OZ ARTS PRESENTS ‘WILDERNESS’ BY EN GARDE ARTS OCT. 20 AND 21
The New York Times’ Critic’s Pick Explores Challenges of Coming of Age in 21st Century America
NASHVILLE, TENN. – Sept. 11, 2017 – Wilderness is a pulsating new multimedia documentary theatre piece that speaks to our collective search for connection and hope, as families survive the extraordinary pressures and complexities that accompany coming of age in 21st Century America.
OZ Arts will present performances at 8PM on Oct. 20 and 21. Tickets are $55 per person and will be on sale Sept. 20 at www.ozartsnashville.org.
Wilderness centers around six real families’ stories that explore issues of mental health and addiction as well as gender and sexual identity. The performance takes the audience to the high desert of southern Utah where peers unearth the courage to change. Video and projection design combines sweeping video landscapes with documentary footage of parents as the show veers from familiar domestic confines to the harshness of the world outdoors.
“OZ Arts is proud to support the brave and ambitious endeavor of En Garde Arts, to de-stigmatize the conversation often surrounding mental health issues in our society, by utilizing documentary theatre as a catalyst for critical discourse.” said OZ Arts Artistic Director Lauren Snelling. “We are grateful to our community partner-organizations for their insight and wisdom in the field, and for their unending compassion for those most vulnerable.
OZ Arts has partnered with Oasis Center Nashville for community outreach around this production, and will invite a number of local organizations, treatment providers and educators to participate in a Q&A with the audience immediately following each performance.
Wilderness was co-written by Anne Hamburger, who also serves as executive producer, and Seth Bockley, who directed the production. Hamburger will host the audience Q&A following each performance.
“I am very excited to bring Wilderness to Nashville. The stories of real parents and their teenage children and their journey towards understanding have enabled us to use theatre to demonstrate that “you are not alone.”
An evocative folk rock score by Kyle Henderson and his band, Desert Noises, Kyle Miller with his band, Towr’s, and Gregory Alan Isakov seamlessly winds its way through the narrative sections of the play, and accompanies visceral and emotionally charged movement sequences by Devon de Mayo and Patrick McCollum.
Critics have hailed Wilderness both for its artistic merit and for illuminating the struggle of teenagers growing up in the 21st Century. In a Critic’s Pick review for The New York Times, Charles Isherwood called the show “terrific and moving,” and wrote, “The production’s emotional fluency is bell-clear, as is its honesty about the complex and sometimes mysterious roots of the characters’ problems.” “The young actors,” Isherwood added, “are all superb.” Reviewing for The Village Voice, Miriam Felton-Dansky called Wilderness “a compassionate glimpse at the outer edge of teenage angst,” and said that, in the show, “a smart ensemble of young actors turns the real-life stories from Hamburger’s research into an endearing constellation of high school kids in distress.”
En Garde Arts produces bold, unconventional and innovative multimedia and interdisciplinary theatre that marries content with community and inspires dialogue and debate about the salient issues of our time. Founded by Anne Hamburger in 1985, the not-for-profit is recognized for putting site-specific theater on the map in New York City. Most recent credits include developing and producing the critically acclaimed BASETRACK Live, a theatrical experience that illuminates the long-term impact of war on veterans and their families. BASETRACK Live premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 2014 and was recognized by The New York Times as one of the top ten theatrical experiences of the year. It has traveled to 40 cities and has been invited to Fort Hood, Texas by the Commanding General and Garrison Commander. For more information and to join their mailing list: www.engardearts.org.
About OZ Arts Nashville
Since opening in 2014, OZ Arts Nashville, a 501(c)(3) contemporary arts center, has changed the cultural landscape of the city. Housed in the former C.A.O. cigar warehouse owned by Nashville’s Ozgener family, OZ Arts, under the artistic leadership of Lauren Snelling, brings world-class performances and art installations to the city, and gives ambitious local artists opportunities to work on a grand scale. The flexible 10,000 square-foot, column-free venue, nestled amidst five acres of artfully landscaped grounds, is continually reconfigured to serve artists’ imaginations, and to challenge and inspire a diverse range of curious audiences.
For more information, please visit http://www.ozartsnashville.org/.
Media Contact
Amy A. Atkinson at Amy Atkinson Communications, call/text at 615-305-8118, or email amy@amyacommunications.com. Photos are available upon request.