· Flashband: Based on the premise that music is made when musicians connect. 30 musicians from the community come together for a meet-and-greet jam session, and form bands. After rehearsing for a month, they perform a high-energy showcase that will get you up out of your seat and dancing.
· Dumpster Monster: Designed by artist/puppeteer Robin Frohardt, a large-scale, inflatable monster growing from a dumpster complete with rat, fly and cockroach puppets.
· Shared_Studios: Portals: Step inside this gold shipping container, equipped with immersive audio and video technology, and connect with someone in another container in Afghanistan, Iran, Honduras or Mexico.
· Christylez Bacon’s Washington Sound Museum: Hip hop meets Brazil in this cross-cultural, collaborative performance with Grammy-nominated artist Christylez Bacon and Brazilian vocalist, Cissa Paz, celebrating diverse musical genres.
· Mixologist and UMD Alum Gina Chersevani brings her creative cocktails, mocktails and DC-born Rickeys to The Clarice served in a limited edition souvenir reusable cup. Hungry? Try her signature knishes from Buffalo and Bergen DC.
· Alumni Play Commissioning Project: Shh! Library After Hours: The premiere of three short plays by TDPS alumni playwrights, written and performed as site-specific work in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library.
– The Librarian’s Story: A Campus Tale by Riley Bartlebaugh
– Unbound by Natalie Piegari
– The Relationship Classification System by Mariel Berlin-Fischler (Dramaturg: Felicity Brown)
· Maryland Opera Studio: A Dinner of Operatic Proportions: You can just eat dinner, or you can take dining to operatic heights. At NextNOW Fest, the choice is yours. Imagine a meal suffused with the most beautiful music ever written performed by singers of the Maryland Opera Studio.
· Imagine Art House: We think art house is what’s next in hip dining and performing arts in College Park but we want to know what YOU think. With arts, food and fun as catalysts, can art house bridge the campus and College Park?
· Make Art, Not War: This exhibit features work by artists from our creative radius in response to issues caused by the divisiveness of racism.
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https://vimeo.com/135908687
Here’s a comprehensive list of all NextNOW Fest 2015 events and performances.
September 25 and 26, 8 PM
Dancer, choreographer, inventor, and videographer Huang Yi’s pioneering work is steeped in his fascination with the indivisible relationship between humans and our machine counterparts. His intimate choreographic creations with KUKA, an industrial robot, reveal a deep connectedness to our technological world that is both physically tender and emotionally resonant. As the machine world becomes ever more embedded in our lives, Huang Yi asks us to reflect on what it means to be human when hardware becomes body and software becomes soul.
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October 2, 7, and at 9 PM
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Castaneda’s virtuosic command of the harp has revolutionized the way audiences and critics alike consider an instrument commonly relegated to the “unusual category” in jazz.
A master at realizing beautiful complexities of time while skillfully drawing out lush colors and dynamic spirit, Castaneda’s enormous talent, versatility and charisma have taken the harp out of the shadows and helped him become one of the most original musicians in jazz today. Castaneda’s body seemingly engulfs his Colombian harp as he crafts almost unbelievable feats of cross-rhythms, layered with chordal nuances.
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October 4, 3 PM
Marc-André Hamelin’s strikingly original blend of musicianship and virtuosity has earned him near-legendary status among connoisseurs of fine pianism. Long known for his exploration of the most challenging and unfamiliar pianistic terrain (Alkan, Godowsky, Medtner), Hamelin is now recognized worldwide for the originality and technical brilliance of his performances of the classic repertoire, including Haydn, Schubert, Liszt and Brahms. He has appeared with all the major American orchestras in addition to recitals throughout the US, his native Canada, Europe, Australia and the Far East. He has recorded nearly 60 CDs for Hyperion, earning numerous awards and accolades: “transcendent technique;” “awe-inspiring;” “rare sensitivity;” and “breathtakingly brilliant.”
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October 9-17th
Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage explores the strength of the human spirit through the story of Esther, an African American seamstress in New York in 1905 when social and class lines were clearly drawn and seemingly impassible. Directed by Helen Hayes Award nominee Jennifer Nelson. Presented by the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.