Steppenwolf Theatre Company's LookOut Series Presents Chicago Premiere of Boomerang's REPERCUSSION

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's LookOut Series presents the Chicago premiere of BOOMERANG'sRepercussion, created in collaboration with Greg Saunier, drummer and founding member of the internationally acclaimed band Deerhoof.

Repercussion will play a limited run of two performances only: October 29 at 8pm and October 30 at 4pm in the 1700 Theatre, an intimate cabaret-style venue connected to Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks at 1700 N Halsted. Tickets to Repercussion are $20 and can be purchased at steppenwolf.org or 312-335-1650. LookOut is Steppenwolf's multi-genre performance series presenting a wide variety of work from a diverse array of voices and artists, emerging and established alike. LookOut programming continues throughout the fall presenting 18 different programs in the 1700 Theatre. For the complete lineup, visit www.steppenwolf.org/lookout.

BOOMERANG, the NYC-based dance and performance project hailed as the "punk Mozarts of dance" makes the Chicago premiere of their first evening-length work, Repercussion. This work explores relationships between movement and sound. It first premiered in 2016 with a six-night run in New York City as a commission from Dixon Place. The production was well-received by Robert Wilson, who has been described as the "world's foremost avant-garde theatre artist" by the New York Times and who nominated Repercussion to premiere in Paris, France at The Arts Arena this past JunE. Wilson praised Repercussion: "Brilliant. Exceptionally strong work. BOOMERANG made me listen."

Repercussion combines the daring and vulnerable artistry of dancers Matty Davis and Adrian Galvin with poetically nuanced choreography by Kora Radella. Deerhoof's Greg Saunier provides physically-charged, expressive percussion that sets the tone and further embodies the work's physical exploration of "active forgetting," based on new writing by MacArthur "Genius" and cultural critic Lewis Hyde. Award-winning playwright Will Arbery is the dramaturg for the production. The costumes are designed by threeASFOUR. Recipients of the Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian Museum's 2015 National Design Award, threeASFOUR has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians, including Björk, Yoko Ono and Matthew Barney.

BOOMERANG was created in 2012 by co­-directors Matty Davis and Kora Radella with founding member Adrian Galvin. Recognizing the body as an evolving repository for both physical and psychological life, BOOMERANG sifts through and siphons from the rich, eclectic histories that constitute the personhoods of the people with whom they work. BOOMERANG has performed their work throughout New York City, as well as in Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, and Pittsburgh. In 2015, BOOMERANG was shortlisted as 1 of 20 juried finalists for the Grand Jury Prize at ArtPrize7. For more information, visit boomerangdance.com.

Matty Davis is a dancer, filmmaker, and co­artistic director within BOOMERANG. He is also an artist whose work pits the body against often radical undertakings and journeys that explore the limits and empathic possibilities of embodiment, as well as the origin of materials and mark­making. Davis has performed at the Watermill Center, Judson Church, the United Nations & in Performa 13 & Performa 15, which included working with Francesco Vezzoli & dancing with David Hallberg at St. Bart's Church at Performa's opening gala. Matty has studied at Kenyon College, the American Dance Festival, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker's P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, Belgium, and is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's MFA program. In 2015, he was selected as one of 80 artists internationally to work with Robert Wilson at the Watermill Center's International Summer Program, and is a recipient of a 2016 Visual Arts Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation.

Adrian Galvin is a co­founder and dancer with BOOMERANG. He is a yoga teacher at Katonah Yoga in New York City, as well as a vocalist and musician with his bands Poor Remy, Yellerkin and Yoke Lore. Yoke Lore recently released its premiere EP, Far Shore, with commercial success. Galvin graduated from Kenyon College (2012), where he designed his own major in liberation theology and German Social Theory.

Lewis Hyde is a MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient. His 1983 book, The Gift, is an inquiry into the situation of creative artists in a commercial society. Trickster Makes This World (1998) is a portrait of the kind of disruptive imagination needed to keep any culture flexible & alive. Hyde has also published a book of poems, This Error is the Sign of Love & edited a number of volumes, including The Essays of Henry D. Thoreau, a book of responses to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg & selected poems of the Nobel Prize­winning Spaniard, Vicente Aleixandre. Hyde most recently published Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership, a book about 'cultural commons,' that vast, unowned store of ideas, inventions & art that we have inherited from the past & continue to create in the present.

Kora Radella is a choreographer and co­artistic director of BOOMERANG. In addition to her work with BOOMERANG, she is the artistic director of Double­Edge Dance, whose work has been performed in cities including Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Brussels, Cleveland, London and New York City. Noted for her use of 'awkward grace,' she researches being on The Edge of control, pushing both physical and psychological balances. Radella received a 2014 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Her honors also include the Ineke Sluiter Prize for choreography in Amsterdam, a fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation for choreographic research in Brussels, a recent residency at Yaddo, and numerous grants. Radella's primary teaching interests include contemporary dance technique with dynamic release principles, improvisation, choreography and movement for actors. Radella is an assistant professor of dance at Kenyon College and a yoga teacher (500 RYT).

Greg Saunier is best known as the drummer of acclaimed rock band Deerhoof. Since he co­founded the group in 1994, he has produced or co­produced their 13 albums & been their most consistent songwriter. As a drummer, he has performed drums onstage or on recordings with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Konono No. 1 & The Flaming Lips. He is active in the free music scene in New York & has released improvisation records with Sean Lennon, Zach Hill, Joanna Newsom & Brian Chippendale. He is a sought-­after producer & remixer for other artists including Maroon 5, Xiu Xiu, Marc & Mantra Percussion Ensemble. He has composed notated works for yMusic, Brooklyn Rider String Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ecstatic Percussion, Daan Vandewalle, Spektral Quartet, and Empire Drive­In Casio Orchestra. This year will see the release of his Deerhoof Chamber Variations by Stargaze Ensemble, the performance of a new work for Kronos Quartet, String Quartet with choreography by Pam Tanowitz at the Vail International Dance Festival & Lincoln Center.

Repercussion was first made possible as a commission from Dixon Place, which was supported by public funds from NY State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo & the NY State Legislature, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and private funds from The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Peg Santvoord Foundation, & The Harkness Foundation for Dance.

LookOut is Steppenwolf's multi-genre performance series in the 1700 Theatre (1700 N Halsted St). Presenting a wide variety of work from a diverse array of voices, artists emerging and establishing alike, LookOut programming takes place in Steppenwolf's new 80-seat cabaret-style theater, situated behind Steppenwolf's Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks, open daily from 7am to midnight. For full LookOut programming and pricing, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is America's longest standing, most distinguished ensemble theater, producing nearly 700 performances and events annually in its three Chicago theater spaces-the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat 1700 Theatre. Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an ensemble of 46 actors, writers and directors. Artistic programming includes a seven-play season; a two-play Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; Visiting Company engagements; and LookOut, a new multidisciplinary performance series. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, nearly 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Steppenwolf has the distinction of being the only theater to receive the National Medal of Arts, in addition to numerous other prestigious honors including an Illinois Arts Legend Award and 12 Tony Awards. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and David Schmitz is the Managing Director. Nora Daley is Chair of Steppenwolf's Board of Trustees. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre, twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

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