & 7, 2015

March 20 – 22, 2015

April 17, 2015

May 29, 2015