UW-Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) is hosting the 16th annual Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival this weekend at UW-Madison Memorial Union.
OMAI’s Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival consists of performances, lectures, and discussions by First Wave students and invited professional artists engaging with the Madison community. The First Wave Scholarship is a full tuition scholarship for incoming freshmen to the university. Scholars engage in programs that further their creative pursuits, and live together in the First Wave Hip Hop & Urban Arts learning community in the University’s Sellery Hall.
The program began in the spring of 2007 with a collaboration between the OMAI and Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Marc Bamuthi Joseph. That Line Breaks project culminated in a performance called “Just Bust!” which has now evolved into an open mic night held at the beginning of March.
This year, the First Wave scholars are joined by Dr. Eve L. Ewing, the Multicultural Arts Initiative interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence, and Paul Tran, poet and assistant professor of English and Asian American Studies at UW-Madison. Both artists headlined the first event of the Festival, Page & Stage: An Evening with Eve L. Ewing and Paul Tran on Thursday night.
Tonight, the showcase will take place at 6 p.m. It will feature performances by First Wave artist-scholars in the 15th Cohort along with former First Wave Scholars Diya Abbas, Azura Tyabji, and Jackson Neal and featured performances by guests of Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence Eve L. Ewing including Jamila Woods and Nate Marshall.
The showcase will be performed again on Saturday, April 1st at 6 p.m., this time featuring the 15th cohort of First Wave Scholars First Wave alumna, Shasparay Irvin, the First Wave Touring Ensemble; and headlining performance by Dr. Eve Ewing. This performance will include a talkback with select performers and OMAI Artistic Director Mark H. Directly after this performance is a closing reception for the entire event.
All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration details and more information can be found here.
