Carnival Center's 'Arts & Activism'

CARNIVAL CENTER LAUNCHES ARTS & ACTIVISM:

A SERIES OF PRE- AND POST-PERFORMANCE PANEL DISCUSSIONS

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WLRN 91.3 FM "TOPICAL CURRENTS"

Featured artists – together with activists, scholars and the public – will examine issues and ideas raised by new works of theater, dance, and music presented at the Center this season.

Carnival Center for the Performing Arts announced its new "Arts & Activism" series – a six-part series of public discussions, produced in partnership with WLRN 91.3 FM's "Topical Currents," that offers artists, community activists, scholars and the general public an opportunity to examine issues and ideas raised by performances of new works to be presented at the Center this season.

WLRN's "Topical Currents," the live issues-oriented call-in show moderated by Joseph Cooper, will host an on-air discussion with a featured artist, whose work will be presented at the Center shortly thereafter. Together with community activists, scholars and callers, the artist will discuss the ways his or her work examines and illuminates some of today's most provocative issues.

The first "Arts & Activism" segment, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 24, will examine the world of Bugchasers – communities of men who seek to become HIV positive and the subject of Octavio Campos' dance-theater meditation on sex, lies, and death-wish eroticism. Joining Campos in the discussion is Dr. Michael Wohlfeiler, a prominent HIV/AIDS doctor at Mercy Hospital. Bugchasers then opens at Carnival Center on Thursday, October 25 (the day after the on-air program) for a three-day run, with free Q&A discussions directly following the performances on October 25 and 26.

Future programs will include topics from gender identity and gay rights to mental health and capital punishment. Following the on-air discussion, audiences will have an opportunity to see the performance at Carnival Center and continue the discussions through post-performance Q&A sessions with the artists at Carnival Center.

"Arts and Activism is a look into the minds of our artists, at what they believe and what inspired them to create the work that will be seen at the Center.  Our aim is to enrich the experience of our audience by hearing from experts before the show and inviting the public to provide feedback afterward," said Justin Macdonnell, Carnival Center's artistic director.

The complete "Arts & Activism" segments schedule is:

Bugchasers – The Bugchasers

WLRN Topical Currents – October 24, 1 p.m.

Carnival Center Performances – October 25-27

Sensual and violent yet hilarious and heartbreaking, The Bugchasers – a co-commission and co-presentation with Miami Dade College's Cultura del Lobo – is a dance-theater meditation on sex, lies, and death-wish eroticism. Through high-intensity visuals and provocative texts, the Camposition Ensemble tells a dark story of those who would risk their lives to achieve a twisted sense of intimacy.

Haitian Immigration – Refugee

WLRN Topical Currents - November 7, 1 p.m.

Carnival Center Performances - November 8 -11

Refugee, a new work by Miami-based artist Marc Joseph, is a Haitian-and-hip-hop flavored play with song-and dance interludes, about fleeing home in search of freedom and adapting to a strange new land called Miami.

Gender Identity – Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps

WLRN Topical Currents – January, Exact date will be announced in late 2007.

Carnival Center Performances – January 25 & 26

Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps, a co-presentation with Tigertail Productions, is a comic autobiographical work by FTM (female-to-male) transgendered performer Scott Turner Schofield that challenges fundamental assumptions about gender, sex and identity.

Death Penalty – Last Words 

WLRN Topical Currents – February, Exact date will be announced in late 2007.

Carnival Center Performances – February 21-23

Written and performed by Kenny Carnes, Last Words is a riveting original play based on the final thoughts emanating from the hearts and minds of death-row inmates, performed as a unique and highly stylized series of monologues.

Endangered Cultures and Cultural Preservation – Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective

WLRN Topical Currents – April, Exact date will be announced in late 2007.

Carnival Center Performances – April 16 & 17

A tribute to the unique and threatened Garifuna culture of Central America, the music of Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective is irresistibly danceable and powerfully moving - uniting the musical legacies of Africa and the Caribbean to create a powerful saga of exile, hope and celebration.

Insanity and Shame – Low

WLRN Topical Currents – May, Exact date will be announced in late 2007

Carnival Center Performances – May 9 & 10

Low, a co-presentation with Miami Light Project, is a one-woman "floetry"-fueled tour-de-force by Rha Goddess, that cuts to the core of the harrowing world of mental illness through savage monologues, live-feed video and film projection.

Additional details, including information on panelists and post-performance Q&A sessions, will be available soon atwww.carnivalcenter.org/educate.

To purchase tickets or view information about the Carnival Center performances, please visitwww.carnivalcenter.org or call the Box Office at 305.949.6722.

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