Spiegelworld to Present NYC Workshop of Steven Hoggett & Enda Walsh's HEROES

Spiegelworld, the creator of the hit shows Absinthe, Empire and Vegas Nocturne, has announced that it is developing a new production, HEROES, and will hold a workshop and private presentation of the work at St. Ann's Warehouse later this month.

For the past two years, Spiegelworld has been in creative discussions with the acclaimed British director and choreographer Steven Hoggett (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Black Watch, Curious Incident...) and the award-winning Irish playwright Enda Walsh (Once, Lazarus).

Taking audiences behind the scenes at a glamorous hotel, HEROES checks into the secret lives of bellboys, chambermaids, concierges and guests, each of them a hero, as their stories intersect across physical space and time.

Spiegelworld and the HEROES creative team are working with an ensemble of acclaimed actors and acrobats, including the internationally renowned, sublimely absurd Geoff Sobelle as the Concierge; the opera-singing, pole dancing aerialist Marcy Richardson as the Diva; popular New York acrobat Aidan O'Shea as the Husband; celebrated aerialist Dreya Weber as the Wife; and, dancer / aerialist Lisa Natoli as the Old Chambermaid.

Spiegelworld's Impresario Extraordinaire, Ross Mollison, said, "Our passion at Spiegelworld is to develop shows that successfully marry the very best of theatre with the very best of circus. Acrobatic virtuosity can add visceral firepower to storytelling, and wonderfully drawn characters can bring deeper emotions to the circus stage. We are so thrilled to have theatre-makers of the caliber of Steven and Enda to help us realize this vision. We know from our other shows that audiences crave intimacy and spontaneity, and now we want to inject a roller coaster of sensations from the ridiculous to the heartbreaking."

Steven Hoggett's (Director and Choreographer) recent Broadway credits include The Crucible, The Last Ship, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (also West End), Rocky: The Musical, The Glass Menagerie (also West End, EIF), Once (Obie Award, Lortel Award, Calloway Award), Green Day's American Idiot and Peter and the Starcatcher (Lortel Award). Other recent choreography credits include Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (West End), St Joan (The Public), The Twits (Royal Court), Let The Right One In (St. Ann's Warehouse and West End), The Light Princess (National Theatre), Rigoletto (Met Opera), Dr Dee (Manchester International Festival), Hunter, 365, The Bacchae (also Associate Director), Black Watch (also Associate Director, Olivier Award, St. Ann's Warehouse) and The Wolves In The Walls (National Theatre of Scotland). As Director, recent credits include Close to You (West End & NYTW) and War Correspondents (Helen Chadwick). Steven was cofounder and Artistic Director of Frantic Assembly Theatre Company. Credits for the company include Little Dogs (with National Theatre Wales), Lovesong, Beautiful Burnout, Othello and Stockholm. With Scott Graham, Steven co-wrote The Frantic Assembly Book Of Devising Theatre (Routledge). Steven has provided choreography for music videos for artists including Imogen Heap, Bright Light, Bright Light, Goldfrapp and Calvin Harris. Film credits include Freak Show (Maven Pictures) and How To Train Your Dragon 2 (Dreamworks).

Enda Walsh is a playwright and screenwriter who shot to fame when he won both the George Devine Award and the Stewart Parker Award in 1997 with his play Disco Pigs. In 2007 and 2008 Enda won Fringe First Awards at two consecutive Edinburgh Festivals for his plays The Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom. The former led the Guardian to name him "one of the most dazzling wordsmiths of contemporary theatre." In 2011 Once, Enda's adaptation of the film by John Carney, opened Off-Broadway. Critically acclaimed, it moved to Broadway in 2012, where it picked up eight Tony Awards, including Best Book for Enda. The West End run of Once opened in April 2013. Since his initial success as a playwright, Enda has gone on to write for the screen. His 2008 biopic, Hunger, told the story of the final days of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and won a host of awards, including the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Heartbeat Award at the Dinard International Film Festival. It was nominated for seven BIFAs (including Best Screenplay), six British Film and Television Awards (including Best Screenplay and Best Independent Film) and BAFTA's Outstanding British Film Award 2009. Enda's opera The Last Hotel had its world premiere at the Lyceum Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival and transferred to Dublin, London and New York. He recently worked on the new musical, Lazarus, with David Bowie, which opened at New York Theatre Workshop in December 2015 and transferred to Kings Cross Theatre in London in November 2016. St. Ann's Warehouse has provided a New York home for Enda's work since 2008, when St. Ann's presented the American Premiere of The Walworth Farce. St. Ann's Warehouse has also presented the American or New York premieres of his plays The New Electric Ballroom (2009), Penelope (2010), Misterman (2011) and Arlington (2017), as well as of his first opera The Last Hotel (2016).

Ross Mollison said, "From the poetic to the surreal, from the madcap to the heartfelt, this show will reveal the hero that hides inside every soul. Once we see what the July workshop in New York delivers, we will have a better idea of where the show will best fit, from art house to Las Vegas, where we have produced blockbusters before. Las Vegas could be a perfect home for Heroes as everyone there, from locals to visitors, is immersed in the hotel experience and we believe Heroes will add that human-scale connection."