Wakka Wakka
Productions will present the New
York premiere of its latest original theatre piece
entitled Fabrik, featuring expressive hand-and-rod puppets created by
Wakka Wakka member Kirjan Waage.
Fabrik
will begin performances on January 17 and will officially open on Wednesday, January 23 at 7PM at Urban Stages Theatre, 259 West 30th Street (between 7th
& 8th Aves). Performances will run through February 17.
"
Fabrik
tells the exceptional story of Moritz Rabinowitz, a successful, immigrant, Norwegian
Jew who "built a factory from a button" only to watch his life be
swept away by the Holocaust. Originally from Poland,
he immigrated to Norway
in 1911 to escape pogroms and persecution. In Haugesund, a small fishing
village, he discovered a land rich with opportunity. He called it home. Poor
but determined, he eventually built one of the largest clothing empires in the
country, with department stores in several cities and his own factory. Although
wealthy and a leading employer and large presence in the town, he experienced a
good deal of anti-Semitism. The only Jews in Haugesend, he and his family were
treated as outsiders, rarely invited to social events or people's homes. In his
time alone in the apartment above his store, Rabinowitz avidly wrote columns
for local and national newspapers, expressing his socioeconomic ideas about
commerce in Europe and Norway's
natural resources. In time, the primary focus of his columns became warnings to
his countrymen about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis," explain press notes.
Inspired by Nordic and Yiddish folktales,
Fabrik has been written, directed,
and designed by the Wakka Wakka ensemble (David Arkema, Gabrielle Brechner, Kirjan Waage, Gwendolyn Warnock),
informed by research of the time period, the writings and life of Moritz
Rabinowitz, his family, workers and countrymen. Original sound design and music
composed by the ensemble has been combined with a score created by Lars Peter Hagen from a palette of
industrial noise, period and folk music.
Danny Goldstein (Walmartopia) serves as a directing
consultant.
The complete schedule for Fabrik (January 17 – February 17) will be:
Tuesdays through Sundays at 8PM. The Opening Night Curtain on Wednesday,
January 23 will be at 7PM. There will be one additional performance on Monday,
January 21 at 8PM.
Tickets: $25.00. Students and seniors: $17.50. TDF
vouchers accepted. Tickets for all
performances are available at 212-352-3101 (or online at www.theatermania.com). This production is appropriate for those 10
years of age and older, but it should also be noted that this is not a
childrens' show - it's a theatre piece with puppets.
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