UNCA Opens Cultural and Special Events Season 
with Donald Byrd/The Group

UNCA’s 2000-01 cultural and special events season will offer a range of theater, music and dance, starting with a performance of "In A Different Light: Duke Ellington" by Donald Byrd/The Group Friday, Sept. 15, and Saturday, Sept. 16.

Through "In A Different Light: Duke Ellington," famed choreographer Donald Byrd and his troupe Donald Byrd/The Group explore jazz and its range as an art form. Byrd’s critically acclaimed style of sharp, charged movements will give audiences an opportunity to experience Ellington compositions never before set to dance. "In A Different Light: Duke Ellington" will not only reveal some of the lesser known works of this great American composer, but also will offer another view on the African American intellectual experience, as manifested in jazz.

According to the New York Times’ review, "In A Different Light: Duke Ellington" is "creatively unpredictable, capable of near balletic abstraction, wild comedy and sharp social commentary, but always to great effect."

Donald Byrd/The Group will perform "In A Different Light: Duke Ellington" at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, and Saturday, Sept. 16, at Diana Wortham Theatre. Tickets are $22 for adult general admission and $10 for children under age 14.

Tickets are available 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the UNCA Ticket Office, Highsmith Center room 27, and may be charged by phone by calling 828/251-6584 during the hours listed above. Tickets are also available at the Pack Place box office Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Other events this season include:

** Robert Pinsky, Poet Laureate of the United States, will give a reading at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Pinsky is the author of five books of poetry, is a regular contributor to the NewsHour, and is editor of the weekly Internet magazine "Slate." During his term as 39th poet laureate (1997-2000), Pinsky created The Favorite Poem Project, a Library of Congress audio archive of more than 1,000 Americans reading their favorite poems as a way of marking the millennium. Tickets are $10 general admission.

** Popular puppeteers Peruvian Hugo Suarz and Bosnian Ines Pasic will perform "Short Stories" at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. "Short Stories," the hit of the 1998 Henson International Festival of Puppet Theatre, is an hour-long performance featuring an amazing cast of characters in a dozen vignettes of daily life. The unusual characters are made of the puppeteers’ hands, feet, knees and bellybuttons, which exude personalities of their own. Combining mime, dance, music and the art of puppetry, the duo has spellbound sold-out audiences of all ages. Tickets are $15 for adult general admission and $10 for children under age 14.

** Vocalist Oumou Sangre will share the stage with new Afro-pop star Habib Koite and his band Bamada at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Songwriter, social commentator, women’s rights champion, and spokesperson for her generation and sex, Sangre is a world class music sensation. "Like a young Aretha Franklin, she speaks with an eloquence that’s universal," said Newsweek. Guitarist Koite and his band draw on the rich traditions of Malian music mixed with their own modern sound. Tickets are $18 adult general admission and $10 for children under age 14.

** The Regina Carter Quintet will perform at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Hailed by the New York Times as a violinist of great control, improvisational flexibility and wide range, Regina Carter is one of the significant, versatile and innovative violinists to emerge on the jazz scene in decades. A consummate artist and virtuoso, she has played backup for some of the top performers in jazz. Tickets are $18 general admission.

** Writer and actor Spalding Gray will present "Morning, Noon, and Night," at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Heralded as one of his most delightful pieces, "Morning, Noon, and Night" is collection of 18 monologues exploring Gray’s adventures as a father and husband. Gray applies his customary charm and deadpan wit as he grapples with the great issues of life and mortality typical of a Gray monologue. Tickets are $18 general admission.

** Actors from the London stage will perform Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Without the aid of elaborate stage effects, five actors offer a complete and compelling performance of this masterpiece. In a production such as this, with no sets or props to distract, the words must deliver all images, the acting must convey all the thoughts; and this production does so expertly. Tickets are $18 general admission.

** The final performance of the season will be the Mountain Echoes Storyfest featuring award-winning storytellers Connie Regan-Blake, Heather Forest and Jay O’Callahan April 27-29, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. The performers will spin captivating tales filled with music, magic and compelling characters at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Other local and regional storytellers will give performances throughout the day. Ticket price is not yet available.

For a brochure of the UNCA 2000-01 cultural and special events season and for more information, call 828/251-6584.

Media Contacts:

• Sharyn McDonald Groh, UNCA Cultural and Special Events director, 828/251-6584
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information assistant, 828/251-6526