Spotlight: Atlas Arts On Air Series
Local artists address timely issues of discrimination, sexism, and loneliness
Every year, the Atlas Performing Arts Center presents a multi-week series showcasing art and artists that aims to make “a difference in our society, culture, and world.” For 2021, the arts hub in the H Street Corridor has put together a pandemic-appropriate all-virtual affair that comes later and runs longer than the usual Atlas Intersections Festival in February.
Over the next eight weeks until the second week in May, Atlas Arts On Air will highlight local performing artists touted as “addressing the issues of our times like discrimination, sexism, and loneliness.” Each program includes a separate radio interview with the artist led by SiriusXM Radio’s Laura Coates.
The series kicks off this Friday, March 13, with a virtual recital from the In Series that trains a spotlight on American women composers and poets often overlooked by conventional classical programming.
This Women’s History Month event features soprano Teresa Ferrara and pianist Allison Freeman performing compositions by, among others, Betty Jackson King, Undine Smith Moore, Florence Price, and Jean Eichelberger Ivey, and poems by Emily Dickinson, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Sarah Teasdale, plus a selection from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Other highlights include: a virtual “dokudrama” from ExPats Theatre previewing its full fall production of Pankrác ’45, a “gut-wrenching” drama by Czech playwright Martina Kinská focused on five women accused of Nazi collaboration in post-WWII Prague (March 26); a jazz/pop and spoken-word poetry event from vocalist Christopher Prince influenced by his work on an upcoming documentary about D.C.’s Black LGBTQ arts renaissance of the 1980s (April 2); an intimate evening celebrating the music and dance of flamenco by Furia Flamenca Dance Company (April 9); and “Movement on Air,” an evening of new works presented by local dance troupe Company | E and featuring Howard University Department of Theatre Arts, Movement Theater of Tbilisi, Georgia, and local choreographer Robert J. Priore (April 22).
All programs begin streaming at 8 p.m. on their scheduled date. Free, reservations requested. Visit www.atlasarts.org/on-air.
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