NPR Presents Water +/- Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 in Washington. Water +/- brings together Tony-Award winning director Kenny Leon, award-winning NPR Science Correspondent Christopher Joyce, and award-winning theater writers Arthur Yorinks and Carl Hancock Rux with an original sound score by acclaimed violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). The tour includes performances in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit. (Paul Morigi/AP Images for NPR)
NPR and KQED are presenting Water +/-, a series of live performance events around the US. The next performance is scheduled for San Francisco on Wednesday, November 12, 2014.
The live stage event combines “national and local news coverage, music, poetry, storytelling and visual projections to explore how too much or too little water is shaping lives and affecting communities around the country and the world.”
Violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain performs at NPR Presents Water +/- Saturday, November 8, 2014 in Washington. Water +/- combines national and local news coverage, music, poetry, storytelling and visual projections to explore how too much or too little water is shaping lives and affecting communities around the country and the world. (Paul Morigi/AP Images for NPR)
In San Francisco, the production will be co-hosted by NPR’s Michele Norris and KQED Science Editor Craig Miller. Featured actors include Tony Award-nominee, Jason Dirden (Tony Award-winning Production, A Raisin in the Sun); Michele Shay (August Wilson's Seven Guitars); Lucas Caleb Rooney (Boardwalk Empire); and Tamela Aldridge (One Life to Live).
Actress Zenzele Daniels, center, and, left to right, poet Carl Hancock Rux, WAMU host Kavitha Cardoza, and NPR's Science Correspondent Christopher Joyce at NPR Presents Water +/- Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 in Washington. (Paul Morigi/AP Images for NPR)
Here's a bit more about the event series, which sounds like a daring and interesting new thing for the radio network to try:
"NPR Presents Water +/- brings together journalistic rigor with the artistic and poetic nature of theatrical storytelling, amplifying local and national stories about water issues that are significant to each region and have a global resonance," said Indira Etwaroo, executive producer and director of NPR Presents.
“As we are now in one of the worst droughts in California history, the issue of water is pertinent to the Bay Area and California as a whole,” said Jo Anne Wallace, KQED vice president and general manager for radio. “KQED has been at the forefront of covering climate change and water issues for years, and we’re looking forward to the dialogue that NPR Presents Water +/- will create around the topic. It’s an exciting new way to bring life to this issue.”
NPR Presents Water +/- brings together Tony-Award winning director Kenny Leon, award-winning NPR Science Correspondent Christopher Joyce, and award-winning theater writers Arthur Yorinks and Carl Hancock Rux, with an original sound score by acclaimed violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR).
"I am excited to work with NPR Presents on this meaningful and highly relevant undertaking," said Director Kenny Leon. "Theater has the ability to illuminate the human experience in a way that is unique, vital and authentic. Our goal is to allow Water + to showcase our shared humanity, our shared challenges across the US and the globe."
NPR Presents Water +, which made its world premiere in New Orleans last month, will visit eight cities along its U.S. tour. In each community, the program will build on NPR and Member Stations' news coverage and highlight each city's unique, nuanced relationship with water. The scripts are created in partnership with the Member Station combining local sensibilities with national themes. No artistic licenses are taken with the news content; stories are adapted from on-air and online coverage, as well as oral histories, into monologues and dialogues.
Tickets and tour details here.
Actress Tamela Aldridge, right, WAMU host Kavitha Cardoza, left, and NPR's Science Correspondent Christopher Joyce at NPR Presents Water +/- Saturday, November 8, 2014 in Washington. (Paul Morigi/AP Images for NPR)
Actor Lucas Caleb Rooney, center, and poet Carl Hancock Rux, left, WAMU host Kavitha Cardoza and NPR's Science Correspondent Christopher Joyce, right, at NPR Presents Water +/- Saturday, November 8, 2014 in Washington. (Paul Morigi/AP Images for NPR)
