Release date: March 14, 2003
Contact: Sally Corbett, Director of Public Relations, Arts,
at 404-727-6678 or sacorbe@emory.edu

Contemporary Arts Emory Weekend, March 21-23

The Contemporary Arts Emory Weekend, March 21-23, part of the Schwartz Center Opening Festival, offers an array of visual and performing arts through four events on the Emory University campus: "Sound Stage: A New Music Theater Work About Making Music," The SITI Company's theater piece "Room," the dance premiere "Triptych for V" and the opening for the "Emory Chairs Project," featuring 37 works of sculpture on display through April 17.

Two Performers Up Close series events and an artist lecture will complement the performances and provide direct interaction between artists and audiences. Multiple performances of "Triptych for V" and "Room" allow audiences to attend all of the weekend's offerings. For tickets and information, call 404-727-5050 or go on-line to www.emory.edu/ARTS.

The "Emory Chairs Project," a juried exhibition featuring Emory and guest artists, many of national acclaim, was organized by Emory's Visual Arts Program and Chair Project Advisory Committee. Project curator Linda Armstrong, a Visual Arts Program faculty member and sculptor, says the chairs are "visual landmarks to celebrate and symbolize the new era of arts on the Emory campus." The project is similar to those in Milan, Chicago and Oklahoma City "where an identifying characteristic serves as a motif for artist," according to Armstrong. The chair is a popular design challenge for artists, alludes to the seating in Emory's new Schwartz Center, and likely will give rise to puns about the academic chairs of a university setting.

On Friday, March 21 from 5-8 p.m. a public opening reception with artists will be held in the Visual Arts Building, 700 Peavine Creek Drive. A walking tour brochure indicating chair locations will be available. A public lecture by project participant Vito Acconci is April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Carlos Museum. Acconci is a New York artists known primarily for his performance and video art, who has most recently been building installations and structures in public settings.

Leading West Coast musical innovators the Paul Dresher Ensemble return to Emory with the ensemble Zeitgeist for the Atlanta debut of "Sound Stage" at the Schwartz Center on March 21 at 8 p.m. This concert for ages seven and up is performed on a two-story tall instrument using all of its parts, from pendulums to plastic tubing. After the concert, audience members can view the instrument close up.

Tickets are $20 for the general public and $8 for students and children. Sound Stage creator Paul Dresher will host a free discussion about the science of sound on March 20 at 2:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center's Emerson Concert Hall, 1700 N. Decatur Rd. The talk is part of Emory's "Creative Momentum: A Science and Art Collaboration" and "Performers Up Close" series.

Theater Emory and the Candler Series present "Room," which was created by The SITI Company (Saratoga International Theater Institute) and is directed by Anne Bogart, co-founder and artistic director of the company. The text of the play is adapted for the stage by Jocelyn Clarke from Woolf's novels, memoirs and essays, including the feminist landmark, "A Room of One's Own," that asserted a woman writer needed her own money and her own space to effectively write fiction. New York Times critic Bruce Weber wrote last May that the play "is not a biography, nor is it a conventional character study. Rather, as exemplified by Ellen Lauren's highly stylized performance as Woolf, it is a theatrical representation of the writer's mind, an abstraction painted with theater's animated tools."

Performances are March 21-22 at 8 p.m. and March 23 at 3 p.m. in the Mary Gray Munroe Theater, inside the Dobbs Center, 605 Asbury Circle. Tickets are $25. A free Performers Up Close discussion with the artistic collaborators for "Room" follows the March 22 performance.

"Triptych for V" features new choreography by Anna Leo, associate professor in the Emory Dance Program. "This cluster of three dances was made in honor of my daughter Vita," says Leo. "They illustrate such things as the bond of mother and daughter, full of quick banter, give and take, and intimacy." The performance includes a solo, duet and quartet performed by Emory dance faculty and guest artists. The quartet features a score by Department of Music Chairman Steven Everett, the solo is scored by Klimchak, and the duet features Chip Epsten performing his score on violin. Performances are March 21-22 at 8 p.m. and March 23 at 3 p.m. in the Schwartz Center Dance Studio. Tickets are free for "Triptych for V," but advance reservations are recommended.

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