July 22, 2010

MASS Ensemble. Download image.

Thursday, Sept. 16-Sunday, Sept. 26

UAB's Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center 11-Day Opening Festival, in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. A sampler of the new season, the festival at the Alys Stephens Center will offer something for everyone with a variety of events, many of them free, during these 11 days, including outdoor parties, an afternoon salon, lunchtime demonstrations and discussions, a show for families, fantastic performances, living art and more.

Thursday, Sept. 16

inter-ART-ive Has the Beat: Percussion Fest, 6 to 9 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. FREE event. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. Join UAB's Alys Stephens Center for an outdoor party with live performances by the UAB Drumline and the acclaimed UAB Steel Drum Band, leading up to headliner Willie Ziavino Y Su Grupa plus a drumming circle led by John Scalici. Drums provided or bring your own. Prize giveaways, cash bar and food vendors.  

Friday, Sept. 17

Friday Afternoon Salon: "Liza's Life in Lights!" 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. FREE event. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. A fun discussion about Liza Minnelli's career for fans who just can't wait for her Sept. 25 performance at the Alys Stephens Center.

Sunday, Sept. 19

Disney's Choo-Choo Soul with Genevieve! 3 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $15 for kids, $27 for adults. Come early at 2 p.m. for a preview celebration of the ASC's new Arts Education Institute. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. Make a play date with the winner of the 2007 Parents Choice Award for children's television, Choo-Choo Soul, with Genevieve, the super-hip train conductor, and DC, the beat-boxing, break-dancing engineer.

Monday, Sept. 20

MASS Yoga Workshop, 5:30, UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South, outside in the Haskell Courtyard. FREE event; attendees must sign up in advance by visiting the ASC website at www.AlysStephens.org. Call 205-975-2787. MASS Ensemble is a performing troupe that fuses music, architecture, sculpture and sound. They will be in residence all week at UAB's Alys Stephens Center with daily performances on their Giant Outdoor Earth Harp and with a one-night-only rock opera on Friday night. In this truly unique workshop, participants will practice yoga postures to the sounds of MASS Ensemble's extraordinary Earth Harp, built especially for the Alys Stephens Center.

Tuesday, Sept. 21-Thursday, Sept. 23

MASS Ensemble's Giant Outdoor Earth Harp, see 20-minute performances as the Alys Stephens Center building is transformed into a giant musical instrument each day at noon, 2 and 6 p.m., UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. FREE event. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. What is MASS? MASS Ensemble fuses music, architecture, sound, and sculpture to create a week-long massive arts experiment/party. Earth harps have been constructed at The Seattle Space Needle, The Kennedy Center and many other unique locations.

Thursday, Sept. 23

The Dish: MASS Ensemble, "The Fusion of Music, Architecture and Sculpture," a lunchtime demonstration and discussion, noon at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. FREE event. Boxed lunches available for purchase. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. MASS is a performing troupe that fuses music, architecture, sculpture and sound. They will be in residence all week at UAB's Alys Stephens Center with daily performances on their Giant Outdoor Earth Harp and with a one-night-only rock opera on Friday night.

Thursday, Sept. 23

MASS Happy Hour, 5:30 p.m., at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. FREE event. Cash bar. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. MASS is a performing troupe that fuses music, architecture, sculpture and sound. They will be in residence all week at UAB's Alys Stephens Center with daily performances on their Giant Outdoor Earth Harp and with a one-night-only rock opera on Friday night.

Friday, Sept. 24

MASS Ensemble: On Stage, 8 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $53, $43, $33; $20 student tickets. Come early at 6:30 p.m. for live music from the Blue Galaxy Project in the courtyard to celebrate the center's 11-day opening festival. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. The artists, musicians, composers and choreographers of MASS (music, architecture, sonic, sculpture) Ensemble bring to life original musical instrument creations to produce an unforgettable theatrical experience. Each performance by MASS Ensemble is unique to the location. Listen, watch and feel as live music, sculpture, dance, video projection, lighting and rigging come together to create a multi-sensory rock opera.

Saturday, Sept. 25

An Evening with Liza Minnelli, 7 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $135, $110, $85. A special VIP ticket package, including a patron dinner at Highlands Bar and Grill with Minnelli, also is available. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. This rare, intimate concert with the one and only Minnelli, award-winning stage and screen star, will feature some of the greatest songs of all time performed by Liza with accompaniment by Billy Stritch and her quartet.

Sunday, Sept. 26

ASC Kids' Club presents Southern Danceworks, 1:30 and 3 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $8 kids, $10 adults. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. In this exciting, contemporary performance children can explore the creative process between choreographers, dancers and musicians. Featuring award-winning choreographer Germaul Barnes and musicians/composers Karen Bentley-Pollick and John Scalici.

Tuesday, Sept. 28

Southern Circuit Film Screening: "Dive," 7 p.m. in UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $12. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. Grocery stores around the country are filling their dumpsters with food. Not rotten, spoiled food, but billions of pounds of good, edible food. Follow filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and his circle of friends as they "dumpster dive" in a film that's equal parts entertainment, guerrilla journalism and call to action. Southern Circuit is the nation's only regional tour of independent filmmakers, providing communities with an interactive way of experiencing independent film. Each filmmaker will be present for an individual screening of their movie and will participate in a Q&A with the audience afterward. Screenings will take place throughout the season.

About UAB's Alys Stephens Center

The Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is one of the Southeast's premier performing arts centers, hosting the best in international, national and local performance. Home to the UAB departments of theatre and music and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the ASC also presents its own season, bringing the world's best music, dance, theater, comedy and family entertainment to Alabama.