THE WONDERFUL RUN OF FIREWALL DANCE THEATER’S ‘ADMISSION’

It’s been a wonderful run! Admission, the most recent fireWALL production on our stage, not only was an amazingly powerful dance performance, it exemplified the very existence of off the WALL (Carnegie Stage) Performing Arts Center! A central theme of our mission is to nurture, challenge, inspire and empower women theater artists, and this production did just that!

TO NURTURE, CHALLENGE, INSPIRE AND EMPOWER WOMEN THEATER ARTISTS

Promote women in theater and the arts: Six vibrant young women were the stars of Admission. Four were local artists, and two joined us from New York City.

Provide a fair wage to working artists: An often unknown, and in some cases overlooked fact, is that theater and dance artists too often work for very low wages or no wages at all. Off the WALL believes that artists are entitled to earn a living wage.

Promote empowerment: Female empowerment was the theme of Admission. The act of coming to recognize the frustrations, to overcome inhibitions as one struggles with obstacles, and finally the power of acknowledging and appreciating individual differences while accepting the support of others, ultimately breaking through the barriers as one strong group.

Promote works created by women: Admission was written by our own Elisa-Marie Alaio of fireWALL dance theater. We strive to produce and perform no less than 50% of our productions by women.

Nurture artists: We are thrilled that we were able to give not one, but two local artists the opportunity to have their creations produced and performed. The concept for Admission was conceived, choreographed and brought to life by Elisa-Marie. Ryan McMasters, our sound engineer, wrote and produced the musical score in its entirety, based on a collaborative work effort with Elisa-Marie.

So a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who made this production a success! To all of our dancers, to our expansive tech and support team, and to you, our audience. It is for you, that drives our inspiration and fuels our passion. We look forward to great new works from fireWALL dance theater in the 2015-16 season. We are happy to hear that after this production there is a growing number of fans in the Pittsburgh area who support, admire and appreciate dance theater.