Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s "the break/s" Opens In The Bay!!!

Yerba Buena Center For The Arts
701 Mission Street
San Francisco
Thursday, June 19th, 8:00pm
Friday, June 20th, 8:00pm (with post-show discussion!)
Saturday, June 21th, 8:00pm

This is it folks!

I’ve been honored and privileged to follow my man Bamuthi around the Bay and across the country to Louisville and Minneapolis as he has brought this brilliant work to life. It’s his very personal take on hip-hop’s roots and future in the age of globalization, and it’s a masterful performance. It’s already drawn rave notices and sold-out crowds at the prestigious Humana and Spoleto Festivals this year, and at its world premiere at the Walker Art Center.

the break/s is a mixtape for the stage, and Bamuthi’s performance is blessed with live music by DJ Excess and Tommy Shepherd aka Soulati, choreography by Stacy Printz, multimedia visuals by Eli Jacobs-Fauntauzzi and David Szlasa. It was dramaturged by Brian Freeman, and directed by Michael John Garces. I really think it’s a new level of hip-hop theatre.

You might hear Bamuthi say that he was inspired by Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, but the truth is that large portions of my book were inspired by his lyricality and vision. In fact, my upcoming book project was catalyzed by his trilogy of plays–Word Becomes Flesh, Scourge, and now, the break/s, as you’ll see…!

If you’re in the Bay, you get three chances to see it this weekend on Bamuthi’s home turf. Click above or here to get tickets before it sells out. After that, it’s on to the Kennedy Center in D.C. and the Skirball in NYC and beyond…

Here’s what they’re already saying…

“Mr. Joseph is a naturally captivating dancer, moving with transfixing grace at any number of speeds. The performance is gloriously eloquent. . .”
–The New York Times

“Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s world premiere the break/s, a “mixtape for the stage” as the subtitle describes it, is an impressive extension of hip-hop as an art form. Wheeling through speech, rhythmic spoken word, dance, beat-box, and mixed beats and mixed film, is a story at once personal and universal, a story about identity, race, and love—an important story for our time.”
—Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine

“…many have written about it. But I’ve never seen the paradox of double consciousness expressed in theatrical form the way that Marc Bamuthi Joseph did with the break/s, which ended a mere three-show run at the Spoleto Festival USA over the weekend. Like Amistad, it cut to the quick of the American soul. But unlike Amistad, it’s fresher and far more touching.”
—Charleston City Paper

+ KQED’s Spark interview (video)

+ Smithsonian Magazine Innovators (article)

+ Youth Speaks homepage

posted by Jeff Chang @ 3:19 pm | 1 Comment

One Response to “Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s "the break/s" Opens In The Bay!!!”

Emily says:

June 18, 2008 at 7:53 am

For more dates where you can check out the break/s, including the upcoming Kennedy Center in DC and Skirball Center in NYC, check out Bamuthi’s schedule at http://www.mappinternational.org/artists/schedule/1/

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