Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC
Lisner Auditorium (1946)
The George Washington University
730 21st Street
Washington, DC
https://events-venues.gwu.edu/specialty-venues
Lisner Auditorium is a performance venue sited on the Foggy Bottom campus of George Washington University at 730 21st Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. Named for Abram Lisner (1852-1938), a university trustee and benefactor whose will provided one million dollars towards its construction, it was designed in 1940 and completed in 1946. Constructed in the stripped classicist style of the late Art Deco and host to major classical, folk, rock, blues, opera, and theatrical performances over the decades, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 for its dual significance as an architectural work and as a performance venue.[3]
The auditorium played a key role in desegregation at George Washington University and in Washington, D.C.; its 1946 grand opening became a city-wide target for the desegregation of the city’s theaters and a catalyst for George Washington students calling on the university to admit African American students.[4] The auditorium seats 1,350[5] and is the home of the Washington Concert Opera.
Renovation (2025)
Maida Withers Dance Construction Company presented works in public performance in Lisner Auditorium from 1966 through 2015.
Selected Works:
MindFluctuations (2015) March 19 Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC. Dance, neuroscience, virtual art, and live music. Maida Withers, Concept/Choreography, MWDCCO. Tania Fraga, 3D computer art; John Driscoll, Steve Hilmy, composers/musicians. A Java 3D application drives participants within a metaphorical virtual reality journey. A neural headset, Emotiv, worn by dancers, is used to digitize their emotional states that interface with the processes within virtual 3D environments in the computer (BCI) Animation is projected in real time creating an immersive environment for performers and audience.
https://maidadance.com/works/mindfluctuations/
https://vimeo.com/129893299/
Thresholds Crossed (2006) Premiere: Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC and Luna Theatre, Moscow, Russia; Fusion of East and West that explores events, ideology and humanistic issues linking U.S. with former Soviet Union and contemporary Russia. Withers, choreographer; 6 DC and 5 Russian dancers; Linda Lewett, filmmaker; Steven Hilmy, composer/musician; Audrey Chen, cello/vocals; war photos; video of DC dancers in the 14th Century Monastery, Russian Gulag, Solovky Island. http://maidadance.com/works/thresholds–crossed/
Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky (2001) MRW spend time on the web page and find dates in DC at Lisner, find date in DC at Smithsonian Air and Space Museum the week before Lisner; find the date of the premiere Dance of Auroras) Dance 2001: Northern Lights Festival, Tromso, Norway, Lisner Auditorium, DC. Poetic voyage from the Sun through Earth’s Auroras with real time interaction with 3-D animation, film. Programs need to abe copied and included online …. so much research needs to be featured. http://maidadance.com/works/dance–of–the–auroras–fire–in–the–sky–stage–work/
Laser Dance: World Premiere (1985) June 6 & 7 4-part Odyssey: Departure, Quest, Domain, Rites / Skylight / Departure (June 6 & 7, 1985) Lisner Auditorium, DC. An historic four-part evening-length space odyssey takes place inside a ground-breaking visual installation, on stage and above the audience, of multi-colored argon laser beams created by world renowned, ground breaking laser artist, Rockne Krebs, with unique Synclavier II music by Bob Boilen and choreography by experimental choreographer, Maida Withers. Nine exquisite dancers with Maida Withers Dance Construction company performed the odyssey. Laser beams originated upstage center and projected toward 50 mirrors on Lisner Auditorium walls (1500 seat theatre). Bill Warrell and District Curators presented the premiere. http://maidadance.com/works/laser–dance/
1966 – Essays: Part I – Of the Mind; Part II – Of the Heart; Six women dancers; Premiere: Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC Music: Foss / Two-part work: choreography by Maida Withers with select GW dancers, explores the balance and conflict in dance between the impulses “of the mind” and the contrasting interests /expressions “of the heart” Essay reveals Withers interest in the emerging Post-Modern conversation about dance as pure movement invention and dance as an expressive medium.