Grace Notes: Reflections for Now

GRACE NOT E S REFLECTIO : N S FOR NOW

PHOTO © WILLIAM STRUHS 2016

2016–17 NO BOUNDA SERIES RIES

SEPTEMBER 9 AND 10, 2016

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE James Bundy, Artistic Director

Victoria Nolan, Managing Director

PRESENTS

GRACE NOTES: REFLECTIONS FOR NOW Writer and Director CARRIE MAE WEEMS

Music Director and Composer

CRAIG HARRIS

Composer JAMES NEWTON

Dramaturg KYLE BASS Curator SARAH LEWIS MATT SAUNDERS

Set Designer

Lighting Designer

JONATHAN SPENCER

Costume Designer

ABBY LUTZ

Video Artists CARRIE MAE WEEMS

JAMES WANG Democratic Vistas was written by CARL HANCOCK RUX.

Grace Notes: Reflections for Now is co-sponsored by the following: Yale University Office of the President; Andrew Carnduff Ritchie Fund; Yale Center for British Art; Yale University Art Gallery; Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration; Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library; Yale Institute of Sacred Music; Afro-American Cultural Center; Alumni Diversity and Inclusion Task Force; Department of African American Studies; Department of the History of Art; Dwight Hall at Yale; Initiative on Race, Gender, and Globalization; Intercultural Affairs Council; International Festival of Arts & Ideas; Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale; JUNCTURE, an initiative of the Schell Center for International Human Rights; New Haven Promise; Office of Public Affairs & Communications; Office of the Associate Dean for the Arts in Yale College; Office of the Secretary and Vice President for Student Life; Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel and Center; Yale Alumni Arts League; Yale Black Alumni Association; Yale Chaplain’s Office; Yale College Dean’s Office; Yale Divinity School; Yale School of Art; Yale School of Music; and Yale University Office of New Haven and State Affairs.

Grace Notes: Reflections for Now was commissioned by Spoleto Festival USA, curated by Sarah Lewis, and premiered at the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre in June 2016.

GRACE NOTES: REFLECTIONS FOR NOW IS PERFORMED WITHOUT AN INTERMISSION.

PERFORMERS Artist CARRIE MAE WEEMS

The Three Graces

EISA DAVIS

ALICIA HALL MORAN

IMANI UZURI Poets AJA MONET

CARL HANCOCK RUX Dancer FRANCESCA HARPER

MUSICIANS

Trombone CRAIG HARRIS

Piano YAYOI IKAWA

Bass CALVIN JONES

Drums CURTIS NOWOSAD

Violin AHREUM KIM, JESSICA McJUNKINS,

JULIETTE JONES, CHALA YANCY

Viola TIA ALLEN, ANDREW GRIFFIN Cello NILES LUTHER, GREGORY WOOD

STEP TEAMS Yale Steppin’ Out

JOEL DE LEON (CHOREOGRAPHER)

SANOJA BHAUMIK, IMANI DOYLE,

HANNAH GREENE, KEYANNA JACKSON,

ALYSSA PATTERSON, ADAM WATSON,

JAMAR WILLIAMS

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity

OLAFEMI HUNTER (CHOREOGRAPHER)

CORDELL BELL, ADHAM CONAWAY,

DANA GRIFFIN JR., DARRIUS PRITCHETT

Y.M.E.G.A.S.*, KEVIN BELL, SAMUEL BOWENS, Hillhouse High School

TYRELLE DOUGLASS, MESSIYAH

McDUFFIE

*Young Men Engaging in Growth and Academic Success

PRODUCTION Producer THE OFFICE performing arts + film

NADINE GOELLNER

RACHEL CHANOFF

OLLI CHANOFF

LAURIE CEARLEY

OLIVER HILL

LYNN KOEK

NOAH BASHEVKIN

Associate Director TANYA SELVARATNAM Associate Lighting Designer

AARON TACY

Video Programmer SIMON HARDING

Production Manager

BRENDON BOYD

Company Manager

CAROL BLANCO

DIRECTOR’S NOTE Any work begins with a vague notion, an angry itch, a throbbing at the edge of one’s consciousness—something troubling that keeps you grasping, yearning, anxious. Day after day these feelings drive artists back into their studios, determined to hammer out nonsense on their keyboards until clarity of thought slowly takes shape. Grace Notes began in just that way—with a deep desire to get at what was troubling me.

So I began to write. I put to paper the simple words and phrases, images and elements, that moved around in my mind and yearned for a physical form to emerge and be shown to the world.

I am by no means a playwright. As a visual artist, working the last thirty-five years predominantly in photography and video, I approached this as I would any other project, starting with images and then building music, songs, and text around them. The outcome—Grace Notes—is a performance that brings together some of the country’s most celebrated artists, poets, musicians, and composers to explore the dynamic role of grace and its meaning in the pursuit of democracy.

PHOTO © WILLIAM STRUHS 2016

There are only a handful of stories in the world; the difference often lies in the telling. After working on Grace Notes for months it occurred to me that I was telling the story of Antigone, wherein an innocent man dies by unjustified means and his sister fights for the right to bury him honorably. But the wider community refuses her; her right to justice, and to peace, is denied.

“THE TEARS OF TH A CONSTANT QUA

Likewise, Grace Notes examines the wider social implications of tensions at work in communities across America. These tensions are marked and defined by recent escalations in violence, the killings of young black men, and the tragic events of the Emanuel Nine. These events and nationwide responses have been contextualized as a song cycle. As its title suggests, the piece incorporates music, song, and spoken word interwoven with text, dance, photography, and video projection to explore the dimensions of its theme.

In our context, grace functions as a sustaining metaphor and an overarching conceptual frame for a dynamic performance calling for new approaches to old questions.

Like Woody Allen—who, of course, rarely uses people of color in his movies—I prefer working with artists who share a common language and have a visceral understanding of the collaborative process. So, from the beginning we started from a central place—a shared but varied knowledge of the dark maze of life.

Conceived as a gift of appreciation to President Obama, Grace Notes includes new works by poet Carl Hancock Rux, singer Imani Uzuri, and musicians and composers James Newton and Craig Harris. And of course, it’s thrilling to work with spoken word artist Aja Monet and singers Alicia Hall Moran and Eisa Davis who, as the Graces, bring a wealth of talent and nuance to the performance.

HE WORLD ARE ANTITY.”

SAMUEL BECKETT

Director’s Note continued Things that have happened since Grace Notes was first performed three months ago at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston have, for me, only amplified its urgency. Events that were the original impetus to bring this project into being continue to occur with infuriating frequency, and the wider issues they raise make up the uneasy center of our national conversation as we approach a historic turning point as a country. I am pleased to bring this work to Yale Repertory Theatre at this moment in time.

—CARRIE MAE WEEMS, AUGUST 2016

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR Through photography, video, installation, and performance works, Carrie Mae Weems has created a complex body of art that investigates family relationships, gender roles, racism, classism, and politics. Although Weems’s work addresses a wide array of issues, her overarching commitment is to help us better understand our present by examining our collective past.

Weems, the recipient of numerous awards, grants, and fellowships including the prestigious MacArthur “Genius Grant,” the W.E.B DuBois Medal, and Anderson Ranch’s National Artist Award, is represented in public and private collections around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at major national and international museums including the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

This fall, the Yale University Art Gallery presents a special installation that will coincide with Carrie Mae Weems’s Grace Notes: Reflections for Now. The selected works, notably Carrie Mae Weems’s Slave Coast series alongside works by other contemporary American artists such as Titus Kaphar, propose a new look at the legacy of slavery and critically question our history.

Thursday, December 1, 6:30PM Lecture: Past Tense Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Lecture Hall Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street Carrie Mae Weems, an artist who deeply believes in the transformative power of art, discusses the nature of her work and its emphasis on our shared history. Generously sponsored by the Andrew Carnduff Ritchie Fund, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery.

PHOTOS © WILLIAM 2016 Followed bySTRUHS a reception.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION! We are proud of the extraordinary collaborative sponsorship for this production from the university and community, and invite you to continue the conversation at a series of independent events hosted by our partners.

All programs are free and open to the public (unless otherwise indicated): Saturday, September 10, 4PM Panel Discussion: Carrie Mae Weems’s “Grace Notes: Reflections for Now,” moderated by Laura Wexler with Willie Jennings, Nell Irvin Painter, Susan Cahan, and Daphne Brooks Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Lecture Hall Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street

Thursday, September 29, 4PM Exhibition Opening: Destined to Be Known: The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection at 75 Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library, 121 Wall Street

Friday, October 14, 1:30PM Lecture, Willie Ruff: Recollections of a Great Musical Weekend in New Haven Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Lecture Hall Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street

Tuesday, October 25, 5:30PM Lecture, A Conversation with Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA), moderated by Kobena Mercer Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Lecture Hall Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street

Friday, October 28, 7:30PM Performance: The Langston Hughes Project Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall Yale School of Music, 470 College Street ticketed event: music-tickets.yale.edu

For the most up-to-date information and a full list of events, look for the “Reflections for Now” tag at

ARTSCALENDAR.YALE.EDU

ABOUT YALE REPERTORY THEATRE Yale Repertory Theatre, the internationally celebrated professional theatre in residence at Yale School of Drama, has championed new work since 1966, producing well over 100 premieres—including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists. Twelve Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and eight Tony Awards. Yale Rep is also the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

Yale Rep’s NO BOUNDARIES series explores the frontiers of theatrical invention through cutting-edge and thought-provoking performance from around the world. NO BOUNDARIES has introduced Yale Rep audiences to an astonishing array of performances—including theatre, dance, music, and multimedia— from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Peru, Colombia, Spain, Germany, Japan, Israel, Georgia, East Africa, West Africa, and right here in the United States.

STAFF ARTISTIC Jennifer Kiger, Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Programs Amy Boratko, Literary Manager Kay Perdue Meadows, Artistic Associate Rachel Carpman, Literary Associate PRODUCTION C. Nikki Mills, Associate Head of Production and Student Labor Supervisor Harrison Beauregard, Associate Production Manager Steph Waaser, Technical Director Linda-Cristal Young, Master Electrician Jacob Riley, Sound Engineer Mike Paddock, Projections Engineer and Operator Mark Bailey, Kate Begley Baker, Elizabeth Bolster, Janet Cunningham, Matt Davis, Kirk Keen, William Neuman, Shelby North, Mike Paddock, Jacob Riley, Run Crew ADMINISTRATION Flo Low, Associate Managing Director Trent Anderson, Assistant Managing Director Caitlin Crombleholme, Gwyneth Muller, Management Assistants Emily Reeder, House Manager The NO BOUNDARIES series is supported by the work of more than 200 Yale Rep staff and Yale School of Drama faculty members.

With special thanks to the Yale University Art Gallery, Pamela Franks, and Molleen Theodore.

Grace Notes: Reflections for Now, September 9 and 10, 2016 University Theatre, 222 York Street

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