This 2024-2025 season kick-off for the Foundry comes after a successful first season, with a year of great shows including sold-out performances with comedian Fred Armisen and the Modern Lovers’ Jonathan Richman. This season’s lineup will be announced at Saturday’s event.
First up, local talents Kid Bigfoot, Gran Gran and Tronee Threat will support the intense and experimental seven-piece, TEKE::TEKE. The internationally-touring psych band bridges the gap between Japanese folk, Brazilian surf rock and other far-flung touchstones while also balancing complex melodies and histrionics.
“TEKE::TEKE will slay… they’re awesome,” said Chris Westhoff, Director at the Foundry. “This will be a perfect way to kick things off.”
The three opening acts on the bill represent three different approaches to music performed locally. Kid Bigfoot is in the folk-pop idiom, informed by musical theater. Gran Gran has that new-grass exploratory Rust Belt ballad thing going on and Tronee Threat is a deeply-personal hip-hop artist.
This full and diverse lineup is an apt representation for The Foundry’s upcoming season, which will run from September 2024 to May 2025.
For the first official performance of the season, the Foundry will be hosting a revival of Rhythm in Shoes, a longstanding Dayton dance company which combines traditional American music and dance, on Sept. 21. The revival, called The Big Family Business, will bring together past members of the company along with new faces for a night of folk music, step dancing, clogging and a gender-neutral dance directed by choreographer and RIS originator, Sharon Leahy.
Next, Ethiopian band QWANQWA will make a stop in Yellow Springs on the way to the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival in Bloomington, IN. The band has psychedelic roots, much like TEKE::TEKE, but with less pop and more traditional African instruments. QWANQWA’s show at the Foundry is Oct. 2.
The Foundry will host the Yellow Springs Film Festival Oct. 4-6. Details about the event have yet to be released. Last year, Fred Armisen performed music and comedy, and Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon made an appearance for the 2023 award-winning documentary, “Taking Back the Groove,” which he executive-produced.
Multi-Grammy award-winning dobro player Jerry Douglas will bring the Jerry Douglas Band to the Foundry Oct. 11. Douglas, perhaps best known for his work with Alison Krauss & Union Station, continues his incalculable influence on country, Americana and bluegrass as he forges ahead as a true pioneer in American music.
Performances of the three-woman play “The Language of Dolls” will be Oct. 19-20. The three actors met at Antioch College years ago and reconnected via the play to explore the idea of how their identities were formed and by whom.
Nobuntu, the female a cappella quartet from Zimbabwe, will perform Oct. 25. Nobuntu has drawn international acclaim for its inventive and minimalistic performances ranging from traditional Zimbabwean songs to Afro-jazz to gospel.
One of the Foundry’s companies in residence, the World House Choir led by Dr. Catherine Roma, is a diverse, multicultural, mixed-voice choir of 80 to 90 singers. The company will have performances on Oct. 31-Nov. 2. The choir’s repertoire is drawn from the music of peace and justice, representing traditions like classical, global folk and gospel.
New Orleans-based The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will be taking its brand of brass-fusion music to the Foundry stage on November 20. Since the late-Seventies, the Dirty Dozen has blended bebop jazz, funk, R&B and soul into that vibrant New Orleans sound. The band appropriately describes itself as a “musical gumbo.”
While the Spring portion of the Foundry’s season is still largely being worked out, singer-songwriter Iris DeMent is set to perform in May — a good indication of things to come.
When the Foundry started hosting events in 2023, there was a feeling of hope for the theater’s ability to support both the college and the community. Westhoff says that the Foundry’s first season was a successful proof of concept for the community to get behind the theater going into season two.
“We all feel like we really delivered on that; we had really strong responses from our audiences,” Westhoff said. “We had a number of sold out programs last year. When we brought Jonathan Richman to town… that was a big hit.”
One measure of success is continuing, and with the Foundry’s already-stacked and diverse season two lineup it’s clear there’s no plan on halting that momentum.
“We’re trying to create things that are accessible to an adventurous audience across the board,” Westhoff said. “My inclination is to facilitate a dynamic programming season that is cross-cultural. I’m interested in what people do with traditional music forms that simultaneously honor them and move them forward. Live music has the ability to bring people together and share cultural history.”
How to go
What: 2024-2025 Season Kick-Off Party with TEKE::TEKE and special guests Kid Bigfoot, Gran Gran and Tronee Threat
When: 5-9 p.m. Aug. 10
Where: Foundry Theater at Antioch College, 920 Corry St., Yellow Springs
Tickets: antiochcollege.edu
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