Theatre and Dance Highlights at SUNY Potsdam LoKo Festival Include Spectacular Play and Dance Performances

SUNY Potsdam's Department of Theatre and Dance Welcomes Guest Artists for 'The Amazing Adventures of the Marvelous Monkey King,' 'Time/Study: Potsdam,' and More

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“The Amazing Adventures of the Monkey King” will debut at SUNY Potsdam during the Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts.

POTSDAM, NY (04/15/2015)(readMedia)-- SUNY Potsdam's Department of Theatre and Dance will welcome respected guest artists and present an array of incredible free performances during the upcoming Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts, from April 24 to May 3.

The award-winning Chinese-American playwright and television screenwriter Elizabeth Wong is directing the SUNY Potsdam production of her play, "The Amazing Adventures of the Marvelous Monkey King." Chinese opera, anime and hip hop collide in this energetic and charming children's theatre production. The show is a spectacle of martial arts and animation for the eyes and ears, and is wholesome fun for the whole family.

"East meets West. Chinese opera meets anime. Kung Fu meets hip hop. This comic play is a modern take on a classic story about China's most beloved superhero. The play is for young audiences who love to laugh, and is both epic and intimate, silly and serious, with a message of love and leadership," Wong said. "We're proud to be a part of LoKo, and to be introducing the mischievous monkey to Potsdam audiences."

The show will be presented in the Proscenium Theater in SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 24; at 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26; at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29, and at 7:30 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday, April 30 and May 1.

All LoKo Festival events are free and open to the public. Doors open 30 minutes before all performances. Free tickets will be available to reserve seats at the theater doors, beginning one hour before every show.

In addition to the playwright and director, SUNY Potsdam will also welcome Jamie H. J. Guan as the guest fight choreographer and Asian arts consultant, as well as Bart McGeehon as the lighting and projection director. Janet Sussman is the costume designer for "The Amazing Adventures of the Marvelous Monkey King."

Acclaimed dancer Antonio Brown will also visit campus to work with students on "Time/Study: Potsdam" for the LoKo Festival. Presented in conjunction with New York Live Arts, the performance is based on a groundbreaking concept by Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones, called "Story/Time," which Brown has creatively adapted for the festival. He will lead an open dance masterclass on Friday, April 24 at 1 p.m.

"Time/Study: Potsdam" will offer two dance performances, on Saturday, April 25, at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., in the Dance Theater in SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center.

In the annual presentation of One Act Plays, students direct, act and produce short dramatic works. This year, there are three programs of short plays on the docket. The first set includes "Gruesome Playground Injuries," a dark comedy following two friends over 30 years, and "Am I Blue," which brings the audience to the street life of New Orleans in 1968. The second program features "Moon People," a jovial and heartbreaking story about loss, "The Stonewater Rapture," which follows two teens who are torn between religious values and sexual desires, and "The Race Card," an exploration of black identity in America. The third program consists of "Truman," a fetching comedy about whether the grass really is greener on the other side, "Brilliant Traces," about two lost souls who find each other in Alaska," and "The Whole Shebang," a comedic depiction of two worlds colliding. The One Act Plays will be presented in the Black Box Theater in SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center.

  • Program A will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 20, Thursday, April 23, and Saturday, April 25;
  • Program B will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21 and Friday, April 24, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, April 26, and
  • Program C will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22 and Sunday, April 26, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, April 25.

The Department of Theatre and Dance will also host interactive workshops on airbrush and special effects makeup, at 10 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26, in the Performing Arts Center's choral dressing room.

The annual Senior Choreography Concert will feature original works of four graduating dance majors, produced and performed by their peers. The student choreographers include Joseph DonAngelo, Emily Gill, Kimberly Ramsundar and Kateryna Szewczyk. The concert will be offered on Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m., on Saturday, May 2 at 5 p.m., and on Sunday, May 3 at both 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. All performances will be in the Dance Theater in SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center.

About the visiting artists:

Elizabeth Wong is an award-winning American playwright, television writer, librettist, theatrical director, college professor, social essayist, and a writer of plays for young audiences. Her critically acclaimed plays include "China Doll (An Imagined Life of an American Actress)," a fictional tale of the actress, Anna May Wong, "Letters to a Student Revolutionary," a story of two friends during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and "Dating & Mating in Modern Times." Wong has written for television on "All American Girl" starring Margaret Cho, and she holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Jamie H. J. Guan graduated from the Beijing Institute for Performing Arts and performed with Peking Opera Troupe No. 1 for 15 years, specializing in martial arts roles. He made his Broadway debut as actor and choreographer in the Tony Award-winning "M. Butterfly" and also choreographed the feature film of that show. Guan was fight instructor for "Soul Possessed," and was the Chinese opera consultant for "Dreams," which were presented at the Kennedy Center. He has continued his collaboration with Debbie Allen, most notably as associate choreographer of a live, globally broadcast Chinese martial-arts dance performance celebrating the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" for the 73rd annual Academy Awards. In association with Atlantic Pacific Music, Guan produced the first tour in 20 years of the Beijing Opera Theater Troupe with a company of 36 artists and musicians, appearing at Lincoln Center among other locations. He has performed and choreographed internationally in theatre, film and television.

Bart McGeehon currently serves as the director of production and safety program administrator for Dallas Children's Theatre, where his design work has included "Night of the Living Dead," "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! A Very Hairy Fairy Tale," "Teen Brain: The Musical," "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "The Cat in the Hat." In addition, his work has been seen on many area stages, including his award-winning projection design for "Songs for a New World" and "SOHO Cinders" for Uptown Players, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for Shakespeare Dallas and "Albert's Anthology" at Theatre Britain. McGeehon is currently working on the Texas premiere of "Hedwig and the Angry Itch". Previously, he spent seven years as the production manager and resident scenic and lighting designer for Honolulu Theatre for Youth in Hawaii, where he designed more than 50 productions. McGeehon's design work has been also been seen in regional theatre companies all over the United States, Canada and abroad. Some of his designs include the Miss America Pageant, off-Broadway productions of "Always . . . Patsy Cline," and the national tours of "Curious George," "The Little Prince" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood."

Antonio Brown began his dance training at the Cleveland School of the Arts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Juilliard School in 2007, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes. While there, he performed works by Ohad Naharin, Jose Limon, Jiri Kylian, Eliot Feld, Aszure Barton, Jessica Lang, Susan Marshall and Larry Keigwin, among others. Brown has also worked with Malcolm Low/Formal Structure, Stephen Pier, Nilas Martins Dance Company, Sidra Bell Dance New York and Camille A. Brown & Dancers. In addition to working with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Brown also performs with Gregory Dolbashian's The Dash Ensemble and has choreographed for Verb Ballets, the August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble, Perry Mansfield Performing Arts School and various other companies, schools and intensives across the United States. Brown's work has also been shown at Juilliard, the Center for Performance Research, New York City Summer Stage, Riverside Church and Hunter College.

About the Department of Theatre & Dance:

From directing, choreographing, acting and dancing to designing and technical work, theatre and dance are highly collaborative art forms at SUNY Potsdam. Students and professionals engage in creative problem solving requiring the setting and meeting of long-term goals and the analysis and understanding movement and dramatic literature. The College's newly opened $55 million Performing Arts Center is the home to the Department of Theatre and Dance. For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Theatre.

These are just a few of the many guest artists taking part in this year's festival. To keep up with the latest news, visit www.facebook.com/lokofestival.

North Country Public Radio is the media sponsor for the 2015 Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts at SUNY Potsdam.

For a full schedule and listing of events, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko.

Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of only three arts campuses in the entire SUNY system. SUNY Potsdam's arts curriculum offers the full palette: music, theatre, dance, fine arts and creative writing. No matter the discipline, people from all backgrounds can find their creative compass at Potsdam, with myriad arts immersion experiences available for both campus and community.

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