Kitty Hawk, N.C
April 29, 2003

During a Wright Brothers National Memorial press conference today, the President and CEO of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, Terrence D. Jones, announced that the first day of on-location filming for Wolf Trap's Face of America 2003: A Celebration of Flight was successfully completed.

"We have embarked on another great journey, using a unique artist's voice and movement to celebrate the footsteps of the Wright Brothers and of the human desire to fly," said Jones.

Jones was joined by Lawrence Belli, Superintendent, Outer Banks Group of the National Park Service, and choreographer Elizabeth Streb, Wolf Trap's artist partner for the project.

During the press conference, Jones also discussed why he created the series and why he chose to celebrate flight this year with the help of choreographer Elizabeth Streb, whose motto is "if you're not flying, what's the point." Jones also thanked Face of America's funders, the National Endowment for the Arts and Alabama Power; its national partners, NASA, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, United States Air Force Centennial of Flight Office, and the Tuskegee Airmen Association; and its local partners, the Wright Brothers National Memorial, George Barnes (superintendent for Jockey's Ridge State Park), Kitty Hawk Kites, and Village Realty.

Lawrence Belli discussed the honor of being chosen by Wolf Trap to be featured in the celebration and thanked Jockey's Ridge State Park (the site for most of the taping) for joining the celebration. He also looked forward to the world premiere of Face of America at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts on Saturday, September 6, 2003, where fellow parks, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park and Tuskegee Airman National Historic Site will also be celebrated through dance, music, and historical film footage.

The week long taping began yesterday and continues through Thursday, May 1, 2003.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts Commissioning Philosophy The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts is a leader in providing artists with the freedom to create new work. Four years ago, its current president and CEO, Terrence D. Jones, created Face of America as a multi-media and multi-disciplinary artistic adventure series that explores the relationship between the "natural" stage and the creative process; and celebrates fellow National Parks using the rich language of the performing arts. During the course of the series, Wolf Trap has commissioned leading dance and musical artists, such as Donald Byrd, Doug Varone, Project Bandaloop, and Robert Mirabal to create works that have celebrated Yosemite National Park, Virgin Islands National Park and Coral Reef National Monument, and Mammoth Cave National Park. It has sent artists soaring from the cliffs of Yosemite, into crystal blue island waters, and 300 feet below ground.

On-site performance work is captured on high-definition video at the park and then projected on three huge screens at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, just outside of Washington, D.C., during the world premiere, where the on-screen performance is featured along with the artists working on stage. CBS Sunday Morning, The New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine have covered this groundbreaking performance series.

Face of America 2003: A Celebration of Flight

In partnership with NASA, the National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, this year's "Face" will celebrate Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park; Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site; and Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to honor the 100th Anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight.

World Premiere Performance

The world premiere performance of Face of America 2003, will be Saturday, September 6, 2003 at 8 p.m. at Wolf Trap. Streb's video taped performance will be projected on huge screens at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (just outside of Washington, D.C.), while Streb's company simultaneously performs live on stage, Wolf Trap audiences will take a whirlwind tour across a century of flight through the magic of music and spectacular film projected on giant screens that will include historical film footage of man's exploration of flight.

Known for her nontraditional, physical choreography that reaches beyond the normal definition of dance, Elizabeth Streb and her dance company have performed extreme acrobatic dance works for more than twenty years. Streb refers to her technique as PopACTION, meaning her choreography is created through action rather than dance, and is an exploration of the human body's relationship to gravity. STREB has traveled internationally, performing in London, Paris, Melbourne, Singapore, and across the U.S., and has been featured extensively in the media by The New York Times, and on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Sunday Morning, and The Late Show with David Letterman, among others. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Foundation, a BESSIE award for sustained investigation of movement, as well as a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for lifetime achievement.

Her work will be developed and captured on high definition video on site at Jockey's Ridge State Park, which maintains the landscape that inspired the Wright Brothers first invented flight. This year's video shoot will again be under the direction of Blue Land Media, LLC.

Terrence D. Jones has served as the president and CEO of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts since 1996. During his tenure, Jones has brought financial stability and artistic vision to the Foundation, and achieved several noteworthy milestones. Jones has commissioned more than 25 new works from artists around the world; created Wolf Trap's original performance series, Face of America; led the Filene Center to five record-breaking seasons; effectively lobbied the members of the U.S. Congress to formally rename Wolf Trap Farm Park to Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (the only such designation in the National Park Service's 387 park system), which was signed into law by President Bush this past August; and built the new Center for Education at Wolf Trap.

The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts is a non-profit organization founded by Catherine Filene Shouse (1896-1994) that presents and produces a full-range of performance and education programs in the Greater Washington area, as well as nationally and internationally. Wolf Trap is home to two performance venues, the Filene Center, located in Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and The Barns, which operates year-round; the Wolf Trap Opera Company, one of America's outstanding resident ensemble programs for young opera singers; and The Center for Education at Wolf Trap, which serves as home to Wolf Trap's education programs (including the nationally acclaimed Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, scholarships, master classes and internships), and Wolf Trap's foundation staff. The Filene Center, operated in partnership with the National Park Service, is a 7,028-seat outdoor pavilion that showcases an extensive list of diverse artists, ranging from pop, country, folk and blues, to orchestra, dance, musical theater, and opera, as well as innovative performance art and multimedia presentations, from May through September each year.

Contact:

Lisa L. LaCamera,
(571) 238-4458
lisal@wolftrap.org