OZ Arts Nashville, one of Music City’s premier art centers, has just unveiled the full slate of shows for its highly awaited 12th season. Featuring local and international artists and changemakers from five continents, the 2024 and 2025 season explores themes of resilience, change and power while furthering the center’s mission to make world-class performances accessible to the Nashville community and beyond.

“This is our most international season yet and demonstrates OZ Arts’ role as an essential link connecting Nashville to the larger global dialogue around contemporary culture,” says Mark Murphy, executive and artistic director at OZ Arts. “From New York’s legendary theater company, The Wooster Group and the powerful work of Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula to our own local theatrical visionaries in Nashville Story Garden, this is a true hallmark year for OZ, featuring our most experimental lineup to date and highlighting creative changemakers who are confronting the most vital issues of our time.”

DakhaBrakha (Ukraine) | Sept. 12, 2024

The season kicks off on Sept. 12 with a powerful performance by Ukrainian world-music quartet DakhaBrakha, following the success of their sold-out Nashville debut in 2023. Blending musical artistry and activism, the quartet celebrates Ukraine’s resilience during wartime with traditional and contemporary musical genres. The Kyiv-based group’s 2024 U.S. tour will raise funds for prosthetic limbs for wounded Ukrainian defenders.

Botis Seva & Far from the Norm (United Kingdom): BLKDOG | Oct. 17-19, 2024

From Oct. 17 through 19, the center will showcase the Olivier Award-winning, London-based dance theater company Far From The Norm, helmed by acclaimed director and choreographer Botis Seva. The group brings attention to pressing societal issues through theater and dance genres like hip-hop, popping, breaking, krump and house.

Fable Cry’s Festival of Ghouls | Oct. 26, 2024

Following Far From The Norm’s performance series, theatrical rock band Fable Cry returns to OZ Arts for the group’s 10th installment of its Halloween-themed party and cabaret Festival of Ghouls on Oct. 26, featuring a retro camp theme inspired by the season’s quintessential horror movie motifs and spooky campfire stories.

Emma Sandall’s An Ambivalent Woman of 37 | Nov. 15-16, 2024

November brings the national premiere of dancer, writer and theatermaker Emma Sandall’s cabaret-style performance of An Ambivalent Woman of 37, a boundary-breaking blend of dance and theater based on author Sheila Heti’s novel Motherhood. With composition by Elena Kats Chernin, piano by Alessandra Volpi, creative direction by Emma Sandall and consulting support from Paul Vasterling, artistic director emeritus of the Nashville Ballet, the project delves into parenthood’s dark side, delicacy, complexity and underlying humor.

The Wooster Group: A Symphony of Rats | Dec. 6-8, 2024

New York City-based experimental theater company The Wooster Group closes out the year from Dec. 6 through 8 with a trailblazing revitalization of Richard Foreman’s multimedia political satire A Symphony of Rats, co-directed by original members Elizabeth LeCompte and Kate Valk.

Faustin Linyekula & Studios Kabako (Democratic Republic of the Congo): My Body, My Archive | Jan. 24-25, 2025

Visitors will then have the chance to get a first look at Congolese dancer and choreographer Faustin Linyekula’s latest work, My Body, My Archive, on Jan. 24 and 25. Featuring lauded trumpeter Heru Shabaka-Ra of the pioneering jazz group Sun Ra Arkestra, the artistic work explores Linyekula’s personal journey and the social-political climate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Soon-ho Park & Bereishit Dance Company (Seoul, South Korea): Balance and Imbalance | March 5-6, 2025

South Korea-based choreographer Soon-Ho Park and his contemporary ensemble Bereishit Dance Company will follow with performances of two signature works, Balance and Imbalance and Judo, on March 5 and 6. The shows will feature a troupe of traditional Korean drummers and six dancers who masterfully blend martial artistry, hip-hop and street dance.

Nashville Story Garden, Nate Eppler & Lauren Shouse: Human Resources | March 27-April 5, 2025

Next, local theater company Nashville Story Garden presents the inaugural debut of Human Resources from March 27 through April 5. Brought to life by hailed playwright Nate Eppler and renowned director Lauren Shouse, this immersive experience showcases the daily comedy of the corporate world.

Faye Driscoll: Weathering | April 24-26, 2025

The final visiting artist presentation of the season comes from performance artist Faye Driscoll, who will present her most recent work, Weathering, from April 24 through 26. Throughout the show, nine performers undulate and crescendo to form kinetic sculptures.

Brave New Works Lab 2025 | May 15-17, 2025

The season closes with OZ Arts’ fourth annual Brave New Works Lab from May 15 through 17, which showcases the latest multimedia projects from local experimental artists. Artist submissions will be accepted through Oct. 7 and contemporary artists in Middle Tennessee are invited to submit to the center’s free open call using this form.

Season ticket packages and individual tickets are now on sale at OZ Arts Nashville’s website.

See also: 10 Shows Not to Miss at TPAC