Sponsored by CMU Center for the Arts in Society, CMU Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, CMU History Department, CMU Humanities Center/ Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, CMU Humanities Scholars Program, CMU Office of Vice Provost for Education, Design Frequency and Taylor Made Consulting, LLC.
February 28, 2018, 7pm
“Casop: A Requiem for Rice” Events at Pittsburgh Humanities Festival
“Daughters of the Dust” Film Screening, followed by Q & A
City of Asylum, 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Event Sponsors: CMU Humanities Center/ Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, CMU International Film Festival
This event is free.
Saturday, March 3, 2018, 3pm
Pittsburgh Humanities Festival Core Conversations
Vanessa German interviews Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black about the evolution of “Requiem for Rice”
The Trust Arts Education Center, 807 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Be apart of the year long preview and dialogue events beginning September 21, 2017.
Casop: A Requiem for Rice will premiere in October 2018.
Casop reclaims African and African-American history and fosters reconciliation among Africans, Europeans, and Americans. The stories of Africans enslaved on Lowcountry rice plantations become a new genre, the vehicle through which oppressed and voiceless peoples can tell their stories, mourn their dead, and celebrate their contributions to the world.
The following principal artists are creating new artistic works for Casop:
Producer, Librettist
Libretto by Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black is written from primary sources, WPA narratives, travelers’ accounts from West Africa’s Upper Guinea Coast and the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry, and archeological reports. It recovers the rare voices and reveals the experiences of Africans enslaved on Lowcountry rice plantations. The libretto is the foundation for the many interpretations of Casop: A Requiem for Rice.
Composer
Original classical music score and lyrics by Dr. Trevor Weston take inspiration from traditional African music and traditional African-American folk music, fiddle music, long-meter hymns and Gullah spirituals.
Producer, Filmmaker
On-stage film instillations by Julie Dash, with David Claessen, designed to be shown on a digital screen behind orchestra and soloists utilizing an LED Jumbo Screen, mapping projections of inland and tidal rice field landscapes displayed in the foyer of the theater where the audience enters the performance hall, and a stereoscopic VR constructed to function as a separate tool aiming to interest and educate the participants in the history and consequences of Lowcountry rice production as experienced by enslaved Africans. Musical score will merge with on-stage film instillations into a seamless and spectacular experience.
Cinematographer
On-stage film instillations David Claessen, designed with Julie Dash, to be shown on a digital screen behind orchestra and soloists, mapping projections of inland and tidal rice field landscapes displayed in the foyer of the theater where the audience enters the performance hall, and a stereoscopic VR tool aiming to interest and educate the participants in the history and consequences of Lowcountry rice production as experienced by enslaved Africans.