User:Mredruiz/UNIVERSES (Poetic Musical Theater Ensemble)

UNIVERSES Poetic Musical Theater Company

Universes is a National / International ensemble Company of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse Poetry, Theater, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Politics, Down Home Blues and Spanish Boleros to create moving, challenging and entertaining theatrical works. The group breaks the bounds of traditional theater to create their own brand, inviting old and new generations of theater crafters as well as the theater goers and new comers to reshape the face of American Theater.

The company consists of four core members: Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Gamal Abdel Chasten and Ninja (William Ruiz).

The company recently returned from premiering their latest work AMERIVILLE, at the; Humana Festival of New American Plays at The Actors Theatre of Louisville (KY); Curious Theatre (CO); and Southern rep in New Orleans. Ameriville was directed by the critically acclaimed director, Chay Yew, and dramaturged by the critically acclaimed Morgan Jenness.

Last year, the company traveled a four continent tour, which carried them through Africa’s Morocco and Tunisia, Europe’s England, Amsterdam, Romania and Turkey and even over to the Asian Continent via Istanbul. This tour was a collaboration between Jazz at Lincoln Center and the US State Department to carry American music abroad on a Rhythm Road Tour. In addition, a Universes anthology of work and process entitled, UNIVERSES: THE BIG BANG (Plays, Poetry & Process), is scheduled for release in January of 2010 by TCG Books.

In 2001, UNIVERSES teamed up with critically acclaimed director Jo Bonney to create their longest touring work Slanguage (produced by New York Theatre Workshop, New York, NY and in 2004 at Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, CA), a full evening work of text and movement where traditional theater synthesizes with poetry, storytelling, rhythm, music, song and dance. Slanguage was first presented as a workshop production under the working title U at P.S. 122, November 1999, and continued to develop at New York Theater Workshop, New York, NY (2000-2002), Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, CA (1999), New World Theater, Amherst, MA (2000-2002) and P.S. 122 (1999-2001). Slanguage last toured in 2008.

Universes has since established itself as both a company and a producing organization. Universes’ works include Rhythmicity: Flipping the Script, featured at Actors Theater of Louisville’s Humana Festival 2003; Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz’ BLUE SUITE, a jazz-based work currently on tour; Gamal Chasten’s The Last Word, premiered at Performance Space 122;

NEWS: Universes is preparing to return to their writing lab with an upcoming commission from The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (American Revolutions : US History Cycle)

• “The New York performance group Universes — with their dazzling display of linguistic fireworks — make Def Poetry Jam seem like a meeting of the Dead Poet’s Society.”

- Boston Bay-State Banner'

• “For what these brilliant wordsmiths really do -- and do with the kind of verbal and musical facility old Bill Shakespeare engaged in when modern English itself was in its earliest stages of development -- is nothing short of reinventing the multiplicity of mother tongues in which they negotiate their world on a daily basis.”

- Chicago Sun-Times

• “A headlong explosion of poetry, percussion, and multi-culti musical exploration that absolutely demands to be seen.”

- The Boston Globe

• “The group's musical sophistication is especially surprising. Blasting through the fractured syntax of New York urban culture, the quintet exhibits the melodic veracity of a seasoned doo-wop group and the contrapuntal percussion of an adroit rhythm section.”

- Variety

• “Call this ‘Stomp’ for the larynx…Those who have previously dismissed rap and hip-hop as bastardized and anti-intellectual will find Slanguage a captivating glimpse of a much-maligned movement. These eloquent practitioners confirm that modern poetry, so sadly marginalized in recent decades, can still resonate in our contemporary culture.”

- Los Angeles Times

• "…exuberant, insightful…they have created something special, a work of heart and soul that distills the essence of the city."

- The New York Times

• "An effervescent, racially mixed group who call themselves Universes...are as likely to kick some poetry as break out into a capella singing, to orchestrate a vocal exercise as they are to burst into a step show....Their energy and realness is unmatchable."

- The Village Voice

• "Slanguage will catch you by surprise…snap you to attention…Whether you feel like a true urban American or an absolute alien to this culture, Slanguage is a great experience."

- Curtainup.com

• "What we are witnessing here is the unmistakable birth of new art for a new generation."

- The New York Theatre Experience

• “With an unremitting athletic urgency, the performers ripped through a kaleidoscopic tour of urban street language as it was, is and might be. It's a wild, rattling ride, spilling over with humor, passion, insight and political awareness, with the occasional shuttle to pathos, lest we forget that ghetto life ain't all fun and games.”

- Anchorage Daily News

• “Slang offers a common ground between young and old, urban and rural, white and ethnic. Slanguage makes the cast's verbal art — and the cast members themselves — visible to audiences who typically would not see or hear them. And that's a good thing.” - The Courier-Journal of Louisville, KY

The Players and The Works:

UNIVERSES (Core Company): Steven Sapp; Mildred Ruiz-Sapp; Gamal A. Chasten; Ninja (William Ruiz)

'UNIVERSES 2008/2010 Repertoire'

UNIVERSES: Live From the Edge Universes presents Live From the Edge, an evening that showcases the ensemble’s special brand of fusion theater in a "best of" event that tracks the evolution of their poetic language from childhood rhymes and community rituals, to poetry and theater, hip-hop and gospel. Redefining what theater is and who it speaks to, Live From the Edge is a unique performance event that turns the poem into a communal act.

SLANGUAGE Directed and Developed by Jo Bonney The boundary-smashing Slanguage, Universes’ tour-de-force full evening work, brings together the unique mix of language and culture that is life on the American streets. Built loosely around the structure of a subway ride from Brooklyn to the Bronx, Slanguage synthesizes traditional theater with poetry, storytelling, rap, gospel, jazz riffs, bluesy laments, Spanish boleros, and other poetic forms, to paint a rich portrait of the sights and sounds of New York City. Through Slanguage, Universes integrates theatre and street humor with emotional truth, amplifying the issues of poverty, family, drugs, racism, and street violence, yet finding hope in the contemporary urban landscape.

BLUE SUITE Directed and Developed by Chay Yew Blue Suite is an affecting portrait of artists and the vibrant culture, traditions, and personal experience they bring to their work. When Junior, a hard-luck horn player prepares to play his instrument, his Duende appears and suddenly his life unfolds in a series of provocative vignettes told through a stirring mix of jazz, flamenco, blues and poetry. Led by his “Duende”, Junior is forced to confront his own mystery. Here, they battle to the death as Jazz idly argues its own existence. Utilizing Lorca’s Flamenco Duende and summoning Miles Davis’ “Sketches of Spain”, Blue Suite takes us on an internal journey, where art lays at the balance as passion fades.

AMERIVILLE UNIVERSES puts the state of the Union under a microscope—race, poverty, politics, history and government—examining our country through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. Ameriville combines an innovative mix of poetry, music, movement and drama to get to the heart of this American tragedy. UNIVERSES' Collaborators: Chay Yew; Morgan Jenness;

"Other Universes Works"

THE LAST WORD Written/Directed/Developed by Gamal Chasten Mixing the lively pace of a three-ring circus with the soulful spirit of a New Orleans jazz processional, Gamal Chasten explores the hopes, dreams and regrets that accompany the death of a loved one in this music-theater piece. As the ring leader to this segmented narrative, Chasten guides us through a series of stylized scenes ranging from Vaudeville to classic musical theater to 50's drama and reality TV, each offering a light-hearted glimpse at one dysfunctional family as they cope with the loss of their father.

ONE SHOT IN LOTUS POSITION Commissioned by Curious Theater for The War Anthology, Mildred and Steve create a work that finds humanity, in the inhumanity of the Vietnam War.

GOD TOOK AWAY HIS POEM Tommy Leonard is a boxer, a product of the turbulent 60's who wants love, family and the gold. But in order to get these things he has to battle racism and himself. God Took Away His Poem places a mirror and a microphone in front of us, awaiting our answer. Has our countries climate of political correctness cost us the ability to express what's in our hearts and minds.

"Other Universes Projects"

365 by Susan Lori Parks UNIVERSES was selected to adapt and produce one weeks worth (seven plays) of Susan Lori Park’s 365 Days/365 Plays in celebrating the vibrancy of New York’s theater tradition. (Free public performance at The Public Theater (Fall 2007). 365 Days/365 Plays Project is a grassroots national theater festival conceived by Suzan-Lori Parks and Bonnie Metzgar which seeks to create a new geography for artistic production in the Internet age. Linking artists locally, nationally and internationally in simultaneous production over the course of an entire year, this project will map the rich diversity of the American theatrical landscape in new and surprising ways for audiences both live and online.

UNIVERSES PERFORMANCE HISTORY Includes:

REGIONAL/RESIDENCIES AMERIVILLE Curious Theatre (Denver, CO) Actors Theatre of Louisville - Humana Festival (KY); Emory University (Atlanta, GA); Modlin Center for the Arts (Richmond, VA); Gala Hispanic Theatre (Washington, DC)

BLUE SUITE The Goodman Theatre (Chicago); Emory University (Atlanta, GA); Modlin Center for the Arts (Richmond, VA); Gala Hispanic Theatre (Washington, DC); (EYEWITNESS BLUES) New York Theater Workshop (New York, NY); New World Theater (Amherst, MA); Dance Theater Workshop (New York, NY);

THE LAST WORD Performance Space 122 (NY); Univ. Texas (Austin, TX);

LIVE FROM THE EDGE College of Saint Benedict (Saint Joseph, MN) Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (Burlington, VT) First Works (Providence, RI) Trinity College (Hartford, CT) Overture Center (Madison, WI) California State University—LA (Los Angeles, CA) ProArts Collective (Austin, TX) Miami Light Project (Miami, FL) University of California—Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA) Ferris State University (Big Rapids, MI) PICA Festival (Portland, OR) Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle, WA) Apollo Theater (New York, NY) Emory University (Atlanta, GA)

RHYTHMICITY: FLIPPING THE SCRIPT Humana Festival 2003, Actors Theater of Louisville

SLANGUAGE (Performances & Workshops) University of Denver (Denver, CO) Duke University (Durham, NC); The University of Maryland Boston Center For the Arts with Company One (Boston, MA) California State University—Monterey Bay (Monterey Bay, CA) National Ensemble Theater Festival (Blue Lake, CA) Kutztown University (Kutztown, PA) Penn State Univ. (PA) Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) University of California—Santa Barbara, (Santa Barbara, CA) University of California—Riverside, (Riverside, CA) The Egg (Albany, NY) Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL) Lafayette College (Easton, PA) Emory University (Atlanta, GA) African American Cultural Center (Pittsburgh, PA) Washington University (St. Louis, MO) Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (College Park, MD) Juniata College (Huntingdon, PA) Actor Theater of Louisville (Louisville, KY) Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles, CA) Out North (Anchorage, Alaska) Williams College (Williamstown, MA) Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH) The Painted Bride (Philadelphia, PA) Diverse Works (Houston, TX) University of Texas (Austin, TX) Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, (Burlington, VT) Dance Space (Washington, DC) New York Theatre Workshop (New York, NY) Everett Dance Theater (Providence, RI) New World Theater at the Univ. of Mass. (Amherst, MA) Pregones Theater (Bronx, NY) Performance Space 122 (New York, NY)

THE RIDE P.S. 122 (New York, NY) New York Performance Works (New York, NY) Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA) Teatro A Mil Festival (Ex-Carcel, Valparaiso and Teatro San Gines, Santiago- Chile) Alfred Jarry's UBU:Enchained (Teatre Polski & Muzg, Bydgosz Poland) Sarah Lawrence College (NY)

TEACHING ONLY Urban Assembly School of Music and Art (Brooklyn, NY) Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (DC)

NATIONAL RESIDENCIES Harvard University University of Massachusetts City College Princeton University Bard College New York University Rutgers University Binghamton University Pace University Lehman College Sarah Lawrence College University of Albany

INTERNATIONAL

• Encuentros - Universes LIVE ! - Bogota, Colombia

• Universes LIVE ! - * Jazz at Lincoln Center – Rhythm Road Tour

(Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Romania, Amsterdam, England) * Teatro A Mil Festival, Valparaiso and Santiago, Chile

• Alfred Jarry's UBU:ENCHAINED - Arts Link International Exchange with Teatre Polski, Poland

APPEARANCES Overture Center (Madison, WI); Miami Light Project (Miami, FL); ProArts Collective (Austin, TX); California State University (Los Angeles, CA); Spiegeltent (NYC); PICA Festival (Portland); Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle):Bronx River Arts (Bronx, NY); Bar 13; Jazz at Lincoln Center; The Bowery Poetry Club; Bronx Museum (Action Lab); Howard University (DC); The Apollo Theater (Harlem, NY); NYU- Skirball Center; New Jersey Performing Arts Center –NJPAC; Joe's Pub; Riverside Church; Russell Simmons’ DEF POETRY JAM (HBO); Homer, Alaska; Culver City (LA) ; TCG Conference (Milwaukee, WI); NPN Conference; APAP Conference (New York, NY); La Pena Cultural Center (Berkeley, CA); Carpet Bag Theater (Knoxville, TN); Artist Network Refuse & Resist (New York, NY); Nuyorican Poets Café; American Airlines Theater (Encore Awards); Labyrinth Theatre; Symphony Space; Aaron Davis Hall; Museum of Natural History; The Painted Bride; St. John the Divine; Boriqua College; Sing Sing Prison; The Brooklyn Tea Party; Sisters Place; El Puente; Live From the Edge Theater; The Bronx Academy of Art & Dance (B.A.A.D); Lehman College; Bard College; Hampshire College (MA); New York University; Harvard University; Princeton University; Rutgers University; Binghamton University; City College; Pace University

UNIVERSES on the Web

www.universesonstage.com [1]
www.facebook.com/pages/UNIVERSES [2]

PRESS/MEDIA

• America.gov "Poetic Theater Ensemble Enthralls Audiences on Six-Nation Tour" [3]
  
• HBO - Def Poetry - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2vZgBQB1Dg
• Village Voice "Gazing into the Universe" [4]
  
• Humana Festival [5]
  
• Village Voice "Beats & Keats" [6]
  
• New York Times "The City's Beat with an Iambic Heat" [http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/28/theater/theater-review-the-city-s-beat-with-an-iambic-heat.html?

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