OZ Arts Nashville Unveils 12th Season Featuring Artists From Ukraine, South Korea & More

Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville revealed its 12th season of performances, featuring a diverse range of game-changing artists from Nashville and five countries around the world. Exploring themes of resilience, change and power, the 2024-25 lineup builds on the organization's tradition of bringing some of the world's most dynamic and paradigm-shifting creative minds to Nashville, while also supporting the creation of brave new art in the local community. OZ Arts continues its commitment to making these world-class performances accessible for all of Nashville, with a nine-show season subscription for only $225, six-show package options for only $140 and individual tickets from as little as $20.

"With artists from five different continents represented in our 12th season line-up, this is our most international season yet and demonstrates OZ Arts' role as an essential link connecting Nashville to the larger global dialogue around contemporary culture," said Mark Murphy, OZ Arts Executive and Artistic Director. "From New York's legendary theater company The Wooster Group and the powerful work of Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula to our own local theatrical visionaries in Nashville Story Garden, this is a true hallmark year for OZ, featuring our most experimental lineup to date and highlighting creative changemakers who are confronting the most vital issues of our time."

The season launches September 12 with a special add-on concert featuring the powerful vocal harmonies of celebrated Ukrainian folk-punk quartet DakhaBrakha, returning to OZ after their rousing, sold-out Nashville debut in early 2023. Described as "exhilarating, triumphant, and defiant" by The Independent, these Kyiv-based artists and activists blend traditional and contemporary musical styles to celebrate the resilience of Ukraine during wartime. DakhaBrakha's fall 2024 U.S. tour will raise money for prosthetic limbs for wounded Ukrainian defenders.

October brings a visceral mix of Hip-hop moves and riveting theater by London's bold dance-theater company Far From the Norm, who won the prestigious Olivier Award for their genre-defying production BLKDOG. Coming to OZ Arts October 17-19, director and choreographer Botis Seva and his diverse performers draw from such movement styles as Popping, Krump and House, all set within an otherworldly theatrical landscape that explores how young people navigate a modern world not built for them. Later in the month, Nashville noir rockers Fable Cry return to OZ with their fan-favorite Festival of Ghouls. The 10th installment of the immersive Halloween party and cabaret will take place on October 26 and features a retro camp theme, drawing inspiration from campfire ghost stories and classic horror movie tropes.

November 15-16, OZ presents the U.S. premiere of dancer and writer Emma Sandall's highly visual dance-theater project An Ambivalent Woman of 37. Based on Sheila Heti's acclaimed book Motherhood, the work was developed during a series of workshops in Nashville with consulting collaborator Paul Vasterling, Artistic Director Emeritus at Nashville Ballet. This deeply personal show mixes absurdist humor, exquisite movement and multimedia projections to portray a woman confronting choices about becoming a mother.

Closing out 2024, legendary multimedia theater collective The Wooster Group brings a slice of the downtown New York performance scene to OZ, December 6-8. The company's restaging of A Symphony of Rats, a political satire written by avant-garde icon Richard Foreman during the Reagan administration, centers around a fictional U.S. president losing touch with reality as he receives communications from an alternate dimension. This mind-bending - and often hilarious - multimedia production focuses on the absurdity of presidential powers and masculine fantasies about interstellar control.

The new year kicks off with riveting performer and multimedia artist Faustin Linyekula, hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His latest work, My Body, My Archive, is an introspective look at the artist's personal journey and the wider social-political tensions in his home country. Featuring acclaimed trumpeter Heru Shabaka-Ra of the Sun Ra Arkestra, the powerful performance runs January 24-25. On March 5-6, South Korean choreographer Soon-Ho Park and his internationally acclaimed Bereishit Dance Company arrive at OZ to present a double-bill of two visceral dance works: Balance and Imbalance and Judo. This explosive performance is grounded in athletic precision as dancers seamlessly partner and hurtle through space, using intensely physical movement that blends martial arts, Hip-hop and street dance.

Music City's own Nashville Story Garden transforms the OZ creative warehouse from March 27 - April 5 with the world premiere of Human Resources, a collaboration with notable local playwright Nate Eppler, former director of the Ingram New Works Lab at Nashville Rep, and lauded director Lauren Shouse. In this immersive, site-specific production, an intimate audience is led through a dizzying cubicle maze in which they encounter hilariously surreal depictions of the modern American workplace, questioning our relationship to labor in the midst of late-stage capitalism.

The season's final visiting artist presentation is the latest work by choreographer and performance artist Faye Driscoll, showing April 24-26. Creating a distinct buzz around the globe, Weathering is an unforgettable performance that transforms nine performers clinging to a central platform into a kinetic sculpture of vulnerable human bodies. The singular, sensory experience has been hailed by The New York Times as "enthralling" and "epically adventurous," and has toured in Europe, Asia and North America. Continuing the support of artistic risk-taking, OZ Arts presents its fourth annual Brave New Works Lab from May 15-17. A showcase for Nashville's most daring artists to develop and premiere experimental new works and works-in-progress, the Lab encourages multimedia experimentation and collaboration across disciplines. Artist proposals for this year's Lab will be accepted through October 7, and contemporary artists in Middle Tennessee are encouraged to submit to the free open call.

Season ticket packages and individual tickets are on sale now at www.ozartsnashville.org/2024-2025-season.

The 2024-25 season at OZ Arts Nashville is made possible, in part, by funding from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the HCA Foundation and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. For more information or to purchase tickets for the upcoming season, visit www.ozartsnashville.org.

OZ Arts 2024-25 Season Lineup

DakhaBrakha (Ukraine) | September 12, 2024

The soaring harmonies and defiant energy of Ukrainian musical and activist group DakhaBrakha launch a Fall 2024 United States tour by the quartet, which has come to represent the spirit of a proud, resistant and independent Ukraine as celebrated cultural ambassadors during this time of war. With power and passion, DakhaBrakha weaves ancient Ukrainian melodies into a subversive musical tapestry that embraces indie rock, pop, Hip-hop, the avant-garde and traditional instrumentation from around the world. The folk-punk quartet has honed a haunting musical approach based around unearthly vocal harmonies and thunderous percussion, augmented by floating cello and accordion sonorities. Heralded by Rolling Stone as the "Best Breakout" of 2014's Bonnaroo festival, their irresistible live shows have captivated audiences the world over.

Political and social activism has long been part of DakhaBrakha's mission. A month after the Russian invasion, they escaped from Kyiv, and have been performing internationally since to support Ukraine, raising money and awareness as cultural and humanitarian ambassadors. Proceeds from their tour will support Ukrainians who have lost limbs defending Ukraine.

"One of the most sonically inventive contemporary groups in any genre" - The Guardian

Botis Seva / Far from the Norm (United Kingdom): BLKDOG | October 17-19, 2024

The breakout winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, BLKDOG brilliantly blends visceral theater and wide-ranging dance styles to invent a breathtaking movement language that unites Hip-hop, Popping, Breaking, Krump, and House. In an evocative, otherworldly landscape created with visionary stagecraft, director and choreographer Botis Seva creates an emotionally-charged performance that powerfully confronts socio-political issues and provides haunting commentary on how the youth of today navigate a world that was not built for them.

Vital and gripping, BLKDOG transcends cultural boundaries and ignites conversations on a global scale. Its ability to resonate with audiences from different backgrounds and regions is a testament to the universal themes and artistry embedded within it. Featuring a pounding score that mixes original music with spoken word, BLKDOG asks how we can find peace in a world where self-discovery can lead to self-destruction.

"A hold-onto-your-seat, stay-gripped, whirlwind journey...unlike anything witnessed on stage to date." - The Voice

Fable Cry's Festival of Ghouls | October 26, 2024

Celebrating one decade of Nashville's most beloved Halloween event, theatrical noir rockers Fable Cry pull out all the stops for a very campy, 10th-annual edition of the Festival of Ghouls. The mischievous masters of the macabre enlist the talents of Suspended Gravity Circus, Back to Black Burlesque, and more special guests to conjure an immersive Halloween bash inspired by classic campfire ghost stories. Grab your flashlight, put on a retro costume for the great outdoors, and pull up to Halloween Camp for a thrilling night of tantalizing burlesque, eye-popping circus performances, and more. You never know when a swamp thing, devious witch, or creepy killer might be lurking in the woods!

"The Halloween season just wouldn't be complete without some spooky good fun with Nashville's favorite theatrical noir rockers, Fable Cry." - Nashville Scene

Emma Sandall's An Ambivalent Woman of 37 | November 15-16, 2024

Blending stunning movement with multimedia, live music, and theatricality, Emma Sandall's tour-de-force performance An Ambivalent Woman of 37 confronts that most vexatious of questions: do I want a child? Based on Sheila Heti's acclaimed book Motherhood, which was hailed by The Guardian as "a finely wrought work of delicate art," this deeply personal show brings together a stellar lineup of talent with composition by Elena Kats Chernin, piano by Alessandra Volpi, creative direction by Emma Sandall, and consulting support from Paul Vasterling, Artistic Director Emeritus of Nashville Ballet.

Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Monty Python and the golden era of silent film, the production pulls no punches - intricately dancing between dark, absurdist humor and searing honesty as Sandall weaves her own response to Heti's dilemma. This U.S. premiere was developed from a series of workshops between New York, Sydney, and Nashville.

"Emma is a dance artist of extraordinary talent and ability. A compelling performer in both the classical and contemporary genres, she combines technical excellence with a unique sense of artistry." - Dance Australia Magazine

Wooster Group: A Symphony of Rats | December 6-8, 2024

With an astonishing array of video imagery and a frenetic assortment of equipment, the legendary theater pioneers of The Wooster Group transform OZ into a sort of mad scientist's laboratory for their latest "deliriously trippy" production. Widely hailed as one of the world's most influential and boundary-breaking performance companies, The Wooster Group unleashes a mind-blowing multimedia arsenal to marvel at the absurdity of presidential powers and the hilarity of masculine fantasies about interstellar control. Featuring singing, stunts, and stupefying multi-screen visuals, this reimagining of a playful 1988 political satire by avant-garde guru Richard Foreman is a genre-bending thrillride that New York Magazine describes as "delightful...an attempt to theatricalize the chaos of the brain."

Written when Ronald Reagan was in the oval office, A Symphony of Rats feels more like sci-fi sarcasm than anything seriously political, with a president who receives messages from outer space and a manic menagerie of aides who scurry in search of a purpose, and occasionally break into song. Co-directed by original Wooster Group members Elizabeth LeCompte and Kate Valk, this delightfully smart and entertaining production is the must-see theatrical event of the season.

Faustin Linyekula & Studios Kabako (Democratic Republic of the Congo): My Body, My Archive | January 24-25, 2025

The riveting and elegant work of Congolese choreographer and writer Faustin Linyekula nurtures hope in the face of the ongoing legacy of war and ruin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With a gripping blend of exquisite and sometimes frenetic movement, poetic text, and evocative live music by potent trumpeter Heru Shabaka-Ra of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Linyekula summons ancestors, friendships, and political struggles - reckoning with what it means to seek beauty, to write or sing or dance, when surrounded by violence and loss.

Linyekula combines the power of theater, the expressive force of dance and sharp political critique to explore post-colonial reality with courage and humor. His international award-winning performances have been commissioned by some of the world's most prestigious cultural festivals and institutions, including the Tate Museum in London, and at New York's Museum of Modern Art, as well as The Metropolitan Museum. He has created work for the Comédie Française, the Lorraine ballets, the National Ballet of Portugal CNB, and famed opera director Peter Sellars.

Soon-ho Park & Bereishit Dance (Seoul, South Korea): Balance and Imbalance | March 5-6, 2025

With live music and intensely physical movement that draws from martial arts, Hip-hop, and street dance, choreographer Soon-ho Park and his internationally-acclaimed Bereishit Dance Company create groundbreaking performances that take your breath away. This Seoul-based group is celebrated for its athletic precision and creative choreography, approaching traditional Korean culture from a contemporary perspective.

The program at OZ Arts features two highly visceral signature works. In Balance & Imbalance, dancers seamlessly partner and then hurtle through space, illustrating the constantly turning wheel of opposition and harmony at the heart of all relationships. The performance, featuring six dancers, is accompanied by an ensemble of traditional Korean drummers. Judo uses the concept of sports as a counterpoint and frame of reference for the harmonious play between rhythm, movement, and space.

"Exhilarating...Lightning-quick...Cherishes physical risks and the swift, fearless execution of daunting tasks" - The New York Times

Nate Eppler & Nashville Story Garden: Human Resources | March 27-April 5, 2025

Journey through a dizzying cubicle maze in this immersive theatrical experience full of comically corporate doublespeak, absurdly endless paperwork, and more hilariously surreal realities of the American workplace. Nashville's most adventurous theater artists join forces to take on corporate culture in this site-specific production designed for OZ Arts' expansive warehouse. Lively physical interactions, surprising humor, and eerily familiar nine-to-five horrors combine to create an inventive, disorienting, and thought-provoking performance you won't soon forget.

Devised and developed by award-winning theater artists from Nashville Story Garden with direction by Lauren Shouse and text by local legend Nate Eppler, Human Resources uses incisive wit and clever visuals to dismantle assumptions about what to expect from the professional workplace.

"One of the most innovative and exciting companies in town" - Nashville Scene

Faye Driscoll: Weathering | April 24-26, 2025

Nine performers cling to a revolving platform, surrounded on all sides by a rapt audience witnessing the careening and awe-inspiring kinetic sculpture of vulnerable human bodies. At times, they are perfectly (almost eerily) still, and at other moments they engage in high-velocity movement that makes them seem perilously close to being flung into space - or is it the sea? Choreographer and director Faye Driscoll describes her latest work, Weathering, as a "multi-sensory flesh sculpture," and a "morphing tableau vivant on a mobile raft-like stage surging through the Anthropocene." Sounds and scents add to the experience, as performers create a sonic score of voices and breaths that crescendos and resonates as we see bodies morph through physical and emotional displays of primordial fear and joy.

A singular experience that is sure to be one of the most legendary and memorable performance works of our time, Weathering created an international buzz that quickly reverberated around the world after its 2023 New York premiere, leading to touring with great acclaim throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.

Brave New Works Lab 2025 | May 15-17, 2025

Celebrate local innovation and creativity with a bold evening of entirely original short-form performances featuring dance, theater, music, and multimedia. The fourth-annual Brave New Works Lab invites daring Nashville artists to transform OZ Arts into a laboratory for the creation and premiere of new works and works-in-progress. Encouraging multimedia experimentation and collaboration across disciplines, the lab creates a safe space for high-risk artistic adventures. Following up on the success of 2024's ambitious Lab presentations, this year's event promises to be the biggest and bravest Lab yet.

Projects for the Brave New Works Lab will be selected from an open call for artist proposals, open now through October 7, 2024. Artists from all performance disciplines - and especially teams of artists working across disciplines - are encouraged to apply. There is no fee to submit a proposal for consideration. Visit ozartsnashville.org to learn more and apply.

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