Extant Arts Company Presents New Version of Ibsen's GHOSTS 11/5-11/21

Extant Arts presents GHOSTS, a retelling of Henrik Ibsen's groundbreaking drama through Nemonie Craven's bold and muscular new adaptation (commissioned especially for this production). Director Sophie Hunter leads a dynamic cast and an international award-winning creative team from the worlds of opera, Broadway, film, and installation art in transforming this 19th-century Norwegian classic into a timeless and searing piece of theatre. Performances begin November 5th at the Access Theater, located at 380 Broadway.

Ghosts is a play of threatening, disturbing energies which unfolds on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the death of respected public benefactor John Alving. In welcoming back to the family home her estranged son Oswald and her former Pastor, Helene Alving must confront the ghosts that continue, fatally, to determine her existence and that of others. Ghosts provides the template for all modern horror films concerned with the bourgeois family under threat, from Stanley Kubrick to Michael Haneke.

Enron's Sophie Hunter returns to New York to direct Ghosts after touring Europe with Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. She explains the visceral grip of Ibsen's classic, saying "Ghosts is a series of violent encounters between characters ultimately concerned with survival: their own, and that of the faded ideals that haunt them."

Innovative but true to the spirit of the father of modern theater, this is a Ghosts for our present moment, as shocking and provocative as ever.

The cast of Ghosts features Anthony Holds*, LeeAnne Hutchison*, Chris Haag, Paulo Quiros, and Justine Salata. The creative team includes: set designer Fiammetta Horvat, lighting designer Melissa Mizell, video designer Gary Breslin, costume designer Hunter Kaczorowki, sound designer Asa Wember, assistant director Sarah Outhwaite, design assistant Danica Pantic, and stage manager Julia Singer. The production is an Equity Showcase.

"Ghosts opens a season of works examining the inevitable presence of the past," said Greg Taubman, artistic director of Extant Arts. "Arthur Miller once said that all tragedies are about the chickens coming home to roost, and I am excited to explore that dynamic in Ibsen's iconic drama, and later this season in a work of today." The season continues with Andy James Hoover's Chain of Deed, directed by Extant Arts executive director Bridget Durkin, opening on April 1, 2011 at the Gene Frankel Theatre.

The word 'extant' means 'enduring, not destroyed or lost,' and it is the charge and passion of Extant Arts Company to engage with theatre that has endured, and make sure that such works are not lost to present or future audiences. Since its founding in 2006, Extant Arts has produced the works of Euripides, Shakespeare, Chekhov and Feydeau, as well as such contemporary voices like Rebecca Gilman, and Ellen McLaughlin; all while working with schools to foster a passion for theatre in the next generation. For more information, go to www.extantarts.org.

Ghosts runs through November 21 at the Access Theater, located at 380 Broadway (at White Street) on the 4th floor. (The theater is accessible by elevator.) Show times are Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm. Sunday, November 21st performance will be at 3pm. Tickets: $18, $15 for students and seniors. TDF vouchers accepted. Running time is approximately two hours. Reservations: 212-868-4444 or www.smarttix.org. Information: www.extantarts.org.

 

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