South Florida premiere of BASETRACK LIVE, a cutting-edge theater piece that offers an authentic and sensitive portrayal of how war affects us all, at 8 pm on Saturday, March 21, 2015. In an era of volunteer military, the effects of war and service are somewhat invisible to most Americans. MDC Live Arts gives voice and visibility to these stories through the presentation of BASETRACK LIVE, a multi-disciplinary performance that examines the collective experience of modern-day marines and their families. The show stands at the intersection of theater, music, new media, journalism and technology— weaving together narratives derived directly from veterans’ accounts, an original live music score that ranges from hip-hop to classical, and a constant stream of provocative images and video culled from photojournalists working in Afghanistan.
Part of a prestigious national tour, BASETRACK LIVE has been named one of the top 10 performances of 2014 by The New York Times. The theater piece was inspired by a photojournalism project of a similar name, One-Eight Basetrack, created by war journalist Teru Kuwayama.
“Basetrack Live is an extraordinary opportunity to use the arts as a vehicle to shine a light on veterans’ issues both nationally and in our own community. We are excited to share the stories of veterans’ and their families and hopefully spark meaningful conversation around these topics,” notes MDC Live Arts Executive Director Kathryn Garcia.
To broaden the impact of the program and to deepen the community experience, MDC Live Arts has hired a local veteran as project manager and has organized a number of engagement activities and events around the performance, including:
Events
A Photo Exhibition at The Betsy Hotel, featuring the work one of One-Eight Basetrack‘s original photographers, Balazs Gardi, which launched during Art Basel and will remain on view through the spring of 2015;
The Live Arts Veterans’ Lab, a series of creating writing and story-telling workshops led by writer/ actor Teo Castellanos (free and open to local veterans), which will culminate in an original performance on April 19, during the O, Miami Poetry Festival;
Veterans Among Us, an initiative in partnership with WLRN, in which South Florida veterans will submit photos of themselves during their service and today, along with information on their service. MDC Live Arts will project the then/now images in the lobby at the BASETRACK LIVE performance, and WLRN intends to share select stories and images in ongoing series at WLRN.org.
Stories We Carry, a community conversation which brings veterans and civilians together in an open dialogue to discuss the shared impact of war, led by Scott Thompson, Director of the Veterans Mental Health Coalition and Assistant Director of the National Traumatic Brain Injury and Emotional Wellness Alliance, on Weds March 18 at 12:00pm on MDC’s Wolfson Campus.
South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center
10950 SW 211th St,
Miami, FL 33189
www.mdclivearts.org
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