SATURDAY, AUGUST 16

YBCA Presents the World Premiere of "The Coup's Shadowbox"

Location: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA Forum), 701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA

5 & 9 PM 

Info/Tickets/Map:http://www.ybca.org/the-coup-shadowbox
See more at www.ybca.org/the-coup-shadowbox | www.thisisthecoup.com 

With "The Coup's Shadowbox," a collaboration with visual artistJon-Paul Bail and production designer David Szlasa, Boots Riley takes his creative vision to an entirely new level: the theater stage of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Riley calls the production a "multi-stage concert/ dance party/ theater/ installation/ haunted-funhouse. "Visual art, performance art elements and expanded musical segments come together to bring The Coup's music and Riley's lyrics -- which unflinchingly advocate for revolutionary politics and people-powered movements -- to life like never before. The production, happening just one night only, on August 16, 2014, is part of YBCA's "Bay Area Now 7" series, which highlights innovative local talent.

Inspired by a surrealist Theater Artaud production Riley saw as a child, "The Coup's Shadowbox" promises to be a unique aural and visual experience. Songs drawn from The Coup's entire catalog will be reinterpreted and redefined, with guest musicians, dancers, actors, and puppets on multiple stages happening simultaneously, while Szlasa's video projections and Bail's cityscapes provide a visual feast for the eyes. "There are drones involved in this, there are Guantanamo Bay go-go dancers involved in this," Riley says cryptically. Special guests include longtime Riley co-collaborators and fellow revolutionary hip-hop torchbearers dead prez, up-and-coming Oakland experimental soul act Mortar & Pestle, new wave folksters Snow Angel, alternative puppet troupe Eat the Fish Presents, NOLA-style second line outfit Extra Action Marching Band, comedian W. Kamau Bell, and neo-chamber orchestra Classical Revolution.