The Patchwork Girl of Oz - Final Chapter, CA

From: by way of dance-tech-admin@dancetechnology.org (louisehr@usc.edu)
Date: 12/08/02


The following message was posted to: dance-tech

We are just back from a tour of the west where we had a NPN residency 
at the Myrna Loy Center in MT as well as performances in ID. We will 
be presenting COMPLETE for the first time here in California (and for 
the LAST time for an unknown period) at the Miles Memorial Playhouse 
in Santa Monica. The new section resolves the quest the characters 
are on, and it features a new vj movie by Shinji Murakoshi. Its the 
culmination of a 3 year effort, and if you are in So. CA, we hope to 
see you there. We are using 3 projectors, and 4 surfaces for 
projection. All of the 1st act images and music are on computer in a 
Macromedia Director Player, and we also use SVHS projections. 
Narration and 8 dancers are live, although the dancers have been 
incorporated into 2 of the videos. Calendar and PR follows.

CALENDAR LISTING/DANCE/FAMILY

LOUISE REICHLIN & DANCERS

CONTACTS:			FOR LA C&D: 		LOUISE 
REICHLIN	213-385-1171

Event:		Louise Reichlin & Dancers
Location:	Miles Memorial Playhouse
		1130 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, 90401
Dates:		Sat. Dec. 7, Sun. Dec. 8, Sat. Dec. 14, Sun. Dec. 15, 2002
Times:		11:00 am. and 2:00 pm.
Program:	The Patchwork Girl of Oz - Final Chapter (California 
Premiere of
		 entire piece)
Tickets:	$14 general, $10 students, seniors, DRC, $6 children under 12
Information: 	Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers: 213-385-1171
Web site:	http://www.usc.edu/dept/dance/p2_lacd.html

CALIFORNIA PREMIER OF "THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ - FINAL CHAPTER"
AT THE MILES MEMORIAL PLAYHOUSE/ SANTA MONICA

	Come along with Louise Reichlin & Dancers, a performing 
company of Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers, to the California 
Premiere of The Patchwork Girl of Oz - Final Chapter at the Miles 
Memorial Playhouse on Saturdays and Sundays, December 7, 8, 14, and 
15, 2002, at 11:00 am and at 2:00 pm. Journey through a magical 
modern day fable that uniquely incorporates dance, multi-media screen 
projections, animation, spoken word, and music. Based on L. Frank 
Baum's The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Louise Reichlin adapts and extends 
Baum's text, first published in 1913, into the present. The work is 
for children and adults of all ages. Direction, choreography and 
narration for the production are by Reichlin.
	Louise Reichlin is Director of Louise Reichlin & Dancers, and 
a faculty member of the Thornton School of Music, USC. Now in its 
23rd year, Louise Reichlin & Dancers was founded in 1979, using the 
non-profit base of Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers. The company 
presents Reichlin's work and specializes in works for families and 
their children. Begun in 2000, the work has been shown part by part, 
until the completion at this time. The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Part 1, 
was created in collaboration with Richard Wainess, Information 
Technology Program, School of Engineering, USC.  He is responsible 
for designing the Macromedia Director files that run both the music 
and visuals (also designed by Wainess) for that section. Michael 
Masucci, Videographer, created the "Dorothy Gale" opening for Part 2. 
The new "Tin Woodman" multimedia portion is created by Shinji 
Murakoshi, Japanese VJ artist. He uses a computer program called 
motiondive. Linda Borough, long time collaborator with Reichlin, 
created the costumes. Bertran Harden is again Multimedia Operator.
	WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
	Reichlin saw an article about the celebration of the first 
book in the series, The Wizard of Oz, at the Central Library 
downtown. After visiting the exhibition that featured Willard 
Carroll's collection of Baum's work highlighting the series as well 
as the initial book, she remembered that as a child, she would insert 
herself as a character in the book and join the adventures in her 
dreams. Reichlin was struck by the dance nature of the illustrations 
by John R. Neill, especially of Scraps, the Patchwork Girl. The 
character leapt out of the pages in every book, and one book was 
devoted to her alone. Although the dance/multimedia work has been 
updated to include today's technology, an excerpt of the book 
author's 1914 film is included in Reichlin's piece. Carroll attended 
a  performance of The Patch-work Girl of Oz at Zipper Hall, and later 
e-mailed Reichlin calling her adaptation "inventive and 
entertaining." The Los Angeles Times also praised the piece -- 
"Bonnets off to Reichlin, then, and her hard-working troupe on their 
take on the lesser-known L. Frank Baum story The Patchwork Girl of 
Oz," pointing out "sunny leaps and marching motifs" as well as 
"jubilant dancing. Linda Borough's colorful costumes pleased and 
there was a certain naive quality that grabbed at the heart. Judy 
Garland would have approved."
THE LEGEND CONTINUES
	The Prologue to The  Patchwork Girl of Oz tells us that Oz 
had been made invisible to the outside world with all communication 
cut off.  Renewed communication with the Land has been set up through 
wireless technology.  This season Reichlin and her troupe continue 
the story of Ojo and the Patchwork Girl.  Their journey takes them 
through a fantasy world where trees and flowers and food are blue. 
Part 2 features new characters from the Kingdom of Oz - Dorothy Gale, 
Princess Ozma, the Tin Woodman, and the Wizard himself. The piece was 
developed to include audience interaction as well students from 
workshops where ever the piece is performed. In Santa Monica the 
company will be working with students from Franklin and John Muir 
Elementary Schools who portray two diverse cultures having trouble 
coexisting, the One-Legged Hoppers and the Joking Horners. They are 
about to go to war when they're visited by the travelers from Oz who 
are on their quest. The students will perform with the Reichlin's 
dancers at Miles Memorial Playhouse.
	The Patchwork Girl of Oz, including the conclusion Final 
Chapter will be touring the West with a National Performance Network 
residency at the Myrna Loy Center in Helena Montana and performances 
at the Colonial Theatre in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Reichlin has also 
created dances with her company for the Multimedia event Dream 
Scapes, with music created and performance by Steve Reid's Bamboo 
Forest. The show is scheduled at performing arts centers across the 
country this season. Louise Reichlin & Dancers is again working with 
the Arts Prototype Program of the LA Unified Schools as well as 
touring performances in schools.  The events of this season and this 
project are supported, in part, by Mervyns, the California Arts 
Council, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the Los Angeles 
Cultural Affairs Department with additional funding from the Milken 
Family Foundation.
  	The Patchwork Girl of Oz  features: Elizabeth Brookman, Sarah 
Jenkins, Steven Nielsen, Tara Page, Louise Reichlin, Natalie Pausch, 
Shannon Schwait, Tina Tsunoda, and Wil-son Williams. The California 
premiere of the complete work will be at the Miles Memorial Playhouse 
in Santa Monica on December 7 and will play for two week-ends at 11 
am & 2 pm. Miles Memorial Playhouse is at 1130 Lincoln Blvd., Santa 
Monica. For additional program information and tickets call 
213-385-1171. ###

-- 
*****************************************************************************
Please visit us at Southern California Dance and Directory: 
http://www.usc.edu/dept/dance

Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers is at 
http://www.usc.edu/dept/dance/p2_lacd.html

You can reach us by phone at 213-385-1171.
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