New York Live Arts to Present Alain Buffard's BARON SAMEDI, 5/1-3

New York Live Arts presents the U.S. premiere of Alain Buffard's Baron Samedi, May 1 - 3 at 7:30pm in the New York Live Arts Theater. Featuring a stellar international cast including Nadia Beugré, Will Rawls and David Thomson, among others, Baron Samedi pays tribute to the eponymous legendary and unsettling Carnival figure and voodoo master of ceremonies.

First performed in April 2012 at the Théâtre de Nîmes in France, Baron Samedi is Buffard's "choreographed opera," amalgamated with the live accompaniment of Kurt Weill's music and poetry. The work creates a disruption and unmasking of social persona, pretense, ceremony and hierarchy. In addition to Beugré, Rawls and Thomson, the cast of performers includes Hlengiwe Lushaba, Dorothée Munyaneza, Olivier Normand and musicians Sarah Murcia and Seb Martel.

"I am a deep admirer of the late, singular French choreographer Alain Buffard," said Carla Peterson, Artistic Director of New York Live Arts. "Alain, who earned a reputation for being an artist's artist, was a provocative and intellectually stimulating creator who's over 15 choreographic and visual works over the past 15 plus years are, each one, worlds unto themselves. As with Baron Samedi, his latest work, he often wrestled thematically with the underbelly of darkness that, in his hands, carried truths. He also was a gifted theater artist who loved music and visual arts, and could bring into the work a level of smart entertainment via his always exceptional performers, lightening but not obscuring the message. Baron Samedi is like that. I was proud to present his dark and riveting Les inconsolés at Dance Theater Workshop in 2010 and equally proud to bring this last work of his to our New York Live Arts audience."

The presentation of Baron Samedi is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas, in New York City, May 1 - 18, 2014, organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the USA, with additional support from Institut français and Région Languedoc-Roussillon.

Performances will take place in New York Live Arts' Theater. Come Early Conversations and Stay Late Discussions will also be featured with two shows (see complete schedule below). Tickets are $20 and may be purchased online at newyorklivearts.org/season, by phone at 212-924-0077 and in person at the box office. Box Office hours are Monday to Friday from 1 to 9pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 8pm.