St. Ann's Warehouse Presents the NY Premiere of ELEPHANT ROOM, 3/22-4/8

St. Ann's Warehouse continues its final season at 38 Water Street with the New York premiere of Elephant Room, a new theatrical event filled with off-the-wall magic and comedy.

 

Directed by Paul Lazar, innovative performers Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle (all wear bowlers; machines machines machines...) and celebrated actor-magician Steve Cuiffo (Lenny Bruce, Amazing Russello) perform as their alter-egos-illusionists Daryl Hannah, Dennis Diamond, and Louie Magic, respectively-in a singular show that examines the childlike wonder of three deluded illusionists who choose to live their off-center lives by sleight of hand.

 

Elephant Room mixes the glory of a Styx reunion tour with the transcendental power of a 200-year-old Zuni shaman and a dash of trailer park ennui. "Theirs is a world of tacky taxidermied pheasants, dim basement lighting, and background music that's heavy on the synthesizer," writes the Washingtonian magazine, "and it's here, for a little more than an hour with no intermission, that the performers achieve a strange combination of slapstick gags and genuine 'How the hell did they do that?' magic." As the performance unfolds, the trio weaves a theatrical magic that is ripe with inventive slapstick, outstanding slights of hand, and clever satire.  

 

Performances of Elephant Room will take place March 22-April 8 (see schedule above) at St. Ann's Warehouse. Critics are welcome as of March 25 at 2pm for an official opening on March 28. The running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. St. Ann's Warehouse is located at 38 Water Street in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn.

 

Tickets, which start at $25, are available online at stannswarehouse.org and by phone at 718.254.8779 (Tuesday-Saturday, 1:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M.) or 866.811.4111 (extended hours Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M.-9:00 P.M.; Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M.). They can also be purchased at the St. Ann's Warehouse Box Office at 38 Water Street (Tuesday-Saturday, 1:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M.). 

 

Best known to New York audiences for all wear bowlers-which The New York Times declared, "easily the most original and funny show this year"-Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle have been working together since 2003. With their company rainpan 43, they create actor-driven, absurdist plays that are at once deeply profound and at the same time utterly ridiculous. In 2008, a festival of their works was presented at Washington DC's Studio Theatre and included the shows all wear bowlers, Amnesia Curiosa and machines machines machines machines machines machines machines. 

Last seen at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2011 with Lenny Bruce at "Carnegie Hall," Steve Cuiffo is an actor and magician who creates solo shows and works collaboratively with a range of artists. A collaborator of Rainpan 43, he has created original works such as Steve Cuiffo Is Lenny Bruce and The Amazing Russello Magic Hour. His performing credits include The Wooster Group's North Atlantic, Radiohole's Fluke, The Foundry Theatre's Major Bang and The Roaring Girle, Donald Byrd's Byrdlesque and Tea Alagic's The Filament Cycle.