The Marsh Berkeley Unveils Festival Of New Musical Voices

The Marsh presenting performers with a vast range of music backgrounds- from a Grammy Award-winning Armenian composer to a Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, Music Faculty Member at UC Berkeley, the Principal Keyboard of the San Francisco Symphony, and more. Set to take place at The Marsh Berkeley, the festival is comprised of three full-length musicals and a dance/musical film.

Multiple performance dates have been scheduled for each work, giving musical lovers around the Bay Area an opportunity to view each of the offerings throughout the run of The Marsh Festival of New Musical Voices 2021. The performers will present works that tackle the topics of love and loss, the generational divide, racism, and more. Conceived and designed by The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and produced by The Marsh General Manager Brian Williamson, The Marsh Festival of New Musical Voices 2021 is the fourth Marsh Performance Initiative to culminate into a festival.

The Marsh Festival of New Musical Voices 2021 will take place, September 30 - October 10, 2021, at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For Fest tickets (Individual Shows: $20-$35 sliding scale, $50 and $100 reserved & Festival Pass: $50 includes one ticket to all four shows) or more information, the public may visit themarsh.org or email boxoffice@themarsh.org.

The Marsh Performance Musical Initiative launched in March 2020, when The Marsh commissioned four artists to create new works under the direction of leading solo performance director David Ford. After one in-person meeting, COVID-19 closures quickly followed, and Weisman was faced with the difficult decision to either postpone the workshops until in-person gatherings could safely resume, or pivot to The Marsh's digital platform, MarshStream. Determined to continue serving as a breeding ground for performance, Weisman re-designed the format of the workshops, making them entirely virtual. Ford and the participating artists maintained their commitment for 19 months, meeting consistently while waiting patiently for clearance to perform live on stage. "I deeply admire the dedication and composure that these artists maintained for the past year and a half," says Weisman. "Adjusting to the digital demands onset by the pandemic wasn't easy, but the results we've seen have made it all worth it. We've extended The Marsh's reach beyond what I thought was possible, but more importantly, we've continued to find ways to connect our community through what we love most: the arts."

To ensure a safe theater space for all, The Marsh requires all patrons to be fully vaccinated; all audience members will be asked to show proof of vaccination along with ID during check-in. The Marsh also requires patrons to wear a face covering mouth and nose while inside the building at all times. All theaters have limited seating and have been equipped with ventilation and air purifiers. Tickets to live productions must be pre-purchased through TheMarsh.org website before arriving at theater; a limited number of tickets be sold at the door. For a full breakdown of The Marsh's COVID-19 health and safety protocols, the public may visit bit.ly/MarshCOVIDSafety.

The Marsh Festival of New Musical Voices 2021 lineup will include three full-length musicals and a dance/musical film. The works include:

THE HUMMINGBIRD

Written by Kathryn Keats

Performed by Kathryn Keats
Directed and Developed by David Ford

Music, Lyrics, and Book by Kathryn Keats
with additional musical support from Michael Manring and Aram Avagyan

Music and Music Production by Kevin Gerzevitz

Based on a true story of love, loss, music, madness, forgiveness, and redemption, The Hummingbird is a musical experience that follows Kathryn Keats's own journey from her start as promising young singer landing in New York City at the age of 17. Her dream to be on Broadway is abruptly cut short as Keats put her professional life on the backburner, changing her name and going into hiding from an abusive, former partner who threatens to kill her. Since then, Keats has turned this harrowing experience into a positive message of hope with The Hummingbird. Says Keats, "This piece is for anyone who has struggled with the seemingly insurmountable climb back to life after losing everything they thought they ever wanted." Keats began working on The Hummingbird at Berkeley Repertory's The Ground Floor. After that residency was completed, she connected with David Ford at The Marsh, where the work became a solo musical. Visionary solo bassist Michael Manring and multi-award-winning composer/pianist Aram Avagyan join Keats for this performance.
Age recommendation: 18+ | Trigger Warnings: Suggested violence | Run time: 60 minutes

JOCKAMO: A NEW PLAY (WITH MUSIC)

Written, Created, and Produced by Wayne Harris and Maggie Wilson
Original Songs by Wayne Harris
Directed by David Ford
Starring Adriane Deane and Wayne Harris

Accompanied by Jordan Feinstein, Ken Owen, and Robby MacGregor
A two-person play (with music), Jockamo features a young white female music producer, an older Black blues musician, and a three-person blues band that creates an ongoing soundscape. Charlie (Adriane Deane) and Tyrone "Shortleg" Johnson (Wayne Harris) have been forced together by Charlie's boss to finish a song that will appear in a Hurricane Katrina Benefit Album. A simple studio visit turns into something completely unexpected. Jockamo centers around the complexities of music appropriation, the intersectionality of racial and sexual oppression, and the generational divide. Harris is an award-winning solo performer, writer, educator, curriculum innovator, and musician. He is the former Director of the Marsh Youth Theater Program, and has worked with The Marsh since 1996 Other members of the creative cast include Frank T. Williams, III (Musical Historian); Candace Johnson (Vocal Coach), Dianne Woods (Graphics and Marketing Support); and Estefanía Fadul (Script Consultant).
Age recommendation: 13+ | Trigger Warnings: Some profanity, frank conversations on race, gender and assault | Run time: 90 minutes

MUSIC & MUSES OF Margaret Bonds & Langston Hughes

Written and Performed by Candace Johnson

Accompanied by Marc Shapiro
Music & Muses explores the inner world of Margaret Bonds (1913-1972), an American pianist and composer who, at 21 years old, was the first African American to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Bonds enjoyed a 30-year collaboration with Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes (1901-1967). In Music & Muses, singing actress Candace Johnson will perform select art songs by Bonds featuring Hughes' text. Johnson will also voice the story of Bonds' relationship with Hughes through her original songs composed for Music & Muses. The work delves into their deep admiration for one another and their connected passion for creating beauty, as they use their creativity to push back the boundaries of racism. Marc Shapiro, Principal Keyboard of the San Francisco Symphony, accompanies Johnson for this performance. A familiar face to The Marsh, Johnson premiered her one-woman show, Vox in a Box, at UC Berkeley in 2018, followed by a 2019 Marsh Rising performance, and was last seen performing An Evening of Negro Spirituals, on MarshStream. Johnson currently leads an out-of-the-ordinary virtual class for all levels that combines physical activity with vocal training in CJ'sa??FitnesSing! - offered free at 12:00pm every Friday via MarshStream.
Age recommendation: 13+ | Trigger Warnings: None | Run time: 60 minutes

APHRODISIA (film)

Written and composed by Stephanie Weisman

Directed and choreographed by Wei Wang

Starring Stephanie Weisman and Wei Wang,
The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman joins forces with virtuoso dancer Wei Wang, Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, to present the musical film, APHRODISIA. Set to a tone poem by Weisman, APHRODISIA follows her time spent with a master painter, living in house on stilts above a saltwater marsh looking over Delaware Bay. While he paints still lifes, she spends her days on the marsh, writing, exploring, questioning, and ruminating about motherhood, career, and being an artist. Everything is intensified by the couple's isolation and proximity to nature. It was here that Weisman learned about all the ferocity and fecundity of the marsh and its inhabitants. In this filmed work, Wang choreographs the tone poem's dance for himself and Weisman. The film's soundtrack, from the original 2006 opera, is composed by Weisman, with musical direction, arrangement, and additional composition by Ellen Hoffman. It is sung by Voci Women's Vocal Ensemble, accompanied by a four-piece chamber ensemble, and conducted by Jude Navari, with narration by Deborah Gwinn.
Age recommendation: 13+ | Trigger Warnings: None | Run time: 60 minutes

Weisman notes, "To simply put it - creating and implementing MarshStream was crucial for our survival, but more importantly, it was essential for our artists here at The Marsh. This platform served as an amazing way to keep us engaged during this time of isolation and allowed us to continue providing an environment to develop new works. If we didn't create MarshStream, there wouldn't have been a place for these performers and these pieces to go, and for that, we couldn't be prouder."

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