FALL 2022 Season

Music Composed by Carman Moore
Vocals and Lyrics by Lotte Arnsbjerg

AUGUST 26 - 27

Conceived and created by the distinguished classical music composer, Carman Moore, and his renowned Danish writing partner, singer, actor, and librettist, Lotte Arnsbjerg, Embracing the Root, The Opera tells the story of a woman lost in the forest who suffers from the stress of the sometimes overwhelming challenges of these difficult times.

Presently, she hears music emanating from a tree that invites her down into its world of roots and fungi where she experiences the intricate and communally supportive interactions among the roots of any stand of trees. Here, in the mystical underground labyrinth, she finds healing and wisdom as she feels called upon by the trees to take a message of survival to the world above, one that emulates the communal nurturing of trees, their roots, and their fungi.

She understands from the trees, many of whom would normally live for hundreds even thousands of years, that it is human beings who threaten the trees’ survival, as well as the survival of humans, themselves, and all other living things on earth. It is indifference and acts of destruction that ignore the imperative ways of nature that now threaten to destroy life on earth if a path of community, love and mutual support is not chosen.

The EVOLUTION FESTIVAL will present six original works of theater, dance, music, and interdisciplinary performance by NYC-based artists from September 8 to October 15, 2022, at The Center at West Park in New York City.

CWP’s 2022 Evolution Festival is curated by artists Christina Franklin, Melanie Greene, and Trevor Weston, and features new works by Jenny Gillett, SHA Creative Outlet, Salsa Masala, Reynaldo Piniella, PopUP Theatrics, and Anabella Lenzu.

Direction & Choreography
by Carmen Caceres
(in collaboration with the dancers)

OCTOBER 27 - 29

Welcome to Imagi*Nation is a “choose-your-own-adventure” multimedia, dance-theater, immersive experience inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s book Open Veins of Latin America.

This piece begins with the conflict between two fictional nations over natural resources and labor shortages. While performers search for conflict resolution the audience experiences the motivations and consequences of migration.

This piece reflects the relationship between the US and Latin America within the frame of industry, economy, and migration.

NOVEMBER 11 - 26

This November, The Russian Arts Theater & Studio joins efforts with The Center at West Park in a co-production of Nikolai Gogol’s Viy. Acclaimed director Aleksey Burago adapts and stages Gogol’s most beloved horror novella at the historic and hauntingly beautiful Sanctuary Space.

Based loosely on a Ukrainian folktale, Gogol’s Viy tells the story of three wandering university students—a theologian, a rhetorician, and a philosopher. They seek lodging for the night at the house of an old woman. This woman, a witch who is also a shapeshifter, leads the young philosopher Kohma Brut on a journey that involves him in the exorcism of a wealthy Cossack’s dead daughter and the eventual confrontation with the formidable “Viy”.

Directed by
Zachary Tomlinson

DECEMBER 7 - 10

King Lear is ready to retire and divide his kingdom among his children, but his daughters’ promises of love and duty are not what they seem. Meanwhile, the Earl of Gloucester’s bastard son lays a treacherous trap for his brother. These two old men, blinded by power, must seek wisdom and redemption where they least expect it.

Hamlet Isn't Dead's production, helmed by CWP Artistic Director Zachary Tomlinson, infuses Shakespeare's timeless tragedy with the company’s trademark music, wit, and love.

Institutional Supporters

The Center at West Park’s Fall 2022 Season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.