In 2014, the AT&T Performing Arts Center aimed to fill every nook and cranny of its expansive 10-acre downtown Dallas campus with an array of locally produced performing art. The Elevator Project was born and ten years later, the initiative’s 2024-2025 season reflects Dallas’ diverse cultural scene.
“The Elevator Project is a thrilling opportunity to connect artists with the space and resources to bring their creative ideas to life on our stages,” said AT&T Performing Arts Center President & CEO Warren Tranquada. “Each event takes unique artistic risks and pushes the envelope of how the stories of our city and its people are told. I always leave these performances feeling surprised and challenged, and I welcome everyone to experience these captivating productions on our campus during this 10th anniversary season.”
Nine small and emerging arts groups were selected for a season that begins in September 2024. Specific dates are still being finalized. Productions will be staged in various locations throughout the arts center’s campus. Each arts group receives support from the arts center including venue access, production assistance, and marketing.
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This year’s Elevator Project includes six world premiere shows, one regional premiere show, and one world premiere composition. Five of the arts groups are first-time participants. The season has something for everyone: theatre, Bollywood-style dance and celebration, comedy revue, music featuring ancient and modern Asian string instruments, and modern Afro-beats.
THE 2024-2025 ELEVATOR PROJECT SEASON
Watering Hole Collective presents I Am An Island
The Scene
I Am An Island is a surrealist dark comedy that takes place on an island that is sinking. In this one-act, May tries to convince others of this, but no one will listen, resulting in a political demonstration of her standing still, and sinking into the sea. The play is a metaphor for how innately uncertain our world is, how it is sinking - environmentally, culturally, and communally – and how we avoid this.
Artists Sans Frontières presents HAZARDS
Experience the raw power of human resilience in HAZARDS, a gripping and emotionally charged dance-theatre production by the nonprofit Artists Sans Frontières. HAZARDS unveils the harrowing journeys of refugees, asylum seekers, and individuals forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, and natural disasters. Weaving filmic vignettes of compelling choreography, dynamic visual projection, and cinematic music composition, HAZARDS invites the audience to become immersed in the strength, hope, and unbreakable spirit that emerges amidst crisis.
B. MOORE DANCE presents The Parlor Room
The Parlor Room is a space designed to evoke the intimate and inviting atmosphere of a traditional parlor room. In partnership with the sensational vocalist Damon K. Clark, this collaborative production brings together classical music and contemporary works in an intimate setting with a live chamber group. Step into The Parlor Room and become intrigued in a reimagined world of opulence and creativity, where the ambiance of traditional elegance meets the excitement of contemporary performance.
Eleven 11 Productions presents Most Likely Forever Yours – A Sketch Comedy Revue
Most Likely Forever Yours is a laugh-a-minute, Second City-style sketch comedy revue that explores the indescribable joy, pain, and fear of loving and being loved. Just in time for Valentine's Day the week after Valentine’s Day! Imagine a very fast-paced episode of Saturday Night Live with a huge heart. The show will be created by Dallas writers and performers who trained at legendary comedy venues, The Second City, The Groundlings, I.O. Chicago, and The Annoyance.
Indique Dance Company presents The Wedding is Fixed - A Bollywood Love Story
Across the world, a new fascination with Indian weddings has emerged. A typical Indian wedding spans several days with many shenanigans and festivities that keep everyone engaged and exhausted, but most importantly, entertained. Indique will bring the dance and the "drama" in this comedic take on a whimsical Bollywood love story!
Plague Mask Players presents Alice
Alice by Ara Vito is a movement and storytelling-focused adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, told through the lens of a female playwright and ensemble cast of all female and non-binary performers. This production will be the Texas premiere of this exciting new work, and Plague Mask Players is thrilled to be the first to bring it to life for DFW audiences. The play received second place for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award through the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Hee Yun Kim presents Strings Attached Across the Pacific
Strings Attached Across the Pacific is a concert with a unique ensemble of culturally diverse string instruments, where the two-stringed bowed instruments from the East, the Korean haegeum and Chinese erhu, meet a string quartet from the West. The concert will include the premiere of a 45-minute, multi-movement composition Calling of the Whales by award-winning composer Hee Yun Kim which is inspired by the underwater sound of whales and timbral richness of this sextet.
Baba Kuboye presents Cultural Canvas – Afrobeat Vibes
This project is a series of shows that encompasses live performances and showcases of Afrobeat music. Aimed at promoting cultural diversity and fostering intercultural interaction, the show aims to allow local musicians to contribute to the rich diversity of the Dallas cultural scene by showcasing unique, original and indigenous African arts. It also enables these creatives, who do not have a home venue in which to perform, to hone their craft and support their families.
Infinite Arts Movement, Inc. presents Unveiling Echoes: A Journey of Self-Discovery
Immerse yourself in a transformative journey of self-discovery with Unveiling Echoes. This immersive show seamlessly blends poetry, dance, theater, and music, transcending boundaries to celebrate resilience, transformation, and embracing authenticity. Eloquent poetry weaves a rich emotional tapestry, enchanting dance sequences express the narrative's essence, and theatrical elements blur the lines between performer and spectator. With universal appeal, rare artistic fusion, and emotional resonance, Unveiling Echoes is a captivating, unforgettable experience that leaves echoes in every heart.
Learn more: AT&T Performing Arts Center
