Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company | Repertory | A Good Man!/A Good Man?

A Good Man!/A Good Man?

"I live with the uneasy feeling that society has shaped me as a result of something that was stolen from us when Abraham Lincoln was killed. The cynicism and alienation that I feel in my head and heart arose because of this strange turn of destiny."--Bill T. Jones

Bill T. Jones, center, views Abraham Lincoln's hat in the vault archives of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield on Oct. 15, 2007, with Welz Kauffman, president and chief executive of Ravinia Festival, left, and sculptor Bjorn Amelan, the creative director for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. (AP Photo/Ravinia Festival, Russell Jenkins)

Bill T. Jones peers at Abraham Lincoln's death bed at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago on Oct. 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Ravinia Festival, Russell Jenkins)Click here for the AP article

Continuing this tradition of challenging, thought provoking work, Mr. Jones is creating a new evening-length work about Abraham Lincoln (tentatively titled, A Good Man!/A Good Man?). Commissioned by the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois, A Good Man!/A Good Man? will find Mr. Jones "leading with his own heart," seeking a way to articulate if not reconcile the view of Lincoln he had as a young boy growing up during the civil rights struggle and as a mid-life liberal artist who "has very few heroes." The most ambitious project in the Company's 25 year history, A Good Man!/A Good Man? will investigate the myriad meanings of Lincoln, rejecting accepted truth in favor of challenging (and celebrating) the lasting contributions of this great man. This dance theatre work will investigate a handful of key moments from his remarkable life, allowing song and memory to transport the audience to an emotional and intellectual space beyond the boundaries of space and time. By envisioning the America that might have been had Lincoln completed the Reconstruction, Mr. Jones will expose the great distance between what is and what could have been.

The Lincoln Lectures:

Developed in conjunction with A Good Man!/A Good Man?, The Lincoln Lectures is a companion piece featuring Mr. Jones in a collage of spoken word, music, and movement. The piece will also feature video by associate artistic director and long-time collaborator Janet Wong. The text combines Lincoln's writings along with Jones' own ruminations on events current and other. This special evening delves into the inner workings of Jones' creative process, and sheds light on his personal journey in the creation of A Good Man!/A Good Man?

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