IS IT ALREADY DUSK? Begins 2/20 at Irondale Center

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Irondale Center co-present the World Premiere of IS IT ALREADY DUSK?, a new physical theater piece by Joan Evans and Harry Rubeck based on a true story. Performances begin previews February 20 at Irondale Center with opening set for Tuesday, February 26.

IS IT ALREADY DUSK? is based on the life of 76-year old Takashi Tanemori. On August 6, 1945 Takashi was an eight year-old playing outside his schoolhouse in Hiroshima, Japan. That morning, when the atomic bomb was detonated, Takashi was orphaned and became an impoverished street urchin. When he was 18, he came to the United States to seek revenge. A spiritual encounter with a butterfly and the events of 9/11 led him to believe in forgiveness as the path to reconciliation instead of revenge.

Directed by Joan Evans with production design by Harry Rubeck, the cast includes Ching Valdes-Aran (Broadway: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet; 1997 Obie Award for Flipzoids), Greta Turken (Sophie's Choice), David Landon (New York Shakespeare Festival), Yasu Suzuki (Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, National Ballet of Maryland), John Summerour (Partial Comfort), Mary Cavett (Radio City Rockettes), Aya Yamakawa, Neyssan Falahi, Isabelle Boulton, Fakeer, Glenn Cruz, Jens Weber Alexiev, Jade Anderson, Sarita Lou Moore, Alice Qin and Joseph Monge. The production team includes Robert Sweetnam (set design), Julie Busch (stage manager) and Elise Toscano (assistant director). The production also features an original score composed by Laurence Gingold, performed live by a pianist, violinist and cellist.

Joan Evans has been creating and performing original physical theatre work since 1975, most recently the Dust Bowl drama Decade. She won a Fringe First Award at the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival for creating, directing, and choreographing the ensemble piece Where Ravens Rule, a theatrical response to the war in Bosnia. She has toured her solo work in Austria, Brazil, and Germany. She has performed her work at such theatres as the Performing Garage and Manhattan Class Company in NYC, and the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center In Connecticut. She has been the recipient of four National Endowment for the Arts grants for theater and a choreography fellowship from NEA as well. She was awarded a 1993 Citation of Excellence from the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA) for her work combining dance, acting, and puppetry in Rico and Dolores. She has taught and directed at Stella Adler Studio for two decades.

The Irondale Center, is uniquely and entirely run and maintained by the Irondale Ensemble, a permanent company of theater artists. A beautiful and historic space, the Center is an old Sunday school building attached to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. The church boasts an incredible history in its own right. Throughout history it has shown an ongoing proving commitment to positive social activism and community engagement.

IS IT ALREADY DUSK? was developed by the Harold Clurman Center for New Works in Movement and Dance Theatre (MAD) a division of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

IS IT ALREADY DUSK? runs February 20 - March 2, Tuesday - Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 7pm & 9:30pm. Irondale Center is located at 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, NY. -- accessible from the C train to Lafayette Avenue; the B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5 trains to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street, or the G train to Fulton Street. Tickets are $18, available at www.Irondale.org or 866-811-4111.