Venue: On the Boards & BLOCK Project Shop
THIS IS A LIVE, IN-PERSON PERFORMANCE AT ON THE BOARDS IN SEATTLE.
Proof of vaccination* or negative Covid test within 24 hours will be required for entry. Patrons are required to wear masks during the entire event.
*Photo of vaccination card is acceptable. If you do not have your card, you can access your vaccination record remotely by creating an account on the WA Dept of Health Immunization Information System, WA.MyIR.net.
Image Description: Six musicians are standing together in a circle playing on instruments made of wooden planks. They are standing on black square that is elevated in the center of the image with speakers on all four sides and paper sculptures of houses on the floor. The houses are lit with LED lights that are pink, blue, purple, red, green, and white and form concentric circles around the black square that the musicians are standing on. The whole image is lit with the same colors, giving the feeling of being inside of a darkened performance space with theatrical lighting. The musicians stand together looking at one another and looking down playing their instruments.
Tuesday, September 14, 8pm - at Facing Homelessness’ BLOCK Project Shop (7266 8th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108)
Thursday, September 16, 8pm - in the Merrill Theater at On the Boards
Friday, September 17, 8pm - in the Merrill Theater at On the Boards
Saturday, September 18, 3pm & 8pm - in the Merrill Theater at On the Boards
Performance run time: 1 hour
Co-Presented with Arx Duo, Facing Homelessness BLOCK Project & Puget Sound Music Collaborative
Reclaimed Timber is a Sonic Portrait of Cities’ Unique Housing Histories and Disparities from Chicago-based Ensemble Beyond This Point, September 14 (at Facing Homelessness’ BLOCK Project Shop) and September 16-18 (at On the Boards)
Through Beyond This Point’s vision of Michael Gordon’s composition Timber, audiences will experience music—and the materials from which it’s made—as an evocation of a city and a portrait of its stratified socioeconomic conditions. The work is being presented both at On the Boards and at Facing Homelessness’ BLOCK Project Shop, which builds fully equipped, healthy homes in homeowners’ backyards for people experiencing homelessness.
The musical basis for Reclaimed Timber comes from renowned composer Michael Gordon's piece Timber, a monumental work for six drummers on six pieces of wood. Chicago-based ensemble Beyond This Point has assembled a team of multidisciplinary artists and musicians, including percussionists from Seattle-based Arx Duo, to bring this mesmerizing and captivating work to On the Boards. Usually, Timber is played using the best tropical wood available (mahogany, rosewood, etc.). For each performance of Reclaimed Timber, Beyond This Point searches a city’s neglected lots and abandoned or soon-to-be-demolished homes to uncover the required instruments: pieces of wood, weathered as a result of unequal growth and opportunity for the city’s residents. In Seattle, they will partner with the Facing Homelessness Block Project to help source the wood. Thus, the performance will have a “sound” unique to each city’s housing history; the homes themselves become the main voice, telling the ongoing story of neglected communities and rapid gentrification.
Reclaimed Timber is presented with a custom-designed visual installation, comprised of more than 5,000 LEDs and 200 paper lantern “houses,” which respond to the music in real-time, reflecting the waves of sound as waves of light and shadow. The hour-long work is performed entirely on six slats of amplified wood and is accompanied by dynamic lighting. The mesmerizing, immediate, and visceral experience that Reclaimed Timber evokes in audiences translates to a new and profound awareness of issues that affect tens of thousands of people every day.
Beyond This Point says, “Every iteration of Reclaimed Timber is unique to the city in which it occurs, and Seattle’s version will be especially powerful. The challenges of housing inequality and homelessness in Seattle are being confronted in some of the most original and effective ways by some amazing organizations, and we are honored to further their work and cause as part of our performances.”
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