The following description comes from the event organizer.

Thursday, September 16, 8-9pm - in the Merrill Theater at On the Boards

Friday, September 17, 8-9pm - in the Merrill Theater at On the Boards

Saturday, September 18, 3-4pm & 8-9pm - in the Merrill Theater at On the Boards

Co-Presented with Arx Duo, Facing Homelessness BLOCK Project, & Puget Sound Music Collaborative  

Reclaimed Timber is a Sonic Portrait of Cities’ Unique Housing Histories and Disparities from Chicago-based Ensemble Beyond This Point, September 14 (at Facing Homelessness’ BLOCK Project Shop) and September 16-18 (at On the Boards)

Through Beyond This Point’s vision of Michael Gordon’s composition Timber, audiences will experience music—and the materials from which it’s made—as an evocation of a city and a portrait of its stratified socioeconomic conditions. The work is being presented both at On the Boards and at Facing Homelessness’ BLOCK Project Shop, which builds fully equipped, healthy homes in homeowners’ backyards for people experiencing homelessness.

The musical basis for Reclaimed Timber comes from renowned composer Michael Gordon's piece Timber, a monumental work for six drummers on six pieces of wood. Chicago-based ensemble Beyond This Point has assembled a team of multidisciplinary artists and musicians, including percussionists from Seattle-based Arx Duo, to bring this mesmerizing and captivating work to On the Boards. Usually, Timber is played using the best tropical wood available (mahogany, rosewood, etc.). For each performance of Reclaimed Timber, Beyond This Point searches a city’s neglected lots and abandoned or soon-to-be-demolished homes to uncover the required instruments: pieces of wood, weathered as a result of unequal growth and opportunity for the city’s residents. In Seattle, they will partner with the Facing Homelessness Block Project to help source the wood. Thus, the performance will have a “sound” unique to each city’s housing history; the homes themselves become the main voice, telling the ongoing story of neglected communities and rapid gentrification.

Reclaimed Timber is presented with a custom-designed visual installation, comprised of more than 5,000 LEDs and 200 paper lantern “houses,” which respond to the music in real-time, reflecting the waves of sound as waves of light and shadow. The hour-long work is performed entirely on six slats of amplified wood and is accompanied by dynamic lighting. The mesmerizing, immediate, and visceral experience that Reclaimed Timber evokes in audiences translates to a new and profound awareness of issues that affect tens of thousands of people every day.

Beyond This Point says, “Every iteration of Reclaimed Timber is unique to the city in which it occurs, and Seattle’s version will be especially powerful. The challenges of housing inequality and homelessness in Seattle are being confronted in some of the most original and effective ways by some amazing organizations, and we are honored to further their work and cause as part of our performances.”

Proof of vaccination* or negative Covid test within 24 hours will be required for entry. Patrons are required to wear masks during the entire event.

*Photo of vaccination card is acceptable. If you do not have your card, you can access your vaccination record remotely by creating an account on the WA Dept of Health Immunization Information System, WA.MyIR.net.