FirstWorks to Open Season with Cloud Eye Control at Historic Columbus Theatre

FirstWorks kicks off the 2015-2016 season with the vibrant Los Angeles-based, multimedia performance art troupe Cloud Eye Control. The event inaugurates the new FirstWorks Frontier Series, offering attendees a first look at the freshest, most groundbreaking performances from across the country. Produced in cooperation with the Columbus Theatre, Cloud Eye Control presents their East Coast debut of Half Life at the Columbus on Nov. 21, 2015. Tickets for Half Life are on sale now and start at only $10 at first-works.org.

Comprised of a multitalented group of artists, Cloud Eye Control's reach spans from The Museum of Modern Art to the TED talk stage. Half Life is a mix of projected animation, theater, and music that examines the psychological fallout of global disaster. This highly visual and emotional experience offers an imagistic, visceral work inspired by the nervous fear felt in the wake of natural or man-made disasters. This latest multimedia piece recently drew rave reviews for its world premiere at L.A.'s famed REDCAT Theater. Cloud Eye Control and Half Life draws out a raw energy through innovative live music with the appeal of a rock concert.

"FirstWorks' new Frontier Series allows audiences to discover the most exciting new artistic visions in the country. There could be no better beginning to the season than the eye-popping innovation and gorgeous animations of Cloud Eye Control," said Kathleen Pletcher, Executive Artistic Director, FirstWorks. "Driven by triple-threat leaders-multimedia wizard Miwa Matreyek, who has been featured on the TED Global stage; Anna Oxygen, whose music has been presented at PS1, MOMA; and LA-based theatre director Chi-wang Yang's unmatched talent for integrated media-their work provides an experience for all of the senses. We are so excited to be hosting the East Coast premiere of Half Life.

This performance also marks the beginning of FirstWorks' new cross-promotional partnership with the historic Columbus Theatre, where Half Life will be staged. During the week leading up to the performance, members of Cloud Eye Control will share their inventive hybrid art of animation, experimental theatre, pop music and puppetry with FirstWorks' Arts Learning students at Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts and Central Falls High School. Workshops and talks at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design are open to the public and provide an opportunity to learn with the L.A. group. In addition, FirstWorks invites the community to join two public salons focused on environmental issues raised by Half Life, which will be held at The Providence Athenaeum.

Fri 11/20, 5-7pm: SALON, co-presented with FirstWorks and ecoRI News: Brown University Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Terry E. Tullis, Chair of the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council, on "Fracking, Earthquakes, and Carbon Disposal." Join a discussion on the potential effect of our present practices on our future.

Fri 11/27, 5-7pm: SALON, co-presented with FirstWorks and ecoRI News: RI Artists on Environmental Practice. Join a conversation with RI artists whose work addresses a variety of environmental issues and instigations, and learn how they use their work to calibrate, celebrate, test, and protest the evolving consequences of human interaction on the physical environment.

Cloud Eye Control's Arts Learning Residency is presented in partnership with Brown's Creative Arts Council and RISD's Center for Student Involvement. Half Life was also made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Theater Pilot and the National Endowment for the Arts, Artworks Grant.

For more information on Cloud Eye Control's visit to Providence, visit first-works.org.

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