Two Big Announcements

The final booking deadline for Wolf Trap's Filene Center season has lapsed, which means that our schedule of performances for summer 2008 is complete (although opening acts and revisions to performances will take place throughout the summer…so keep our website bookmarked)! Three additional acts were booked over the course of the last two weeks, which, minus our Theatre in the Woods offerings, round out the lineup for a grand total of 74 distinct shows, many with multiple nights (i.e. musicals, opera, Riverdance.) The three final additions are as follows:

G. Love & Special Sauce with the John Butler Trio - Friday, August 15

The Regeneration Tour featuring The Human League, Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s, ABC, A Flock of Seagulls (they still have the hair) and Naked Eyes - Tuesday, August 26

Bob Marley Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival 2008 featuring Ziggy Marley, Stephen Marley, and many more to come... - Sunday, July 27

If you're curious, the breakdown by genre shakes out to be...

Five Musicals
Four Dance Company Productions
Seven Wolf Trap Opera Company Productions
51 Pop/rock/jazz/blues, etc.
11 National Symphony Orchestra Performances

So as always, there truly is something for everyone this summer out underneath the stars.

The other major announcement that I'd like to share with you all is that next Monday, April 21, @ 10 p.m. (ET), Thirteen/WNET New York’s Great Performances will premiere “Dance in America: Wolf Trap’s Face of America” special on PBS stations across the country, including WETA here in Northern Virginia and MPT in Maryland.

For those of you who aren't aware of our Face of America series here at Wolf Trap, this project launched in 2000, and has garnered nationwide attention due to its unique celebration of our country's national parks and the broad showcase for the natural beauty and resources of our land. The brainchild of our President and CEO Terre Jones, Wolf Trap commissions a select artist from a variety of disciplines (music, dance, and storytelling) to use the performing arts to interpret a particular national park's “story” for the Wolf Trap audience. For each installment in the series, we carefully researched the unique culture, heritage, and geography of the Park(s), after which the artist creates a new work to portray the unique spirit and essence of the selected Park. The work is then performed and filmed on location against the natural backdrop of the selected national park. Ultimately, each completed Face of America project is performed live on stage at Wolf Trap along with the high definition video footage shot on location projected on giant screens at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

The roughly 90-minute compendium on PBS this coming Monday nightshowcases aerial dancing of Project Bandaloop off the cliffs of Yosemite National Park; the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Team underwater at Coral Reef National Monument; Hālau O Kekuhi, renowned keepers of honored hula traditions, on the sacred terrain of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park; and follows some of the country’s most exciting dancers, and choreographers – Doug Varone, Elizabeth Streb, and Donald Byrd – to Mammoth Cave, Wright Brothers National Memorial, and the remains of a sugar cane plantation at Virgin Islands National Park.

It is a brilliant film, evoking a sense of national pride while also clarifying the significance of original artistic works as inspired by our country's national treasures. So set your TIVO's and DVR's systems for 10 p.m. on Monday night! (also check your local listings for details…some markets are airing the show at a different time…or showing repeat airings)

Talk soon,

Graham