COCA Announces 2017-18 Season

COCA is pleased to announce its 2017-2018 COCA Presents season, which will run from October 20 - July 28, 2018. Productions include the multiple Tony Award-winning musical The Wiz, guest directed by the Black Rep's Ron Himes and COCA alumnus Will Bonfiglio in a one-man performance of the imaginative physical comedy Balloonacy. COCA will host the American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company, showcasing the talent of the next generation, in its St. Louis premiere and The Story Pirates will bring the country's best improvisers and musicians, recruited from the likes of Upright Citizens Brigade, Second City, and the Groundlings, to turn original stories from our own St. Louis students into wildly original sketch comedy musicals.

Nationally acclaimed guest choreographers, including Ron K. Brown, Artistic Director, and Arcell Cabuag, Associate Artistic Director, of Evidence, a Dance Company, and independent choreographers Darrell Grand Moultrie and Norbert de la Cruz III, will set work on COCA's advanced student companies, Ballet Eclectica, COCAdance, and the COCA Hip-Hop Crew for the high-energy Momentum and the end of year repertory concert TRIumphant An audience favorite, The Little Dancer, returns in a newly imagined production, featuring Ballet Eclectica and directed by COCA's own Co-Artistic Directors of Dance Antonio and Kirven Douthit-Boyd.

Exhibitions in COCA's Millstone Gallery include established and emerging local artists, rare and historic comic book art, architectural photography inspired by COCA's iconic mid-century building, and COCA in BLOOM, a unique partnership with local students and garden clubs. COCA's vocal companies are featured in a two-concert series, fall and spring. The season concludes with the American musical classic West Side Story, one of the most memorable and powerful musical dramas of our time.

American Ballet Theatre's visit to St. Louis also includes a residency program and community outreach with Project Plie, ABT's initiative to increase racial and ethnic representation in ballet and diversity American's ballet companies.

COCA will also welcome celebrated dance companies from across the country during the 2018 season, as the host for the Regional Summer Intensive Auditions, January 12-14, 2018. Over the course of the weekend, RSIA brings over a dozen dance programs together to present a collaborative audition for participation in summer programs, attracting hundreds of students from throughout the region.

"We could not be more excited about this season. It is a joy and privilege to work with such talented artists and present opportunities for people young and old to directly engage with the magic of live theatre and dance performances and visual art exhibitions," said Kelly Pollock, COCA Executive Director.

This season also marks the last in COCA's Founder's Theatre. After 30 years of theatre and dance performances held in the renovated sanctuary of the former B'nai Amoona Synagogue, following the Momentum cast's final bow in January 2018, the next chapter of COCA Presents will start as construction begins on the facility renovation and expansion. Create Our Future: A Campaign for COCA, a $40 million effort announced in January 2017, includes a new Performance Lab in the space that is now used as the Founder's Theatre and a new state-of-the-Art Theatre as part of the expansion.

Subscriptions to the 2018 COCA Presents season are available for purchase now. Pick 4 subscription tickets start at $56. Single tickets will be available starting August 30, 2017, with prices starting at $7 a ticket.

ABOUT COCA:

COCA-Center of Creative Arts is the 4th largest non-profit community arts center in the country and one of only 16 accredited by ACPAS. With a mission to enrich lives and build community through the arts, COCA connects our community to the arts through programs that emphasize social and artistic diversity, economic and cultural accessibility, hands-on experience of the artistic process, and the highest quality in our faculty. Founded in 1986, COCA is a national leader in innovative community arts education. COCA annually serves more than 50,000 area residents of all ages through multidisciplinary, multi-cultural arts programs that include educational classes, camps and workshops, both on-site and in community venues; COCAbiz; COCAedu; COCA Presents; and exhibitions of contemporary art in the Millstone Gallery.

COCA PRESENTS SEASON SPONSORS:

The 2017- 2018 COCA Presents Season is made possible by Wells Fargo Advisors; Show Sponsors: Mary Strauss and PNC Arts Alive; SchoolTime Sponsor: Aetna; Hotel Sponsor: The Cheshire St. Louis; Media Sponsor: St. Louis Public Radio; Series Sponsors: Emerson, Mary Ranken Jordan and Ettie A. Jordan Charitable Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and Missouri Arts Council; COCA Core Supporters: Regional Arts Commission, Boeing, Arts & Education Council, DeWitt & Caroline Van Evera Foundation, and Moneta Group; COCA Pre-Professional Division Supporters: Glassberg Family Foundation, Monsanto Fund, The Strive Fund, Twinkle Toes Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Bank of America, and E. Reuben and Gladys Flora Grant Charitable Trust.

For more information, visit www.cocastl.org.

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