Waterwell has announced the world premiere of June Rites !!, an outdoor dance-theater piece celebrating the arrival of summer. Co-created by Lee Sunday Evans, Ásta Bennie Hostetter and Mariana Sanchez, June Rites !! will be performed at Picnic Point on Governors Island from June 18 to June 27, 2021.
After more than a year of isolation, June Rites !! invites you to join your fellow New Yorkers on picturesque Governors Island for a summer-in-the-city celebration. June Rites !! is an original hour of visually stunning and viscerally contagious live performance. Conceived as a civic ritual in dialogue with state fairs and summer solstice festivals, this piece will be an opportunity for collective reemergence into public spaces after a long, hard winter. By turns reflective, playful, somber and ecstatic, the performers and musicians of June Rites !! provide an essential way to experience New York City opening up a new chapter of live performance.
June Rites !! will feature original music written and performed by
Mauro Refosco and
Gustavo Di Dalva, who were recently seen on Broadway with
David Byrne in American Utopia. A celebrated percussionist, Refosco has toured and recorded with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, joined Dirty Projectors for their self-titled album, and is a member of experimental supergroup Atoms for Peace alongside Flea and
Thom Yorke. A Bahia instrumentalist and singer from a young age, Di Dalva has traveled the world for 20 years playing with the greatest Brazilian musicians and has performed on multiple Grammy-winning albums.
Tickets for June Rites !! are free of charge, with a suggested donation that goes directly toward Waterwell's mission of telling engrossing stories in unexpected ways that grapple with complex civic questions. Tickets must be reserved in advance at
waterwell.org/junerites. Performances will run approximately 60 minutes.
With 120 acres of open space to explore, Governors Island is nestled between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn in the heart of New York Harbor. The Island's award-winning public park serves as a welcoming escape from indoor life.
With ferries running daily from Manhattan and on weekends from Brooklyn, Governors Island offers the ideal day-trip for New Yorkers to wander the grounds, enjoy a picnic lunch or sample the
varied food vendors, and take in a performance of June Rites !! in front of the sweeping skyline backdrop before heading home. From Picnic Point, audience members will have front-row seats to the closest face-on view of the Statue of Liberty from land.
The world premiere production will be directed and choreographed by
Lee Sunday Evans (The Courtroom, Dance Nation), with costume design by Ásta Bennie Hostetter (Dance Nation, Miles for Mary), scenic design by
Mariana Sanchez (Anatomy of a Suicide, Marys Seacole), and original music written and performed by
Mauro Refosco and
Gustavo Di Dalva.
Katie Young is the Associate Producer. This project received funding support from the Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.
June Rites !! will follow the latest Covid-19 safety protocols and guidelines as laid out by
Actors' Equity Association, New York City, and New York State. Social distance between audience groupings will be maintained at all times. Hand sanitizer and hand washing stations are located throughout the Island. Increased cleaning procedures and schedules have been implemented for all restrooms, ferries, and high-touch, high-traffic areas across the Island. Enhanced health and safety protocols are in place for all food and drink vending locations. To allow for social distancing on Governors Island ferries, visitors must
reserve tickets in advance and will be required to wear face coverings.
To learn more, visit
waterwell.org.
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