August 01 - August 04, 2024

The Way of the Rain: Hope for Earth

Screening of the filmed performance of Sibylle Szaggars Redford’s multidisciplinary work featuring a narration by Robert Redford. Join us, along with the Founder, President and Artistic Director of The Way of the Rain Sibylle Szaggars Redford and invited guest Robert Redford, for this special event.  

August 04, 6pm: Green Music Center, Weill Hall

Robert Redford

Robert Redford (born August 18, 1936, Santa Monica, California, U.S.) is an American motion-picture actor and director known for his diversity of screen characterizations, commitment to environmental and political causes, and for founding the Sundance Institute and Film Festival in Utah.

After years of drifting and studying art in both Europe and the United States, Redford enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and soon thereafter made his Broadway debut in the play Tall Story (1959). Landing roles in several television dramas of the early 1960s, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, and Route 66, he scored the biggest triumph of his early career with the lead role in Neil Simon’s Broadway hit Barefoot in the Park (1963).

He costarred with Paul Newman in the enormously popular comic western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), in which he portrayed the outlaw Sundance Kid. The film became the top-grossing picture of the year, and Redford was soon one of Hollywood’s most popular and bankable stars, next appearing in such successful films as Downhill Racer (1969; written by James Salter) and The Candidate (1972). He starred with Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were and reteamed with Newman in The Sting—the two most successful films of 1973—and was ranked as the top American box office attraction. The Sting won that year’s Academy Award for best picture and earned Redford an Oscar nomination for acting. He then won Best Director in 1980 for Ordinary People.

In 1980 Redford established the Sundance Institute, which provides a workshop for young filmmakers each summer and sponsors the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. By the 1990s the festival had become one of the leading international film festivals, and it is regarded as a vital showcase for new talent. For his work with Sundance and other contributions to film, Redford was presented with an honorary Academy Award in 2002. His numerous other awards included the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2008) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016).

Sibylle Szaggars Redford

Sibylle Szaggars Redford is a German born multimedia environmental artist whose artwork has been exhibited throughout Europe, Monaco, Peru, Singapore, Japan, Suriname and the United States. Szaggars Redford is the 2016 recipient of the US State Department’s Art in Embassies Program for the US Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname where after visiting the countries Rain Forests and Indigenous Peoples, 10 of her site specific Pieces were placed on permanent display in the US Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname. Her artistry spans across mediums and decades, from painted oil sketches and photographs of her Moroccan travels, expressions on canvas from her American Indian Pueblo visits, large Oil paintings where she explores “The Shape of Color“ and her recent works of watercolor abstracts shaped by the monsoon rains of Santa Fe, New Mexico, California and abroad.

Having worked as an environmental artist for almost 4 decades, her desire is to create art that transcends words, languages, cultures and politics. Szaggars Redford creates art in order to speak to a deeper universal consciousness that’s connected to and dependent on the earth and its environments. In order to find a stronger voice through art for the Earth, Szaggars Redford entered the world of performance art as an homage to the universal elements and an artistic medium for environmentalism in action.

In 2013 Szaggars Redford in collaboration with Icelandic Composer and Musician David Thor Jonsson, designed a concept for a staged art performance piece “The Way of the Rain” which would incorporate different art forms; music, dance, film, light, spoken word and her first designed stage backdrop of multiple large “Rain Painting Silks” that would symbolize falling water from the heavens.

Since then Szaggars Redford has collaborated with various world renowned composers, choreographers and performers with presentations nationwide, The United Emirates of Abu Dhabi, the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall and the Opening Night of the 68th United Nations – NGO – International Conference.
In 2015 Szaggars Redford founded The Way of the Rain, Inc. a Non for Profit Organization with the specific purpose of developing, producing and performing educational and artistic performances – themed and designed to promote public awareness to support the protection of our Earth.
In addition to presenting “The Way of the Rain” performances and developing new staged versions of “The Way of the Rain” Szaggars Redford continues to create and exhibit new art.

Beginning of March 2020 during the time of the Covid – 19 lockdown and isolation, Szaggars Redford in collaboration with Composer Tim Janis and environmental activist Robert Redford began creating “The Way of the Rain – Reflections on Earth” video series shorts – a Gift of Hope to the World and an invitation to reflect on the beauty and wonders of our Planet Earth. “The Way of the Rain – Reflections on Earth” Ocean video series shorts have been screened around the world at the “Virtual“ Earth X Conference – April 22-27, 2020, the United Nations Oceans Day “Virtual” Earth X Oceans and National Geographic Conference – June 9-10, 2020, Earth X Australia / Oceana Conference – June 11, 2020 and the United Nations “Peace Boat” Conference on June 12, 2020.
“The Way of the Rain – Reflections on Earth” video series shorts continue to focus on the World’s Natural Environments; their delicate Ecosystems and Biodiversity which are important and necessary to maintain in order to preserve the existence of all life on Earth.

The Performance

The Way of the Rain – Hope for Earth
by environmental artist
Sibylle Szaggars Redford
A Symphony for our Planet
Composed by Tim Janis
Conducted by Julien Benichou
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Youth Choir
Spoken Word Narration by Robert Redford

This screening of Sibylle Szaggars Redford’s multidisciplinary staged music, art and film performance at the Dallas Texas Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Hall, with a spoken word narration by Robert Redford, tells the artistic story about the formation of the Universe, the evolution of all galaxies and the eventual birth of the unique and beautiful Planet Earth with all its elements.  Join us, along with the Founder, President and Artistic Director of The Way of the Rain Sibylle Szaggars Redford and invited guest Robert Redford, for this special event.  

This Version of The Way of the Rain is a creation for Symphony , Choir , Film Art and Spoken Word .