All the elements of our new production of Agnes de Mille‘s Rodeo are designed to broaden the conversation about this iconic work of Americana while remaining true to de Mille’s humorous and heartfelt story about a young, independent misfit searching for love.
The new dreamlike costumes by Oana Botez suggest a fond remembrance of time and place rather than the actuality. They invite us into an intimate sense of community while the digital art of Beowulf Boritt’s stage design calls up the vastness of the American southwest. Gabe Witcher’s new Bluegrass arrangement of the entire Copland score is a first and in a sense, returns the cowboy tunes borrowed by Copland for Rodeo to their roots.
As part of GRAHAM100, the three-season celebration of the Graham Company’s 100th anniversary, we are interested in reframing iconic works of the 20th Century in ways that expand our views of that time and offer a more inclusive history. We hope our new production of Rodeo, which also features the most diverse cast to have ever performed the work, will resonate with today’s conversations about gender and inclusion while celebrating Agnes’s timeless and timely story about a young person, who feels unable to fit in, finding community on their own terms through dance. –Janet Eilber