Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts Hosts Top Events
at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus in Coming Weeks
- Include Kids Café Festival, Jason Moran, Misnomer Dance Theater, Reel Sisters -

Brooklyn, N.Y.—Long Island University’s state-of-the-art Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts will be the convivial setting for a variety of cultural performances in late February and throughout March, from children’s events to music and dance shows.

Part of a versatile new performing arts complex at the Brooklyn Campus, the wood-paneled Theater features a Broadway-quality 40’ x 70’ stage and stepped seating that provides unobstructed views for an audience of 320. It also features full audio-visual capabilities, with a Leres-type surround-sound system, and 2,000 amperes of power to support highly complex lighting programs.

Located at the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush avenues in Downtown Brooklyn, the Theater is an intimate and dramatic venue for quality productions of music, dance and drama for students as well as the community. For information on Kumble Theater events, call the Kumble Theater box office at (718) 488-1624, or visit www.kumbletheater.org.

Upcoming Events at the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts

Kids Café Festival - Dancewave, Inc.

Sunday, February 26, noon to 3 p.m. - Flamenco Workshops withflamenco teaching artist and performer Puella Lunaris, ($12);

Thursday,March 2, 7:30 p.m. - Gala Benefit Concert featuring the Kids Company premiere of “Democracy”by renowned choreographer Doug Varoneand a special performance by Paradigm!, with honoree and veteran Alvin Ailey dancer Dudley Williams, ($50/$100);

Saturday-Sunday, March 4-5, 3 p.m. - Kids Cafe Festival with dance performances by more than 150 kids from New York City and beyond. Companies include East Village Kids Flamenco, Berkeley CarrollSchool, Brooklyn Music School, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts, The School at Steps on Broadway and The Pee Wee Hoofers, ($20 adults, $12 children, per day).

For general information and workshop registration, call (718) 522-4696, or visit www.dancewave.org.

Misnomer Dance Theater

Wednesday, March 8, noon, free - Misnomer Dance Theateris a modern dance company celebrating the nuances of human communication, including the tenderness, humor, and absurdity that drive our day-to-day interaction. It was founded in 1998 by choreographer Chris Elam, who has created an innovative movement language drawn from improvisation, studio work and international research based on Balinese dance forms.

Presented by the Brooklyn Campus Dance Department’s “Afternoons at LIU” series, the program is made possible by a grant from Target Stores, the Brooklyn Arts Council-2006 Community Arts Regrant Program, and the Provost’s Office.

For more information, call professor Noel Hall at (718) 488-3355.

Reel Sisters of the Diaspora

Friday-Sunday, March 10-12 - African Voices magazine and the Campus’s Media Arts Department are the co-sponsors of the 9th Annual Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series. This year’s festival theme is “Jump at de Sun: Exploring Zora Neale Hurston's Reel Life” as an inspiration for women filmmakers.

Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. - Opening night gala. Award-winning filmmaker Julie Dash, director of “Daughters of the Dust,” will be honored with the Reel Sisters Pioneer Award. Exclusive footage from writer/producer Kristy Andersen’s “Black South: The Life Journey of Zora Neale Hurston,” a new documentary about the author’s life, will be shown.

The three-day festival will showcase more than 25 original films from across the globe, representing many of the themes explored in Hurston’s novels and anthropological work.

For more information, tickets and prices, call (718) 488-1052 or (212) 865-2982, or visit www.reelsisters.org.

Jazz Pianist Jason Moran

Friday, March 31, 8 p.m. - Jason Moran was awarded the 2005 Pianist of the Year award by the Jazz Journalist's Association and the first ever 2005 Playboy Magazine Jazz Artist of the Year. Sponsored by 651 ARTS,Brooklyn’s premier producer of African-American arts programming, 

 For more information, tickets and prices, call 651 ARTS at (718) 636-4181 x2229, or visit www.651ARTS.org.

The Brooklyn Campus opened its Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, named in honor of Long Island University trustee and benefactor Steven J. Kumble, in 2005.

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. Some 28,000 students currently are enrolled at the university’s residential and regional campuses, including more than 13,000 at the Brooklyn Campus. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.

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