FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONK TAKES OVER ROOSEVELT ISLAND
WORLD PREMIERE OF MEREDITH MONK'S "AMERICAN
ARCHEOLOGY # 1" TO TAKE PLACE ON ROOSEVELT ISLAND,
SEPTEMBER 23, 24 & 25
It will be epic Monk. Using New York City as her backdrop, Meredith Monk's
expansive cinematic vision will be given full play when she presents the world premiere
of her two-part "AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY # 1" outdoors on Roosevelt Island,
September 23-25, rain or shine.
"AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY #1: Roosevelt Island" is being presented by The
House Foundation for the Arts and Dancing in the Streets in association with Roosevelt
Island Operating Corporation.
Taking place on opposite shores of the island: the Lighthouse Park on its
northern tip and the 19th century Renwick Ruins on its southern end the performance
represents Monk's first new site-specific work since 1978.
Through music, dance and the powerful natural imagery of Roosevelt Island
itself, Monk, an originator of site-specific work, will evoke the spirit of the island – from
its origins as home to the Leni-Lenape tribe to its designation as home for the mentally
and chronically ill in the 19th century to its present identity as an up-to-date, mixed
income residential community. "AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY #1: Roosevelt Island"
marks the first public performance at the former smallpox hospital, designed by James
Renwick Jr., the architect of St. Patrick's Cathedral .
The 60-member, multi-national, multi-generational cast will include members of
Monk's Vocal Ensemble, members of Roosevelt Island's senior citizens group, a
brigade of children, doctors, nurses, patients, business executives, security officers, a
horse and rider, as well as Meredith Monk herself.
Ms. Monk was last seen in New York City this past May at P.S. 122 where she
presented her riveting solo, "Volcano Songs." In December, 1993, she performed at
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Merkin Concert Hall. During the past twelve months she toured her duet with Robert
Een, "Facing North," and a concert version of her most recent large scale work,
"ATLAS: an opera in three parts'' throughout the United States, Europe, the United
Kingdom, and Japan. She recently created two dances, "Street Corner Pierrot" and
"Evanescence" to the music of ragtime composer Donald Ashwander. Her recording of
"Facing North" on ECM NEW SERIES released last October. A two-disc CD of "ATLAS:
an opera in three parts" was released in the United States by ECM NEW SERIES in
January, 1994.
The creator of more than 80 films, music, theater, and dance works, Meredith
Monk is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including an honorary Doctor
of Arts degree from Bard College, and one from the University of the Arts, a Sigma
Alpha Iota Fellowship for outstanding female composer at the MacDowell Colony, two
Guggenheim Fellowships, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award, three Obies for theater
(including one for Sustained Creative Achievement), two Villager Awards, a "Bessie"
(New York Dance and Performance Award for Sustained Achievement), the 1986
National Music Theater Award, and sixteen ASCAP Awards for Musical Composition, a
CINE Golden Eagle Award for film, the Rockefeller Fellowship for Distinguished
Choreography, first Prize for Performance Programming from the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, as well as the 1992 Dance Magazine Award. Meredith Monk recently
received her first Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to continue
to create large scale, interdisciplinary works.
The Roosevelt Island performance times are: Part 1: Lighthouse Park, 4pm
sharp; Part 2: Renwick Ruins, 6:15pm sharp. All tickets are $20 ($10 students/seniors
with ID), and are available by calling 212-206-1440. Reservations are necessary. A
special preview performance benefitting The House Foundation, Dancing in the Streets,
Friends of Roosevelt Island Landmarks, Inc. will be held Thursday September 22nd.
Tickets are $100 and include supper with Meredith Monk and her Ensemble.
"American Archeology #1: Roosevelt Island" is the final production of the 1994
Dancing in the Streets Festival NYC.
Directions to Roosevelt Island: By tram: 60th Street and Second Avenue. By
subway: Q-Train (B train evenings and weekends) to Roosevelt Island Station: By car:
21st street in Long Island City to 36th Avenue. Follow 36th Avenue West over bridge.
Park in public garage. Walk to tram station. To Lighthouse: Take RIOC Red bus from
tram or subway stations to last stop.
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"AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY #1: Roosevelt Island" is produced by The House
Foundation for the Arts, Dancing in the Streets, in association with Roosevelt Island
Operating Corporation of the State of New York.
The commissioning of this work by Walker Art Center, Dancing in the Streets, The
House Foundation for the Arts, PS 122 and Hancher Auditorium was made possible by
a grant from Meet the Composer/ Reader's Digest Commissioning Program, in
partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest
Fund.
Production support was provided by the Multi-Arts Production Fund of the Rockefeller
Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the
Arts, AT & T, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, US Trust Company, The Fan Fox
and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation and The Harkness Foundation for Dance.
Dancing in The Streets Festival NYC is sponsored by Heathcote Art Foundation, Joyce
Mertz-Gilmore Foundation and American Express. Marketing support is provided by
Philip Morris Companies Inc., Booth Ferris Foundation, and Time Warner Cable.
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