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Debbie Allen’s Freeze Frame — a fusion of dance, music, film and theater — is set for four performances from Feb. 5-7 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
Written, directed and choreographed by three-time Emmy Award-winner Allen, Freeze Frame is described as “a rollercoaster ride through some of L.A.’s toughest streets where gangs, poverty, violence and drugs are an everyday reality.” The show features original music by Stevie Wonder, James Ingram, Rickey Minor, Arturo Sandoval and Thump.
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In addition to the public shows, a gala benefit performance is planned for Feb. 4. It will be followed by an onstage Architects of Change panel conversation on violence in America hosted and presented by Maria Shriver and Allen as part of Shriver’s ongoing Architects of Change: The Conversation Series.
Scheduled to appear on the panel are Marcus McAllister, a national trainer for Cure Violence, and Richard Martinez, a senior associate at Everytown for Gun Safety. Martinez’s 20-year old son, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, was one of six people shot and killed in the Isla Vista tragedy on May 23, 2014, near the campus of University of California Santa Barbara.
A pair of performers featured in Debbie Allen’s “Freeze Frame.” (Photo courtesy of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.)
Proceeds from the gala benefit the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and Arts Education for the young people of the greater Los Angeles area and America.
Said Allen: “The opportunity to spur social change is at the heart of not only Freeze Frame but also my own artistic core. Maria Shriver and I know that to affect real positive change in the violence and mental health problems in this country we must engage in constructive dialogue.”
Added Shriver: “It’s our hope that this conversation and production will make people stop, think, reflect and inspire them to take part in the larger national conversation and become part of the solution.”
More information can be found at Debbie Allen’s Dance Academy website and TheWallis.org.
A performer featured in Debbie Allen’s “Freeze Frame.” (Photo courtesy of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.)
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