Silk Road Rising to Present World Premiere of RE-SPICED: A SILK ROAD CABARET, 4/4-5/6

Silk Road Rising to present the World Premiere of Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret, song and narrative selection by Jamil Khoury, directed by Steve Scott, musical direction by Ryan Brewster, and choreographed by Brenda Didier. Re-Spiced runs April 4 – May 6, 2012, in Pierce Hall at The Historic Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington St, Chicago.

Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret is a musical pastiche of Asian and Middle Eastern images in American and British song and verse. From Broadway show tunes to pop, from country to rap, folk to rock, poetry to prose, Re-Spiced turns the tables on "us" and "them" with panache and glee and leaves us wondering just who's who?

The cast of Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret includes: Jaii Beckley, Danny Bernardo, Joel Kim Booster, Christine Bunuan, Dipika Cherala, Joyee Lin, Evan Tyrone Martin, and Amira Sabbagh.

The design team includes: Dan Stratton (Set), Michael Stanfill (Lighting), Jeremy Lloyd (Costumes), Jesse Gaffney (Props), and Neal Ryan Shaw (Dramaturg). The stage manager is Kate Guthrie.  Assistant Director is Corey Pond.

Previews of Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret are April 4 & 5 at 7:30 pm, and Friday, April 6 at 8:00 pm. The press opening is Saturday, April 7 at 4:00 pm. The production runs through Sunday, May 6. Curtain times are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm; Fridays+ at 8:00 pm; Saturdays++ at 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and Sundays at 4:00 pm. Tickets are $20.00 - $30.00.  Tickets for Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret ($20 for previews, $30 for regular run) are now on sale and can be purchased at www.silkroadrising.org or by phone: 312.857.1234 x 201.

+There will be no performances at Pierce Hall on Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28
++ Re-Spiced will be performed at Governor State University on Saturday, April 28

Statement from Artistic Director Jamil Khoury, Devisor of Re-Spiced

Re-Spiced builds upon and deepens what began in 2009 with Broadway Sings the Silk Road, sprouting tentacles beyond our beloved show tunes to include pop, country, rap, folk, and rock with, rest assured, plenty of nods to the Great White Way.  From the popular to the obscure, the canonical to the marginal, the "sacred" to the "profane," I like to think of Re-Spiced as "no genre left behind". 

If self-representation is at the core of Silk Road Rising's mission, then Re-Spiced represents a game changer.  Instead of Silk Road people doing the defining, we're being defined.  Then again, not if we have anything to do with it!  Re-Spiced is a journey down musical memory lane, navigating a lyrical obstacle course we call musical intent.  Yes, we're entering a maze of Asian and Middle Eastern images in American and British song.  Add poetry and prose to the mix and the stakes get ever higher.  In its most hopeful form, it's the representational meets the aspirational.  Unfortunately, it's not all hopeful.  But it is a lot of fun! 

In devising Re-Spiced the words that kept resonating for me were "adventure", "discovery", "irony", and "change".  "Context" also figured prominently in my mind as did "history" and "subtext".  I was inspired by a desire to de-construct language, debunk meanings, decode messages, and disentangle "us" from "other".  At its essence, Re-Spiced roars like a clarion call - to excavate the archeology of lyrics and extrapolate the anthropology of songs.  Jargon perhaps, but I like to think of it as academic fodder for what is, at the beginning and end of the day, an old school cabaret – entertaining, political, playful, edgy, sexy, and subversive.    

About Silk Road Rising

Silk Road Rising creates live theatre and online videos that tell stories through primarily Asian American and Middle Eastern American lenses. 

The award winning Silk Road Rising is the recipient of: Insight Arts 2011 Creative Movement Award, the American Theatre Wing's 2010 National Theatre Company Grant Award, the 2008 Broadway In Chicago/League of Chicago Theaters' Emerging Theatre Award, the 2008 City of Chicago Human Relations Award, the 2007 Chicago Community Trust Lester and Hope Abelson Fund for the Performing Arts Award ("the Hopie"), the 2007 Columbia College Chicago's Arts Entrepreneurship Award, the 2007 Asian American Institute's Milestone Makers Award, and the 2006 Changing Worlds' Immigrant & Refugee Contributions Award.

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