SCAT! THE COMPLEX LIVES OF AL & DOT, DOT & AL ZOLLAR to be Presented At Bard Fisher Center

The Fisher Center at Bard will present Urban Bush Women's SCAT! The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar, June 28–30, part of SummerScape 2024. Conceived, choreographed, and directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, SCAT! tells the story of two people making their way in Kansas City—from the Great Migration to the present. A SummerScape commission, this world premiere work from Urban Bush Women's legendary founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar also marks the culmination of her decades-long stewardship of the company, which has continued under the dynamic co-artistic directorship of Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis. For this dance-driven jazz club spectacular, Zollar reunites with frequent collaborator, composer Craig Harris. In Urban Bush Woman's 40th Anniversary Year, SCAT! builds upon a repertoire of bold, life-affirming dance works, and serves as a celebration of Zollar's extraordinary artistic vision.

Dance, music, and text drive the performance as it interlaces histories of the Great Migration and jazz. Here, Zollar tells a story of our country through a “biomythography” (in the vein of Audre Lorde) of her parents. Performed with a live band to Harris' original jazz score, SCAT! brings audiences into the powerful journey of the Zollar family and what happens when dreams encounter the harsh realities of American life in the 1940s & 50s.

Zollar, who “has had a consistent and innovative interest in mining tradition and creating new ritual” (The New York Times), describes, “I grew up performing in floor shows in Black neighborhoods in a segregated Kansas City in the 1950s & 60s. My mother was a dancer and a jazz singer, and my father sold real estate and ran a bar called Al and Bud's. During this era, Black businesses were booming, and there was great hope for upward mobility after World War II. SCAT! is modeled after the structure and content of the great tradition of the Black floor show, which included comic MCs (like Moms Mabley and Pigmeat Markham), flash acts (think the Nicholas Brothers or the Crackerjacks), eccentric dancers (like Earl ‘Snakehips'; Tucker), storytelling orators, kiddie acts, striptease/exotic dancers (à la Josephine Baker or Sahji), and the Shim Sham Shimmy—a traditional tap dance finale.”

Zollar says of wanting to develop and premiere this landmark work—which also features Bard alumna Roobi Gaskins '19—at SummerScape, "We're iterative, we're process-based. It's important to me to work with organizations that really get that, and are excited about and comfortable with the unknowns of process-based work, and in investing in the artist and where their journey is going to go. That's what I felt with The Fisher Center, and it's more unique in this country than it should be.”

Gideon Lester, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Fisher Center at Bard, says, “SummerScape has a history of presenting superb contemporary artists at the height of their game in collaborations with virtuosic ensembles. With SCAT!, Jawole continues to expand her exuberant art in a profoundly moving tribute to working with her company. Combining social dance with music and storytelling, SCAT! is a reflection of a crucial chapter in American history and a search for justice told with a sense of joy, energy, and celebration. It is equally a reflection of a crucial chapter in New York performance history: that of Jawole's 40 years of creation with the company built from her vision.”

The artistic performers for SCAT! The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar are Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Choreographer/Writer/Director/Performer), Craig Harris (Composer/Performer, Trombone), Courtney J. Cook (Associate Artistic Director), Company Members Kentoria Earle, Keola Jones, Mikaila Ware, Roobi Gaskins, and Symara Sarai; and Tendayi Kuumba (Performer & Dance Captain) and Stephanie Battle (Performer). Musicians include TW Sample (Keyboard), Jordyn Davis (Bass), Gary Jones III (Drums), Brianna Thomas (Vocals), Charenee Wade (Vocals), and Milton Suggs (Vocals & Music Director).

The design and production team is Vincent E. Thomas (Co-Choreographer), Cheri L. Stokes (Associate Producer), Bill Toles (Sound Designer), Chanon Judson (Costume Visionary), Lori Gassie (Associate Costume Designer), Russell Sandifer (Lighting Designer), Brittany Bland (Projections Designer), and Talvin Wilks (Dramaturg), Jason Kaiser (Production Stage Manager), Shaena Smith (Production Assistant), and Bennalldra Williams (Movement Coach). The administrative team includes Jonathan Secor (Executive Producer), Michelle Coe (Director of Production, Booking & Touring), Jolie Saltiel (Tour + Company Manager), and Arts & Education Continuum, Inc. (Darrell Bridges, Project Coordinator) (Music Management).

Bard Summerscape, deemed by The New York Times a “hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure,” brings eight weeks of live music, opera, dance, and theater to the Hudson River Valley. It also serves as an incubator for adventurous works that often go on to have extended lives and make significant impacts on the performance landscape in New York City, across the country, and around the world. This season, the Fisher Center presents work from two iconic New York companies: Urban Bush Women's SCAT! The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar and Elevator Repair Service's Ulysses (June 20 – July 14). With these milestone performances—both theatricalizations of staggering journeys—Urban Bush Women and Elevator Repair Service continue to push their distinct styles to new heights.

Every production at SummerScape has been commissioned, developed, and is premiering at the Fisher Center, giving audiences an opportunity to catch pivotal works in the idyllic setting where they originate. Praised by The New York Times as “a hothouse for the creation of uncompromising, cross-disciplinary hits,” in recent years, the Fisher Center has developed large-scale works whose momentous journeys were launched from their SummerScape birthplace, including Justin Peck's arresting music theater interpretation of Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise, currently running on Broadway; Pam Tanowitz and David Lang's Biblical poem-inspired Song of Songs, which recently was presented at New York City Center, and Tanowitz's take on T. S. Eliot's masterpiece Four Quartets, which traveled to the Barbican Centre, CAP UCLA, and BAM; and Daniel Fish's universally acclaimed reconsideration of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, whose life continued at St. Ann's Warehouse and on Broadway and the West End, as well as a U.S. national tour.

See a full calendar of SummerScape programming, also including the 34th Bard Music Festival Berlioz and His World, a new production of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Le prophète directed by Christian Räth, Spiegeltent performances curated by Caleb Hammons, and more.

Performance Schedule and Ticketing

Performances of SCAT! The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar take place in the Sosnoff Theater at the Fisher Center:

 

June 28 at 7 pm

June 29 at 7 pm

June 30 at 3 pm

 

There will be a post-performance party celebrating Urban Bush Women's 40th Anniversary on Friday, June 28; a pre-performance talk on Sunday, June 30 at 2 pm; and a Summer Kick-Off celebration on Sunday, June 30 at 4:30 pm. Round-trip coach transportation from NYC is available for the Sunday, June 30 performance.

For complete information regarding tickets, series discounts, and more, visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call the Fisher Center's box office at (845) 758-7900.

To post a comment, you must register and login.