"Personally, I welcome another player in town embracing contemporary theater," adds UCLA Performing Arts' director David Sefton. "And I hope that the powers that be at CalArts empower Mark to run his space without interference."
REDCAT's challenge is to find ways to fill its high-tech blank canvas with programming that will serve both the CalArts campus and the greater Los Angeles audience. And so far, Murphy's optimistic. He's got allies in the right places.
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Coming attractions
British spectacle and visual-theater artists Moti Roti, collaborating with New York theater group the Builder's Association.
Brussels-based dance-theater company Rosas, the resident company in the Belgian Opera House.
"Peach Blossom Fan" by CalArts visiting artist Shi-Zheng Chen, who directed "The Peony Pavilion." The new piece will be a production of CalArts' Center for New Theater, created for the REDCAT space.
Deja Donne, an Italian-Czech group that unites dance with spoken word.
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Drawing from the faculty
Suzan-Lori Parks: The playwriting professor has recently been given a commission for a work due in 2004, her first piece of music theater. She's had almost no exposure in town despite acclaim on Broadway.
Richard Foreman: The New York-based avant-garde artist, who runs the Ontological Hysterical Theatre, will put up "What to Wear," a new music theater piece written with musician Michael Gordon. The piece, to be developed in a residence at CalArts, is scheduled for the 2004-'05 season. Foreman developed "Bad Behavior" at CalArts in 2000.
Morton Subotnick: A music professor and composer best known for the electronic work "Silver Apples of the Moon," Subotnick will offer one of the first faculty performances next fall, the premiere of a new solo piece, to be presented with the work of a light artist.
The CalArts Dance Ensemble: This modern and contemporary group, which usually works in a variety of styles and with a mixture of guest choreographers with faculty choreographers, will probably give a performance every year.
