Halfway to Dawn
at the Kelly Strayhorn Theatre

•  Friday, February 1, 2018 | 8:00pm
•  Saturday, February 2, 2018 | 8:00pm

A committed civil rights worker, Billy Strayhorn is a supreme example of artist as activist. Halfway to Dawn creates an abstract portrait by layering video-projected text conveying the biographical facts of Strayhorn’s life, projected abstract video art exploring the emotional undercurrents of his journey, and expressionistic physical theater expanding the political urgency of his narrative into our own lives.


Written/choreographed/directed by David Roussève and performed by the nine-member company REALITY, Halfway to Dawn redefines ‘biography’ as the intersection of fact, conjecture, comment, abstraction, and fantasy.  It seeks to uncover the complicated emotional ‘truths’ jazz composer Billy Strayhorn’s life while creating a dialogue on urgent social ‘truths’ of our own. Though instrumental to the creation of the most important body of work in American music history, Strayhorn (1915-1967) remains largely unknown. As Duke Ellington’s main arranger/writing partner, he wrote/co-wrote signatures like “A Train”, “Satin Doll”, and “Lush Life”. But gay, out, and living in Harlem in the 1940’s-60’s, Strayhorn chose to lead a remarkably private life, allowing Ellington to take the spotlight and much of the credit for their joint work.

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