Getty, About...Productions, and Plaza de la Raza will present Ancestral Connections: Yanculia/Restoration. The production is an original performance collaboratively created by Los Angeles high school students as part of the Youth Theater Summer Intensive program built around the Getty exhibition, Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery.
Developed in response to the exhibition, the performances will integrate poetry, movement, video projections, and music. The free performances will take place at Plaza de la Raza on July 18 at 7:00 p.m. and the Getty Villa on July 20 at 3:00 p.m.
Latinx students will work with professional teaching and guest artists during the five-week youth theater workshop at Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center for the Arts & Education in Lincoln Heights. Led by Eddie Ruiz, students will explore performing art forms and storytelling through a global cultural lens. Professional video designer Ly Eisenstein will enhance the performance with student-created images, handmade masks, and photos of pottery from the exhibition.
Students will develop and rehearse a creative production encompassing their perspectives on the mythological themes of the antiquities exhibition. They will also take field trips to the Getty Villa Museum to explore Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery and meet with David Saunders, associate curator of antiquities at the Getty Villa Museum and co-curator of the exhibition.
“In developing the Picture Worlds exhibition and exploring Greek, Maya, and Moche narrative and visual traditions, I’ve already had the good fortune to work with the About…Productions team over the past two summers, and the engagement of the students has been really enriching,” says David Saunders, associate curator of antiquities at the Getty Villa Museum. “Now that the exhibition is on display, I’m really excited to bring the students into the galleries, to look closely at the stories that are depicted, and to see how the imagery informs this year’s performances.”
“This collaboration between the Getty, About…Productions, and Plaza is providing public high school students with a unique opportunity to explore storytelling forms through the remarkable Picture Worlds exhibition, and rigorous arts instruction that includes writing, theater techniques, visual arts, cultural explorations and public performances,” says Theresa Chavez, producing artistic director of About...Productions. “The students’ transformation is a result of this powerful combination of elements and their engagement in a collaborative process.”
About About…Productions
Now in its 36th year, About…Productions creates original interdisciplinary theaterworks and educational programs that provoke new perspectives on history, humanity, and culture. The award-winning company is dedicated to generating new work through collaboration to create artistic and community dialogue, and believes in the power of theater to enlighten audiences, transform youth, and celebrate the lives of elders. Its theaterworks and educational programs unearth and illuminate cultural histories of the Southwest, California, and Los Angeles.
About Plaza de la Raza
Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center for the Arts & Education is the only multidisciplinary community arts venue dedicated to serving the Eastside neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Founded in 1970 by prominent labor, business, and civic leaders as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, it offers affordable after-school, intergenerational arts education programs to nearly 5,100 children, teens, and adults each year. Its mission is to foster enrichment of all cultures bridging the geographic, social, artistic, and cultural boundaries of Los Angeles, and beyond.
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