YEATS + TAGORE - A Performance Collage

John Sorensen - Director

Emilie Conway - Project Advisor, Vocalist & Performer

Evan Leslie - Artistic Producer, Library for the Performing Arts

Presented with The American Irish Historical Society as part of Carnegie Hall’s city-wide festival, Migrations: The Making of America

SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2019 at 2:30 p.m.

The New York Library for the Performing Arts at the Lincoln Centre.

BRUNO WALTER AUDITORIUM 111 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10023-7498A

“My theatre must be the ancient theatre that can be made by unrolling a carpet or marking out a place with a stick, or setting a screen against a wall.” – W. B. Yeats (1921)

Rabindranath Tagore of India and William Butler Yeats of Ireland were among the most brilliant and influential artists of the 20th Century. They were also longtime friends and devoted colleagues. Both poets were awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature – Tagore being the first non- European to be so honored. Both produced enduring works of poetry, drama, song and prose.Yeats + Tagore is a 90-minute performance collage presented by the Jumble Shop Theater of Greenwich Village in collaboration with the American Irish Historical Society, the South AsianAyana Arts collective and the Barnard/Columbia Theatre Arts program. It is a rejoicing in the revolutionary cross-cultural alliance of Tagore and Yeats, in the form of an “arthouse vaudeville” celebration of these unexpectedly allied artists and their wondrously kindred cultures.

Drama: The show’s focus is the mystic theater of Yeats and Tagore, offering the premiere recital of a new adaptation of Tagore’s beloved dramatic poem of Indian mythology, Chitra – re- envisioned as Mary Alexander, a poetic drama for American audiences. It also presents a duet concert reading from Yeats’ confessional play of Irish legend, The Only Jealousy of Emer.Music: Tagore’s drama is accompanied by a haunting guitar/flute duet (“The Enchanted Dawn”) composed by the author’s countryman/devotee, Ravi Shankar. Yeats’ dramatic work is companioned by a vocal recital of Irish and Indian songs, offering further proof of why Yeats was considered a leader of the “Celtic Renaissance” and Tagore of the “Bengal Renaissance.”

Poetry: An essential element interweaving the production is the recitation of poetry from both artists, including a verse-filled presentation on the theme of “The Women of Yeats & Tagore.”Dance: The show also features a trilogy of “West Meets East” dance works, which explore fascinating links between the traditional music and dance forms of India, Ireland and America, and are set to a composition by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, a traditional Irish reel ... and includes a joyful music/dance blend specially choreographed to Davey Graham’s transformation of the Irish folk song “She Moved Through the Fair” into a kind of Hindustani raga.

The friendship of Rabindranath Tagore and W. B. Yeats lasted for almost three decades, and had a profound influence on both men – who, in turn, continue to have a huge impact on world culture. To Yeats, Tagore represented the wisdom and dignity of the East, and justified the faith that he had placed in the strength and vitality of Asian philosophy. For Tagore, Yeats was a vibrant symbol of the innovative energy of the West. Yeats wrote that the works of Tagore “display ... a world I have dreamed of all my life long,” and one of his contemporaries wrote that Yeats’ “imagination was captured and stimulated by India ... an India which bears some subtle yet obvious relationship to old romantic Ireland.” Tagore wrote that “Yeats reveals the soul of Ireland through his individual soul. He sees this world not with his eyes; he embraces this world not with his intellect; but he does both with his life and soul.”

Yeats + Tagore champions the urgently needed idea of “Unity in Diversity,” showcasing the fruitful alliances and collaborations that are possible between divergent traditions – traditions that are often mistakenly viewed as being inherently averse to one another. This program honors two human beings of disparate cultures who found common ground through the sharing of their unique sensitivities and abundantly creative spirits.