The Persians

People's Light

2008

$110,000

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Melanye Finister in The Persians. Photo by Mark Garvin.

People's Light produced the Philadelphia premiere of The Persians, Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy by Aeschylus, with original music by sound designer Daniel Kluger. A tale of war and national grief, this production reinterprets the classic play that tells the story of the Athenian defeat of the powerful Persian Empire in 480 BC.

Recipients

People's Light

Performance

Theater

Event

Midway Avenue by Nichole Canuso Dance Company

Philadelphia choreographer Nichole Canuso presents a solo performance that uses personal reminiscences and universal yearnings to explore the relationship between memory and self.

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Event

Faith Project: Open Studios

Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers will hold a series of open studio events to present in-progress excerpts and discuss the evolution of Faith Project.

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Event

Breath Beneath

PRISM Quartet presents a pilot performance for its discovery project Breath Beneath—an investigation of the artistic possibilities that arise at the intersection of saxophone music, technology, and durational visual art.

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Event

Radio Silence

Mural Arts Philadelphia presents a large-scale performance inspired by the late Iraqi broadcaster Bahjat Abdulwahed—dubbed the “Walter Cronkite of Baghdad.”

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Grants & Grantees

Symphony for a Broken Orchestra

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang created a new composition for 1,000 broken instruments gathered from Philadelphia public schools, performed by a 400-member orchestra comprised of students, teachers, and professional and amateur musicians.

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Collaborators & Colleagues

Toshi Reagon

Toshi Reagon has collaborated with top innovators across a wide spectrum of the entertainment field for nearly 30 years. Reagon served as an LOI panelist in Performance in 2015.

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Event

Trisha Brown In the New Body Lectures Judson Dance Theater

Wendy Perron, former member of Trisha Brown Dance Company presents a slide lecture on this pivotal moment in dance history.

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Event

Macbeth

FringeArts presents South African theater artist Brett Bailey's adaptation of Verdi's opera Macbeth, performed by the performance group Third World Bunfight.

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Questions of Practice

Questions of Practice: Choreographer Reggie Wilson on the “Cultural Retentions” of Sacred Spaces

Choreographer Reggie Wilson discusses his approach to choreographing and curating dance in religious spaces with Pew Fellow Yolanda Wisher.

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Collaborators & Colleagues

Jay Sanders

Jay Sanders is executive director and chief curator of the New York-based organization Artists Space.

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Grants & Grantees

Pushers

In order to examine the difficult topic of addiction and its consequences, Pushers uses celebrity culture as its lens, as a way to connect with West Philadelphia youth and encourage them to share their own experiences.

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Grants & Grantees

Supper, People on the Move

This large-scale performance, inspired and informed by the immigration process, will premiere in June 2015. The second performance will be simulcast live for a public audience at Independence Mall.

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Collaborators & Colleagues

Estelle Parsons

Actress Estelle Parsons has found success on stage, screen, and television, often playing characters who can best be described as fanatical or neurotic.

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Collaborators & Colleagues

Shannon Jackson

Shannon Jackson is the Associate Vice Chancellor for the Arts and Design, the Cyrus and Michelle Hadidi Chair of the Humanities, and a Professor of Rhetoric and of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Event

Re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia: Faustin Linyekula's Philly Files

As part of the ongoing Center-funded project re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia, Painted Bride Art Center welcomes Congolese dancer and choreographer Faustin Linyekula.

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Trisha Brown In the New Body Classes

To acquaint Philadelphia dancers with Trisha Brown's explorations, a series of free classes and workshops will be offered at area Universities and art spaces.

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Collaborators & Colleagues

Boris Charmatz

Boris Charmatz is a choreographer, dancer, and director of Musée de la danse (Museum of Dance).

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Event

As Far As My Fingertips Take Me from ear-whispered: works by Tania El Khoury

Bryn Mawr College presents As Far As My Fingertips Take Me, part of ear-whispered: works by Tania El Khoury.

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Questions of Practice

Questions of Practice: Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Leadership

Philadelphia Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on why trust is more useful for leadership than fear.

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Questions of Practice: Artist Michael Rakowitz on Threading Disparate Sources into a Cohesive Whole

Michael Rakowitz describes the process behind creating a performance and radio project involving American veterans and the Iraqi refugee community.

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