CENTER FOR NEW PERFORMANCE (CNP)

The Center for New Performance is the professional producing arm of CalArts, established to provide a unique artist- and project-driven framework for the development and realization of innovative theater, music, dance and interdisciplinary projects. Extending the forward-looking work carried out at CalArts into a direct dialogue with professional communities at the local, national and international levels, the CNP offers an alternative model for the support of emerging voices and directions in the performing arts. It also enables CalArts students to work shoulder to shoulder with celebrated artists and acquire a level of experience that goes beyond the curriculum at each CalArts school.

The CNP has featured internationally renowned guest artists such as directors Robert Cantarella and Chen Shi-Zheng, composers Vinny Golia and Stephin Merritt, and actor Stephen Dillane, among others. Recent productions have included the world premieres of What to Wear, an opera written and directed by avant-garde theater icon Richard Foreman and scored by composer Michael Gordon; Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary, a family autobiography created and performed by Marissa Chibas and directed by Mira Kingsley; and Vineland Stelae, a full-evening structured improvisation for 30 musicians conceived by composer Sandeep Bhagwati and staged by director Chi-wang Yang. Among the slate of upcoming CNP projects is the world premiere of Smoke, Lillies, and Jade, written by Carl Hancock Rux and directed by Nataki Garrett.

The CNP represents an integral part of the School of Theater’s commitment to provide a home for alternative theater and cross-disciplinary work on CalArts’ Valencia campus, at REDCAT, and at other national and international venues.