2003 Next Wave Festival Presents the BAM debut of
Taiwan’s Celebrated U Theatre in The Sound of Ocean
Internationally acclaimed production makes its New York premiere
BAM’s 2003 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc.
The Sound of Ocean
U Theatre
Directed and choreographed by Liu Ching-Ming
Music by Wong Chee-Mun
Set design by Liu Chung-Hsing
Costume design by Yip Kam-Tim
Lighting design by Lin Keh-Hua
BAM Harvey Theater
Oct 7, 9–11 at 7:30pm
Tickets: $20, 30, 45
Brooklyn, August 26, 2003—As part of its 2003 Next Wave Festival, BAM welcomes U Theatre, one of Taiwan’s most celebrated performing arts ensembles in The Sound of Ocean, an expansive piece that explores the natural wonder that is water, from its humble beginning as rain to the vastness of an ocean. Incorporating powerful live percussion ensembles, elements of martial arts and Buddhism, the production is simultaneously a highly structured theatrical event and an evocative meditation on nature. Le Matin writes, “Is it Dance? Theater? Music? More than any of these things, The Sound of Ocean, is a remarkable universal performance, probing the human condition.”
Four performances of The Sound of Ocean will take place in the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street) October 7, 9, 10, and 11 at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced at $20, 30, and 45, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services, or by visiting www.bam.org
(Next Wave subscriptions are currently on sale; single tickets go on sale September 2).
About The Sound of Ocean
The Sound of Ocean is a rhythmically propelled physical exploration of water’s cyclical journey. Without an explicit narrative thread, the work’s theatrical tension builds via highly structured and precisely executed movements and sounds that evoke natural, physical, and spiritual environments. Intricately layered and intensely dramatic, The Sound of Ocean contains five parts: Collapse, Flowing Water, Breakers, Listening to the Ocean Heart, and The Sound of Ocean. The distinct yet interwoven movements evoke the myriad sounds of water in its various forms. From finding the inherent musicality of raindrops to replicating the dull roars of ocean waves, the production is anchored in the sanctity of ritual. The performers’ bodies alternately explode in graceful fits and lull in restrained anticipatory movements, evoking the fierceness of martial arts and the elegance of tai-chi exercises.
For 100 seamless minutes, U Theatre’s fourteen athletic performers combine traditional martial arts techniques, meditation, and Buddhist-inspired chanting with virtuosic playing of percussion instruments such as bells, gongs, cymbals, metal bowls, and drums. The unique instruments, some enhanced by large driftwood structures, provide a striking visual landscape. Gongs are suspended on mammoth arched branches and drums are organized in groups of three to seven, according to size—all positioned on several stage levels.
The Sound of Ocean was created to mark the company’s tenth anniversary and premiered in Taipei in 1997; it has toured to Avignon, Venice, Lyon, London, and Singapore, among other international destinations. The company completes its 2003 fall U.S. tour at BAM, following stops in Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Tucson, and Newark.
About the artists
Founder and Artistic Director Liu Ching-Ming is a well-known actress in Taipei theater. She established U Theatre in 1988 with the wish to reacquaint herself with Taiwanese and Chinese culture and to infuse it into theatrical works. While almost all the original theatrical works in Taiwan made the Western modern theater their departure point, Liu Ching-Ming considers her task a process of “reacquainting one with oneself.” In 1993, Liu invited Wong Chee-Mun, who had nearly 20 years of drumming experience, to instruct the members of U Theatre in music and especially in drumming. Wong suggested, “To learn drum beating, one must first learn meditation.” Since then, meditation and the later addition of Chinese martial arts have become the center of the training sessions of U Theater. Liu and Wong began attempting to combine theater and drum beating, and to make meditation the foundation of their performance.
U Theatre, a collective of performers founded by Artistic Director Liu Ching-Ming in 1988, makes its home on Laochuan Mountain (on the outskirts of Taipei). The sound of the letter ‘U’ from which the company takes its name is similar to that of the Chinese character that means ‘superior’ or ‘excellent’—in ancient China, that symbol also meant ‘professional actor.’ U Theatre’s philosophy embraces the Zen principle of balancing artistic skill with self-knowledge; the company seeks to elevate the quality of life and develop spiritual strength through the practice of modern theater. Living and working together, U Theatre’s performers undergo intense physical training based on Far Eastern disciplines, including meditation, tai-chi, martial arts, and traditional drumming. Aesthetically, U Theatre’s work is rooted in an ongoing exploration of indigenous Taiwanese and Chinese performance history and practice, as well as a deep respect for the natural environment.
About the Next Wave Festival
BAM’s Next Wave Festival, which enters its 21st season in 2003, has permanently changed the landscape of the performing arts through breakout performances, landmark productions, risky experiments, and once-in-a-lifetime moments. The Festival originated as a fall series entitled “The Next Wave/New Masters.” In November 1981, Philip Glass’ new opera, Satyagraha, was presented as one of four productions under the Next Wave moniker. A slightly more ambitious series followed in 1982, including a two-evening performance work—United States: Parts I–IV—by Laurie Anderson.
From the seeds of these two rich years grew an idea for something bolder and riskier. The Next Wave Festival, dedicated to exciting new works and cross-disciplinary collaborations by promising young artists, was launched in October 1983. Pieces that previously had been presented in downtown lofts and small “black box” theaters were staged in the exquisite 2,100-seat BAM Opera House (recently renamed the Howard Gilman Opera House), a renovated 1,000-seat playhouse (the Helen Carey Playhouse, now home to BAM Rose Cinemas), and a flexible 300-seat performance venue (the Lepercq Space). In 1987, BAM opened another mainstage—the 900-seat Majestic Theater—since renamed the Harvey Theater in honor of BAM impresario Harvey Lichtenstein (who stepped down in 1999 after a 32-year tenure as president and executive producer). Lichtenstein was succeeded by Karen Brooks Hopkins as president and Joseph V. Melillo as executive producer.
Credits
BAM’s 2003 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Programming in the BAM Harvey Theater is endowed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The 2003 USA tour by U Theatre is made possible with support from the Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan. Next Wave Dance support is provided by The Harkness Foundation for Dance.
Major support for BAM and the Next Wave Festival is provided by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Richard B. Fisher & Jeanne Donovan Fisher, The SHS Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Inc., The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Starr Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Citibank, Booth Ferris Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg, R/GA, and The Ford Foundation.
General information
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the main building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (Lafayette and Ashland) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, which will be operated by Great Performances beginning in September 2003, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A package including dinner in BAMcafé and a movie ticket to BAM Rose Cinemas is available for only $31 (at the box office only). BAMcafé is open Thursday–Sunday from 5pm–closing. Additionally, BAMcafé is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater productions. A full bar and a selection of hot appetizers also are available à la carte from 5:30–7:30pm in the Diker Gallery Cafe on Opera House performance nights only.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q Local, and Q Express to Atlantic Avenue
W, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue
Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM.
