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Press Contact: Tamar Fortgang
REDCAT's Publicist and Promotions Manager
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REDCAT's 2nd annual NOW Festival features three weeks of experimentation, discovery and bold creative voices

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June 2, 2005, Los Angeles -- Giving inventive Los Angeles performing artists a chance to take creative risks, REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, presents the 2nd Annual New Original Works (NOW) Festival 2005, from July 21 -- August 6, Thursday -- Saturdays, at 8:30 pm. From its inception, REDCAT has positioned and tooled itself to be a hybrid organization that serves the community as both a presenter and producer. The NOW Festival gives artists and audiences an opportunity to experience the work of influential local artists who are playing a key role in the evolution of the performing arts.

"There is a great need for local commissioning, producing and developmental opportunities, as indicated by the high number of artist applicants for this year's festival," says REDCAT Executive Director Mark Murphy. "We are excited to be able to offer a supportive "incubator" for new work and a strong, diverse audience to share the enthusiasm for taking risks."

This year, nine artists or collaborative teams were selected from 129 proposals, an increase in both produced work as well as submissions. Matching the aesthetic of REDCAT's interdisciplinary mission, the three-week program includes a diverse blend of dance, theater, and mixed media performance at various stages of development. Chosen for NOW Festival 2005 were Angeleno stars such as choreographer and performer Simone Forti, Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble, and Herb Alpert award-winner Victoria Marks; multi-theater directors Terence McFarland, Héctor Aristizábal and Rodney Mason; and, introducing emerging inter-disciplinary artists: Madeleine Bernatchez, Lionel Popkin and Sara Wookey.

REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for innovative visual, performing and media arts, is located at the corner of W. 2nd St. and S. Hope St., inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. NOW Festival runs from July 21 -- August 6, Thursday -- Saturdays, at 8:30 pm. Tickets range from $14 - $18. See all three programs for only $36. Seating is general admission. Tickets may be purchased at the REDCAT box office--located at the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets, by calling 213.237.2800, or at www.redcat.org.

NOW Festival 2005

Program One
July 21-23
Thursday-Saturday, 8:30 p.m. | $18-14

Héctor Aristizábal
Conjuring a hallucinatory vision of his family, powerful performer Héctor Aristizábal weaves a harrowing tale of two of his brothers--one lost to AIDS and the other tortured and killed by a Colombian death squad. Created in collaboration with writer Diane Lefer, director BJ Dodge and featuring an original soundscore by Andrea Lieberherr, In the Forest de/Lirios is a highly personal theatrical experience.

Madeleine Bernatchez
Striking imagery inspired by film noir is the starting point for Moonshine, an inventive performance in which the sounds of typewriters and footsteps swell into a percussive score, and the cast of actors and dancers is starkly lit or viewed in stunning silhouette as they explore themes of seduction, shadow and intrigue.

Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble
The rich and multi-layered movement vocabulary that has made Rudy Perez one of the region's most respected dance pioneers is the driving force behind Double Play, a large ensemble piece created in collaboration with company member Stefan Fabry, composer Jeff Boynton and dramaturge Strawn Bovee, who blend the spoken writings of Gertrude Stein with Perez' dynamic movement.

Program Two
July 28-30
Thursday-Saturday, 8:30 p.m. | $18-14

Simone Forti
An influential leader in the performing arts for a generation, Simone Forti draws on her experience as a dance innovator, improviser, writer and theatrical force to create Unbuttoned Sleeves, a new work distantly inspired by Noh Drama. Forti performs together with dancer/choreographer Sarah Swenson, theater artist Terrence Luke Johnson and musician/composer Douglas Wadle.

Rodney Mason
In a unique collaboration with choreographer Rennie Harris, captivating solo performer Rodney Mason merges video with hip-hop movement, historical texts and humor to tell a biographical tale including family curses, Marine Corp training, a relative's memories of performing on vaudeville stages, and the psychological challenges posed by the tragedy of current events in Origins of Man.

Sara Wookey
Provocative choreographer Sara Wookey explores the tension of a life made between two cities in Love's Geography: Revisited, a wry investigation of her attraction to two very different locales. Taking inspiration from Amsterdam and Los Angeles, with Peggy Phelan's poetic Love's Geography as a script, this new international collaboration features the work of composer Seamus Cater and video artist Roberta Shaw.

Program Three
August 4-6
Thursday-Saturday, 8:30 p.m. | $18-14

Terence McFarland
A director with a powerful punch and an eye for epic storytelling, Terence McFarland and his ten-woman cast use striking theatrical images, movement and vocal expression to explore issues of nomadic living and a connection to "home" in this work enhanced by source texts from such disparate writers as William Shakespeare, Peter Handke and Roland Barthes.

Victoria Marks
Through juxtaposition of movement and words, Alpert-award winning choreographer Victoria Marks calls into question the control of information in a dance-theater duet, Not About Iraq. With accomplished performer Taisha Paggett, Marks examines government rhetoric, "double-speak" and the outrage that occurs when words lose their meaning and the only reliable experience is experience itself.

Lionel Popkin
With intricacy, precision and daring, choreographer Lionel Popkin concentrates on the solo form in a suite of dances for three performers with an original score by Andy Russ. A former member of the Trisha Brown Company, Popkin creates Magic Carpet Solos, informed by his love of formal patterns and inspired by the complexity of Indian miniature paintings.

REDCAT's New Original Works Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

NOW Fest Performance Schedule Overview
July 21- August 6, 2005

Program One
July 21-23, 8:30 pm
Héctor Aristizábal
Madeleine Bernatchez
Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble

Program Two
July 28-30, 8:30 pm
Simone Forti
Rodney Mason
Sara Wookey

Program Three
August 4-6, 8:30 pm
Terence McFarland
Victoria Marks
Lionel Popkin

REDCAT's 2004-05 season programming is generously supported by The Herb Alpert Foundation; American Center Foundation; The Annenberg Foundation; Anonymous; Asian Cultural Council; Bank Julius Baer; Booth Heritage Foundation; Canada Council for the Arts; Hyon Chough; CONACULTA; Cotsen Family Foundation; CNMAT; Cultural Contact, the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Culture; Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States and the French Consulates in Los Angeles and San Francisco; Jeffrey Deitch; DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art; Discover Signs; Robert B. Egelston; Étant Donnés, The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts, a program of the French American Cultural Exchange; Everloving and Feal Mor, Factory Signage & Graphics; The French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, a program of FACE; Giant Robot; The J. Paul Getty Trust; Harriett and Richard Gold; Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg; The Jim Henson Foundation; Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater; The James Irvine Foundation; The Japan Foundation; The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles; Korea Art Foundation of America; The Korea Times; The Korea Culture and Art Foundation; Korea Foundation; The JL Foundation; The Sharon D. Lund Foundation; Meet The Composer, Creative Connections Program; México Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores; National Dance Project; National Endowment for the Arts; Pasadena Art Alliance; Wendy Keys and Donald A. Pels; Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant from The James Irvine Foundation; Lee and Lawrence J. Ramer; Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation; The Judith Rothschild Foundation; Dorothy R. Sherwood; Shiseido Co., Ltd.; The Skirball Foundation; SRE/Consulate of Mexico; Eve Steele and Peter Gelles; Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; Stuart Shave; 2K by gingham; Dallas Price-Von Breda; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Yamaha Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

REDCAT's 2004-05 Season Sponsors are KCRW, Official Public Radio Sponsor and The Standard, Official Hotel.

California Institute of the Arts, CalArts, the first U.S. higher educational institution to integrate the visual and performing arts under one roof, is recognized as the nation's leading laboratory for the arts. Housing six schools-Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater-CalArts embraces creative cross-pollination among diverse art forms and traditions, and strongly encourages each artist to pursue his or her vision within a broad context of social and cultural understanding.

Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, REDCAT, is an interdisciplinary arts center that introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the performing, visual and media arts from around the world, and gives artists and future artists in this region the production opportunities and creative support they need to achieve national and international stature.

For news about CalArts, visit www.muse.calarts.edu
For news about REDCAT, visit www.redcat.org

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