THE ENCOUNTER, Starring Simon McBurney, Headed to San Francisco Next Spring

On the heels of unanimous raves on Broadway, Carole Shorenstein Hays announced today that the Complicite production of The Encounter, Simon McBurney's riveting one-man play where audience members must wear headphones to take part in the journey, will continue at the Curran for a limited engagement next spring, April 25 - May 7, 2017. The Encounter marks the San Francisco debut of Complicite, the celebrated international theater company.

The Encounter premiered in 2015 at the Edinburgh International Festival before its sold-out success at London's Barbican in February of this year, followed by a European tour. It opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on Thursday, September 29. The Curran engagement will mark the final occasion of this work to be performed in America at this time.

"Our Curran is San Francisco's new hub for great artists," Carole Shorenstein Hays said. "This is why we've invited my friend Simon and Complicite to the Curran. The Encounter is about an epic journey, and I can't think of a better place to celebrate this journey than with our curious and innovative Curran audiences."

The Encounter tells the true story of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre lost in a remote area of Brazil in 1969, which leads to a startling encounter that is to change his life. Directed and performed by Simon McBurney this solo performance traces McIntyre's journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest, using binaural technology (3D audio) to build an intimate and shifting world of sound. As McIntyre's mesmerising tale reaches its climax, this extraordinary performance asks some of the most urgent questions of today: about how we live and what we believe to be true.

Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, The Encounter is Directed by Simon McBurney with Co-Direction by Kirsty Housley, Design by Michael Levine, Sound by Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, Lighting by Paul Anderson, Projection by Will Duke and Associate Direction by Jemima James. The Encounter is a Complicite co-production with Edinburgh International Festival, the Barbican, London, Onassis Cultural Centre - Athens, Schaubühne Berlin, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne and Warwick Arts Centre with support by Sennheiser and The Wellcome Trust.

The Encounter will be the third event at the Curran in 2017, opening first with the groundbreaking Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home in January (tickets are now on sale for Fun Home at SFCURRAN.COM). Next, is Eclipsed (performances beginning March, 2017), the story of five extraordinary women brought together by upheaval in their homeland of Liberia.

Ticket on-sale dates for Eclipsed and The Encounter, and more will be announced at a later date. For advance access to tickets, and to be the first to hear about exciting happenings at the Curran, sign-up at SFCURRAN.COM.

Built in 1922, the Curran has housed some of the most important productions in history and has maintained a reputation over the course of its life as one of the greatest venues in North America. Now, nearly 100 years after it welcomed its first Bay Area audiences, the Curran is in the midst of a major restoration and renovation. Under the curation of eight-time Tony Award winner Carole Shorenstein Hays, the Curran will reopen as a 1,600 seat venue in early 2017 with a new mission, being a home for the most exciting stage works being conceived and created anywhere in the world.

Complicite was founded in 1983 and since then has toured all over the world, winning over 50 major theatre awards and becoming known as one of the UK's most exciting and enduring theatre companies. Recent work includes Beware of Pity, Lionboy, The Master and Margarita, Shun-kin and ?A Disappearing Number. From its early performances at the Edinburgh Fringe to being screened throughout the world as part of NT Live, Complicite has continued to experiment, breaking new ground with every new show. Complicate Associates is part of the internationally acclaimed theatre company Complicite. Through the Associates programme, the Company commissions and produces new work from brilliant theatre makers and artists, supporting them as they explore different ways of working. A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer is the first Complicite Associates production. The Company is also known for its award-winning Creative Learning programme which provides innovatory opportunities for people to engage with its work.

Simon McBurney is an actor, writer, director, and co-founder of Complicite, where he has created more than 30 productions. His work, from site-specific installations to the reinvention of classic texts on Broadway, continuously resists definition.

His directing credits with Complicite include Beware of Pity, The Master and Margarita, Shun-kin, A Disappearing Number, Measure for Measure, A Minute Too Late, The Elephant Vanishes, Pet Shop Boys Meet Eisenstein (Trafalgar Square), Strange Poetry and The Street of Crocodiles. Other directing credits include All My Sons on Broadway and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino in New York. Opera credits include The Magic Flute and A Dog's Heart, both produced by De Nederlandse Opera and English National Opera in collaboration with Complicite.

As an actor Simon has appeared in many ?lms and TV including: The Conjuring 2, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, The Theory of Everything, Magic in the Moonlight, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Last King of Scotland and JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy and BBC TV's Rev.

For information, visit SFCURRAN.COM.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus