Columbia University to Host Month-long Residency of Peter Brook's Company and U.S. Premiere of Tierno Bokar

Columbia University to Host Month-long Residency of Peter Brook's Company and U.S. Premiere of Tierno Bokar Theatrical Production, Diverse Educational Activities to be Presented in Partnership With Barnard College and Harlem Arts Alliance NEW YORK, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Columbia University announced today that its newly formed University Arts Initiative has established an on-campus residency for renowned director Peter Brook and his international theater company. During the month-long stay, Brook will mount the U.S. premiere of Tierno Bokar, a theatrical exploration of the power of tolerance. With this residency, Brook is for the first time integrating his work into the life and culture of a large urban university. The company will draw on the University's diverse academic resources to engage students, faculty and the community in an ongoing dialogue about the social, political, religious and historical questions raised by the production. A variety of symposia, lectures, workshops and related class activities is planned. The Columbia University Arts Initiative, led by Gregory Mosher, former Lincoln Center producer and director, is organizing the residency in partnership with Barnard College and the Harlem Arts Alliance. The Arts Initiative was recently created by Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger to harness the resources of a university to enliven the arts on campus, connect students to the city's vibrant culture, link the arts to other fields of study, and make possible work that might not otherwise be seen. "Peter Brook's residency at Columbia represents an important point of intersection between the arts and scholarship, and his production of Tierno Bokar exemplifies the unique power of artistic expression to illuminate the most enduring social questions of our times," President Bollinger said. "Together with our partners at Barnard College and the Harlem Arts Alliance, Columbia is excited to help bring Tierno Bokar to the United States for the first time, and we invite our friends and neighbors in the community and throughout the city to experience it with us." Tierno Bokar, named for a Sufi mystic embroiled in a dispute between rival religious factions in 1930s French-ruled Africa, is a co-production of Brook's International Center of Theatre Creation (CICT) and Theatre des Bouffes du Nord. The work was adapted by Marie-Helene Estienne from the great West African writer Amadou Hampate Ba's Life and Teaching of Tierno Bokar, the Sage of Bandiagara. The piece will be performed in French, with supertitles, and features music by Toshi Tsuchitori and Antonin Stahly and lighting design by Phillipe Vialatte. The production recently played at Bouffes du Nord in Paris and is currently touring Europe. Members of the theater company hail from eight countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Mali and Vietnam. Sotigui Kouyate, who appeared in Brook's Mahabharata, The Tempest and other productions, plays Tierno Bokar. Brook, who was born in 1925 in London, cemented his reputation in the 1960s as the leading director of Shakespearean productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Before he settled in 1971 in Paris, he spent three years in Africa. Brook's acclaimed work also spans opera and film, including Lord of the Flies and Marat/Sade. He is the author of numerous books, among them the landmark The Empty Space and a memoir, Threads of Time. To house the productions, Barnard College will transform its LeFrak Gymnasium into a 500-seat theater. "At the heart of Tierno Bokar is a plea for mutual tolerance and understanding," said Judith Shapiro, president of Barnard College. "We are fortunate to present this production on our campus and expect it will offer our students, our faculty and all New Yorkers an intense and absorbing exploration of culture, art and politics." Voza Rivers, chairman of the Harlem Arts Alliance, said, "Peter Brook is a master theater craftsman. His productions are thought provoking, powerful and scholarly. The Alliance is pleased that Columbia has invited us to collaborate on bringing Tierno Bokar, an African story, to Harlem's diverse residents, cultural and religious institutions, and artists." "Over the last 50 years," Mosher added, "Peter Brook has been devoted to the simplest and most elusive of ideas, namely that theater is not a result, but a search. Like Tierno Bokar, his search has been for truth. And like Tierno Bokar, he does not claim to have found it. But he and his company have ventured closer and closer to the essence of an art form. In doing so, they have changed its landscape and inspired countless others to begin their own search." PERFORMANCE AND TICKET INFO Performances of Tierno Bokar begin Wednesday, March 30 and end Tuesday, April 26. After the week of March 30, performances run Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets will go on sale to the general public Monday, Feb. 14. Regular tickets are $40 and are available at the Miller Theatre Box Office (2960 Broadway at 116th St., open from noon to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday) and through Telecharge.com (212.239.6200). Columbia University student tickets are $10 and non-Columbia student tickets are $15; these are available at the box office only. For groups of 10 or more (including student groups), please call 212.354.6510. Additional box office outlets will be announced shortly, and additional ticket information can be found online at http://www.tiernobokar.columbia.edu/. The LeFrak Gymnasium is located in Barnard Hall at 3009 Broadway at 117th St. Columbia University in the City of New York, founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of King George II of England, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. Barnard College, founded in 1884, is the country's most selective private liberal arts college for women. The first secular college for women in New York and one of the original Seven Sisters, Barnard includes among its alumnae many visionary and inspiring women, including nine MacArthur "Genius" fellows, the most from any liberal arts college. The Harlem Arts Alliance was created to preserve, promote, sponsor and present the rich cultural programs that reflect the vast contributions of multi-ethnic and multicultural writers, performers, directors, producers, visual artists, designers, choreographers and dancers. ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PETER BROOK BIOGRAPHY Peter Brook was born in London in 1925. Throughout his career, his work has been widely acclaimed in theater, opera, film and writing. He has directed many Shakespeare productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Love's Labour's Lost (1946), Measure for Measure (1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970). In 1971 in Paris, Peter Brook founded the International Centre for Theatre Research (C.I.R.T.), which in turn became the International Center for Theatre Creations (C.I.C.T.) when he opened its permanent base: the Bouffes du Nord Theatre. His productions are notable for their iconoclastic nature and scope: Marat/Sade, Timon of Athens, The Iks, Ubu aux Bouffes, Conference of the Birds, L'Os, The Cherry Orchard, The Mahabharata, Woza Albert!, The Tempest, Impressions of Pelleas, The Man Who, Qui est la?, Happy Days, Je suis un phenomene, Le Costume, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Far Away, La Mort de Krishna and Ta main dans la mienne. Many of these have been performed both in French and English. He has directed the operas of La Boheme, Boris Godounov, The Olympians, Salome and Le Nozze de Figaro at Covent Garden Opera House, London; Faust and Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City; La Tragedie de Carmenat the Theatredes Bouffes du Nord in Paris; and Don Giovannifor the Aix en Provence Festival. Brook's autobiography, Threads of Time, was published in 1998 and joins other titles, including The Empty Space (1968), which was translated into more than 15 languages; The Shifting Point (1987); and There Are No Secrets (1993). His films include Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade, King Lear, Moderato Cantabile, The Mahabharata and Meetings with Remarkable Men. COMPANY LIST FOR TIERNO BOKAR Adapted from Amadou Hampate Ba's Life and Teaching of Tierno Bokar, the Sage of Bandiagara by Marie-Helene Estienne Directed by Peter Brook Actors: Habib Dembele Rachid Djaidani Djeneba Kone Sotigui Kouyate Tony Mpoudja Bruce Myers Abdou Ouologuem Helene Patarot Dorcy Rugamba Pitcho Womba Konga Musicians: Toshi Tsuchitori Antonin Stahly Images available upon request Source: Columbia University CONTACT: Alissa Kaplan Michaels, Columbia University Office of Public Affairs, +1-212-854-9752, am2443@columbia.edu; Bob Fennell, The Publicity Office, +1-212-315-2120, bobf@publicityoffice.com, for Columbia University Web site: http://www.columbia.edu/ http://www.tiernobokar.columbia.edu/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment