Mabou Mines To Premiere FAUST 2.0 In Newly Renovated East Village Home

Mabou Mines, the world-renowned experimental theater company that celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020,will stage the world premiere of Faust 2.0, March 27 April 14, 2019, in the company's newly renovated home at 122 Community Center (150 First Avenue). Adapted by Matthew Maguire, directed by Mabou Mines' Producing Artistic Director Sharon Ann Fogarty, and developed by Mabou Mines over the course of five years, the production is a timely multimedia reimagining of Goethe's Faust, Part II that follows Faust's search for ultimate power on the global stage.

Faust, widely considering the greatest work in German literature, is the latest in a long line of classic texts that Mabou Mines has revisited for our time, including Mines Lear, adapted from Shakespeare; Peter and Wendy, from JM Barrie's novel; Finn, a digital/live action Celtic myth; and Mabou Mines DollHouse, which the company adapted from Ibsen's original, and which toured the world to acclaim. The London Times, in a five-star review, wrote of it: Ibsen will never be the same. Would that all classics could be so searchingly but lovingly re-examined. In its award-winning production Dead End Kids, Mabou Mines used Faust, Part I as an allegory for man's bargain with science resulting in the potential for nuclear holocaust.

Faust 2.0 opens with Faust's (Benton Greene) bargain with Mephistopheles (Paul Kandel). Once the deal is made, Faust finds himself as part of a corrupt and dysfunctional kingdom in the midst of various crises, and his journey results in war and ecological and social problems. Faust exemplifies the global plutocrat utilizing coercion to gain more profit. In the end, he is redeemed at the expense of progress, humanity, and society.

Matthew Maguire's script adapts Goethe's massive text 230+ pages of dramatic poetry to reflect the challenges of modern man, including the seeming inevitability of unintended consequences accompanying progress. The contemporary social and political parallels become more pronounced every day Faust is everywhere. Faust 2.0 seeks to address the dangers of our current socio-political climate.

The inspiration for Faust 2.0 comes in part from the 1980s Mabou Mines production Dead End Kids, which included a scene from Faust where he meets Mephistopheles for the first time and they make a deal. In that show, the Faustian bargain referred to the development of nuclear power and weapons and their capacity for effecting human extinction. Looking at Faust today in Faust 2.0, Maguire and Fogarty see another bargain stemming from the Enlightenment idea of Man as the center of the universe and the measure of all things. This self-regard of Western civilization became the only viable form for humanity which only few of the self-chosen were blessed. Faust 2.0 seeks to question the Faustian bargains we First-World individuals make, and to challenge the principles and systems that support this privilege. Like Dead End Kids, Faust 2.0 employs theatrical playfulness, satire, humor, and a rich multimedia production to explore these themes.

Adapted by Matthew Maguire and directed by Sharon Ann Fogarty, Faust 2.0 features set and lighting design by Jim Clayburgh, video design by Jeff Sugg, costume design by Marsha Ginsburg, sound design by Fitz Patton, and original music by Eve Beglarian. Mabou Mines will announce the full cast soon.

Faust 2.0 is part of the first full season in Mabou Mines' newly renovated theater at the 122 Community Center (122CC) after a four-year, New York City-funded $35M renovation. The company developed the production in a workshop at Barnard College/Columbia University and in residencies at The Orchard Project and the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Ireland.

Performances of Faust 2.0 take place March 27 April 14: Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 4pm.

Critics are welcome Saturday, March 30, at 8pm and Sunday, March 31, at 4pm for an official opening on Tuesday, April 2, at 8pm.

Tickets are $25 ($18 for students and senior) and can be purchased at https://maboumines.org.