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St. Ann's Warehouse 2012-13 Season Begins With MIES JULIE

By: Sep. 18, 2012
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For the second time, St. Ann's Warehouse (Artistic Director, Susan Feldman; Executive Director, Andrew D. Hamingson) will activate an industrial warehouse on the Brooklyn Waterfront. Less than five months after leaving its now-demolished old site, the beloved DUMBO mainstay will open its new home at 29 Jay Street with the American Premiere of Mies Julie (November 8 – December 2), the hands-down, must-see hit and Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award-winner at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Guardian, among many others, heaped praise on the production, saying, “Miss Julie has never raged quite so fiercely. Brilliant.”

For the next three years at 29 Jay Street, audiences will continue to experience all that is best about St. Ann's Warehouse: a large, open, flexible space, conducive to the varied and singular theater experiences audiences have come to expect from St. Ann’s. The new building is equally versatile and similarly sized, and is conveniently located at Jay and Plymouth Streets.

Beginning St. Ann’s 2012-13 season of premieres, Mies Julie is written and directed by Yael Farber and produced by the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town in association with South African State Theatre. Farber sets August Strindberg’s classic in post-apartheid South Africa, creating a production that, according to The New York Times, “is raw and unapologetic in dealing with both the lingering political wounds and the sexual dynamics between the two central characters.” Tickets to the American premiere are on sale now for St. Ann’s Warehouse members and will be available to the general public on Tuesday, October 2.

Mies Julie is the latest in a history of shows St. Ann’s Warehouse has introduced to New York audiences following immense acclaim in Edinburgh: Daniel Kitson’s The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church and It’s Always Right Now, Until It’s Later; The National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch and Beautiful Burnout; and Druid’s productions of Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce and Penelope, to name a few. If Mies Julie is one bookend of the upcoming St. Ann’s season, the other is the American Premiere of Cora Bissett’s Roadkill (June 4–30, 2013), the only production in Edinburgh Fringe history to win all of the festival’s major theater awards, in addition to receiving the 2012 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement at an Affiliate Theatre. In Roadkill, audiences of just 25 at a time will board a bus at St. Ann’s Warehouse and accompany 13-year-old Mary and her “auntie” to Mary’s new “home,” a benign-looking Brooklyn apartment, where audiences will come face to face with the cruel world of human trafficking.

Another extremely limited American premiere, Opus No. 7, brings the internationally beloved Russian director Dmitry Krymov to St. Ann’s Warehouse. The spectacle in two parts—replete with larger-than-life puppets, cacophonous dancing pianos, musicians who become actors, actors who become acrobats, and walls that erupt with imagery— explores the legacy of oppression against Soviet Jews and artists under Stalin. Opus No. 7 runs at St. Ann’s January 9–19, 2013, for just eight performances.

Having provided a New York home for and repeatedly commissioned the artist since 2005, St. Ann’s is thrilled to welcome back Cynthia Hopkins for the World Premiere of her new song cycle extravaganza, This Clement World (February 5–17, 2013). Performed with a live 15-piece chorus and band, This Clement World blends original avant-folk songs with Hopkins’ own documentary footage from an Arctic expedition with Cape Farewell, delivering an artistic perspective of our global climate change.

To be sure, a highlight of St. Ann’s history was the 2009 New York Premiere of Kneehigh Theatre’s Brief Encounter, which received rave reviews and went on to a successful Broadway run at Studio 54. This season, St. Ann’s welcomes the company and director Emma Rice back for the New York Premiere of The Wild Bride (February 23 – March 17, 2013). This story of a father who accidentally sells his daughter to the Devil turns out to be a clever romance, which Variety called, “extraordinary,” remarking, “Kneehigh is back in top form.” In addition to Ms. Rice’s celebrated theatrical storytelling, the production features a bluegrass score by longtime Kneehigh composer Stu Barker, performed by a live band. The Wild Bride is the third Kneehigh production to be presented by St. Ann’s, including Brief Encounter and the 2010 revival of Kneehigh’s early work The Red Shoes, also directed by Ms. Rice.

Tristan Sturrock, the Brief Encounter leading man, also returns this season, performing Mayday Mayday (April 16–May 5, 2013), a solo show in which he recounts his real-life, near-death fall and his miraculous recovery from it, produced by Theatre Damfino. Hearing his story, one realizes the remarkable triumph it was for him to give the nimble, electric performance he gave in Brief Encounter.

While Roadkill is running offsite, St. Ann’s will welcome back still more longtime friends: Great Small Works, whose 10th International Toy Theater Festival & Free Temporary Toy Theater Museum, the epic biannual showcase of miniature theaters from around the world, will run June 14–23, 2013.

Of the upcoming season, St. Ann’s Artistic Director Susan Feldman, who has led the institution from the outset, says, “While it was difficult to watch our warehouse at 38 Water come down, we are grateful for our 12 magical years there. We are very proud to be staying in DUMBO and presenting our next, fantastic season uninterrupted. I cannot wait for it to begin November 8th with the heartrending Mies Julie, a production so captivating that we made a deal to bring it to New York just two weeks after I saw it in Scotland.”

Tickets are on sale now to St. Ann’s Warehouse Members only, except for the Toy Theater Festival, which will be available in early May. In addition to the opportunity to buy ahead of the general public for all shows, Members benefit from exclusive discounts, waived service fees, and ticket exchange privileges. Beginning at $50 and completely tax-deductible, Memberships are available now atwww.stannswarehouse.org or by calling the St. Ann’s Warehouse Box Office at 718.254.8779 (Tuesday–Saturday, 1–7PM).

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