LA MUSICA DEUXIÈME Comes to Torn Page in May

A/PARK PRODUCTIONS will present LA MUSICA DEUXIÈME by Marguerite Duras, translated by Barbara Bray and featuring the directorial debut of Helen Banner. Gopal Divan stars as Michel and Jessica Frey as Anne-Marie.

LA MUSICA DEUXIÈME runs from May 16-26 in a limited engagement at Torn Page, an event space at 435 W 22nd St between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in New York City. Performances begin May 16 and run through May 26. 

Marguerite Duras' subversive take on the classic tragedy of two lovers saying goodbye is reconfigured as an intimate, site-specific production that welcomes the audience into the comfort of a small French hotel. Michel and Anne-Marie, meeting on the eve of their divorce, go on a musical journey back to the lost dream of their marriage years ago. With little time left, they take the risk of spending one final night together in order to find out if they can live with or without each other. Anne-Marie, however, is ready to ask even bigger questions: about who they were and who they could be.

Director Helen Banner says that “La Musica Deuxième is an extraordinary piece of writing refined and rewritten over decades by Duras until it flowed like a musical score. Playing the gaps between what is said and unsaid, it shows a woman demanding that a history of violence be processed and acknowledged even if the truth is slippery.”

The production is part of DOUBLE DURAS, a mini-festival co-hosted by Blessed Unrest and A/Park Productions, designed to celebrate Duras' feminist play and will include two separate productions of LA MUSICA DEUXIÈME, a screening of the 1967 French film LA MUSICA (directed by Marguerite Duras and Paul Séban), as well as talkbacks from various literary experts. 

The show is designed by: Joshua Dumas (Sound), Alex deNevers (Lighting), Samantha Tutasi (Scenic), Helen Banner and Allison Parker (Costumes), Blythe Irish (Hair & Makeup) and features additional singing by Erin Reppenhagen and Grace Oberhofer and recorded vocals by Iris Beaumier.

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