THE GOLDEN DRUM YEAR Runs Now thru 10/10 at Performance Project at University Settlement

Radical Evolution, a multiethnic producing collective that creates ensemble-based performance, presents Beto O'Byrne's The Golden Drum Year: a story in poetry and prose this fall. The Golden Drum Year is a performance piece told through text, video, music and dance. Blending poetry, dialogue, and monologue The Golden Drum Year follows Eugene over the course of the year as he navigates interacting with co-workers and customers who speak to him in poetry while he works in a supermarket. Lisha scans. Jero stands vigil. Xochi puts on a Cumbia track and Perdita comes in for the fifth time today while Jackson stocks the cereal aisle. These people will change Eugene's life.

Inspired by a series of 365 poems that playwright and poet Beto O'Byrne wrote over the course of his first year in the city, The Golden Drum Year explores the everyday and mines the quotidian for meaning as told through the eyes of a New York newcomer. As Eugene, and those around him, struggle to maintain their sense of self and empathy while surviving a sometimes thorny city, The Golden Drum Year ultimately asks: What is the value of one year in a life?

"Most of my work deals with identity, social placement and cultural collisions," says O'Byrne. "What really excites me about The Golden Drum Year is how we've been able to use poetry and work as an ensemble to explore all these different people-lives that are so often hidden in the shadows of Manhattan's skyscrapers."

The Golden Drum Year features Andrew Belcher, Jonathan Camuzeaux, Fernando Gonzalez, Zuleyma Guevara, Tia James, Sonia Villani and Allan K. Washington. Text by Beto O'Byrne; developed with Meropi Peponides; directed by Simón Adinia Hanukai; set and costume design by Dede M. Ayite; projection design by David Bengali; original music and sound design by Jonathan Camuzeaux; lighting design by Yuki Nakase; choreography by Lisa Nevada; props by Jess Adams. Co-produced by Meropi Peponides and Ying Le with production management and technical direction by Liz Nielsen and stage management by Taylor Wilkerson.

Performance Schedule:
Sat Sept. 26 at 7:30pm-Preview
Mon Sept 28 at 7:30pm-Preview
Tues Sept 29 at 7:30-Press Invited
Fri Oct 2 at 7:30pm
Sat Oct 3 at 7:30pm
Thurs Oct 8 at 7:30pm
Fri Oct 9 at 7:30pm
Sat Oct 10 at 7:30pm

Location:
The Performance Project at University Settlement is located at 184 Eldridge Street (corner of Rivington). F/J/M/Z trains to Delancey/Essex stop, B/D trains to Grand Street stop.

More information at: www.radicalevolution.org; http://www.universitysettlement.org/us/programs/arts/

Tickets:
$18 regular, $12 students/senior
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2125714

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