ARENA RIFFS Concludes Next Week With Musical Premiere Of A MORE PERFECT UNION

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the third and final installment in the Arena Riffs series on April 14 at 7 p.m. A More Perfect Union is a new music piece written and conceived by award-winning composer and lyricist Rona Siddiqui (Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfgan, One Good Day).

As previously announced, Arena Riffs is a three-part commissioned music series that features three different composer and lyricist teams with musical selections infused with sounds of folk, indie and hip-hop.

Drawing on inspiration from concept albums, her story is told through a visual audio piece that showcases the different phases of the emotional life cycle of a relationship, while at the same time exploring the larger theme of Siddiqui's relationship to the country. The visual extended audio recording features a compilation of original songs including "Perfect Us", "Ghost Train" and "Your Blanket". The overarching themes in A More Perfect Union center around acceptance, identity and America's racial reckoning.

"A More Perfect Union examines the complexities of my relationship with the United States through the intimacy of personification," shares Siddiqui. "If you listen to the album without the visual component, it could be construed as a couple's journey. The visuals clue the audience into the fact that it's grappling with exceptionalism, isolationism, blind patriotism and the denial of our history rooted in racism."

The creative team includes Doug Fitch, Em Goldman, Raja Feather Kelly and Rona Siddiqui.

Additional members of the creative team include Tomoko Akaboshi, Sherz Aletaha, Jen Anaya, Randy Andos, Elena Bonomo, Michael Croiter, Brandon Espinoza, Joe Fiedler, Michael Fossenkemper, Tyler Hartman, Rob Jost, Tony Kadleck, Susan Mandel, Shakina Nayfack, Tommy Nguyen, Kristy Norter, Jonathan Raviv, Justin Rothberg and Kuhoo Verma.

Arena Riffs is free and open to the public to watch, but reservations are encouraged by visiting here. Each original musical in the series will remain available to stream at arenastage.org. Arena Riffs are self-produced, self-contained finished pieces presented by Arena Stage.

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