Out There 2022: Annual Festival Returns to the Walker Stage
Kaneza Schaal, KLII. Photo: Christopher Myers.
New performance and radical theater return to the Walker with three boundary defying productions for Out There 2022. Featuring works by leading American female visionaries—Kaneza Schaal, Annie Dorsen, and Annie-B Parson—this year’s annual Out There series is spread across five weeks in January and February. Opening with a world premiere and featuring two new Walker commissions, the program reflects a heightened commitment to supporting artists at this historically challenging moment. While the works examine complex and urgent issues of our time, they also reimagine new worlds with ingenuity, virtuosity, and distinctive spirit.The featured works include an intensely theatrical solo that addresses the impacts of brutal colonialism in Central Africa (and its residue in our everyday lives); a musical meditation on indeterminacy and living in the moment; and a modern-day Chekhovian rumination on privilege, mass denial, and societal divisions in the United States.Out There 2022: An Alternative Performance SeriesJanuary 12, 2022–February 12, 2022
Kaneza Schaal, KLII. Photo: Christopher Myers.
Kaneza Schaal, KLIIWednesday–Saturday, January 12–15, 8 pm$28.50 ($22.50 Walker members)McGuire TheaterWorld Premiere, Walker Commission“Everything that happens in the space Schaal has carved out for us always feels beautifully, powerfully sacred.” —ArtforumKLII exorcises the ghost of Belgium’s King Leopold II through a mytho-biographical performance by theater-maker Kaneza Schaal. Designed and codirected by Christopher Myers, KLII draws on Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy (1905), a fictional monologue written after Twain’s visit to the Congo Free State, and Patrice Lumumba’s 1960 independence speech in the Congo. Increasingly our demons are invisible—long-hidden racism and misogyny, misinformation, even the virus. How do we handle these threats, which are as central to our everyday life as they are hidden? Schaal and Myers propose an exorcism in theater, starring one of the villains of the 19th century whose actions resonate through the present day.Intimate onstage seating with limited capacity.Program length: 65 minutesThis program is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation and Development Fund Project co-commissioned by the Walker Art Center with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, and REDCAT. Program support provided by Producers’ Council members Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David & Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Annie Dorsen’s Yesterday Tomorrow. Photo by Maria Baranova.
Annie Dorsen, Yesterday TomorrowThursday–Saturday, January 27–29, 8 pm$28.50 ($22.50 Walker members)McGuire TheaterCopresented with the Great Northern.“Haunting and strangely beautiful … as simple in its emotional appeal as it is complex in its conception and execution.” —New York TimesAlgorithmic-theater inventor and MacArthur “Genius” Award–winner Annie Dorsen presents a remarkable performance that celebrates the potential transcendence of living in the moment in our environmentally and politically anxious times. Beginning with the Beatles’ “Yesterday” and ending with the song “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie, Dorsen’s algorithms create new scores in real time each night for three vocalists, deconstructing and reassembling these beloved pop songs. Yesterday Tomorrow offers a meditation on the relationships between humanity, computers, and creativity, with a Zen-like embrace of the present at its core. The work’s use of chance and artificial intelligence “unexpectedly creates a funny, joyous, and twisting journey … surprisingly, for such an intellectual exercise, human pleasure is the overwhelming result” (Exeunt).This performance was originally scheduled for March 2020.Program length: 60 minutesProgram support provided by Producers’ Council members King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury and Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David & Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Big Dance Theater, The Mood Room. Photo: Maria Baranova.
Big Dance Theater, The Mood RoomThursday–Saturday, February 10–12, 8 pm$28.50 ($22.50 Walker members)McGuire TheaterWalker Commission“It’s hard to do justice to the freewheeling brilliance of Big Dance Theater.” —New York Times A family reunion, 1970s Los Angeles, five sisters. An ingenious, theatrical jewel box crafted by Big Dance Theater’s director Annie-B Parson, The Mood Room is a play written by ’70s conceptual artist Guy de Cointet that collages text from Shelly, Baudelaire, Chekhov, advertisements, and soap operas. As the story unfolds, the performance heightens our perception of class, privilege, and the growing self-involvement of the new “me” generation. Through a dazzling blend of film, movement, music, ennui, puzzles, and dry wit, the piece critiques how class and wealth have changed our relationship to self and participation in the citizen body. Featuring a recomposed score by pop-electronic sound artist Holly Herndon. The Walker’s third Big Dance Theater commission honors the company’s 30-year anniversary. Program length: 60 minutesCommissioned by the Walker Art Center with support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Program support provided by Producers’ Council members Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David & Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Attendance Requirements for Out There 2022
Mask-wearing is required. For these events, the Walker will require either proof of a completed COVID-19 vaccination regimen or proof of a negative COVID-19 test (taken within 72 hours). The COVID-19 vaccination card must show a completed regimen that concluded at least 14 days before the date of the event. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test must be shown at time of entry and must match the ticket holder’s ID. Attendees may present a physical vaccination record card, a physical negative test result, or a digital document on a mobile device (such as a photo image of a vaccination record card). Unvaccinated children under age 12 may show a negative COVID-19 test as outlined above. Refunds: Any ticket holder not meeting the above requirement(s) is eligible for a refund. To find out more about the Walker’s response to COVID-19, visit our COVID-19 guidelines page. We will continue to share updates to the Walker’s response to COVID-19 as health guidelines evolve. If you have questions or require additional assistance, please email orders@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7600. Ways to Save Members Save 20%Become a Walker member and enjoy a 20% discount on performance tickets, unlimited free gallery admission, special events, and more. Join at walkerart.org/membership or call 612-375-7655. Students Come Early!Arrive an hour before showtime for $10 in-person rush tickets. One ticket per person with valid student ID. Buy More and SaveGroups of 10 or more save 15% on tickets. Purchase group tickets online, over the phone, or in person. Discount automatically applied at checkout on orders of 10 or more tickets to the same performance.
Prices include all applicable fees. AccessibilityAssistive-listening devices are available at the Main Lobby desk. Please contact us at least two weeks in advance for ASL interpretation, audio description, and CART captioning to allow time to schedule these services. For more information about accessibility or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564 or email access@walkerart.org. For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page. Drinks and DiningEnjoy dinner at Cardamom before the show or grab a drink at the Cityview Room Bar an hour before or after the performance. Free Gallery AdmissionExtend your art experience—come back with your ticket within six months of a performance and receive free admission to the Walker galleries.