Eclectic Ovations! Unveils Lineup

By Judith Newmark, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Jun. 1–Sweet Honey in the Rock, a female a cappella group that draws on varied traditions of African-American music, will open the 2008-2009 season at Ovations!, a performing arts series at Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

The troupe has been popular with Ovations! audiences in seasons past. That’s the idea, says the Edison’s executive director, Charlie Robin. The series emphasizes new works, innovative treatments of classical material and unusual styles.

“The Ovations! series explores new ways of seeing the fresh and the familiar,” he said.

The season ahead:

Sept. 26: Sweet Honey in the Rock

Oct. 3-4: L.A. Theatre Works, a radio theater company, with “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells and a new adaptation of “The Lost World” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Oct. 10-11: The Trey McIntyre Project, a contemporary dance troupe

Nov. 7-8: Luna Negra Dance Theatre with its restaging of “There Is a Time,” choreographer Jose Limon’s celebrated, biblically inspired masterwork

Jan. 9-18: Metro Theater Company with a new adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Jan. 23-27: Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis in “Rose,” a one-woman play by “Bent” author Martin Sherman. In “Rose,” which she performed on Broadway, Dukakis portrays an elderly Jewish woman recalling her life in Ukraine, through the Holocaust and in post-war America.

Feb. 13-14: Two major dramatic forces on the American scene, the Guthrie Theater and the Acting Company, team up for Shakespeare’s “King Henry V” and an adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel “The Spy.”

Feb. 20-21: Master puppeteer Basil Twist and the Joe Goode Performance Group join forces for “Wonderboy,” the story of a peculiar superhero who can empathize with everyone.

Feb. 27-28: The Ahn Trio — cellist Maria, pianist Lucia and violinist Angella Ahn — in concert, with commissioned works by contemporary composers

March 28-29: “Foreign Bodies,” a new work composed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Esa-Pekka Salonen and performed by Diavolo, a high-wire dance company, explores questions of home and family.

Jan. 24: The series’ “little sister,” ovations! for young people, will present Michael Cooper in “Masked Marvels & Wondertales,” a one-man show combining mime, visual arts and stilt dancing. The Ahn Trio and Diavolo will present young people’s matinees, too.

All performances are in the Edison Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Boulevard. Single tickets to Ovations! performances are $32, $28 for older adults and $20 for students. Single tickets to ovations! for young people are $10. Various discounts are available with series subscriptions. For more information, call 314-935-6543, or e-mail Edison@wustl.edu.

jnewmark@post-dispatch.com — 314-340-8243

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