DECEMBER 2 - 20, 2009
RINDE ECKERT'S MUSIC THEATRE ORPHEUS X ...

"HAUNTING, STARK AND STRIKING" Boston Globe.
ROBERT WOODRUFF IS "THE COUNTRY'S MOST ADVENTUROUS DIRECTOR" Time Out

The New York premiere of ORPHEUS X with original music and text by Rinde Eckert (2007 Pulitzer Finalist) and directed by Robert Woodruff, draws from several literary and poetic sources, including the Sixth Century Greek poet Ibyous and the Roman poets Virgil and Ovid. Eckert and Woodruff take this ancient myth and reinvent it for our time with acting and singing by three extraordinary artists, Mr. Eckert, Suzan Hansen and John Kelly and a live band of piano, guitar, viola, percussion and bass.

As described by Variety, "In Mr. Eckert's version Orpheus is a rock star, an idol who amazes all not with a legendary lyre but with an electric guitar. Unlike the hero of the source material, he's mourning not the death of his wife but that of a total stranger -- a poet named Eurydice -- who dies in his arms after being struck by a cab in which Orpheus was riding. This fluke of fate shatters his splendid life. Suddenly burdened by this strange loss, he becomes obsessed with Eurydice's memory. Unable to comprehend or cope, he shuts himself off from a life that once gave him glory, riches and a semblance of meaning."

Originally commissioned by American Repertory Theater where it opened March, 2006, this will be a Theatre for a New Audience production.

FEBRUARY 6 - MARCH 14, 2010
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S MEASURE FOR MEASURE

"THE DIRECTOR ARIN ARBUS MIGHT JUST BE A STAR IN THE MAKING OR TO PUT IT LESS GLIBLY... A POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT ARTIST" New York Times.

When Arin Arbus directed last season's acclaimed production of OTHELLO, the New York Times wrote, "Ms. Arbus allows this most taut and tense of Shakespeare's tragedies to weave its inexorable spell simply by letting the language breathe and the drama unfold at a quietly accelerating rhythm. She gets out of Shakespeare's way, in other words, but this is only the reward of much intelligent care and hard work. You get the sense that each moment in the play has been thought through, line by line and even step by step, with the result that every scene achieves its purpose with a trenchant simplicity."

This season, Ms. Arbus stages William Shakespeare's dark comedy, MEASURE FOR MEASURE which presents a society out of balance. Government leaders are helpless or hypocritical, and passions are relegated to the whorehouses and the prisons. When the Duke of Vienna departs on a mysterious trip, he delegates power to Angelo, a man of spotless reputation. Puritanical Angelo decides to clamp down on the city's rampant vice by enforcing an antiquated law punishing fornication with death. He makes an example of young Claudio for impregnating his beloved fiancé, and listens to no pleas for mercy. But Angelo's moral fiber is strained to the breaking point when Claudio's beautiful sister Isabella, about to take holy vows, arrives to plead for his life and prompts stirrings in Angelo that confuse and rattle him. Corrupt power confronts ruthless justice, the letter of the law obscures the quality of mercy, and the noblest of spirits must reflect on the basest of appetites in this sly, bawdy, provocative and extraordinarily modern play.

MARCH 27 - APRIL 17, 2010.
LOVE IS MY SIN, the sonnets of William Shakespeare, adapted for the theatre by Peter Brook in collaboration with Marie Hélène Estienne.

"BEAUTY, EMOTION, THE RAVAGES OF TIME, CONTRADICTIONS OF LOVE, TRANSPARENT AND DISTURBING, PURE POETRY THAT SINGES AND BURNS" Le Figaro

The New York Premiere of LOVE IS MY SIN is a C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, production with Natasha Parry and Bruce Myers, two of Peter Brook's greatest collaborators. Performed in English, with a playing time of approximately one hour, LOVE IS MY SIN Premiered in Paris at Bouffes du Nord on 8 April 2009. It is presented with contemporary clothing, lighting and Franck Krawczyk who plays the music of Louis Couperin (1626-1661) on keyboard and accordion.

Peter Brook chose twenty nine sonnets and arranged them exploring the themes: Devouring Time, Separation, Jealousy and Time Defeated. Mr. Brook writes, "Apart from his masterpieces, Shakespeare also wrote uncommonly beautiful sonnets. To choose between 154 sonnets, I needed to find a dramatic continuity and was guided by the hidden tensions that arise in a relationship between two people. LOVE IS MY SIN allows us to penetrate into Shakespeare's own, most secret life. It is his private diary, in which we find his intimate questions, his jealousy, his passions, his guilt, his despair. Above all, he searches to discover for himself the deep meaning of being attracted by a man or by a woman, even by the act of writing itself. This is neither a play nor a poetry recital. It catches the actors into true human relationships. Then, at the very end, they become speakers for Shakespeare himself who wrote prophetically that his verse is stronger than time and will last forever."

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