Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Artistic Director) has announced the schedule for its upcoming 2008 Women Center Stage festival (WCS), the annual multi-disciplinary event featuring women artists whose work calls attention to human struggles globally - April 8 - April 27, 2008.
The three-week festival, with more than 20 events, will take place at
Culture Project's SoHo home (55 Mercer Street) and The Puffin Room (435 Broome Street, between Broadway and Crosby) with additional programming at The Great Hall at Cooper Union (7 East 7th St.) and The Living Room (154 Ludlow Street).
Currently in its 12th year, WCS will gather artists, activists, thinkers and other crucial voices to share stories and ideas, and challenge one another to act and react. Among those scheduled to participate are
Lynn Redgrave,
Ally Sheedy,
Bob Balaban, Lenelle Moise and
Julie Goldman.
The festival kicks off on Tuesday, April 8 with Expatriate, a new musical by acclaimed poet, playwright and performance artist Lenelle Moise that explores black womanhood, friendship, sexuality and freedom. Another highlight of the theatrical component of the festival is Seven, a new play by award-winning playwrights
Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel,
Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff,
Anna Deavere Smith and
Susan Yankowitz. The play, which documents the struggles of seven women on four continents against injustice, will be presented April 13.
The film component includes, among others, screenings of Maid in Lebanon, a documentary tracing women's journeys from Sri Lanka to Lebanon and exposing the little known world of the domestic migrant worker, and a sneak preview excerpt of Another Camp Is Possible, a new film about youth activism, which will be coupled with a conversation with young activists including filmmaker
Katie Halper and Malia Lazu (
Harry Belafonte's The Gathering).
The festival concludes on April 27 with a special music event: Emancipate: Stories and Songs from New Orleans, which will present new songs by artists Pamela Means, Alix Olson,
Vicki Randle, Cris Williamson, Asia Rainey, Gabrilla Ballard and Sunni Patterson. This month, these artists gathered in New Orleans to meet with community organizers leading the rebuilding efforts in the continuing aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. On April 27, they will perform new songs inspired by their experiences in New Orleans. To complete the journey, they will record a CD in May, the proceeds of which will be donated to a New Orleans service-oriented community organization.
Other festival highlights include a conversation and dramatic reading with Death Row exoneree Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, joined by actresses who have played her in
Culture Project's The Exonerated, including
Lynn Redgrave and
Ally Sheedy; The Last Days of Desmond Nani Reese, a new play by award-wining performance artist
Heather Woodbury; and a comedy performance by
Julie Goldman.
"Women Center Stage is becoming established as a community of women artists, writers, and other change-makers who are really committed to finding creative ways of using their work to further social justice initiatives," says Festival Artistic Director Olivia Greer. "This year we're particularly excited about a very sharp, talented group of women who are working independently and together in remarkable ways. Whether they're traveling to New Orleans or looking for ways to move the corporate world in a sustainable direction, they are (as women so often do) working with inspiring tenacity and compassion."
The advisors to WCS include Kim Brizzolara, Hampton's International Film Festival, Films of Conflict & Resolution Co-Chair; Carol Gilligan, Author & Psychologist; Lekha Singh, Photographer & Aidmatrix Foundation Founder; and
Olivia Wilde Actress & Activist.
Culture Project's mission is to bear witness to injustice, to stimulate challenging conversation about the most profound and urgent matters of our time and to convert interest, energy and engagement into a motivational demand for progressive change.
Culture Project has premiered celebrated shows including The Exonerated,
Sarah Jones'
Bridge & Tunnel, Guantanamo, AMAJUBA: Like Doves We Rise and
Lawrence Wright's My Trip To Al-Qaeda and most recently presented
Dan Hoyle's acclaimed solo show Tings Dey Happen, Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's Rebel Voices and their provocative A Question of Impeachment series. They are currently presenting the World Premiere of
George Packer's critically acclaimed play Betrayed, which runs through April 13.
Tickets for all WCS events are available online at www.cultureproject.org or by calling (212) 352-3101. For further information, access the WCS site at
www.cultureproject.org.
