Emerging America Festival - May 13-15, 2011 : Cambridge - Boston

Throughout the weekend come together at the Festival Tent, just outside OBERON at the A.R.T. where festival-goers can grab a drink and meet the artists and audiences from all over Cambridge, Boston, and the nation. Feel the festival spirit all weekend.

Jay Scheib brings the dystopic and violent vision of Samuel Delany’s epic sci-fi novel Dahlgren to the stage. Using smashing choreography and live video action, this sexy cast of characters explores the limits of life at the end of the world. Bellona combines passages from Delaney’s novel with original material as well as video and photography by director Jay Scheib and artist Carrie Mae Weems.

This SongPlay adaptation of the Old English epic poem Beowulf harkens back to the raw and rowdy storytelling of the Scandinavian mead halls. The show features a 7-piece band including dueling trombones, bass clarinet, accordion, and saw, combining Weillian cabaret, 40’s jazz harmony, indie rock, punk, electronica, and Romantic lieder into a cacophonous swirl.

Everybody wanted to talk to the mysterious old lady in Alfred Hitchcock’s slasher masterpiece Psycho. Now, after the bloodbath, Mrs. Bates pulls back the curtain and tells HER side! Featuring Larry Coen in Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans’ twisted take on Hitchcock’s masterpiece. WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

Raphael Xavier, a break dancer for over two decades, shifts and plays with the rhythms of rap, break dancing, and narrative to draw parallels between the performer’s body and the stage itself, in this inventive work spiked with humor. With special guest performance by The Movement Specialists.

Everybody wanted to talk to the mysterious old lady in Alfred Hitchcock’s slasher masterpiece Psycho. Now, after the bloodbath, Mrs. Bates pulls back the curtain and tells HER side! Featuring Larry Coen in Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans’ twisted take on Hitchcock’s masterpiece. WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

Characters from World of Warcraft, Halo Reach, and Grand Theft Auto 4 perform tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Middle and high school students turn into digital “puppeteers” when they operate projected images of their favorite games. This production combines ancient text with modern technology to create an original theatrical experience.

Borrowing tales from half-a-dozen cities where Aaron Landsman sat in on government meetings, as well as improvised testimony from you the viewer, this piece imagines public discourse as art and vice versa. Come early and you could end up as the Mayor of this night. Come late and you may lose your voice.

Jay Scheib brings the dystopic and violent vision of Samuel Delany’s epic sci-fi novel Dahlgren to the stage. Using smashing choreography and live video action, this sexy cast of characters explores the limits of life at the end of the world. Bellona combines passages from Delaney’s novel with original material as well as video and photography by director Jay Scheib and artist Carrie Mae Weems.

A love song to American pop, a performance of simultaneous surround- sound stories, a rousing dance party, and a look into the lives of 10 music fans - all from the generation after the generation that fell into bed to the songs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, a generation searching for its own undeniable song.

The Donkey Show transforms the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream into the ultimate disco experience. Celebrate with festival artists at OBERON’s signature club theater event and continue to party through the weekend.

Enjoy live music and brunch selections and mingle with other festival-goers to talk about the weekend’s adventures and experiences. Featuring performances by Alvin Terry (Ruined), Company One's ARTiculation, and Imaginary Beasts, and the fight stylings of Angie Jepson and Georgia Lyman.

Unhappy? Listless? Broke? Alone? Let the Laws of Attraction massage your vibrations and change your life in the self-help-sploitation The Momentum. Remember: It’s not self-help if you don’t help self.

Raphael Xavier, a break dancer for over two decades, shifts and plays with the rhythms of rap, break dancing, and narrative to draw parallels between the performer’s body and the stage itself, in this inventive work spiked with humor. With special guest performance by The Movement Specialists.

Jay Scheib brings the dystopic and violent vision of Samuel Delany’s epic sci-fi novel Dahlgren to the stage. Using smashing choreography and live video action, this sexy cast of characters explores the limits of life at the end of the world. Bellona combines passages from Delaney’s novel with original material as well as video and photography by director Jay Scheib and artist Carrie Mae Weems.

Borrowing tales from half-a-dozen cities where Aaron Landsman sat in on government meetings, as well as improvised testimony from you the viewer, this piece imagines public discourse as art and vice versa. Come early and you could end up as the Mayor of this night. Come late and you may lose your voice.

This SongPlay adaptation of the Old English epic poem Beowulf harkens back to the raw and rowdy storytelling of the Scandinavian mead halls. The show features a 7-piece band including dueling trombones, bass clarinet, accordion, and saw, combining Weillian cabaret, 40’s jazz harmony, indie rock, punk, electronica, and Romantic lieder into a cacophonous swirl.

The closing party features The Lisps and delightful surprises cooked up by OBERON and its eclectic artists. The Lisps are a New York-based band whose songs borrow liberally from vaudeville, science fiction, and Americana. Their hyperactive performances typically involve bloody tambourines, wrestling, lipstick smeared melodicas, old filing cabinets, and film reels suspended by rusty chains.