2008-2009
2008-2009
THE FARBER FOUNDRY (South Africa)
MOLORA (adapted from the Oresteia Trilogy)
Adapted and Directed by Yael Farber
Touring: Europe and UK - March - July 2008
North America - March-May 2008
Widely recognized as the pre-eminent artist of the post-Apartheid theater movement, Farber’s MOLORA is a work of great maturity and precision featuring the world-renowned Ngoko Cultural Group as chorus, known and studied widely for their singular split-tone vocal technique. Expanding her prowess as adaptor of classic texts by setting the work amidst the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, this powerful work made its mark as a defining moment in South African theater. A dark and challenging play examining the drive to vengeance and the impulse to forgive.
"In selecting a Greek tragedy to explore the cycle of violence, and the irresistible human impulse for revenge, uncompromising director Yael Farber creates sophisticated theatre in its rawest form…it is Farber's phenomenal ability to tell a story which, in all its simplicity, becomes intensely complex. Her use of the Ngqoko Cultural Group is sheer genius, as they are both the chorus and the conscience while infiltrating the text on every possible level." – The Star, Johannesburg
MOLORA makes its US premiere in Spring 2008 following tours to the Market Theater in Johannesburg, and European touring including the Barbican Centre and Oxford Playhouse in Summer 2007 and Spring 2008.
AURELIA’S ORATORIO (France)Starring Aurelia Thierree
Conceived and Directed by Victoria Thierree Chaplin
Produced in partnership with CRYING OUT LOUD UK
Touring:
North America - October-December 2008
Boston, MA - AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE, Nov. 25 - Dec. 30, 2008
Additional dates TBA
The third generation of theater-makers from one of Europe's most revered lineages brings the world-renowned AURELIA’S ORATORIO to the US for the first time following three sold-out West End appearances and renown from Europe to Asia. A remarkable display of stage illusion created especially for and with Aurélia Thierrée , the show draws inspiration from the worlds of music hall, variety and circus to create a concoction of illusion and fantasy.
Aurélia Thierrée has performed as actress and illusionist since early childhood, initially with her parents Jean-Baptiste Thierrée and Victoria Thierrée Chaplin the pioneers of new circus in the famous Cirque Invisible and Cirque Imaginaire and more recently with Tiger Lillies Circus of Shockheaded Peter fame. Victoria Thierrée Chaplin continues to tour with Cirque Invisible and has also worked with her son James’ La Compagnie de Hanneton on La Veillee Des Abysses.
“A magical slice of theatrical trickery" - The Metro
"It is an absolute spellbinder" - Daily Telegraph
"It is a bewitching 70 minutes in which the nightmarish and the dreamy meet and disintegrate in a puff of smoke and the whistle of a train." - The Guardian
www.aureliasoratorio.com
T.P.O. -TEATRO DI PIAZZA O D’OCCASSIONE (Prato, Italy)
THE GARDEN TRILOGY – CCC (CHILDREN’S CHEERING CARPET)
The Japanese Garden / The Italian Garden / The Painted Garden
Available Spring 2009: Farfalle: The Butterfly Garden
A Co-Production of Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana
Tour produced in partnership with CRYING OUT LOUD UK
Touring:
Spring 2009 ("Farfalle: The Butterfly Garden" Only)
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE TOUR
May 3-6 Chicago, IL, Chicago Humanities Festival
May 12 - 17 Seattle, WA, Seattle international Children's Festival
May 20-25 Columbus, OH Wexner Center for the Arts
June 12-17 Midland, MI Matrix: Midland Festival of the Arts
June 18-23 New Haven, CT New Haven Festival of Arts & Ideas
July 17-20 Lee, MA Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
The next phase in interactive entertainment from Italian based company TPO. Awarded the Ade Art Digital Era prize in 2004, TPO’s stunning visual environments immerse family audiences in “sensitive” theatrical environments, based on the use of interactive technologies of image and sound and featuring live actors as well. In these environments the company has developed virtual landscapes which encourage an approach to “beauty” as a form of communication and education featuring live actors and unique stories. The ground-breaking CCC allows for an interactive story based in virtual environments controlled by the participant via a carpet incorporated with touch-sensors. An accessible and provocative means to introducing advanced technology into a narrative-based theatrical experience.
“A new experience in participatory theatre. A warm assault on all the senses. Inclusive and embracing. It’a about theatre as a shared experience and I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” - Bank of Scotland Children’s Festival
www.tpo.it
PHANTOM LIMB (New York, NY)
Erik Sanko & Jessica Grindstaff, Co-Artistic Directors
THE FORTUNE TELLER
Created and Directed by Erik Sanko
Original Music composed by Danny Elfman and Erik Sanko
Recorded Narration by Gavin Friday
Art Director, Project Manager Jessica Grindstaff
West Coast Premiere! UCLA Live October 18-28, 2007
Touring Worldwide: Spring 2009
The Fortune Teller is the acclaimed creation of New York City puppet maker Erik Sanko. Featuring a grotesque array of 15 artfully handcrafted figures, this dark comic tale unfolds in a fantastic Victorian world as seven characters representing the seven deadly sins convene at a dead millionaire’s estate to claim their inheritance as determined by a fortune teller. One by one, each is delivered what they have coming to them, but perhaps not what they are expecting—a brutal, but suitable, demise. Featuring the gravelly, recorded narration of Irish vocalist Gavin Friday and an eerie score by Sanko and Grammy-winning film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, this sinister puppet theater spectacle is a perverse, but gleeful morality tale for grown-ups.
“For those souls with a taste for the elegantly macabre, attendance is highly advised. To miss it - now that would be a sin” –The Village Voice"
'
A morality fable for grown-ups, evoking the familiar idioms of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton in a style you might term Victorian ghastly... the set, a regular wunderkammer, keeps opening up to reveal new sets and images, little Victorian dioramas... macabre and engaging." - The New York Times www.eriksanko.com
PETER BROOK / INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEATRE RESEARCH (Paris, France)
THE GRAND INQUISITOR
Adapted from The Brothers Karamazov By Dostoïevski
Starring Bruce Myers
Adapted by Marie Hélène Estienne
Directed by Peter Brook
Light design Philippe Vialatte
Touring: October -December 2008 ONLY
Legendary theatre director Peter Brook returns to the U.S. with The Grand Inquisitor, a stunning example of the director's latest work. The action takes place in Seville during the Inquisition. In his infinite mercy, Christ returns to the world of man in the human form he wore during his 33 years on earth and enters the burning streets of the city, where, the previous day, the Grand Inquisitor had sent a hundred heretics into the flames. The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor sees Him and his face darkens. He orders the guards to seize Christ and shut Him in a narrow vaulted cell. In the darkness, suddenly, the iron door opens and the Grand Inquisitor quietly enters. For a long moment, he stays in the doorway, studying the Holy face. Then he draws nearer, saying: 'Is it You? You?'
"Peter Brook coined the term Holy Theatre. And, for all its anti-clerical nature, evenings don't come much holier than this: a 50-minute version of the Grand Inquisitor's speech to Christ from The Brothers Karamazov, played on a grey platform…Brook's production and Bruce Myers's performance have an austere grandeur." – The Guardian
www.bouffesdunord.com
WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY (Brooklyn, NY)
ADDICTED TO BAD IDEAS: Peter Lorre’s 20th Century
Music and Libretto by World / Inferno Friendship Society
Directed by Jay Scheib
World Premiere: September 8 & 9, 2007, Live Arts Festival, Philadelphia, PA
Worldwide Touring: Summer/Fall 2008, Spring 2009
Brooklyn punk legends WIFS join forces with Jay Scheib, one of contemporary theater’s brightest young visionaries,
to create a punk-rock opera for the times. Continuing the charge in the evolution of the genre via the ultimate 20th century archetype of alienation, Peter Lorre, WIFS dedicate a furious song cycle following Lorre’s unheralded existence from his days with Wedekind and Brecht through the cycle of World Wars to a pitiless fall from grace in the drug-infused quagmire of Hollywood vines. Led by the inimitable Jack Terricloth, WIFS paint a picture of the twentieth century from the outsider’s eye via a multi-media spectacle. Premiering in Fall 2007 in conjunction with the Chunksaah Records release of the recorded song cycle, one of America’s finest progressive punk bands bring their unique vision from the clubs to the stage for the first time.
Developed in residence with Peak Performances @ Montclair State University , Montclair , NJ, Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director.
“World/Inferno are not your typical punk act …with a nearly vaudeville approach to its songwriting, The World/Inferno Friendship Society draws on everything from punk and rock to jazz, polka, swing and a mind-boggling number of influences. The resulting sound is one that makes the nine-piece act one of the most eclectic and challenging acts of its day.” – SPIN Magazine
THE GRAVITY PROJECT
Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA
Andrew Belser, Artistic Director
Stephanie Skura, Assoc. Artistic Director
Chad Herzog, Managing Director
A groundbreaking new ensemble creating original works of striking concept, design and physical dexterity, uniting new and veteran performing artists and disciplines. Based at Juniata College, the ensemble works intricately with the community in the development of new work, bearing a fresh focus on the practical nature of creating work through a variety of styles, disciplines and voices. TGP provides an unprecedented opportunity for education and community exchange via a world-class performance ensemble composed of some of the brightest performance artists working today.
Touring Open 08-09
NINE GATES
Directed by Andrew Belser
Adapted from Jane Hirshfield’s book Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry.
"You may do this, I tell you, it is permitted. Begin again the story of your life." - Jane Hirshfield
A bold work of original physical theater - Nine Gates brings audiences an inspiring, fresh look at contemporary poetry, through a beautifully composed collection of staged poems from the finest poets working today. The work interprets bold new poetic styles by fusing sumptuous movement, poetic text, and elegant staging for a visceral ensemble piece of magic, humor and depth.
CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD
Adapted by Russell Davis
Directed by Andrew Belser
Produced in collaboration with People’s Light and Theatre
Premieres January 2008
A family theater piece full of juggling and kinetic movement, Crispin brings to life the tale of an orphan boy who is befriended by a wandering, singing, juggling, visionary teacher named Bear. This moving and exciting play follows Crispin and Bear’s deepening friendship in their adventures across a medieval English landscape fraught with danger. A unique collaboration with one of the finest regional theaters in North America.
TAOUB
Collectif Acrobatique du Tangier
Directed by Aurelien Bory
Produced in partnership with CRYING OUT LOUD UK
Touring:
North America, October – November 2009
This work is a gorgeous, poetic acrobatic show based in Moroccan traditions with live music, appealing to all ages and scopes, presented in brilliant colors with four generations of acrobats performing their highly crafted work. Weaving together traditional Moroccan acrobatics and modern performance in a poetic exploration of North African culture, the work has you holding your breath as the acrobats topple along the Tangier skyline or fly through the air in acts that defy gravity. A seemingly endless sheet of fabric, which gives the show its name, morphs from bellowing backdrop to lavish dress - taking on a life of its own. Live Arabic music and traditional songs further immerses you in this dream-like Moroccan world examining the shifting landscape of identity in contemporary Moroccan culture. Building on centuries of traditional Moroccan performance honed on the beaches of Tangier, this family company display the tricks of their forefathers with a raw, youthful energy. Director Aurélien Bory, a pioneering figure in French contemporary circus and founder of the acclaimed Compagnie 111, adds the spice and humour of 21st century performance to their ancient art.
“…these performers prove they are the business. With an insouciant brilliance, they fill the stage with multiple backflips, dizzying cartwheels, perilous human pyramids and vaulting trampoline stunts. What’s doubly exciting is they do it with so little technology.” The Guardian
RUDE MECHS, Austin, TX
THE METHOD GUN
Created by Rude Mechs
Written by Kirk Lynn
Directed by Shawn Sides
World Premiere! April 2 - 12, 2008
The Long Center for the Performing Arts @ The Rollins Theater, Austin, TX
Touring Spring 2009
Widely recognized as among the finest and most prolific ensembles in the U.S., RUDE MECHANICALS (a.k.a. Rude Mechs) is an ensemble-based theatre company founded in Austin, TX in 1995 combining physical dexterity with cutting-edge theatricality and ideas. The Company has produced 22 original theatrical productions and garnered praise across the U.S. and Europe, receiving over 125 nominations for artistic excellence and honored as “The Best Theatre Company in Austin” by the Austin Chronicle for a record four consecutive years. Past works include LIPSTICK TRACES, REQUIEM FOR TESLA, DECAMERON and the recent hit off-Broadway run of GET YOUR WAR ON adapted from the comic by David Rees.
The Company's latest endeavor, THE METHOD GUN, explores the life, ethos, and techniques of actor-training guru, Stella Burden, as recounted through the eyes of her students. Ms. Burden's training technique, called The Approach, fused Western acting methods and more dangerous, "exotic" approaches in an effort to infuse a sense of depth, purpose, and urgency into even the smallest of roles.
This world-premiere presentation by The Long Center for the Performing Arts is the first opportunity to see our two-year, transcontinental exploration of The Approach. We promise: guns, pendulums, "Streetcar" and physical danger. We make no claims on behalf of narrative, common sense, or safety
"A hilarious grasp of absurdity...both retro and devilishly au courant...the live-theater equivalent of a wildfire" - The Washington Post
www.rudemechs.com
TAPEIRE – DRIVEN BY RHYTHM
Created, produced and directed by James Devine.
US Premiere Tour! November-Decemebr '07: New Victory Theater, New York, NY; Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, Miami, FL
Touring:
United States: October / November 2008; Spring 2009Open
Led by the inimitable James Devine, TAPEIRE is raw, exhilarating Celtic passion with original live music and dance. It is the next generation in Irish tap fusing the sounds of dance, fiddle, vocals and percussion; a fast paced live music and dance jam to invent a new and funky sound. A unique new way of expression created by James Devine, the world's fastest dancer clocked at 38 taps per second. TAPEIRE fuses the raw improvisation of Rhythm Tap and the percussive sounds of Irish dance in surprising new ways, melding breathtaking tap with the sounds of jazz, hip-hop, funk and Celtic rhythms. Along with his four piece band, Devine electrifies the stage in an exhilarating rhythmic performance! James Devine's TAPEIRE promises to put Celtic passion back where it belongs in dance using Irish Tap, fiddle and drums with a unique live video mix to leave audiences gasping.
“Well-packaged and witty.... a sure-fire Fringe hit.... turbo “Celtic tapper”. Like Stomp and Tap Dogs before them, they make bone-shaking music and dance with every available surface.- Sunday Herald
www.tapeire.com
JO STROMGREN KOMPANI
THE CONVENT and/or THE HOSPITAL
Directed by Jo Stromgren
Touring:
North America - January-March 2008
"Keeping track of the holy truth is always a hard assignment. And it is even harder when you are hungry."
-Jo StromgrenThe Jo Stromgren Kompani is one of Europe’s most celebrated dance-theater ensembles, charting a path to the some of the most enlightening and theatrically concise work being created today. Their celebrated works have traveled to major Festivals around the word to great acclaim including two highlighted runs at Edinburgh and their US premiere at Jacob’s Pillow.
Enter the dark confusion of The Convent - where hints of extreme religious sects hide in the shadows of the stage light, as prevalent as the hills and valleys of the European Alps where this absurdist production is set. Three nuns maintain a fragile harmony with their divine idols, pacing the floor in sensible shoes and offering choruses in a polyphonic symphony of nonsense languages, while a seed grows into full planthood in the condensed chaos of a year's time. This is the world of the Jo Stromgren Kompani, one of Norway's foremost contemporary dance/theater companies. Not intended to bestow a specific meaning to its audience, or to critically attack any particular tradition, The Convent contains both the feverish pitch of maniacal fanaticism, and the tranquility and silence of a self-imposed asceticism. A largely a cappella voyage that blends dance, theater and dialectically diverse gibberish into a performance you won't soon forget.
“The piece was not at all the usual crude sendup of that under-appreciated population. Somehow Mr. Stromgren managed to create a small, whole universe of steadily escalating madness that was chilling but also hilarious and oddly affectionate." - The New York Times
www.jskompani.no
THE TEAM (Theatre of the Emerging American Moment)
Brooklyn, NY
PARTICULARLY IN THE HEARTLAND
Conceived and Created by the TEAM
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Touring:
North America: Spring 2007
2008 / 2009 -OPEN
“Some men see things as they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’” –Robert F. Kennedy
The latest work from the TEAM looks at what is right, what is wrong, and what might be in America's heartland. It is the story of three siblings, abandoned by their parents and living on a rundown farm, who are visited by three spirits: a pregnant woman named Tracy Jo who appeared one day walking across the plains, the ghost of Robert F. Kennedy who emerged from the soil, and an east-coast business woman named Dorothy who fell out of a plane on her way to Mexico. A year passes…The phrase "particularly in the heartland" comes from a New York Times article about a new bankruptcy law that President Bush signed into effect in April. The law makes it nearly impossible to get out of debt, and described how, in order to beat the approaching deadline, "bankruptcy filings have jumped, particularly in the heartland." After the 2000 and 2004 elections in the United States, a great deal came out about the "two Americas." The map: 2 coasts of blue filled with an inner sea of red. Half of the TEAM is from the center of the country, and the other half has never set foot there. This is our research project, our essay on the heartland. What does it mean to be the lone vertical figure standing on the infinite plains of Kansas?
Work from Particularly in the Heartland was presented in Glasgow in November 2005, as part of The Arches first ever Scratch night, and further developed at a residency with London's Battersea Arts Center in March, 2006. After Premiering as part of the Ohio Theatre's Ice Factory Festival in New York that July, Heartland went on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it was awarded a Fringe First Award (the TEAM's second) and shortlisted for Best New Writing.
“Explosive youthful energy…sheer intelligence…sense of history…radical theatrical vision…the TEAM are not afraid to invoke the values and ideas that make the liberal dream of America worth fighting for: and it’s that willingness to express idealism and hope, as well as cynicism and despair, that gives their work its special richness, and its political edge…the current American crisis has driven the TEAM to new heights of controlled madness.” – The Scotsman
* Work-in progress:
ARCHITECTING
Conceived and Created by the TEAM
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
An American saga told in several sections (starting in the middle). It’s Gone with the Wind blown up and rebuilt by messianic architects as "The Re-Education of Scarlett O'Hara."
Premieres Summer 2008; Workshop Premiere: May 14-18, 2008 @ 3LD, New York, NY
 |
 |
 |
 |