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PRESS RELEASE:
For more information, contact:
Stacey Poirier
612-207-3659
spoirier@theatreunbound.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2008
WOMEN DIRECTORS SAY THE MAGIC WORDS
Theatre Unbound's 4th Directors' Gym Project
Transforms World Folk Tales
Theatre Unbound presents the fourth installment of our popular Directors' Gym Project, February 29-March 1, 2008. In this year's program, eight women directors will create and present their unique interpretations of folk tales from around the world.
"The Directors' Gym is at the heart of our mission to provide opportunities to women theatre artists," says Unbound Artistic Director Stacey Poirier. "Participants don't have to have previous directing experience. All they need is a willingness to think, imagine, organize, experiment, stretch, and work hard. It's the Directors' Gym - not the Directors' Spa."
THREE PERFORMANCES ONLY
Friday, February 29, 7:30 PM
Saturday, March 1, 2:00 PM
Saturday, March 1, 7:30 PM
TICKETS
Tickets: $8
Children 12 and under: FREE
Reservations: 612-721-1186 or order online at www.theatreunbound.com
LOCATION
The Neighborhood House at the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center
179 Robie Street East
St. Paul, MN 55107
PROCESS
Through our website, we invite the general public to vote among 50 ingredients such as a line of dialog, an emotion, a prop, or a stage direction. On Friday evening at 9:00 pm, we reveal the winning ingredients to 6 teams of 2 playwrights, who must include all the ingredients in their scripts. At 6:00 on Saturday morning, the newly written plays are assigned directors, a cast, and rehearsal time. Rehearsals are conducted throughout the day - technical rehearsals skid to a halt just in time for the doors to open at 7:00 pm. Performances begin at 8:00 pm.
PROCESS
Poirier selected folk tales from communities around the world, from the Lemba of Southern Africa to the Dine (Navajo) of the American Southwest. She assigned each director a folk tale and gave her this task: re-tell it from the perspective of one of the female characters. "Gym participants always astonish me with their creativity," says Poirier, "and this year is shaping up to be especially lively. Our directors have expertise in areas ranging from puppet and mask work to opera performance. Their work is sure to be spectacular."
THE DIRECTORS
Brenda Bell Brown (MN Black Storytellers Alliance), Kristin Kenning (Doctorate of Musical Arts - U of MN), Dionne Laviolette (Guthrie Theatre Internship), Heather Meyer (National Theatre for Children), Jenna Papke (Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Internship), Rebecca Rizzio (Theatre Unbound Company Member), Anika Taylor (Macalester College), and Cheryl Willis (Jungle Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune).
The 4th Directors' Gym Project is made possible in part through a contribution from TARGET.
COMING UP AT THEATRE UNBOUND
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
Written by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Directed by Genevieve Bennett
April 11 - May 3, 2008
A coded manuscript (lost source material for Shakespeare's Othello and Romeo and Juliet?) hurls Constance Ledbelly head over heels into the two plays, turning tragedy to comedy - twists, fights, dances, seductions and surprises. Winner of the Canadian Governor General's Literary Award for Drama, 1990.
ABOUT OUR NEW HOME
The venue for all our 2007-08 productions, the Neighborhood House features a brand new, state-of-the-art auditorium, FREE off street parking, handicapped accessibility, and walking distance to restaurants in the Westside neighborhood of St. Paul.
ABOUT THEATRE UNBOUND
Theatre Unbound produces high quality, visionary theatre created by women - powerful stories that represent women in active pursuit of their goals and desires; female perspectives on universal struggles and achievements.
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