“STACKS” and “BRACKO,” two original works by MacArthur fellow and poet Anne Carson, will premiere at New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South) on Thursday, December 4, at 8 p.m. This special event is sponsored by the NYU Creative Writing Program.
Language, dance, and sculpture collide in “STACKS,” a work exploring themes of collapse in the human body, grammar, and everyday objects. “STACKS” is realized through collaboration among Carson, choreographer Jonah Bokaer, and sculptor Peter Cole. In 2007, Carson created the original text, inspired by Cole’s exploration of piled objects that subvert the tradition of walkaround sculpture. This coincided with Carson’s collaboration with Bokaer about collapse in the human body. A vigorous collaboration developed: “STACKS” results in a multi-disciplinary performance, including a live reading by Carson, new choreography by Bokaer, and immersive sculpture by Cole. The work is performed by dancers Catherine Miller, Silas Reiner, Andrea Weber, and Adam Weinert.
In the second collaborative work, “BRACKO,” Carson’s celebrated translations from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho are performed by Robert Currie, Rashaun Mitchell, Marcie Munnerlyn, and Elizabeth Streb, with choreography by Mitchell. This performance features a projected backdrop of brackets, which corresponds to the punctuation Carson used in her translations, indicating what was absent on the original papyrus.
Tickets are $10, or free with NYU ID, and are available online at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu; by phone: 212.352.3101; or in person at the Skirball Center’s Shagan Box Office, Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon-6 p.m.
The evening is co-presented with the NYU Skirball Center, and co-sponsored with the American Academy of Poets, the Poetry Society of America, and 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center.
Editor’s note: Media wishing to review “STACKS” and “BRACKO” on December 4 at 8 p.m. must contact Richard Pierce at 212.998.6796, richard.pierce@nyu.edu.