Press Release

Renowned Artist Meredith Monk in Residence with Naropa University's MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Program

Month-Long Residency Culminates in Reparatory Performances

BOULDER, Colo. (April 11, 2006)-Meredith Monk, renowned composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera and music theater works, will be a guest artist with Naropa University's MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance program during the last two weeks of April. The residency will culminate in two innovative performances.

Monk, a pioneer in extended vocal technique and interdisciplinary performance, was an early contributor to Naropa's unique place in contemporary art. She taught and performed annually in Naropa's early summer institutes, which formed the basis of Naropa's founding in the late 1970s. During a career that has spanned more than 35 years, she has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts.

Monk's 1996 nonsectarian worship service piece "A Celebration Service" will be performed for the general public Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Naropa's Performing Arts Center, 2130 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder. Tickets are $10. In addition, Monk and Katie Geissinger (a member of Monk's company The House) will perform a benefit concert for a limited audience on Friday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the MFA Lab Theater at Naropa's Nalanda Campus, 6287 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder. Seating is limited. For ticket prices and reservations, as well as more information about either of these landmark performances, the public may contact 303-245-4798.

Naropa's MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance program, now in its second year, has immediately taken its place as a visionary curriculum, attracting an ensemble of professional artists and a faculty that includes some of the best-known theater innovators of the past 25 years. The program is devoted to innovative research and rigorous conservatory style training, furthering the reintegration of theater, dance and music within Naropa University's unique contemplative context. The program will graduate its first class of 17 this spring. Artistic Director and Chair Wendell Beavers was a founding faculty member and early director of New York University's Experimental Theater Wing (ETW), where he taught from 1978 to 2002.

Accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. The university comprises a four-year undergraduate college and graduate programs in the arts, education, environmental leadership, psychology and religious studies. It offers BA, BFA, MA, MFA and MDiv degrees, as well as professional development training and classes for the community. In addition, the university runs study abroad programs in Sikkim, India and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information, visit www.naropa.edu.

Contact:

Jane Rubinstein
Director, Marketing & Communications
Naropa University
PH 303-245-4643
FAX 303-245-4676
Jrubinstein@naropa.edu
www.naropa.edu