‘Difficult Grace’ features Seth Parker Woods performing the cello, as well as serving as the piece’s narrator and a movement artist. (photo by Dahlia Katz)

UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance presents the West Coast premiere of Seth Parker Woods’ “Difficult Grace” on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in The Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater.

An evocative, theatrical and genre-bending collaboration with dancer Roderick George, “Difficult Grace” is a multimedia concert tour de force conceived by and featuring Woods in the triple role of cellist, narrator/guide and movement artist, performing music written for and with Woods by Freida Abtan, Monty Adkins, Fredrick Gifford, Nathalie Joachim and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay.

Heightened by film, spoken text, dance and visual artwork by Jacob Lawrence, Barbara Earl Thomas, Zoë McLean and Freida Abtan, “Difficult Grace” is a semi-autobiographical exploration of identity; past/present histories and personal growth that draws inspiration from the Great Migration; the historic newspaper, The Chicago Defender; immigration; and the poetry of Kemi Alabi and Dudley Randall.

“Difficult Grace” is commissioned for Woods by the 92nd Street Y with the generous support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting, and co-commissioned by the Harris Theater, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance and The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. Funds provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund.

The CAP UCLA 2022-23 fall/winter programs will continue on Saturday, Jan. 21 with the American premiere of Israel Galván & Niño de Elche’s “Mellizo Doble.”

Tickets start at $49 are available now at cap.ucla.edu or by calling (310)825-2101 and the UCLA Central Ticket Office. The Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater is located at 150 Kaufman Hall.