OZ Arts gives Nashville a “window to a changing world” with a diverse and dynamic program of inspiring performing artists from Ukraine, South Korea, Australia, DR Congo, the U.K., New York City – and, of course, Nashville. Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville has announced its highly anticipated 12th season of groundbreaking performances, featuring a diverse range of game-changing artists from Nashville and five countries around the world.
Exploring themes of resilience, change and power, the 2024-25 lineup builds on the organization’s tradition of bringing some of the world’s most dynamic and paradigm-shifting creative minds to Nashville, while also supporting the creation of brave new art in the local community. OZ Arts continues its commitment to making these world-class performances accessible for all of Nashville, with a nine-show season subscription for only $225, six-show package options for only $140 and individual tickets from as little as $20.
“With artists from five different continents represented in our 12th season line-up, this is our most international season yet and demonstrates OZ Arts’ role as an essential link connecting Nashville to the larger global dialogue around contemporary culture,” said Mark Murphy, OZ Arts Executive and Artistic Director. “From New York’s legendary theater company The Wooster Group and the powerful work of Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula to our own local theatrical visionaries in Nashville Story Garden, this is a true hallmark year for OZ, featuring our most experimental lineup to date and highlighting creative changemakers who are confronting the most vital issues of our time.”
The season launches Thursday, September 12 with a special concert featuring the powerful vocal harmonies of celebrated Ukrainian folk-punk quartet DakhaBrakha, returning to OZ after their rousing, sold-out Nashville debut in early 2023. Described as “exhilarating, triumphant, and defiant” by The Independent, these Kyiv-based artists and activists blend traditional and contemporary musical styles to celebrate the resilience of Ukraine during wartime. DakhaBrakha’s fall 2024 U.S. tour will raise money for prosthetic limbs for wounded Ukrainian defenders.
October 17-19 brings a visceral mix of Hip-hop moves and riveting theater by London’s bold dance-theater company Far From the Norm, who won the prestigious Olivier Award for their genre-defying production BLKDOG.
Nashville noir rockers Fable Cry return to OZ with their fan-favorite Festival of Ghouls October 26, featuring a retro camp theme, drawing inspiration from campfire ghost stories and classic horror movie tropes.
November 15-16, OZ presents the U.S. premiere of dancer and writer Emma Sandall’s highly visual dance-theater project “An Ambivalent Woman of 37.” Based on Sheila Heti’s acclaimed book “Motherhood,” the work was developed during a series of workshops in Nashville with consulting collaborator Paul Vasterling, Artistic Director Emeritus at Nashville Ballet. This deeply personal show mixes absurdist humor, exquisite movement and multimedia projections to portray a woman confronting choices about becoming a mother.
The Wooster Group brings a slice of the downtown New York performance scene to OZ, December 6-8. The company’s restaging of “A Symphony of Rats,” a political satire written by avant-garde icon Richard Foreman during the Reagan administration, centers around a fictional U.S. president losing touch with reality as he receives communications from an alternate dimension. This mind-bending – and often hilarious – multimedia production focuses on the absurdity of presidential powers and masculine fantasies about interstellar control.
The New Year kicks off with riveting performer and multimedia artist Faustin Linyekula, hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His latest work, “My Body, My Archive,” is an introspective look at the artist’s personal journey and the wider social-political tensions in his home country. Featuring acclaimed trumpeter Heru Shabaka-Ra of the Sun Ra Arkestra, the powerful performance runs January 24-25.
On March 5-6, South Korean choreographer Soon-Ho Park and his internationally acclaimed Bereishit Dance Company arrive at OZ to present a double-bill of two visceral dance works: “Balance and Imbalance” and “Judo.” This explosive performance is grounded in athletic precision as dancers seamlessly partner and hurtle through space, using intensely physical movement that blends martial arts, Hip-hop and street dance.
Music City’s own Nashville Story Garden transforms the OZ creative warehouse from March 27 – April 5 with the world premiere of “Human Resources,” a collaboration with notable local playwright Nate Eppler, former director of the Ingram New Works Lab at Nashville Rep, and lauded director Lauren Shouse. In this immersive, site-specific production, an intimate audience is led through a dizzying cubicle maze in which they encounter hilariously surreal depictions of the modern American workplace, questioning our relationship to labor in the midst of late-stage capitalism.
The season’s final visiting artist presentation is the latest work by choreographer and performance artist Faye Driscoll, showing April 24-26. Creating a distinct buzz around the globe, Weathering is an unforgettable performance that transforms nine performers clinging to a central platform into a kinetic sculpture of vulnerable human bodies. The singular, sensory experience has been hailed by The New York Times as “enthralling” and “epically adventurous,” and has toured in Europe, Asia and North America.
Continuing the support of artistic risk-taking, OZ Arts presents its fourth annual Brave New Works Lab from May 15-17. A showcase for Nashville’s most daring artists to develop and premiere experimental new works and works-in-progress, the Lab encourages multimedia experimentation and collaboration across disciplines. Artist proposals for this year’s Lab will be accepted through October 7, and contemporary artists in Middle Tennessee are encouraged to submit to the free open call.
Season ticket packages and individual tickets are on sale now at: www.ozartsnashville.org/2024-2025-season.
