Irondale Announces Upcoming Season at the Irondale Center in Brooklyn

Irondale announces its 12/13 season, their fifth season in the Irondale Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.  The 2012/13 Season will offer an  array of theater, music, dance, new programming for families and a full roster of performing arts classes for both adults and children.  For more information check out www.irondale.org. This season no ticket will cost more than $25.

The highlight of the 2012/13 season is the continuation of Irondale Ensemble’s ambitious 1599 Project. 1599, named for the most important year in Shakespeare’s artistic development, began last season with the ensemble’s highly acclaimed, Henry V.  This year the cycle continues with “up close and personal” productions of the Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and As You Like It.The entire  4-play repertory: Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It and Hamlet will be performed in rotation during  the 2013/14 season. 

The season will open August 29 with “Butoh Electra” a stunning physical theater piece that has received such accolades as “beautiful and disturbing” - Nytheatre.com, produced and performed by The Ume Group. September continues with theBrooklyn BEAT Festival. Irondale is thrilled to be hosting the first annual BEAT (Brooklyn Emerging Artist Theater) Festival, which offers an exciting, eclectic mix of vibrant performance providing the audience with a fun and electric audio and visual feast! BEAT will feature work from The Irondale Ensemble, Creative Outlet Dance Theatre, American Opera Projects, Dzieci Theatre Group & daela dance company plus spoken word, circus arts and more. 

The Irondale Center has become known for hosting exciting dance performances and this year is no exception. FLICfest will be back for a third year, offering full length dance works by 12 choreographers over two weeks. And in March, Urban Dance Collective, the company headed by late Niles Ford (the gifted choreographer who passed away last year), will return to Irondale with Summer of Hate/15 Steps which was one of last year’s FLICfest highlights.

For families Irondale will also be offering a brand new play reading series for kids! Appropriate for the whole family, this unique and affordable series will feature seasoned and emerging local playwrights. This great series kicks off October 13, 2pm with Wesley Middleton’s Tomato Plant Girl.  Wesley is a Fort Greene resident and nationally produced playwright. This fun series compliments the expanding schedule of educational events for both kids and adults at Irondale, check out the website for details about improv classes, acting classes, directing classes and more.

The 2012/13 Season Schedule
Butoh Electra - August 29 - September 8, 8 PM
Butoh Electra follows the Sophocles tale of Electra from Greek mythology, whose inner life stood at odds with the world of walking dead in which she lived. The Ume groups fresh take on this much loved classic combines interesting twists and impressive choreography, punctuated by glimpses of Electra's "dance of utter darkness".  Manifested onstage by a collection of gifted performers, this flagship physical theater piece from Ume places the ensemble at the forefront of the emerging artist scene.

Brooklyn BEAT Festival - September 12-23 7:30 PM (no performances Sunday)
Opening the Irondale season with a BANG comes the first ever Brooklyn BEAT Festival! Featuring Brooklyn-based theater, dance and voice artists, BEAT will offer an exciting, eclectic mix of vibrant performance providing the audience with a fun and electric audio and visual feast! The all-Brooklyn roster features work from The Irondale Ensemble, Creative Outlet Dance Theatre, American Opera Projects, Dzieci Theatre Group & daela dance company plus spoken word, circus arts and more.  

Delerious Dance - Thursday, September 27 - Saturday, October 3 (Thursday thru Saturday 8 PM)
To Begin the World Over Again 
Edissa Weeks’  Delerious Dance Company and composer Joseph Phillips orchestra, Numinous team up to create this new work based on the writings of Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason).  Performances are augmented by a gallery exhibition The Promise of America and two Community Forums - moderated discussions, with guest artists and scholars.

New Georges Theatre
AliceGraceAnon - October 18 – November 9 (Monday – Saturday 8 PM)
A new play by Kara Lee Corthron, directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni
Highs & Lows, Rock n’ Roll, Rabbit Holes, ………three oddly connected heroines – a curious girl who falls down a rabbit hole (Alice); the lead singer of an iconic ‘60s rock band (Grace); the nameless star of a classic druggie diary (Anonymous) – inhabit three separate worlds, playing out their stories exactly as expected.  When those worlds collide, they’ve gotta wonder… who’s really controlling my destiny?  New Georges fills the glorious Irondale space with an imaginative, irreverent, highly theatricalhappening.

Irondale Ensemble
Julius Caesar - November 27 – December 18 (Tues 7 PM Wed- Sat 8 PM)
Part Two of the 1599 Project- A series of fast and furious “chamber” productions of Shakespeare’s 1599 Plays. Each play is designed to reflect contemporary political issues, just as Shakespeare reflected Elizabeth’s Court. 1599 kicked off last season with the highly acclaimed “Henry V”, tickets will sell out fast. 

FLICfest 2013! January 24- Feb. 2nd
Thurs.-Saturday, 7:30 and 9:PM
Now an annual event at Irondale, Flicfest is a Festival of Feature-length Independent Choreography. Each evening of FLICfest will include two feature length dance theater works followed by a performance cabaret in the balcony lounge.

Urban Dance Collective - March 20 – 30 Wed-Sat 8 PM
Niles Ford - Summer of Hate/15 Steps (and a new work TBA)

As You Like It - May 7- 25 Tues 7 PM Wed-Sat. 8 PM
Irondale Ensemble
Part  3 of the 1599 Project- A series of fast and furious “chamber” productions of Shakespeare’s 1599 Plays. This year’s plays  one tragic, one comic(Ceasar and As You Like It)  focus on the abuses of power -- power abused and the responsibility of holding onto it.  1599 kicked off last season with the highly acclaimed “Henry V”, tickets will sell out fast.

The Irondale Center, the first performing arts space to open in the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District is uniquely and entirely run and maintained by the Irondale Ensemble. 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 being a shelter proving through history a commitment to positive social activism. 

Irondale’s Mission
Through the power of the ensemble process, Irondale creates and presents theater, performance and education programs that challenge traditional assumptions about art, and help us to better interpret contemporary culture.   The Irondale Center, our theater, laboratory and classroom, is a home for ensemble artists of all disciplines and cultures, and a resource for our community.