PS21 Unveils 2022 Season: May through September

PS21 announces season lineup, including expanded community programming for residents of Columbia County, U.S. company debuts, world and North American premieres, international artists, and performances of work developed in our growing artists’ residency program.

Performances in our open-air Pavilion Theater at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, a state-of-the-art theater located on 100 acres of orchards, meadows, and woodlands in the heart of the Hudson Valley.

Tickets available online or by contacting the Box Office at info@ps21chatham.org or 518.392.6121

More than 50 events, staged to conform to current safety protocols, in the theater, in our fields, and along our trails, by a constellation of celebrated and emerging dancers and choreographers, musicians and singers, actors, directors, and international street artists who are breathing new life into traditional genres and creating new ones. Expanded PS21’s Pathways, our popular pas de deux between nature and the arts, at its largest and most ambitious, still free of charge to the community.

International Dance

From Lagos, Nigeria: Re:INCARNATION, by QDance, an ode to the richness of Nigerian culture, celebrating the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and Africa’s powers of reinvention in a show that draws on Afrobeats, Afro dances, and Black aesthetics.

From Israel: One. One & One,  by Vertigo Dance Company, an entrancing piece about our  yearning for wholeness and spiritual connection to the natural world and the tension between the competing desires for independence and connection—“the individual and his or her tribe” (Financial Times).

International Theater

Farm Fatale, “a theater of post-apocalyptic deceleration” by French director and visual artist Philippe Quesne, where following an environmental collapse, the sole survivors, five scarecrows, embrace new roles as dreamers, poets, and activists in a quest for a kinder, less destructive future for our planet.

And so you see . . . our honorable blue sky and ever enduring sun. . .can only be consumed slice by slice. . .by Robyn Orlin (South Africa), political cabaret performed by Albert Khoza, exuberant, baroque, and entertaining, both scathing and enthralling. A jubilant purge, a reinvention of Africa’s relationship with the West. The art of South Africa-born Robyn Orlin is a loaded machine gun, firing fusillades that shatter our political preconceptions with humor, irony, and inventiveness and upend our ideas about the borders between performance art and dance.

The Legend of the Waitress and the Robber, the groundbreaking creative collaboration between Concrete Temple Theatre, Seoul, Korea-based Playfactory Mabangzen, and Yellowbomb, in partnership with Korean Cultural Center NY. Developed in residency and premiering at PS21.

PS21 House Blend

Our Modern Music programs brewed with audiences in mind feature young, virtuosic musicians presenting often overlooked 20th century masterpieces, peppered with baroque wonders. New music at its most invigorating, including the preview premiere of “Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name,” a music-theater piece by composer-percussionist Nathan Davis, and Bang on a Can performing Michael Gordon’s Field of Vision, a large-scale, site-specific work for 36 percussionists.

Global Music

Vox Sambou, a Montreal based hip-hip collective, that focuses on the traditional rhythms of Haiti mixed with elements of Afrobeat, jazz, reggae, and hip-hop, and DakhaBrakha, the Ukrainian “ethno-chaos” band whose roots lie in the nation’s folk music, culture, and ethos, performing live accompaniment to Alexander Dovzhenko’s silent masterpiece, Earth (1930), about resistance to the Soviet collectivization of Ukrainian farms.

PS21/Chatham Pathways

Free and affordable performances, classes, workshops, and encounters; community programs tailored to the area’s year-round residents: Pathways: Blazing Trails to a Sustainable Future: a staple of PS21’s annual community programming and central to our mission, Pathways’ season-long series of art installations, participatory theater, educational workshops, and processional arts offered to our growing community free of charge. Pathways is designed to center area residents as active participants in site-specific experiences of creative and environmental engagement.

Unfolding dramaturgies of the Anthropocene and beyond

2022’s expansive programming includes  Philippe Quesne’s ecological fable Farm Fatale;  C’est pas là, c’est par là (It’s Not That Way, It’s This Way) an outdoor participatory theater installation by Compagnie Galmae and Juhyung Lee, a South Korean street artist based in France. Part of Pathways 2022, inspired by his experiences at protests in Seoul,  Juhyung Lee transforms a crowd of spectators into a problem-solving collective on the hill overlooking PS21’s Pavilion Theater. Audience members morph into actors and individuals into a community in this playful yet political collective installation; and Bang on a Can performing Michael Gordon’s Field of Vision, a large-scale, site-specific work for 36 percussionists.

Movement without Borders: May–September: Yoga, Pilates, and Dance with Hudson Valley-based theater makers and Master Classes with visiting artists and other performers throughout the summer, including Dance with the Mark Morris Dance Group on the Hudson Waterfront! A free workshop lead by company dancers.

“Free on Friday!” Programs for Young People: PS21’s annual series of Friday afternoon performances and workshops by visiting companies, tailored for kids and their families, as well as other Immersive Workshops, Classes, and Encounters with the Arts and Nature.

Our Pathways initiative targets communities in Columbia County, providing access to cultural resources they otherwise lack and creating distinctive programming that forges connections between local cultures and the larger world.

Residencies

Key elements of the season: pioneering performances created and developed in residency at PS21. Resident artists benefit from our unique open-air Pavilion Theater and breathtaking 100-acre campus, where they enjoy the freedom to invent, workshop, and experiment onstage and beyond while residing with us in our spacious guesthouse on PS21’s peaceful, rambling grounds:

The Legend of the Waitress and the Robber, Concrete Temple Theatre, Playfactory Mabangzen and Yellowbomb (South Korea) at PS21, May 1–23, world premiere May 21 & 22

QDance (Lagos, Nigeria) perform Re:INCARNATION and engage in community based initiatives, May 29–June 6

Mark Morris Dance Group, expanding Water on Handel’s Water Music, a residency, Aug 1–6, and a premiere, August 5.

Jamal Jackson Dance Company members working with students of Hudson-based youth service organizations to create dances and percussion compositions based on dama, the masked dance rituals practiced by the Dogon people of Mali and Burkina Faso, August 7–14; taking part in the Crellin Park Day, August 6

Berkshire Opera Festival in a residency for a new production of Three Decembers by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, July 21 & 23.

Composer-percussionist Nathan Davis, and actor-playwright  Sylvia Milo,  developing “Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name,” March 14–18 and July 8–10, preview premiere, July 10.

Summer Season by Date

May 21–22 World premiere, The Waitress & The Robber, Concrete Temple Theater/ Playfactory Mabangzen and Yellowbomb (South Korea)

June 1  Middle Ground: An evening of creative placemaking led by Qudus Onikeku and QDance (Lagos, Nigeria)

June 2  “Best of Columbia County” event, with local businesses

June 3–4 U.S. debut and premiere, Re:INCARNATION, Qudus Onikeku, (Lagos, Nigeria)

June 10 Jazz at Lincoln Center Emerging Artist: Sean Mason Quintet at PS21

June 10 Opportunity for aspiring jazz musicians! Sit in with the Sean Mason Quintet through a workshop with the artists in improvisation, ensemble playing, and jazz repertoire, held at PS21 in advance of the concert

June 17 Vox Sambou, Haiti/Canada

June 24 House Blend I:  Bach, Wuorinen, Lansky, Schoenberg

June 26 House Blend II:  Kagel, Helps, Alvarez, Schubert, Kondo, Gerhard

July 8 House Blend III: Druckman, Kancheli, Aucoin, Bernstein

July 6–7, The Paul Taylor Dance Company

July 10 Nathan Davis/Sylvia Milo/Joanna Kotze, “Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name”

July 15 Anopas, Compagnie Art Move Concept, France

July 21 & 23 Three Decembers, copresented with Berkshire Opera. In residency July 17–23

July 25 Michael Gordon, Field of Vision, with Bang on a Can, Doug Perkins, and 36 percussionists

July 28–29 One. One & One, Vertigo Dance Company, Israel

August 1–6 Residency, Mark Morris Dance Group

August 3 Dance with the Mark Morris Dance Group on the Hudson waterfront! A free workshop lead by company dancers

August 5  PS21 Gala in the Orchards, with the Mark Morris Dance Group performing V and Water, plus dinner in PS21’s fields and orchards.

August 6 Mark Morris Dance Group, Words, Jenn and Spencer, Grand Duo

August 7–14 Residency, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, 846, a premiere 

August 11 DakhaBrakha, the Ukrainian “ethno-chaos” band performing live accompaniment to Alexander Dovzhenko’s silent masterpiece, Earth

September 2–3 Farm Fatale, “a theater of post-apocalyptic deceleration,” by Philippe Quesne, a centerpiece of PS21 Pathways: Blazing Trails to a Sustainable Future

September 3  C’est pas là, c’est par là (It’s Not That Way, It’s This Way) by Compagnie Galmae, a Pathways outdoor participatory theater installation by Juhyung Lee

September 4  Season Closing Celebration with The Moles by Philippe Quesne and C’est pas là, c’est par là,  participatory installation, Compagnie Galmae (France)

September 16 And so you see . . . our honorable blue sky and ever enduring sun. . .can only be consumed slice by slice. . .
Political cabaret by Robyn Orlin (South Africa)

May Through September: Movement Without Borders, movement workshops with visiting artists; free afternoon performances tailored for kids and families

View the International Highlights Prospectus here

Press Inquiries

To request press passes or high-resolution images email info@ps21chatham.org
Address: PS21, Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, 2980 NY-66, Chatham, NY 12037
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Facebook: www.facebook.com/PS21Chatham 

About PS21

Since we completed our state-of-the-art green-energy theater in 2018, PS21 has evolved into the Hudson Valley’s mecca for innovative programming by leading and emerging artists in music, dance, theater, contemporary performance, and the visual and multimedia arts. Our year-round open-air Pavilion and Black Box theater is surrounded by an unspoiled 100-acre campus, an old apple orchard surrounded by meadows and woodlands in the heart of the Hudson Valley. In addition to fostering creativity through residencies and encouraging collaborations between performers working across disciplines and genres, PS21 serves the community via free and low-cost workshops, performances, and other programming.

Established in 2006, PS21’s mission is to provide support for innovative performing artists and creators and to introduce their work to a broader audience, while also providing the surrounding region with opportunities for arts engagement regardless of economic status, cultural background, or age. In its new, state-of-the-art, green facility,  PS21 offers resident makers and performers involved in the creation of new work the tools and flexibility for successful innovation and collaboration in the development of sophisticated multi-media work. Few other US facilities are able to provide this level of technical support.

PS21’s campus of over 100 acres of open spaces, meadows, woodlands, and orchards is an important resource for artists and the community. Our commitments are incorporated in the design of our new theater and the surrounding grounds: open, inviting, and optimized for the public’s enjoyment and to encourage citizen expression and participation.