Buy Tickets for Friday Sept. 21 @ 7:30pm
Buy Tickets for Saturday Sept. 22 @ 8:00pm
Presented in partnership with the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets for red, black & GREEN are available only from the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
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“I am of the belief that the movement for social change and environmental accountability are one and the same, that focusing on steps to sustain the planet ultimately force us to envision a pathway to sustaining humanity.” Marc Bamuthi Joseph, creator of red, black & GREEN: a blues
“Going green meets and mates with the urgency of achieving environmental justice in red, black & GREEN: a blues. The result is a piece as smart and provocative as it is breathtakingly beautiful.” The San Francisco Chronicle
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This interactive installation and performance blends spoken word, music, film, and contemporary and hip-hop dance to re-imagine a green movement that is inclusive of black and brown voices, and posits that valuing life is the first step to valuing the planet. Immersing audiences in a new mode of kinetic performance, red, black & GREEN: a blues strives to unite communities around a broader definition of “sustainable living” and to be a catalyst for cultural and creative engagement.
Developed during a three-year community-based civic and artistic process, red, black & GREEN: a blues takes place within a modular set of row houses made from repurposed materials. These houses represent four American cities—Oakland, New York, Houston, and Chicago. Within and among the houses, distinctive characters share personal stories through poetry, monologue, song, and movement that reflect on poverty, violence, racial consciousness—and how we, as a collective society, can invent and navigate sustainable survival practices in urban America.
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Conceived by Marc Bamuthi Joseph Direction Michael John Garcés Choreography Stacey Printz Film Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi Lighting James Clotfelter Media Design David Szlasa Performers Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Theaster Gates, Tommy Shepherd, Traci Tolmaire.
Produced by MAPP International Productions.
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Marc Bamuthi Joseph is one of America’s vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. He is the artistic director of the seven-part HBO documentary Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices and an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living artists.” The narrative for red, black & GREEN: a blues grew out of the stories cultivated at Joseph’s Life is Living festivals.
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INSIGHTS
Join us for one or more of these INSIGHTS events and dive deeper into the issues raised in the show. FREE for all ticket holders.
September 20
5:30 PM: Public Forum: The Creative Eco-System: Re-viewing Sustainability
Join us for an interactive forum led by artist/educator/activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph featuring a respected panel of community leaders, artists, urban planners and scholars aimed at exploring new modes of collaboration, community engagement and creative artistic responses for at-risk communities that have been ravaged by environmental depredations that affect their health and welfare. The panel will feature:
Katherine Gajewski, Director of Sustainability, City of Philadelphia
Amy Hillier, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Aaron Levy, Executive Director, Slought Foundation
Kira Strong, Vice President of Community and Economic Development, People’s Emergency Center
Admission is free, but a ticket is required. Click here to reserve your seat.
September 21
7:30 PM: Join us for a mini poetry slam by members of Philly Youth Poetry Movement. 10% of your ticket purchase will benefit Philly Youth Poetry Movement when you sign up for the Annenberg Center’s Artists & Audiences Changing Lives program. Click here to learn more.
Post-show: Join the cast in an informal conversation on stage.
September 22
7 PM: Enjoy a performance by the winner of the Annenberg Center/First Person Arts Video Contest. More details to come soon!
Post-show: Join the cast in an informal conversation on stage.
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Ticket Information
Are you a student? Enter or mention the promo code STUDENT to receive a $10 ticket. Valid Student ID required when picking up ticket.
Are you 25 or under? Go to the Annenberg Box Office to receive a $18 ticket. Valid ID required.
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This presentation of red, black & GREEN: a blues has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative.
