 |
 |
|
|
|||||||||||
|
 Pangea tours in New York's National Asian American Theater Festival
Pangea World Theater performed From the Ashes, our most recent ensemble piece, as part of the historic First National Asian American Theater Festival at the Abingdon Theatre in New York, NY. This journey has launched our global touring initiative. This widens our audience nationally and internationally, helping the mission of Pangea become a truly global experience! For more information on the historic First National Asian American Theater Festival visit www.naatf.org Pangea's Journey to Safety tours to the Minnesota Coalition
for Battered Women State Conference Pangea's next stop with Journey
to Safety will be at the Minnesota Coalition for
Battered Women State Conference October 24 th in
Brainerd, Minnesota. Pangea World Theater and Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights have collaborated to create training designed for government agencies, educational institutions, and civic groups. The listing of Journey to Safety Performances/Discussions: Annual Conference of Minnesota State Court Judges; The 11 th Annual International Women's Day Celebration, University of Minnesota; Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights; Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections/Hennepin County Family Violence Coordinating Council/Hennepin County Fatality Review Team presentation at Hennepin County Government Center; Carleton College, Northfield; Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women Conference, among others. Pangea's Truth Serum Blues tours to New York
and Chicago After a successful sold-out 2005 run at Pangea World Theater, Truth Serum Blues continued on in 2006 with tours to New York and Chicago! "The Best Solo Performance 2005" - Lavender Magazine "[Khalidi's] beautiful writing ranges from a kind of hip-hop spoken
work to a Greek chorus to chilling hallucinatory interrogations." -Pulse PANGEA CO-SPONSORS MASTERS OF PERCUSSION The inimitable Indian Classical/World Music Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain presents the “Masters of Percussion” in Minneapolis on Monday, May 15, 2006 at the Orchestra Hall. Under the direction of percussion legend Ustad Zakir Hussain, the concert offers the listener an opportunity to experience both, the melodic (Raga) and the rhythmic (Tala) development, as well as witness the dazzling and athletic dancing drummers of Manipur. The ensemble includes the great Sarangi maestro Ustad Sultan Khan and the young Sitar virtuoso Niladri Kumar. A Tabla exponent of the highest order, Zakir Hussain straddles both the fields of Indian classical and world music with equal ease. A favorite accompanist for many of India's greatest musicians and dancers, from Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar to Birju Maharaj and Shivkumar Sharma, he has not let his genius rest there. His playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity founded in formidable knowledge and study. In the Masters of Percussion concert, Hussain will be joined by an exciting team of master percussionists, musicians and dancers comprising, the following: Fazal Qureshi (Tabla, Djembe, Percussion), Bhavani Shankar (Pakhawaj (barrel shaped drum of North India)), Taufiq Qureshi (drums, percussion), Manipuri Jagoi Marup (dancing drummers from Manipur, India) with special guests Sultan Khan (Sarangi (bowed lute of North India)) and Niladri Kumar (Sitar (stringed lute of North India)). The concert will feature the traditional repertoire of North Indian drumming on Tabla in solo and duet. This will be followed by a confluence of Indian drumming styles and dance in a rousing performance by the artistes, with excursions exploring the frontier between folk and classical, between traditional and contemporary. This is a one of a kind concert and a delectable treat is in store indeed for all music lovers in the Twin Cities.
PANGEA REPRESENTED AT THE 2005 ENSEMBLE THEATER FESTIVAL Pangea World Theater was represented at the Network of Ensemble Theaters' 2005 Festival in Blue Lake, California from June 21-26. Ensemble members Meena Natarajan and Katie Herron were present to promote Pangea, see ensemble theater from across the nation and Canada, and discuss the ever-important influence of the ensemble theater movement. The Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) is a consortium of North America's permanent ensemble companies. NET is committed to preserving and passing on the legacy of the ensemble theater movement. The companies making up the NET include some of the most prestigious and vital ensembles in the United States as well as new ensembles that will inherit and reinvent this movement. Executive Director Meena Natarajan facilitated an extremely diverse and essential panel on Art, Activism, and Ensemble. The panel questioned how the stated social activism at the center of many ensembles works to inform the creation of the art and the life of the ensemble in the context of their community. The participants and audience walked away from the panel as all did from the festival - intellectually challenged, artistically empowered, and ready to create relevant, important ensemble theater. Learn more about NET and the 2005 NET Festival PANGEA HONORED AT MINNESOTA ADVOCATES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS' AWARDS DINNER Welcome to Minnesota Advocates' 2005 Human Rights Awards Dinner, our annual celebration of the principles of human rights and the people who volunteer their time and resources to defend and restore them. With our Special Recognition Award tonight, we honor Pangea World Theater for its work to promote human rights in the arts. Pangea World Theater was founded by immigrants and the theater not only enriches our community artistically, it also represents the commitment to social justice that many immigrants bring to Minnesota. Pangea World Theater has been uniting artists and audiences through the issues of universal human rights since its inaugural production in 1996. The theater's founders, Dipankar Mukherjee and Meena Natarajan, bring their tremendous talents as well as their experiences as first generation immigrants to create powerful works addressing human rights themes. For example, Pangea's production Shadowlines was based on Minnesota Advocates' work to dispel anti-immigrant myths and educate the public about the contributions of immigrants to this country. Pangea also created Silent Children, a powerful theatrical piece about child labor that was presented at Minnesota Advocates' annual human rights awards dinner and helped inspire a project to support a school for children at risk for child labor in Nepal. In its Voices of Exile series, Pangea puts individual immigrant groups on center stage to provide an opportunity for the broader community to experience the depth and richness of the artists from those cultures. With its diverse casts and crews, its main stage productions represent the multiplicity of cultures in our community. Pangea is building a stronger community through excellence in the arts and creative advocacy for important human rights and social justice issues. Pangea was named for the land mass that existed before the separation of the continents. Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights' website BUSH FOUNDATION SELECTS 20 LEADERSHIP FELLOWS FOR 2005 FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS-TWIN CITIES AND SUBURBS: Dipankar Mukherjee, Minneapolis-Mukherjee is the founder and artistic director of Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis. The Theater is known for its multicultural-themed presentations. He will study peaceful and nonviolent mediation and conflict resolution techniques in South Africa, Switzerland and India by meeting with leaders, activists and mentors working for world peace and human rights. Thirteen Twin Cities-area residents, four Greater Minnesota residents, two South Dakotans and one Wisconsin resident are among the 20 individuals to receive Bush Leadership Fellowships for 2005. The fellowships support full-time study in academic or self-designed educational programs. The program¹s goal is to help individuals at mid-career prepare for greater leadership responsibilities and enhanced contributions to their communities. The fellowships will support study in a wide range of fields, including international labor standards, international educational policy and economic development in the African-American community; museum development; social movements and citizen engagement; international human rights and using nonviolent negotiation to resolve international conflicts. The 2005 fellows include educators, attorneys, artists and psychotherapists. In addition to the Leadership Fellows Program, the Bush Foundation provides fellowships to artists and physicians. The Foundation also makes grants to nonprofit organizations in Minnesota and the Dakotas that work in the areas of arts and humanities, ecological health, education, and health and human services. The Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth. It supports the work of leaders and organizations to improve their communities and provides opportunities for those who lack them. PANGEA RECEIVES ASIAN PACIFIC LEADERSHIP AWARD The State of Minnesota Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans (CAPM) honored Pangea World Theater with the 2004 Asian Pacific Leadership Award for Exellence in the Arts. Ilean Her, CAPM's Executive Director, presented Pangea World Theater's Executive Director Meena Natarajan and Artistic Director Dipankar Mukherjee with the award at a ceremony on May 15, 2004 at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Dinner and Award Presentation. The Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans (CAPM) recognizes and promotes the talents and resources of the Asian Pacific community, as well as the many lasting contributions its members have made to the State of Minnesota. Past recipients include The Schubert Club, The St. Paul Companies, Jos?e N. Cung of the Vietnamese Cultural Association of Minnesota, the Chinese American Association of Minnesota, and Theater Mu. Pangea World Theater is committed to international works, styles and traditions that illuminate the human condition, end divisiveness and celebrate differences. They strive to bring communities across the world together through theater productions, workshops and speakers. Pangea views the stage as a powerful international forum and a podium for discussion. Throughout their work, they employ a cross-ethnic vision of tolerance and human rights through excellence in the arts. NOT JUST FOREIGN AFFAIRS Fax machines, Burger King and department stores are not exotic subjects, particularly when preceded by 12th-century Persian poetry, African rhythms and Hindi comedy. But this spring, Twin Cities residents accustomed to Pangea World Theater’s typical global village-flavored fare may find themselves contemplating home, instead. In Dwight Hobbes’s drama Shelter, making its world premiere on March 27, a college-educated African American struggles top rejoin the mainstream after a bout of drug-addiction costs him his job, his home and the custody of his son. “If it were any closer to autobiography, it wouldn’t be fiction,” says Minneapolis journalist Hobbes, whose essay about his own homeless experience was published by the Washington Post in 1993. IThe squalid Minneapolis shelter in which Hobbes sets his play may seem miles away from the mythical atmosphere invoked in previous work by Pangea-a theatre that has acquired a reputation for cross-cultural productions integrating ritual, dance, music and movement. Founded in 1996 by the husband-and-wife team of Dipankar Mukherjee, a director, and Meena Natarajan, a playwright, Pangea has dramatized international texts like Athol Fugard’s Playland, the Japanese classic Rashomon and Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease. Different as it may seem, Shelter does not represent a departure for the company, according to Natarajan. With productions ranging from Achebe drama to Natarajan’s own Partitions, which addressed the 1947 division of Pakistan and India, Pangea has already represented the voices of those who are homeless because they are isolated from their native culture. “Exile is a state of mind,” comments Natarajan, who observes that the choice of an urban American setting can only advance the company's mission. Noting that the country is home to immigrants from nearly every nation, she says, “We do not believe that the U.S. is outside the international scene. It is a part of it.” - Wendy Weisman- American Theater Magazine ANNUAL INTERNATINAL CITIZEN AWARD WINNERS: THE TWIN CITIES GLOBAL REACH Dipankar Mukerjee and Meena Natarajan: Creating a theater that truly sees all the world as a stage. The husband and wife team of theater professionals founded Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis in 1995. Their work has been honored nationally and internationally and has resulted in many collaborations with international artists and theater directors, and several international humanitarian and artistic organizations. The awards program includes top officials from the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the counties of Hennepin and Ramsey. The steering committee includes an impressive array of more than 30 government and civic leaders who take an interest in international affairs. This year's winners, pictured here, were announded last week by the Twin Cities International Citizen Awards program. "Our 2001 honorees have each, in their own individual way, made outstanding contributions toward solving significant human problems around the world," said Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton. "Their selfless actions have helped create a better world for literally millions of people around the world." "As Twin Citians," said St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, "we can take pride in the fact that so many of our fellow citizens are willing to dedicate a significant portion of their lives reaching out to others in our global society." The awardees will be recognized a a gala banquet Sept. 25 at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center. For more information, call (612) 673-2317 or go to www.tcglobal.org. - Curtis J. Beckmann, Skyway News FIRST GARDENS FOR PEACE ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE AWARD GIVEN TO Pangea has been awarded the first Gardens for Peace Artist-in-Residence award. The goal of Gardens for Peace is to identify, recognize and affirm the works of artists throughout the world whose art supports efforts to establish harmony in individuals and throughout the world. Klaus Nobel said at a recent gathering that "peace is not just the absence of war." Pangea is being recognized for work that "contributes in a significant way to the daily effort of establishing patterns of living that sustain and help to create a climate of peace within ourselves, and a respect for the planet that contains us. We honor and thank you for your extraordinary work through Pangea World Theater." |
|
 |