Jacob’s Pillow, Leading Venue for Dance in the United States, Announces Opening Date and Artists of Landmark New Theater Designed by Leading Dutch Architects Mecanoo
20/11/24
Jacob’s Pillow today announces the opening date of, and artists to perform in, the new Doris Duke Theatre, a landmark international venue for dance and America’s only purpose-built new dance theater to open in 2025. The multi-day opening celebration will begin on July 9, 2025, with programming continuing throughout the summer as part of the nation’s longest-running dance festival, located on Jacob’s Pillow’s beautiful destination campus in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts.
Doris Duke Theatre construction on Jacob’s Pillow campus: Robert Benson photos; courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow
Doris Duke Theatre construction on Jacob’s Pillow campus: Robert Benson photos; courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow
Doris Duke Theatre construction on Jacob’s Pillow campus: Robert Benson photos; courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow
Designed by the leading Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo, the reimagined Doris Duke Theatre occupies the site of the former studio theater from 1990, destroyed by fire in November 2020. The new theater aims to become one of the world’s most technologically advanced dance venues, providing a makerspace for artists seeking to integrate artificial intelligence, extended reality, robotics, and immersive platforms into live performance. The Doris Duke Theatre will include such capacities as a spatial audio system, infrared camera tracking of performers for interactive video content, and live performance interactions with recorded/projected dance content, among many other capabilities.
Rendering of Doris Duke Theatre East Entrance by Marvel; courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow
“We envisioned and built the new Doris Duke Theatre grounded in the Indigenous history of the land on which we dance. At the same time, it is a global hub for innovation. I am excited to see how artists and audiences join together and move beyond the limits of a traditional performance venue.”
Pamela Tatge, Jacob’s Pillow Executive and Artistic Director
The first group of dance and technology makers invited to present work at the Doris Duke Theatre are interactive-electronics dance and theater artist Andrew Schneider, with the world premiere of HERE; Shamel Pitts (2020 Pillow Lab resident) with Touch of RED; the return of Korean choreographer Eun-Me Ahn with her masterpiece, Dragons; and the Pillow debut of Taiwanese dancer/choreographer and robotics inventor Huang Yi. The inaugural season will also host the U.S. debut of Indigenous Sámi choreographer Elle Sofe and her Elle Sofe Company from northern Norway, performing Vástádus eana – the answer is land. The season will also feature Faye Driscoll (2022 Pillow Lab resident) and her masterpiece Weathering. Additionally, Shamel Pitts and Andrew Schneider will each create a digital-first work, designed to be experienced virtually and available to audiences around the world. Grisha Coleman will lead the first Pillow Lab residency in fall 2025 to develop The Movement Undercommons, a new motion capture movement project creating kinetic haiku from movement data.
Rendering of Doris Duke Theatre East Entrance by Marvel; courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow
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