Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon

PHOTO BY PAUL MAROTTA

S ’ R E L T U B .

E OCTAVIA

CREATED BY

TOSHI REAGON AND BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON

(UNITED STATES)

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY TOSHI REAGON AND BERNICE JOHNSON (UNITED STATES) DIRECTED BY ERIC TING (UNITED STATES)

REAGON

4 & 5 May

FRI & SAT, 8PM

Victoria Theatre 2h, no intermission

MESSAGE FROM THE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR I grew up looking forward to the Singapore Arts Festival every year.

Watching shows across different genres from around the world played a big part in shaping my artistic sensibilities. Shows such as Ninagawa’s Macbeth (1992), for example, entirely changed my perception of how Shakespeare could be performed.

In 1996, I acted in Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Sing To The Dawn; it was the first time a Singaporean musical opened the Singapore Arts Festival. Given this history, I was delighted and honoured to be asked to helm the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) for the next three years.

What is SIFA’s role? Where does it fit in the cultural landscape, both at home and internationally? Who does it serve?

Where would I like it to be in three years?

As I was thinking of how to shape the festival, what I did know was that I wanted to programme a festival that would inspire young people in the same way that I was impacted 25 years ago.

With the support of the phenomenal team at SIFA, I aspired to curate a season that would showcase different art forms and perspectives from Singapore and around the world. We also strove to programme a spectrum of shows that would appeal to a variety of audiences, from the first-time festival-goer to the seasoned art lover.

We believe we have programmed artists who are game-changers in their fields.

In parallel, discussions commenced with several of the game-changers in the Singapore arts scene. One of SIFA’s roles is to commission and facilitate the creation of new Singaporean work – giving artists the time and resources to develop shows over a two- or three-year horizon. We look forward to presenting the culmination of this process in SIFA 2019 and 2020.

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Two memorable experiences from arts festivals I have attended around the world have been the free outdoor performances, and a festival ‘village’ — a place where artists and audiences can meet after a show and discuss what they’ve just seen. Both these elements can be found in SIFA 2018. The free outdoor programmes on the opening and closing weekends have some sensational performances to be enjoyed with family and friends. Over these three weeks, The Arts House will become Festival House.

It will be the heartbeat of SIFA with performances, lectures, readings, music salons and, of course, a place to just hang out and chat. Artists will give talks, conduct masterclasses or host Q&As, and hopefully we will build relationships with them that last beyond the festival.

A key initiative that I introduced this year is the $10 front-row student ticket. I want the next generation of Singaporeans to know that they matter to SIFA. My hope is that they will fall in love with the arts in the same way I did at their age.

I would like to thank Sarah Martin and the incredible team of people I work with at SIFA and at Arts House Limited. Despite the tight six-month runway to programme this festival, they have been nothing short of amazing and have worked tirelessly to produce a festival that we hope resonates with you as much as it does with us.

Most of all, thank you for your support. The scope, breadth and reach of shows in SIFA will continue to grow over the next three years. We look forward to taking you on this exciting journey with us.

Gaurav Kripalani Festival Director

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Festivals bring people together to celebrate causes or to mark momentous occasions. Arts festivals allow us to not only appreciate the arts, they allow us to experience and form lasting and transformative memories. It is through shared experiences that we come to form communities.

The inaugural Singapore Festival of Arts began in 1977 as a national showcase of the vibrant art forms found within Singapore’s diverse communities. In its many evolutions over the last four decades, the Festival has touched countless hearts, created invaluable experiences for many, and inspired even more to embrace the arts. From a time when Singapore was widely perceived as a cultural desert, the Festival has played an instrumental role in developing Singapore’s arts landscape and shaped the city-state into one of Asia’s leading cultural capitals.

This year, SIFA 2018 marks the 41st year and kicks off a new era with Gaurav Kripalani at the helm as Festival Director for 2018 – 2020. Condensed into 17 days of artistic adventures, it is our hope that

this exhilarating three-week format will create robust artistic engagement for a spectrum of diverse audiences. The Arts House will be transformed into the Festival House, and within its intimate spaces, there will be meaningful discourses on the various themes presented in the festival.

Built upon the foundation and achievements of those who came before, SIFA is the sum of many parts made possible by a team of many talents who has worked tirelessly and passionately to deliver the Festival Director’s vision.

I thank everyone who has had a hand in shaping the Singapore International Festival of Arts into a tradition for both new and existing audiences and making it the stalwart of Singapore’s dedication to artistic excellence.

Gaurav and the team have put together a festival of multiple layers allowing you to make up your own artistic adventures.

It is my hope that you will walk away with unique memories of the Festival.

Sarah Martin CEO, Arts House Limited

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SYNOPSIS The story begins in the year 2024, in a time of great turmoil that is all too easy to visualise from where we stand today. Air and water are increasingly polluted.

Droughts plague the West Coast; the gap between the haves and have-nots has widened to the breaking point; and violence and unrest spread like wildfire. Young Lauren Olamina, focus of The Parable of the Sower, exists in a Southern California gated community, walled in with a small group of neighbors—yet the outside world continues to press closer, with greater danger every day.

Lauren has a condition called “hyper-empathy” which causes her to experience the pain and—rarely—the pleasure of others. The scenes she sees on the road—murder, injuries, fear and starvation—affect her to an overwhelming degree.

The relationship between Lauren and her preacher father is strained. Lauren feels strongly that the role of a human being is to face reality and respond with action.

She understands God as being one of change, while her father answers back that “God don’t never change.”

One day her father does not return from his job at the university. Without his leadership, their community feels hollowed out. Not long thereafter the enclave is attacked, and Lauren sees many of her neighbors killed. She cannot find her family.

Her only choice is to grab a few belongings and flee, headed north to an unknown future.

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Lauren travels with two fellow survivors from her neighborhood. Thousands throng the roads; they must be constantly on guard. Along the way they pick up a few other travelers who join with them for safety: a pair of sisters, a couple and their baby, two escaped enslaved people on different paths, and most especially a doctor, named Bankole, who will tie his future to Lauren’s.

All that you touch You Change.

Along the way Lauren shares the truths she has come to discover about God as Change. That concept becomes one of the basic tenets of Earthseed. As the group reaches a safe place to form the first Earthseed community—and they look forward to the day when humanity will escape to the stars.

God Is Change.

All that you Change Changes you.

The only lasting truth Is Change.

From Earthseed: The Books of the Living by Lauren Oya Olamina

MESSAGE FROM TOSHI REAGON For my mother and me, the essential thing in our pieces is the singing. All of the musical arrangements centre around the voice. To us, when you are taken from your land and stripped of rights, your name, your people, your religion and assaulted relentlessly – your home is the sound your body can make. Your dignity rescues itself in the shelves of your instrument. From your most central place it pushes up like a pump and into service by the mechanics of your vocal chords, tongue and mouth.

In Parable of the Sower, the songs span over three centuries of Black music – music and text that help you find your way in the darkness, or lead you to a river to drink or guide you to freedom. We are taking advantage of the complexity and richness of the music as it travelled into the wilderness and out and back in over and over again.

In Parable we are dealing with a 21st Century girl who knows that she is in trouble. Lauren Olamina is the daughter of a Baptist preacher whose religious and musical lines come out of the 19th Century and from the ancient text of the Bible. She struggles to convince her community to leave their walled-in homes, and struggles to separate herself from her father and his followers because she intuits that what we, in 2018, know and must proclaim: hiding behind walls is only the illusion of safety. True safety lies in breaking down barriers, creating community and making change.

We put the music in the voice of Lauren Olamina because she is a 21st Century child and her voice is available to be the shelter for her new text; a new way of moving through the world with that same vulnerability that her ancestors did. We put all of this music around this character and around the communities that move with her because they need it to travel forward. We bend traditional music into 21st Century shape, and we create sonic hybrids to accompany the newness and dangers of Lauren’s journey. We centre that sound passed up through generations to the new world teachings of Earthseed.

Toshi Reagon

“ In Parable of the Sower, the songs span over three centuries of Black music – music and text that help you find your way in the darkness, or lead you to a river to drink or guide you to freedom.”

PHOTO BY KEVIN YATAROLA

SETTING PART 1: The walled community of Robledo, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA, in the near future.

PART 2: Later, on the road north.

PERFORMERS Talents: Carla Duren, Helga Davis, Toshi Reagon PART 1 Rev. Olamina Lauren Olamina Keith Olamina Cory Olamina Harry Balter Richard Moss Zahra Moss Joanne Garfield Tracy Dunn Mrs. Sims Wardell Parish Mrs. Hsu

PART 2 Jason Charles Walker Shayna Small Curtiss Cook Jr. Karma Mayet Tomas Cruz Tariq Al-Sabir Tsilala Brock Morley Kamen Heather Christian Josette Newsam-Marchak Toussaint JeanLouis Diana Oh

The Ancestors

Lauren Olamina Harry Balter Zahra Moss Travis Douglas Gloria Natividad Douglas Jillian Gilchrist Allison Gilchrist Grayson Mora Emery Tanaka Solis Taylor Franklin Bankole

Jason Charles Walker, Josette Newsam-Marchak Shayna Small Tomas Cruz Tsilala Brock Tariq Al-Sabir Karma Mayet Heather Christian Morley Kamen Curtiss Cook, Jr. Diana Oh Toussaint JeanLouis

ORCHESTRA Percussion: Bobby Burke | Bass: Fred Cash, Jr. | Cello: Malcolm Parson | Violin: Juliette Jones Guitar & Keyboard: Adam Widoff Originally commissioned by The Public Theater, and Co-commissioned by The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. World Premiere at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi November 9, 2017. It is made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. OCTAVIA E. BUTLER’S PARABLE OF THE SOWER was developed with support by The Public Theater and during a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY. Additional support provided by the Apollo’s Salon Series Program. Fiscally sponsored by Cal Shakes.

Leadership Circle: Kobi Conaway and Andrew Owen.

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PHOTO BY WALEED SHAH

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER’S PARABLE OF THE SOWER Created by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon Directed by Eric Ting Music and Lyrics by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon Music Direction: Toshi Reagon Touring Direction and Additional Staging: Logan Vaughn Choreography: Millicent Johnnie Scenic: Arnulfo Maldonado Costumes: Dede M. Ayite Lighting: Christopher Kuhl Touring Lighting Director: Devin Cameron Art Installation: Abigail Deville Audio Systems: John Kemp Front of House Engineer: Benjamin Furiga Audio Technician: Laura Brauner Production Manager: Davison Scandrett Production Stage Manager: Chris De Camillis Associate Stage Manager: Dee Dee Katchen Associate Producer: Alyssa Simmons Executive Producer: Meiyin Wang Produced by Wise Reagon Arts and Meiyin Wang

With Tariq Al-Sabir, Heather Christian, Curtiss Cook Jr., Tomas Cruz, Helga Davis, Carla Duren, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Morley Kamen, Karma Mayet, Josette Newsam-Marchak, Diana Oh, Toshi Reagon, Shayna Small, Jason Charles Walker Dance Captain: Tsilala Brock Orchestra Bobby Burke, Fred Cash Jr, Juliette Jones, Malcolm Parson, Adam Widoff The Pre-Show Soundscape includes the music of Bernice Johnson Reagon, Jason Moran, Meshell Ndegeocello, Arooj Aftab, Climbing PoeTree, Alicia Hall Moran. News Reporter- J. Bob Alotta.

Based on the novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler.

Courtesy of the estate of Octavia E. Butler.

SPECIAL THANKS Octavia E. Butler and the Estate of Octavia E. Butler; Merrilee Heifetz and Writers House; 62’ Center at Williams College; Annenberg Center; Arts Emerson; Apollo Theater; Arooj Aftab; J. Bob Alotta; Lily LambAtkinson; Bill Bragin and The Arts Center NYUAD; Baryshnikov Arts Center; Cal Shakes; Adisa Douglas; Vijay Iyer; Melanie Joseph; Emil Kang, Amy Russell and Carolina Performing Arts; Tommy Kriegsmann / ArkType***; La MaMa ETC; Michael Lonergan, Jessica Wasilewski and Park Avenue Armory; Antje Oegel; Jason Moran; Meshell Ndegeocello; NEFA; Bernice Johnson Reagon; Tashawn Reagon; Walter Ryon, Jane Saks; Shanta Thake; Susan Ting; The Public Theater and Under the Radar Festival; The Quick Center. Gaurav Kripalani and SIFA, Dave Nelson and The Wang Family. Additional special thanks to Stefanie Kelly, Arlene Brock, Elana Dykewomon, Jan Foust Hurt, Institute for the Musical Arts, Lydia Mann, Diane S & Jewelle G. LEADERSHIP CIRCLE: Kobi Conaway and Andrew Owen PRODUCERS CIRCLE: Dominique Bischoff Brown, Jacqueline Woodson, Margot Kenley DIRECTORS CIRCLE: Dr. Lisa M Coleman, M. Kirksey & T. Wynder CIRCLE MEMBERS: Amy Laura Cahn, Barbara Luciani, BROWN ESTATE, Lanita Foley And all of the incredible artists past and present who have been a part of this journey For more information about Parable’s Journey and its collaborators, please visit parableopera.com

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BIOGRAPHIES OCTAVIA ESTELLE BUTLER Author (22 June 1947 – 24 February 2006) Octavia E. Butler was a renowned African American author, recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and a PEN Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work.

Born in Pasadena in 1947, she was raised by her mother (a housemaid) and her grandmother. The author of many awardwinning novels, including Parable of the Sower (1993), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Parable of the Talents (1995) winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel published that year, she was way ahead of her time: though the MacArthur Grant made life easier in later years, she struggled for decades when her dystopian novels exploring themes of Black injustice, global warming, women’s rights and political disparity were, to say the least, not in commercial demand. During these years of obscurity Butler, always an early riser, woke at 2 a.m. every day to write, and then went to work as a telemarketer, potato chip inspector, and dishwasher, among other things. At the time of her death in 2006, interest in her books was beginning to rise, and in recent years, her work has become timely and hugely popular among all kinds of readers. Sales overall have increased world-wide, her work is taught in over 200 colleges and universities nationwide; and a graphic novel adaptation of her book KINDRED was a #1 New York Times Bestseller in 2017. In media, her novel Dawn is being developed for television by Ava DuVernay (Selma; A Wrinkle In Time) and other works are also in production.

Currently, an opera by Toshi Reagon based on Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower is part of The Public Theatre “Under the Radar” festival and will be touring worldwide in 2018.

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TOSHI REAGON Librettist, Composer, Music Director Toshi Reagon is a talented and versatile singer, composer, musician, curator and producer with a profound ear for sonic Americana—from folk to funk, from blues to rock. While her expansive career has landed her at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House and Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily find Toshi turning out at a music festival, intimate venue or local club. She has collaborated with many artists including Carl Hancock Rux, Ani DiFranco, Lenny Kravitz, Elvis Costello and Nona Hendryx. As a composer, she has worked with Katori Hall, Urban Bush Women and The Jane Comfort Dance Co., among others. She is currently touring Bessie Award-winning The Blues Project with tap dancer Michelle Dorrance and Dorrance Dance. She founded WORD*ROCK*&SWORD, a community festival that takes place throughout New York City every September. Together with her mother Bernice Johnson Reagon, she has created two operas with director Robert Wilson, The Temptation of St. Anthony and Zinnias, The Life of Clementine Hunter. Toshi co-composed music for two Peabody Award-winning films and received a NYFA Award for Music Composition, the 2010 OutMusic Heritage Award and The Black Lily Music and Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance. She is a National Women’s History Month honoree and was named a 2015 Art of Change Fellow by the Ford Foundation.

BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON Librettist, Composer Bernice Johnson Reagon is a scholar, singer/songleader, activist. For over half a century she has been a profound contributor to African American and American culture. Born in Southwest Georgia, her singing style and traditional repertoire is grounded in her experiences in church, school and political activism. As a composer, she has created a narrative of her social and political activism through her songs and larger compositions. She performed as a member of the SNCC

Freedom Singers during the sixties; she founded an all-women a cappella ensemble, The Harambee Singers, during the Black Cultural Movement; she founded and led the internationally acclaimed Sweet Honey in the Rock for thirty years until retirement. Paralleling her work in music, Reagon is one of the leading authorities in African American Cultural History. She is a recipient of the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities, a MacArthur Fellowship and the Presidential Medal and Charles E. Frankel Prize for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Humanities.

ERIC TING | Director Eric Ting is an Obie Award-winning director and Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater. Recent directing credits include Black Odyssey, Othello (Cal Shakes), the world premiere of Sam Hunter’s Lewiston (Long Wharf Theatre) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Cincinnati Playhouse), Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness (Manhattan Theatre Club/Goodman), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate (Center Theatre Group), Kimber Lee’s Brownsville Song (Long Wharf/ Philadelphia Theatre Co.), Sam Hunter’s A Great Wilderness (Williamstown), Nora Chipaumire’s Miriam (BAM Next Wave), Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present a Presentation… (world premiere, Soho Rep/Victory Gardens). Ting is a founding member of the artists’ collective Intelligent Beasts.

LOGAN VAUGHN | Touring Director Logan Vaughn is a New York-based artist and director. In 2008, Logan was awarded the Goodman Theater’s prestigious Joyce Arts Fellowship in Casting and subsequently worked as an Associate in the Tony Award-winning theatre’s casting department for five seasons. Logan was Playwrights Horizon’s Director in Residence from 2012 to 2013. In 2012, Logan was also named a Member of the Director’s Lab, Lincoln Center. As a director, she has worked with Geva Theatre, Playwrights Realm, Baltimore Center Stage, Mosaic Theatre, 59E59, National Black Theatre

and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Logan most recently directed the World Premiere of Mat Smart’s The Agitators at Geva Theatre where it became the highest grossing World Premiere in Geva Theatre’s history.

MILLICENT JOHNNIE | Choreographer Millicent Johnnie served as an Associate Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based dance company Urban Bush Women. She choreographed the original Parable of the Sower workshop (New York City Opera).

Off-Broadway: Ameriville, Party People (The Public Theater). Other theatre credits include Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter (Montclair Peak Performances), Symphony for the Dance Floor (Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Love Project (National Black Theater Festival), The Hip Hop Project (Krannert Performing Arts Center), The Shipment, We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 (UnderMain Theater), The Burning (Contemporary Arts Center) and immersive/site responsive theater: Cry You One (Mondo Bizarro and Art Spot Productions). Johnnie directed and choreographed RENT (Ferndale Repertory Theater), West Side Story (University Kwazulu Natal, South Africa), Bamaboula: Musician’s Brew (Cleo Parker Robinson 45th Anniversary Tour), and Cubamor The Musical (Village Theater).

She has received numerous awards and nominations for her work including a United States Artist nomination for dance, the Prague International Dance Festival Award, Times-Standrard Beti’s Choice Award, Theatre Bay Area Award and Vivian Robinson/Avdelco nomination for outstanding choreography. She choreographed the feature film Scary Movie 5, served as a choreographer for Disney’s Frozen: Live at the Hyperion and more recently performed in the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Brazil.

Johnnie is a visiting assistant professor in dance at Florida State University.

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CREATIVE TEAM ARNULFO MALDONADO | Scenic Designer Arnulfo Maldonado is a New York Citybased set and costume designer. Notable New York credits include: School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play, Charm (MCC Theater); Bull In A China Shop (Lincoln Theater Center); Twelfth Night (The Public); Kingdom Come (Roundabout); Duat, generations (Soho Rep); Caught (Play Co); Men On Boats, Iowa (Playwrights Horizons); Iphigenia In Aulis (CSC). Regional: Berkeley Rep, Center Stage, Central City Opera, Guthrie Theater, Old Globe, Olney Theater Center, Opera Theater of St Louis, Philadelphia Theater Company, Two River Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival.

Tour: The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (BAM Next Wave/International tour). Mr. Maldonado is a Clubbed Thumb Affiliated Artist, a recipient of a Princess Grace Fabergé Theater Award, and a multipleHenry Hewes Design nominee. MFA: NYU Tisch. www.arnulfomaldonado.com DEDE M. AYITE | Costume Design Select Off-Broadway credits include: JHTAT ( Signature); The Royale (Lincoln Center); Tell Hector I Miss Him, Marie & Rosetta (Atlantic); Bella: An American Tall Tale (Playwrights Horizons & Dallas Theater Center); Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout); brownsville song (b-side for tray) (LCT3); Twelfth Night, ToasT, Urban Retreat, Manhattan (Public).

Regionally Ms. Ayite’s work has been seen at: California Shakespeare; La Jolla Playhouse; Berkeley Repertory; Baltimore Center Stage; Arena Stage; Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Cleveland Playhouse; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Signature Theatre; McCarter Theatre; Denver Theatre Center; Berkshire Theatre.

Television: Comedy Central; Fox Shortcoms (FOX Network); COPPER Project (Improv Everywhere/BBC America). Awards: 2017 Helen Hayes Award, 2015 Jeff Award.

Education: MFA: Yale School of Drama.

CHRISTOPHER KUHL | Lighting Design Recent work includes: Dog Days (Los Angeles Opera); The Object Lesson (BAM, Edinburgh Festival, Sydney Festival); The Source (San Francisco Opera, REDCAT, 9

BAM); The Institute of Memory (The Public Theater, T:BA Festival); Straight White Men (Young Jean Lee’s Theatre Company, The Public Theatre, Kaai Theater, Centre Pompidou), The Elephant Room (St. Ann’s Warehouse); ABACUS (BAM, Sundance Film Festival, EMPAC). He has received two Bessie Awards, two Ovation awards and a Sherwood, Drammy and Horton award.

He is originally from New Mexico and a graduate of CalArts.

DEVIN CAMERON | Tour Lighting Director Devin Cameron is an New York-based designer. Recent credits: Drama Desk Award winning The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (National Theatre Scotland), Their Eyes Were Watching God with Tony Award winning director Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Billie Holiday Theatre), Water± (National Public Radio), Dream Machine (Free Play), resident lighting designer at critically acclaimed immersive theatre experience Sleep No More (Punchdrunk). www.devincameron.com ABIGAIL DEVILLE | Art Installation Abigail DeVille received her MFA from Yale University in 2011 and her BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2007.

DeVille has exhibited a constellation of sitespecific installations in the United States and Europe. Her most recent exhibitions include No Space Hidden (Shelter) ICA LA, Los Angeles, CA (2017), 20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (2017), A Picture of the Universe in Clock Time, Momentum 9, Moss, Norway (2017), Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today, Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO (2017), Harlem: Found Ways, Cooper Gallery at Hutchins Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2017), Urban Planning: Contemporary Art and the City 1967-2017, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO (2017) Chaos or Community?

Michel Rein, Brussels, BE (2017), The Intersectional Self, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, NY (2017).

DeVille has designed sets for theatrical productions—at venues such as the

Stratford Festival (2014), directed by Peter Sellers, Harlem Stage (2016), La MaMa (2015), JACK (2014-16), and Joe’s Pub (2014) directed by Charlotte Brathwaite.

She has received honours—2014-15 fellowship at The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, 2015 Creative Capital grantee and received a 2015 OBIE Award for design. DeVille is the 2017-18 Chuck Close Henry W and Marion T Mitchell Rome Prize fellow.

JOHN KEMP | Audio Systems Design John Kemp is thrilled to be part of the Parable of the Sower team. He sends his love to all who come, gone, and will be.

BENJAMIN FURIGA | FOH Engineer Benjamin Furiga has designed and mixed shows from black box theatres to stadiums.

Recent credits: Dialogues des Carmelites at NYU, Different Trains with Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall, Chicago at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. www.furigasounddesign.com LAURA BRAUNER | Audio Technician Laura is thrilled to be joining the company of Parable of the Sower. She was last seen internationally while mixing The Gabriels (The Public Theater) and is excited to be back on the road. When not traveling the world, Laura mixes and A2’s out of NYC. DAVISON SCANDRETT Production Manager Davison Scandrett has supervised lighting and production for more than 1000 performances in 29 countries on six continents. Recent credits include projects with Marina Abramovic, Benjamin Millepied, BalletBoyz, Wendy Whelan, Lincoln Center Festival, and the Paris Opera Ballet. He was the recipient of a 2007 Bessie Award for visual design and served as Director of Production for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2008-2012.

Mathias (Playwrights Realm); Building the Wall (New World Stages), The Total Bent (Public), Much Ado About Nothing (NYSF/DELACORTE); Pride’s Crossing (Lincoln Center), SLAVS! (NYTW), Oliver Twist (TFANA), Raised in Captivity (The Vineyard). Regional: American Repertory Theater; Artistic Coordinator and Resident Stage Manager 1998-2013.

DEE DEE KATCHEN Associate Stage Management Dee Dee has been working in the northeast United States for over 15 years. Select theatre credits include: Angels in America [The Signature Theater]; Frankenstein the Musical [Original Off Broadway Cast]; Summer Shorts Festival 2013-2017 [Throughline Artists]; THE AGITATORS: NY Workshop [GEVA Theatre Center]. Most recently, Dee Dee was the Touring PSM for Ripetime’s SLEEP at Yale Rep. ALYSSA SIMMONS | Associate Producer Alyssa Simmons is a freelance creative producer and manager. Upcoming projects include serving as the producer on the 2018 Prelude Festival and serving as the general management associate on the 2019 Under the Radar Festival. BA: Yale University, MFA: Yale School of Drama.

MEIYIN WANG | Producer Meiyin Wang is a producer and curator of live performances based in the Bay Area.

She is currently the director of La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival, a site specific and experiential performance festival. She was most recently the co-director of Under the Radar Festival and the director of the Devised Theater Initiative at The Public Theater in New York, and the curator of the Park Avenue Armory Artists in Residency Series. Meiyin was born and raised in Singapore.

CHRIS DE CAMILLIS | Stage Management Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Misery, It’s Only a Play, The Glass Menagerie. Off- Broadway: The Rape of the Sabine Women by Grace B. 10

PERFORMERS TARIQ AL-SABIR Vocalist and composer Tariq Al-Sabir has been described as a “boundless talent” by Baltimore’s City Hall, and The Examiner dubbed him “a rising musical mastermind.” Tariq was recently featured on TEDxMidAtlantic, premiering original music and lecturing on interdisciplinary arts work. Tariq’s work has been presented at premiere venues such as Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, MoMA and The Kennedy Center.

TSILALA BROCK Tsilala is honoured to continue the storytelling of Parable of the Sower with this incredible community. Regional credits include Satchel Paige and the City Swing (Cincinnati Prep and St. Louis Reperatory), Twelfth Night (Vineyard Playhouse). Film/TV credits include feature film The Bushwick Projects, Broad City and Mysteries of Laura. Thank you for the opportunity and growth. www.Tsilalal.com HEATHER CHRISTIAN Heather Christian is an Obie Award winning composer/performer for music/ theatre (Animal Wisdom Bushwick Starr, Mission Drift Nat’l Theater London, The World Is Round BAM). She was named a TimeOut NY Downtown Innovator To Watch and has released eight records with her band the Arbornauts. www.heatherchristian.com CURTISS COOK JR. Curtiss Cook Jr. is honoured to be surrounded by the immense talents that have converged to present to you Toshi Reagon’s Parable of the Sower. Earlier works that Curtiss has been a part of include: Philadelphia Theater Co. and Long Wharf’s co-production of Brownsville Song: b-side for Tray, and CSC’s presentation of Mother Courage and her Children. Keep an eye out for more from him!

TOMAS CRUZ Tomás is known for his “... mellifluous, pure tone (New York Classical Review)...,” as well as his stylistic flexibility. He has performed new operas and concert works by Judd 11

Greenstein, Missy Mazzoli, Anthony Braxton, Matthew Schickele, the Pulitzer Prizewinning Du Yun, Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s opera, Einstein On The Beach. Other credits include SNL, Damien Rice, America’s Got Talent, recordings with Matthew Sheens and Yelena Eckemoff, and performance works by Martin Creed, Andrea Galvani, and Jane Benson. Tomás recently workshopped pieces by Evan Tziporin and Jeremy Schonfeld. This is Tomas’ third engagement with Toshi Reagon. www.tomasvoice.com HELGA DAVIS Helga Davis has been starring in the 25th anniversary re-staging of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s seminal work Einstein on the Beach. Current projects include Requiem for a Tuesday with bass-baritone Davóne Tines and DROWN, a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Yuka Honda.

Davis is also the 2016-17 artist in residence at National Sawdust and is the host of a new podcast, HELGA, on Q2 music.

CARLA DUREN Carla has supported such artists as Pink, Deborah Cox, Kelis, Talib Kweli, Amel Larrieux and Bette Midler and starred on Broadway. She played the title role in Toshi Reagon and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon’s collaboration with Robert Wilson Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter. Her solo project is on carladuren.com.

TOUSSAINT JEANLOUIS Toussaint resides in New York City and is most recently seen as Antonio in The Merchant of Venice directed by Karin Coonrod and Compagnia de Colombari, Mr. Taylor in SOOT and SPIT directed by Kim Weild and OUR VOICES, Dooley Wilson/ Sam in CasablancaBox directed by Reid Farrington at HERE Arts Center, Saint in ‘DUAT’ directed by Will Davis at SoHo Repertory Theater, Beau Willie Brown in ‘but i could only whisper’ directed by David Monteagudo at The Flea Theater. He graduated from Arizona State University (BA Theater, 2007) and California Institute of the Arts (MFA Acting, 2010).

MORLEY KAMEN Morley Kamen is a singer and songwriter who uses music as a tool for conflict resolution when working with youth. She has released five original recordings under the auspices of major studios such as Sony and Universal as well as independently.

She released her sixth album, Thousand Miles (co-produced by Ken Rich & Toshi Reagon), in 2016. “Morley pushes for peace building through music.” – NPR KARMA MAYET Actor, vocalist, composer Karma Mayet has performed across the US and internationally. In the New York theatre scene, she’s appeared extensively Off Broadway, on stages including The Public Theater, New Dramatists, and The Joyce.

Karma is composer/librettist of Indigo, a Blues opera. She teaches improvisation as a transformative tool in community advocacy, and has worked with artists ranging from directors Robert Wilson and Bill T. Jones to musicians Meshell Ndegeocello, and The Roots.

JOSETTE NEWSAM-MARCHAK Josette is a New York City native who is a singer, songwriter, arranger and playwright. She’s had the opportunity to perform in many amazing television, film and theatre productions with a host of celebrities. She currently works alongside her guitarist husband, Aron, in their Christian music group “Marchak”.

DIANA OH Diana Oh is an actor, singer-songwriter, performance-maker, artist of colour queering the world with their radical non-complacency. Creator of {my lingerie play}, Asian People are Not Magicians on mic.com, a Refinery29 Top LGBTQ Influencer, the first queer Korean-American interviewed on Korean Broadcast Radio, a TOW Fellow (Rattlestick Playwrights), Van Lier Fellow in Acting (Asian American Arts Alliance), Venturous Capital Grant Recipient and Elphaba Thropp Fellow. Get into it! www.patreon.com/dianaoh

SHAYNA SMALL Shayna Small is an actress, singer and teaching artist. Her work has taken her to The Huntington, The Public, Signature Theater, NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center, Lesser America, The Kennedy Center, The DC Jazz Fest, Les Poisson Rouge, Rockwood Stage, SNL, Joe’s Pub, The Eugene O’Neill Playwright Festival, and CenterStage. She is currently an arts ambassador for the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Greater Washington and teaches movement at the Stella Adler Conservatory. She holds a BFA in Drama from The Juilliard School. www.shaynasmall.com JASON CHARLES WALKER Jason Charles Walker began his professional career singing in the bass and baritone sections of a mixed quartet formed to reconstruct historic music for the PBS film series on slavery, Africans in America. Jason spent six years performing as a featured soloist and ensemble leader of Robert Wilson, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon’s Temptations of St. Anthony production, which completed several successful European tours after its 2003 premiere in Germany and the US premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He most recently toured with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach. In addition to his prolific theatre resume, Jason has an impressive solo career. His first album Just Like You draws from Jason’s musical expertise in the genres of jazz, gospel, classical, and opera.

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ORCHESTRA BOBBY BURKE | Drums Bobby Bird is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer/songwriter. His last self-produced internationally criticallyacclaimed record entitled Long Live the Duke & The King landed him a hit song Shine on You in Ireland. He has been an active member of BIGLovely for over a decade and has produced Toshi Reagon’s record, There and Back Again, alongside Loik Dury, he scored the film Paris by Cedric Klapisch; the soundtrack went on to be the number one-selling record for two weeks in France. His early songwriting and production can be heard in the Band Drugs’ The Prescription for Mis-America, featuring Parliament/Funkadelic’s George Clinton, Garry Shider and Clip Payne. He has spent the past year composing for Microsoft and X-Box and has co- written the theme song for cedric Klapisch’s latest film Back to Burgundy.

FRED CASH JR. | Bass Native of Chicago, Fred has been touring with Toshi Reagon’s BIGLovely since 1998.

Cash attended the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He has worked with such artists as Jean-Paul Bourelly, India Arie, and Jerry Butler.

MALCOLM PARSON | Cello A native of New Orleans, cellist Malcolm Parson has been hailed as “the most creative cellist of his generation”. According to Grammy Award winner, Eugene Friesen, “He is that rare player with feet planted firmly in classical music and the music of our time while possessing perfect intonation, fluent technique and stylistic versatility.”

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A longtime member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Malcolm has also shared the stage with musicians and bands such as James Lauderdale, Della Mae, Del McCoury, Old Crow Medicine Show, Ron Carter, Paquito D’Rivera, Patrice Rushen, Toshi Reagon, Terri Lynn Carrington, Dave Liebman, and Christian Howes as well as collaborating with choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Julia Gleich, and dance company Brooklyn Ballet.

JULIETTE JONES | Violin Juliette Jones is a multi-genre live and studio recording violinist. A BMI composer, Juliette has scored, recorded and contracted for a number of live, television and multimedia events, including the Oscar-nominated film Mudbound, the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards Elton John Tribute, NBC’s broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar, the world premiere of the Geva Theatercommissioned play, The Agitators, (Mat Smart/Logan Vaughn) and Solange Knowles’ Hollywood Bowl and Radio City Music Hall performances of A Seat at the Table.

For more information, please visit: www. rootstockrepublic and www.julesonstrings ADAM WIDOFF | Guitar Adam Widoff is a multi-instrumentalist who lives in Woodstock, NY. Starting with piano at age five, he has since studied several instruments and musical traditions including Balinese Gamelan orchestra with Nyoman Astita and North Indian classical music with Ali Akbar Khan and Jamaluddin Bhartiya.

Widoff has recorded and performed with Lenny Kravitz, Toshi Reagon, David Torn, Kate Pierson and others.

PHOTO BY WALEED SHAH

ABOUT SIFA Into its 41st year, Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 presents diverse and distinctive work from Singapore and around the world that ignites the imagination, inspires myriad audiences, and provokes reflection and dialogue.

Get ready for a plethora of theatre, music, dance, literary and visual arts at the pinnacle national arts festival that will happen over three weeks from 26 April to 12 May, and across ten performance spaces, including the Festival House, located at The Arts House.

ABOUT ARTS HOUSE LIMITED Arts House Limited (AHL) is a not-for-profit organisation committed to enriching lives through the arts.

AHL manages two key landmarks located in the heart of Singapore’s Civic District – The Arts House, a multi-disciplinary arts centre with a focus on literary programming, and the Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall, a heritage building that is home to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It also runs the Goodman Arts Centre and Aliwal Arts Centre, two creative enclaves for artists, arts groups and creative businesses, and performing arts space Drama Centre. AHL presents the Singapore International Festival of Arts, the annual pinnacle celebration of performance and interdisciplinary arts in Singapore commissioned by the National Arts Council.

AHL was set up in 11 Dec 2002 as a company limited by guarantee (CLG) under the National Arts Council and was formerly known as The Old Parliament House Limited. It was officially renamed Arts House Limited on 19 Mar 2014.

AHL BOARD Chairperson: Christine Ong Members: Chong Yuan Chien, Deborah Ho, Kelvin Ang, Lynette Pang, Madeleine Lee, Maniza Jumabhoy, Mok Wei Wei, Ong Chao Choon, Ong Choon Fah, Paul Tan, Sarah Martin (Ex-Officio)

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS THE SIFA TEAM Chief Executive Officer: Sarah Martin Festival Director: Gaurav Kripalani Chief Financial Officer: Yong Yuet Mei Advisor: J P Nathan Head, Programming: Jobina Tan Head, Production: Cindy Yeong Head, Marketing: Jasmine Gan Head, Communications: Carolyn Tay Head, Partnership Development: Payal Michelle Parekhji Assistant Head, Event Services Management: Emma Izzabella Tagoe PROGRAMMING Producers: Sara Joan Fang, Rydwan Anwar, Ye Junmin Senior Manager: Lisa Marie Lip Senior Manager, Place Making: Natalie Tan Managers: Kong Yen Lin, Shridar Mani, Pang Su Li Assistant Manager: Alicia Chong PRODUCTION Production Managers: Christopher Chua, Natalie Lim Production Co-ordinators: Celestine Wong, Melissa Chin Technical Co-ordinators: Huang Xiangbin, David Li Production Assistant: Chong Wee Nee MARKETING Senior Managers: Elizabeth Wong, Winnie Chan Assistant Manager: Koay Yi Ling Senior Designers: Muhammad Hakim bin Rahim, Md Firdaus bin Wari Executives: Diana Othman, Juliana Tan Interns: Clara Janssen, Lim Yi Shuen, Michelle Chia COMMUNICATIONS Assistant Manager: Willy Beh Wei Hong Intern: Rifdi Jaffar TICKETING Executive: Nor Limah binte Ja’ffar PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Manager: Norita Senin Executive: Tan Yanru EVENT SERVICES MANAGEMENT Frontof-house Hospitality Manager: Dorothy Neo Front-of-House Manager: Mohd Afham bin Abbas Back-of-House Hospitality Manager: Nursheehana binte Akbal Ahmad Event Services Manager: Johnson Kee Secretariat Manager: Carine Lee Transport Manager: Syafiq Zulkepli FINANCE Manager: Vivian Gan Executives: Mandy Choo, Lai Zhi Ying, Priyasini D/O Balachandran HUMAN RESOURCE Manager: Noraliza Ramli Senior Executive: Elaine Neo ADMINISTRATION Manager, Arts: Liza Mustapha Executive: Norhanim binte Mohamed Tayib 14

DON’T MISS

THESE OTHER PRODUCTIONS IN THE FESTIVAL

BY SA X

Screening Room, Festival House (The Arts House)

28 Apr – 11 May

BY AMER

(SG)

Play Den, Festival House (The Arts House)

4 & 5 May, Fri & Sat

HLEHEL (PS)

KC Arts Centre Home of SRT

4 & 5 May, Fri & Sat

BY L-E-V DANCE

COMPANY (IL)

5 & 6 May, Sat & Sun

SOTA Drama Theatre

BY BALLET PRELJOCAJ (FR)

(US)

8 & 9 May, Tue & Wed

BY SCHAUBÜHNE

NADA X BRANDON TAY

Victoria Theatre

9 & 10 May, Wed & Thu

SOTA Drama Theatre Photo by Jean-Claude Carbonne

BERLIN (DE)

11 & 12 May, Fri & Sat

Esplanade Theatre Photo by Arno Declair

SOTA Drama Theatre

12 May, Sat

Photo by Ana Cuba

FREE PROGRAMMES AND MORE

BY INTER—MISSION (SG)

26 Apr - 12 May, daily, 10am - 10pm Gallery II, Festival House

Duke Ellington Orchestra (US) 12 May, Sat | Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Flash your SIFA ticket for exclusive privileges!

Find out at sifa.sg

For full festival line-up, visit sifa.sg ORGANISED BY

COMMISSIONED BY

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