Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project Presents INSTALLATION OPERETTAS: MOON BEARS AND SISTER WIVES, 10/23 & 11/6

Charlotte Street Foundation's Urban Culture Project will present Installation Operettas: Moon Bears and Sister Wives, a series of two unique performances conceived and curated by composer, musician, performer, and sculptor Mark Southerland, a 2008 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award Fellow. Performances take place October 23 and November 6, 2009, 8pm, at Urban Culture Project's la Esquina, 1000 West 25th Street, KCMO. Admission is $10 at the door.

Installation Operettas: Moon Bears and Sister Wives is an experimental, narrative-driven, two-part multimedia extravaganza that will blur the boundaries between genres and disciplines, showcase technical brilliance, challenge perceptions of jazz music, and create an immersive real-time experience. Involving an expansive and diverse group of highly accomplished musicians, visual artists, and other performers, the events will unfold in operatic fashion as stories told through a dramatic mix of instrumentals, voice, props, lighting, sculptural elements and artful backdrops.

With Installation Operettas: Moon Bears and Sister Wives, Mark Southerland, a self proclaimed "jazz revisionist," intends to "repurpose our dreamscapes." His recent performances distort jazz history in order to project a new future. This series of performances is specifically infused with the intent of "pirating our waking dreamscape to perform a specific humanitarian need, namely to promote a mutual solace between the disparate subjects of moon bears and sister wives." [The Korean Moon Bear, also known as the Asiatic Black Bear, is an endangered species of bear that are bred and held in brutal captivity in order that their gall bladders may be drained for medical purposes.  The term "Sister wives" refers to the multiple wives of polygamists in Mormon culture.]

Borrowing heavily from many disciplines, Southerland will create a modern revival for this dream arc. "Ear worms and memory music set against virtuosic solos and experimental sounds, opera backdrops and organ pipes paired with spandex suits and horn sculptures--all come together to create a new construct, a new form of ceremony," he says.  Southerland, moving to a more curatorial role for this series, will be calling on a talented list of performers and artists from his community as well as bringing in special guests.

MOON BEARS AND SISTER WIVES: DREAM ARC on October 23rd will feature special guests Helen Gillet, a highly accomplished cellist and vocalist from New Orleans, and Sait Arat, a master at the Darbuka and recent resident of Istanbul.

For MOON BEARS AND SISTER WIVES: BANQUET BOAT on November 6th, they will be joined by Brian Haas, a modern jazz giant on piano and founder of Tulsa's Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, and Annie Elicott a very talented jazz vocalist, also from Tulsa OK.

Other performers and artists may include: Jeff Harshbarger, Shay Estes, Brad Cox, Arnie Young, Dave Ford, Ashley Miller, Emily Moore, Beniah Leusckie, Kent Burnham, Scott Johnson, Ruby Hanson, Jake Johannes, Matt Tady, Joy Stempleman, Shawn Hansen, Margaret Gordon, Ryan Gale, Jade, Laurel Birdsong, Jori Sackin, Laura ElLen Frank, Ari Fish, Peggy Noland, Stewart Losee, Peregrine Honig, Chris Bell,  and many more.
 
Installation Operettas is generously supported by the Lighton Foundation, the Martha Lee Cain Tranby Music Enrichment Fund, Walt and Nicola, and Pam and Mark Johnson.

Mark Southerland has used the saxophone as a medium for exploring sound for over 26 years. He has played experimental music locally, nationally, and throughout France and Germany. Projects include Malachy Papers, Snuff Jazz, and Wee Snuff, the latter two involving a constantly changing musical cast as well as collaborations with visual artists. Southerland's horn sculptures have been exhibited at Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, the OSP, Boston, the Stray Show, Chicago, and Bridge Art Fair during Art Basel Miami. A 2008 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Award Fellow, Southerland also recently completed an Avenue of the Arts public art commission encompassing installation and live performances.

Urban Culture Project is an initiative of the Charlotte Street Foundation, an organization dedicated to making Kansas City a place where artists and art thrive. Urban Culture Project creates new opportunities for artists of all disciplines and contributes to urban revitalization by transforming spaces in downtown Kansas City into new venues for multi-disciplinary contemporary arts programming.  For more information, visit www.charlottestreet.org.

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