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PHILOSOPHY
IN MOTION… U THEATRE
AT NJPAC ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 AT 7:00PM
PLEASE
NOTE: PHOTOGRAPHY AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Newark, NJ (September 17, 2003) – NJAPC presents
Taipei’s internationally acclaimed U Theatre
in The Sound of Ocean at the New Jersey
Performing Arts Center on Sunday, October 5 at 7:00PM in Prudential
Hall. Combining dynamically complex drumming with martial art techniques,
U Theatre presents a spiritually moving, rhythmically-based
exploration of space, environment and sound that traces the cyclical
journey of water– from drop to stream, from river to ocean. The
primal power of thunderous percussion melds with the meditative sounds
of temple bells and gongs in this total performing arts experience that
has earned rave reviews around the globe. Tickets are $16-$46,
and may be purchased by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722),
at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, or
by visiting the NJPAC website at www.njpac.org.
This performance is part of Alternate Routes: World
Festival VII, sponsored in part, by American Express. U
Theatre’s Fall USA tour is produced by Lisa Booth Management,
Inc., in association with Asia Society. Major support is provided by
the Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan.
U Theatre was founded in 1988 by Artistic Director and
performer Liu Ching-Ming to reacquaint herself with Taiwanese and Chinese
cultures as well as to introduce traditional cultural elements into
modern theater. U Theatre’s continuous creativity stems from the
assimilation of contemporary Taiwanese culture and the Company’s
frequent spiritual retreats. For example, while performing the work
U Theatre Sacred Drum-Walking the Heights of Taiwan, U Theatre made
an epic journey, traveling the Taiwanese mountainous terrain by foot.
Walking 600 kilometers in 31 days, the troupe walked by day and performed
by night in 18 different towns and townships.
In ancient China, Zen masters wrote that a true artist
should balance artistic skill with self-improvement (the “Tao”).
With this theory in hand, U Theatre has created performances that probe
the inner meaning of self. At U Theatre’s open-air theater, located
on Laochun Mountain, an hour north of Taipei City, members train and
rehearse daily in a spiritually sound environment in an effort to improve
their quality of life. On the mountain, members train in the art of
Tai-chi, practice traditional drumming techniques, engage in forms of
physical training such as martial arts, and meditate. “Performance
is the representation of the best aspects of life,” is an oft-repeated
mantra of Liu Ching Ming, that has come to define all U Theatre performances.
Performing across the nation and around the globe, U
Theatre first premieres new works in their own 500 seat open-air theater,
and then performs in spaces as primitive as makeshift outdoor stages
around Taiwan’s countryside to urban theaters and cultural centers.
The group has been seen in New York, London, the Philippines, Singapore,
and other international settings, including Korea for its second Asian
Theater Festival and the Avignon Arts Festival in France. The organizers
of the Avignon Arts Festival opened a new theater, the Red Land Quarry
in Boulbon, especially for U Theatre’s performance.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in
the heart of an emerging downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the sixth largest
performing arts center in the United States. Home of the Grammy®
Award-winning New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, NJPAC has been widely cited
as a catalyst in the revitalization of New Jersey’s largest city,
attracting over 3.2 million visitors (including more than 600,000 children)
in its first six years of operation.
This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State
Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National
Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for
the Arts. |
NJAPC presents Taipei’s internationally
acclaimed U Theatre in The Sound of Ocean
at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Sunday, October 5 at
7:00PM in Prudential Hall. Combining dynamically complex drumming
with martial art techniques, U Theatre presents a spiritually
moving, rhythmically-based exploration of space, environment and sound
that traces the cyclical journey of water– from drop to stream,
from river to ocean. The primal power of thunderous percussion melds
with the meditative sounds of temple bells and gongs in this total performing
arts experience that has earned rave reviews around the globe. This
performance is part of Alternate Routes: World
Festival VII, sponsored in part, by American Express. U
Theatre’s Fall USA tour is produced by Lisa Booth Management,
Inc. in association with Asia Society. Major support is provided by
the Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan.
Tickets are $16-$46, and may be purchased by
telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), at the NJPAC Box Office
at One Center Street in downtown Newark, or by visiting the NJPAC website
at www.njpac.org. |
