Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater brings a journey in movement, featuring dance, theatre, and film, with ‘Matinee’
Inspired by a time of grainy black and white films, Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater presents a journey in movement and theatre, where performers search for connection while moving effortlessly between the stage and screen with their newest work, “Matinee,” on April 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Presented by the Moss Arts Center, the performance will be held in the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Moss Arts Center’s Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall.
“Matinee” is a dance/theatre/film adaptation of American novelist Robert Coover’s short story from The New Yorker of the same name. In it, films-within-films-within-films collide as celluloid characters pass through interactions in pursuit of love and connection.
The performance features a spirited young woman on a train, a man at a threadbare bar, and a disillusioned housewife with a penchant for old film. These and other characters move in and out of films as realities become blurred and the nature of relationships is explored. The cinematic world of movement-theatre imagery in “Matinee” travels into the delicate divide between fantasy and reality.
Student and community dancers will audition at Radford University for select roles in this performance of “Matinee.”
Since its founding in New York City in 1979, Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater has continued to engage populations worldwide through its performance works and community-inclusive programs. The company’s interdisciplinary vision weaves movement, spoken text, song, and visual imagery that provokes and comments on the personal and political.
A residency will allow the company’s artists to engage with students and community members through a series of public and private activities.
Two public engagement events are centered on the arts and healing. Artists and healthcare workers are invited to explore the application of the arts to caregiving for the workshop, “Healing Collaborations: Caregivers and Artists Working Together.” The event will be held on April 19 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. The event is free, but registration is required. Find more information and register online.
Members of Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater will also deliver a talk on arts and health care on April 19 from 3-4 p.m., which will feature an introduction to the field and a discussion of how community-inclusive endeavors have different goals than traditional arts projects. An examination of the history of Western medicine and its consideration of body-mind relationships will precede an exploration of the company’s work in arts and health care.
Both events will be held at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke and are co-hosted by the Dr. Robert L.A. Keeley Healing Arts Program at Carilion Clinic and the Moss Arts Center.
Inspired to provide caregivers with a creative outlet for the stresses of their profession while cultivating greater communication and understanding, Pimsler and artistic co-director Suzanne Costello of Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater developed their program, “Caring for the Caregiver.”
The company will also lead hands-on caregiving workshops with students in the Curie and Da Vinci Living Learning Communities at Virginia Tech and students at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. In addition, the artists will conduct a workshop with Virginia Tech students in The Arts and Social Transformation course.
Tickets
Tickets for the performance are $20-45 for the general public and $10 for students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.
Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.
If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Kacy McAllister at 540-231-5300 or email kmcallis@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to an event.
