Stories of cross-cultural encounters on stage Oct. 5-6
As part of its goal to enhance the heritage of Cook Inlet region’s Alaska Native people, The CIRI Foundation is joining with community partners to bring the acclaimed theatrical production “ALAXSXA | ALASKA” (uh-LUCK-shkuh) back to the state that inspired it.
A partnership of the Anchorage Concert Association, Bunnell Street Arts Center, CIRI-affiliated nonprofits The CIRI Foundation and Cook Inlet House Authority, and New York’s Ping Chong + Company, “ALAXSXA | ALASKA” weaves puppetry, video, recorded interviews and yuraq (Yup’ik drum and dance) in a collage of striking contemporary and historical encounters between Alaska Native communities and newcomers to our state. Performers Ryan Conarro, Gary Upay’aq Beaver and puppeteer Justin Perkins reveal little-known histories — at times humorous, at times tragic — and juxtapose them against their own personal histories as “insider” and
“outsider” in the Last Frontier.
As part of this production, the artists will present a special showing for 300 Alaska Native and Native American students in the Anchorage School District’s Elitnaurvik Within East program, and an excerpt at the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth Conference, as well as community forums and discussions at public performances in Anchorage on Oct. 5 and 6.
After the initial performances in Anchorage, “ALAXSXA | ALASKA” will go on to tour to communities across Alaska.
“Cultures collide and coexist in Ping Chong + Company’s sumptuous anthropological collage ‘ALAXSXA | ALASKA.’ This theatrical feast bursts with vitality as vast as its subject.”
-Time Out New York
“ALAXSXA | ALASKA,” presented by Anchorage Concert Association
- 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5-6, 2018
- Sydney Laurence Theatre at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Anchorage
- Tickets available at anchorageconcerts.org
