Oliver Lake Premier of Commissioned Work at City Of Asylum @ Alphabet City

For Stoop is a Verb, Oliver Lake and a focus group moderator—Marty McGough of Campos Market Research-- met with 7 different Northside groups to take the pulse of the community, asking what it’s like to live on the Northside. Members of each organization gathered for discussions that would provide Oliver with a comprehensive, honest view from the people who know the Northside best-- those who live, work, and play there.

Oliver responded to the community’s insights with an hour long jazz “song cycle,” that includes music, poetry, and art. For song lyrics, he sampled the transcripts, taking snippets from different conversations. So in each song, there is a community dialog....

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For Stoop is a Verb, Oliver Lake and a focus group moderator—Marty McGough of Campos Market Research-- met with 7 different Northside groups to take the pulse of the community, asking what it’s like to live on the Northside. Members of each organization gathered for discussions that would provide Oliver with a comprehensive, honest view from the people who know the Northside best-- those who live, work, and play there.

Oliver responded to the community’s insights with an hour long jazz “song cycle,” that includes music, poetry, and art. For song lyrics, he sampled the transcripts, taking snippets from different conversations. So in each song, there is a community dialog.

Performing and collaborating in Stoop is a Verb is an all-star cast: musicians Chris Beck, Yoichi Uzeki, Robert Sabin, and Josh Evans, poets Terrance Hayes and Tameka Cage Conley, dancer Gia Calcano, and actress Tami Dixon.

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