Irondale & AOP to Present Lines of Freedom, A Celebration of Black History Month, 2/20-3/1

The Irondale Ensemble Project and AOP (American Opera Projects) bring 2 works of exciting musical theater and opera to the stage in celebration of the rich heritage of abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, in repertory at the Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY, February 20 - March 1.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.irondale.org or by telephone at Ovationtix, 866 811-4111. Tickets are also available at the TKTS Booth.

Full Schedule:
Color Between the Lines: The Abolitionist Struggle in Brooklyn - Feb. 20, 22, 28 @ 7:30 pm and March 1 at 3pm
Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom - Feb. 21, 27, March 1 at 7:30pm and February 22 @ 3pm.

Color Between the Lines.
Set in the tumultuous decade prior to the Civil War, Color Between the Lines, explores the tension between Brooklyn's phenomenal growth during the nineteenth century due to its intricate ties to slavery, and the moral imperative towards anti-slavery activism by a small group of residents. This was a time in Brooklyn's history when free African-Americans charted a course of self-determination in order to address the everyday injustices of racism, threats of illegal kidnapping, voter discrimination, and a profound lack of legal and political equality. It was also a time when ordinary men and women, black and white, became abolitionists in order to end slavery even as Brooklyn's wealth depended on the Southern economy. With original songs and music, Color Between the Linestells new stories about familiar abolitionists and recovers activists who have been underrepresented by mainstream narratives. Ultimately, the play explores American notions of freedom and engages with the ongoing debates of how we define freedom today. Color Between the Lines is "courageous and compelling". - The New York Times

Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom
This presentation is a two-act folk opera created by Nigerian-American composer Nkeiru Okoye that tells of how a young girl born in slavery, becomes Harriet Tubman, the legendary Underground Railroad conductor. This important chapter of American history is portrayed in the context of Tubman's tight-knit family of lively characters and two sisters vowing that nothing but death will separate them, despite the slavery threatening to tear them apart. Okoye takes audiences on a veritable tour of early African-American music with a score that incorporates gospel spirituals, ragtime, early blues, minstrel songs, work songs, call and responses, and field hollers. "Okoye's [Harriet Tubman] is an ensemble of achingly beautiful arias, duets, trios and choruses that recount the major episodes in Tubman's career..." - The Baltimore Sun

Presentations of Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works. Dir: LemUel Wade (Porgy and Bess, L'Opera de Montreal). Commissioned and developed by American Opera Projects.
The Partners
At the forefront of the contemporary opera movement for a quarter-century, AOP creates, develops and presents opera and music Theatre Projects collaborating with young, rising and established artists in the field. AOP has produced over 20 world premieres including most recently Lera Auerbach's The Blind, a co-production with Lincoln Center Festival 2013. Other notable premieres include Kimper/Persons' Patience & Sarah (1998), Stefan Weisman's Darkling( 2006), Lee Hoiby's This is the Rill Speaking (2008), and Phil Kline's Out Cold (2012) at BAM. AOP-developed projects with premiere with collaborating companies: Gregory Spears'sPaul's Case at Urban Arias (2013) and PROTOtype Festival (Jan 2014), Kamran Ince's Judgment of Midas at Milwaukee Opera Theatre (2013), Jack Perla's Love/Hate at ODC Theater with San Francisco Opera (2012), Stephen Schwartz's Séance on a Wet Afternoon at New York City Opera (2011), Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness at London's Royal Opera House (2011), Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls at Fort Worth Opera (2010), Lee Hoiby's This Is the Rill Speaking at Opera Memphis (2013) and Purchase College (2008). Upcoming: AOP-commissioned The Wanton Sublime and The Companion at Roulette (April 2014) and As One at BAM, September 2014. www.operaprojects.org

Irondale Ensemble Project was founded in 1983 by Jim Niesen, Terry Greiss and Barbara Mackenzie-Wood. Since then, Irondale has established itself as one of the longest-standing permanent ensemble theaters in the country and a leader in the national ensemble movement, restoring artist-driven companies to prominence. The ensemble has created over 60 Off-Broadway productions, from intimate chamber productions of Shakespeare to company devised epic work that reflects the values myths and cultural mores of the American character. Irondale's work is surprising, impassioned and always provocative. This is theater make us think. In 2008 the company opened the Irondale Center, it's first permanent performance home, created from the ruins of a nineteenth Century Sunday School in the heart of the BAM Cultural District. In addition to providing a home for its own work the Irondale Center has become home for alternative artists of all disciplines and for high quality arts education for youth.

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