$16/$12 Students and Seniors
BRAVA THEATER CENTER, 2789 24th Street, San Francisco
Tix 415.647.2822 Info 415.824.1403

Brian Shapiro’s CultureWorks, a performance art collaborative and member of Intersection for the Arts Incubator Project, is proud to present, The Institute for Relativity Studies: Orientation. The Institute for Relativity Studies is a pseudo-scientific organization that artistically conducts humorous research to examine social-scientific questions as to how human beings develop different perceptions of similar phenomenon. Led by Senior Director Professor Whittey (Brian Shapiro), the rational, quirky, and disarming self-anointed PhD with ADD, audience members are taken on an interdisciplinary tour of The Institute’s research facility.
On this tour, the audience is introduced to the “not-for-profit, not-by-choice” Institute and its’ latest “findings”.

These findings are actually artistic collaborations between CultureWorks Artistic Director/Performer Brian Shapiro and local and national artists, dancers, and musicians including: Oakland-based bassist Damon Smith, percussionist Greg Beuthin of Balé Techlorico, saxophonist Aaron Cohen, Dancer Maria Picar of Ingleside Creative Arts, Leyya Tawil of Oakland’s Dance Elixir, performance artist Todd Donahue, and New York based video artists Ed Davis and Abbey Dehnert. This 90-minute performance is directed by Deborah Davis-Price with set/light design by visual/installation artist Joe Mangrum.

Orientation examines the following subjects:

Music and Language are pitted against one another as Ms. Tawil and Mr. Smith work with Prof. Whittey to determine which is more influential in, “Music vs. Language”;

Family as Prof. Whittey’s Mom, Mother Whittey’s, congers up a Taco Bell-Government-Islam-Conquer-Through-Assimilation theory in, “Taco Bell Islam”;

Fundraising in a short film by Mr. Davis, Ms. Dehnert, and Mr. Shapiro depicting Prof. Whittey’s bumbling fundraising efforts in New York called, “Lap Dancing on Wall Street”;

Folklore as the classic Vietnamese tale, “The Fly” is told through music, dance, and storytelling with Ms. Picar, Ms. Tawil, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. Shapiro.

Dream Interpretation in the allegorical, “Going for Gold”, as Professor Whittey’s dream depicting a newfangled competitive spirit is analyzed through music and movement;

Mythology’s role is revealed through the musical/dance telling of a Sierra Leone myth called, “The Origin of White People”.