JOE GOODE PERFORMANCE GROUP


RETURNS TO THE JOYCE THEATER WITH THE NEW YORK PREMIERE OF

WONDERBOY

A COLLABORATION WITH BASIL TWIST

AND

EXCERPTS FROM GOODE'S ICONIC HIT MAVERICK STRAIN

APRIL 23 – 26


The Joyce Theater is thrilled to present the return of the Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) for five performances in April (April 23 – 26). The company will present the New York premiere of Wonderboy, a collaboration with master puppeteer Basil Twist, and excerpts from Goode's acclaimed piece Maverick Strain. Tickets start at $19 and are available by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or via the internet at Joyce.org. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea .


In this new collaboration with puppeteer Basil Twist, Joe Goode integrates yet another art form into his innovative cross-disciplinary work. Goode is one of a handful of choreographers committed to American dance-theater. A fearless innovator, his integration of puppets with dancers will provide audiences with a unique creative experience. The enormous humanity and sensitivity embodied in Twist's magical, funny and unnerving creations attracted Goode to the world of puppetry. With Wonderboy, the choreographer tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a peculiar hero isolated by his gift of sensitivity. Featuring original music by Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi, Wonderboy is a unique blend of disciplines, building on the acclaimed JGPG method of storytelling through text, song and dance, and is certain to appeal to audiences of all ages.


Joe Goode is a choreographer, writer and director whose first concern as an artist is to provide a deeply felt, profoundly human experience in the theater. He is widely known as an innovator in the field of dance for his willingness to collide movement with spoken word, song and visual imagery. Goode was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007 and the United States Artists Glover Fellowship in 2008. In 2006, he directed the opera Transformations for the San Francisco Opera Center . His play Body Familiar, commissioned by the Magic Theatre in 2003, was met with critical acclaim. Goode's performance-installation works have been commissioned by the Fowler Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles , Krannert Art Museum , the Capp Street Project, the M.H. de Young Museum and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His dance-theater work has been commissioned by the Pennsylvania Ballet, Zenon Dance Company, AXIS Dance Company and Dance Alloy Theater, among others. Goode is a member of the Theater, Dance and Performance Studies Department at the University of California , Berkeley .


Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer who lives and works in New York City . Original creations include The Araneidae Show, Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka, Master Peter's Puppet Show, Dogugaeshi and La Bella Dormente nel Bosco. Collaborations include Behind The Lid with the late Lee Nagrin, Red Beads with Lee Bruer/Mabou Mines and Carrie with the infamous Theatre Couture. Since 1998, Twist has continually expanded the realm of puppetry by creating and touring new works that integrate live music. He has partnered with such premiere institutions as The Spoleto Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center 's Voice and Visions Series, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Japan Society and Gotham Chamber Opera. Taking on his largest opera to date, he premiered a new Hansel and Gretel with The Houston Grand Opera and Atlanta Opera Company in 2006-2007. His work has been recognized with an OBIE Award, three UNIMA Awards for Excellence in Puppetry, two Bessie Awards, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, an American Theatre Wing/Henry Hewes Design Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship and he was an inaugural United States Artists Fellow. Twist is the director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE in New York where his critically acclaimed Arias with a Twist just completed a seven month sold-out run.


Carla Kihlstedt is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum , 2 Foot Yard and a more recent member of The Book of Knots. She has worked with Tom Waits, Satoko Fujii, Ben Goldberg, Carla Bozulich, the Rova Saxophone Quartet and Fred Frith. Kihlstedt's commissions include music for Bang On a Can All-Stars, David Krakauer and choreographers Jo Kreiter of Flyaway Productions and Shinichi Momo Koga of inkBoat.


Matthias Bossi is a drummer/orator for Rock-Against-Rock pioneers Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and was a member of NYC's seminal garbage-rock band, Skeleton Key. As a founder of The Book of Knots, a Brooklyn-based recording collective, he has had the pleasure of collaborating with Tom Waits, Mike Watt, Jon Langford, Carla Bozulich and author Rick Moody.


ABOUT JOE GOODE PERFORMANCE GROUP

Based in California 's Bay Area and formed in 1986, the Joe Goode Performance Group tours regularly throughout the U.S. , and has toured internationally to Canada , Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East . Joe Goode is known as a master teacher; the JGPG summer workshops in "felt performance" attract participants from around the world and the company's teaching residencies on tour are hugely popular. Goode and his work have been recognized with awards for excellence by the American Council on the Arts, a New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") and Isadora Duncan Dance Awards ("Izzies").


JOE GOODE PERFORMANCE GROUP "DANCE TALKS" AT JOYCE SOHO

MONDAY, APRIL 6, 6:00 – 8:00 PM


In advance of Joe Goode's performance, join the acclaimed puppeteer Basil Twist for an intimate discussion about the making of Wonderboy at this video-illustrated program. See how this collaboration incorporates Twist's magical puppetry into Joe Goode Performance Group's innovative storytelling through dance, text and song. "Dance Talks" are free and take place at Joyce SoHo ( 155 Mercer Street , between Houston and Prince) from 6:00-8:00pm. Reservations are required: 646-792-8377.


The Joe Goode Performance Group will perform according to the following schedule at The Joyce Theater from April 23 – 26: Thursday – Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm and 7:30pm. A free post-performance "Humanities" dialogue following the Friday performance. Tickets for these performances are $19; $25; $39 (for Joyce Members $19; $29), and can be arranged by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or online at Joyce.org. NOTE: Ticket prices are subject to change. For more information about the Joe Goode Performance Group, please visit Joegoode.org. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street .


* * *

Leadership support for The Joyce Theater's 2008–2009 season has been received from the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.


The presentation of Joe Goode Performance Group was made possible by the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the National Dance Project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Major support for the National Dance Project is also provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.


Additional support for this engagement was provided with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and with private funds from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund to encourage the performances of out-of-town companies at The Joyce Theater. Major support for The Joyce has been provided by The Boeing Company, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, First Republic Bank, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and The Starr Foundation.