Award-winning, innovative theatre company Rabbit Hole Ensemble has set their sights on Brooklyn. The company is celebrating their fifth anniversary with a year-long, Brooklyn-based exploration of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The piece -- the first installment of which will premiere at Brooklyn Arts Exchange in Park Slope on October 28th -- will be a gender-bending horror (in the old-fashioned, creepy sense of the word) that casts Dr. Frankenstein as a Columbia University coed, and her monster as a Linda Blair-esque young girl. The production will utilize Rabbit Hole's signature minimalism and physical theatre techniques to create the terrifying story. This is the company's second horror-theatre project, following up on 2008's award-winning The Night of Nosferatu. As part of Rabbit Hole's Theatre for Communities initiative, free tickets of the show will be provided to area non-profits.
Rabbit Hole Ensemble, a recent up-and-comer in off off-Broadway, has seven New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations, and two awards, to its name -- and has received glowing press notices, including accolades from The New York Times and The Village Voice, among many others. Although the company has brought free performances to low-income audiences and community organizations in Brooklyn for the past three years, this coming season will be the first one produced exclusively in the company's home borough.
Rabbit Hole Ensemble is the latest high quality theatre company to begin producing solely in Brooklyn, joining a vibrant cultural landscape that includes theatre companies and presenting organizations such as Theatre for a New Audience, Irondale Ensemble, and the Brick Theatre. The company believes the borough is an ideal home from which to further Rabbit Hole's commitment to building community through theatre.
"We have been wanting to connect with our audiences in a deeper way, and to contribute in tangible ways to our home neighborhoods," Artistic Director Edward Elefterion said. "We realized that Brooklyn is the perfect place to do that."
Please read below for further details on The Tragic Story of Doctor Frankenstein, and contact me if you are interested in interviewing the creators and writing a feature on the piece. We look forward to seeing you at the show!
Best,
James Gerontzos
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/LISTING
Press Contact: James Gerontzos
(917) 757-4549 / jgerontzos@aol.com
Rabbit Hole Ensemble Presents
"THE TRAGIC STORY OF DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN"
October 28th-November 13th; Thurs-Sat at 8pm
At Brooklyn Arts Exchange
RABBIT HOLE ENSEMBLE, lauded as "riveting" by The Village Voice, is pleased to announce the world premiere of THE TRAGIC STORY OF DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN written by Resident Playwright/NYITA* nominee Stanton Wood, and directed by Rabbit Hole Ensemble Artistic Director/NYITA winner Edward Elefterion. The production plays October 28th to November 13th, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, 421 5th Avenue, Park Slope. Tickets are $18 ($15 students/seniors) and available with more information at www.rabbitholeensemble.com. A Benefit Performance and Reception will be held opening night, Oct. 28th; tickets: $50.
Rabbit Hole Ensemble (RHE) celebrates its Fifth Anniversary by returning to one of literature's most influential and terrifying stories. Using physical theatre techniques, Kabuki, puppets, and the narrative foundation of story-theatre, this expressionistic gender-bending minimalist adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, FRANKENSTEIN focuses exclusively on the doctor's side of the story. Much like RHE's award-winning adaptation of Dracula (THE NIGHT OF NOSFERATU), the company is working with resident playwright Stanton Wood in a year-long exploration of FRANKENSTEIN and its themes; Part 2 will tell the same story, focusing on the monster's side of the story (to be presented in 2011).
Stanton Wood is the Resident Playwright at Rabbit Hole Ensemble. His play, BIG THICK ROD (RHE/FringeNYC 2008), was recently published by Original Works. His productions with RHE include CANDIDE AMERICANA and THE NIGHT OF NOSFERATU (2008 NYITA nomination for Outstanding Full-Length Script). Director Edward Elefterion is the Artistic Director of Rabbit Hole Ensemble, recipient of the 2008 NYIT Award for Outstanding Director, and nominee for the 2009 NYIT Award for Outstanding Choreography. Among his credits: the award-winning THE NIGHT OF NOSFERATU, BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES ("taut, powerful," Theateronline), SHADOW OF HIMSELF by NEAL BELL (called "captivating" by Showbusiness Weekly), CANDIDE AMERICANA. He has taught acting at Hofstra University for the past nine years, and is a member of the Society for Stage Directors and Choreographers.
Featured in the cast: Arthur Aulisi (named Person of the Year 2008 by nytheatre.com), Emily Hartford (off Broadway's THE CONTRAST at Mirror Repertory Company), Elyse Knight (AWOL at the Public Theatre and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA at EST), and Jocelyn O'Neil (MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Lincoln Center Institute/Aquila Theatre Co.).
RABBIT HOLE ENSEMBLE, founded in 2005, is a Brooklyn-based theatre company that engages the imagination of audiences by using the power of the performer to create atmosphere and story. Performers use their bodies and voices to create characters, environments, and sound design. Their distinctly minimalist aesthetic has been recognized by many publications, among them The New York Times ("[for those] who enjoy something experimentally interesting…an intriguing production," 2009); Time Out ("Four Stars—Critic's Pick," 2008); The Village Voice ("should not be missed," 2009) NYTheatre.com ("Spectacular," 2007); Broadway World ("a grand and spine-tingling production," 2007); and Talkin' Broadway ("a fully conceived and flawlessly executed piece of theatre," 2006) In addition, the company has received two New York Innovative Theatre Awards, and seven nominations, over the past two years.
THE TRAGIC STORY OF DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN, by Stanton Wood, directed by Edward Elefterion, featuring Arthur Aulisi, Emily Hartford, Elyse Knight, Jocelyn O'Neil. October 28th-November 13th; Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, 421 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope. Transportation: F,R to 4th Avenue & 9th Street. To purchase tickets, visit www.rabbitholeensemble.com
* New York Innovative Theatre Award
####
No comments:
Post a Comment