A Decade of Dazzling Performances

It’s been a decade since dance legend Mikhail Baryshnikov became the first artist to step onto the Alexander Kasser Theater stage, ushering in a new era in performing arts at Montclair State University and New Jersey.

As a part of that inaugural opening night in October 2004, Baryshnikov performed a theatrical role in The Forbidden Christmas or The Doctor and the Patient, created especially for him by Georgian director Rezo Gabriadze. By all accounts, the theater and the performance were dazzling. And the Kasser has been dazzling audiences ever since.

In the last 10 years, the Kasser has been home to an impressive array of artists who have performed in the intimate space, exposing both the University and the larger northern New Jersey community to new dance, theater and music from around the world. The Kasser has hosted 170 productions with 450 performances by contemporary artists not only from North America but also from Asia, Europe, South America and Australia. In addition, it has seen 350 performances by Montclair State students.

“The Kasser is more than a theater that happens to be located on a college campus. It has become a model for university-based theaters across the country,” said University President Susan A. Cole. “Our talented students also have found a wonderful home on the Kasser stage. The theater has provided Montclair State’s performing arts students in music, theater and dance with the opportunity to develop and display their talents.”

One of those students, Jake Deibert, a dance major who graduated in 2014, has performed on the Kasser stage several times and attended numerous performances in the theater.

“Kasser has hosted some of the most amazing dance and theater performances I’ve ever seen, and each performance made me more driven to return to the theater to perform with a company during the Peak Performances season,” he said. “Looking back on my four years at Montclair State, I can easily say that my most treasured memories came from my time at Kasser Theater.”

Artists are drawn to the Kasser, choosing to debut important new works here. The theater has hosted 34 world premieres, 35 American premieres and 26 performances created especially for the space. In fact, at one point, New York Times dance critic Charles Isherwood, in a piece about the American premiere of The Investigation by Peter Weiss, wrote, “Would it be too much to ask that Montclair State University move to Manhattan?…[in doing so] the quotient of innovative international theater would double overnight.”

According to Jedediah Wheeler, executive director for Arts and Cultural Programming at Montclair State, “the extensive facilities of the theater are put at the disposal of the artist to create without compromise, the hallmark of Peak Performances’ deep commitment to fostering cultural innovation – and what separates it from other theaters in the region.”

Baryshnikov is not the only luminary who has found a creative home at the Kasser. The world-renowned and Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones created three full-length dance works at the Kasser: Blind Date, A Quarreling Pair and Story/Time. MacArthur and Bessie Award-winner Susan Marshall developed her most recent work, Adamantine, in the theater. Performance-artist Laurie Anderson collaborated with San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet on “Landfall,” a multimedia piece about the destructive force of Hurricane Sandy on its stage.

“The Kasser Theater under Jedediah Wheeler’s leadership has created a most amazing safe haven for creativity,” Bill T. Jones said. “After developing three new works under the auspices of the Kasser, it is clear to me that this is an institution that sets itself apart through its commitment to the new and its fierce pride and resourcefulness in the face of our era’s indifference to true risk taking and pursuit of vision.”

Two dance performances at the Kasser – Richard Alston’s Unfinished Business and Liz Gerring’s glacier – were named in New York Times critic Alastair Macauley’s Top 10 performances for 2013. Times critics have frequently praised the Kasser’s Peak Performances – calling the series “reliably invigorating” and crediting Montclair State for providing space for important and provocative productions.

As the Kasser celebrates 10 years of creating without compromise, the anniversary season of Peak Performances is living up to its reputation, opening with maverick avant-garde director Richard Schechner’s Imagining O, followed by trailblazing choreographer Liz Lerman’s Healing Wars.

The rest of the season includes performances by the Shanghai Quartet, renowned composer Scott Johnson, performance pioneer Robert Whitman and return appearances of the Richard Alston Dance Company and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, among others.

Tickets to Peak Performances productions are only $20, giving students and the general public access to some of the best performances in the world.

The one exception to the $20 performances will be on the night of November 1, when the University hosts a fundraising gala for the Kasser. Tickets for that night’s American premiere of the Richard Alston Dance Company’s production will be $250 and include dinner afterward.

“The objective of the 10th anniversary celebration is to ensure the Alexander Kasser Theater’s future viability and to introduce new audiences, friends and supporters to this jewel of a performing arts venue,” Cole said.

For gala reservations contact Susan Davies, associate vice president for development, at 973-655-2131.