THE HOUSE to Run 3/12-16 at HERE

HERE presents The House, as part of the ongoing series startHERE: Innovative Theater for Young People, in collaboration with the Dream Music Puppetry Program. This production plays 6 performances from Wednesday, March 12 - Sunday, March 16 in the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue).

Comedy and creepy thrills lurk within The House, where closed doors open to reveal shadowy secrets. Aimed at adults and young people aged 10 +, The House is created and performed by Denmark's acclaimed Sofie Krog Teater, returning to HERE with this new production following 2009's DIVA, which launched the startHERE program.

Brimming with innovative puppetry and exhilarating cartoon-drama, The House springs from a revolving set with intricate lights, complex contraptions and sound effects. The eponymous House serves as a funeral home, occupied by the reclusive, rich Mrs. Esperanza and her faithful dog. As the House's private rooms expose the old secrets and very devious deeds of its inhabitants as well as oddball visitors, the audience is lured into a suspenseful yet amusing adventure that stirs both light and dark sides of imagination.

Born in Denmark in 1977, Sofie Krog was educated in physical theatre, method acting, comedy and mime schools in Denmark and abroad. She founded Sofie Krog Teater in 2003. Krog created several shows in the arena of circus and cabaret before being drawn to puppetry. Today, she works as a self-taught puppet designer, builder and puppeteer. Her first award winning performance DIVA has had success around the world. In 2008 she began collaborating with Spain's David Faraco, set designer, puppeteer & actor of the company Libélula Puppet Theatre (since 1994) and member of the Company Nao D'amores (since 2004). The House represents their first show together. In November 2014, the company will debut a new performance, Circus Funestus.

The House premiered in Segovia, Spain in 2009, and has appeared in over 30 prestigious international festivals and venues in France, Italy, England, Wales, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Austria, Spain and Denmark.

The House features dramaturgy, production and design by Sofie Krog & David Faraco. Performed by Sofie Krog & David Faraco. Music by Cuco Pérez.

startHERE: Innovative Performances for Young People, curated by Jeffrey Mousseau, offers standout programming for young people as an annual highlight within HERE's season.

Recognizing young people as imaginative and active participants in the performance experience, startHERE affords these audiences the opportunity to experience challenging contemporary multidisciplinary productions from top caliber artists. startHERE showcases the integration of puppetry, object theatre, multimedia and live music in dramatic storytelling, allowing younger audiences, primarily tweens and up, access to the latest trends in the performing arts. At the same time, parents - many of whom may have attended HERE in the past - enjoy the series' inventive original productions as much as their kids. startHERE launched with Sofie Krog Teater's DIVA in early 2009. Since then, the program has delivered outstanding productions including Aunt Leaf, written by Barbara Wiechmann and directed by Jeffrey Mousseau, and Sleeping Beauty, by internationally celebrated artist Colette Garrigan.

Says curator Jeffrey Mousseau, "With startHERE, we bring tweens, teens and adults together to enjoy exceptionally innovative international performance like Denmark's Sofie Krog Teater, whose vividly imaginative creations and expert performances resonate with audiences of wide-ranging ages."

HERE Producing Director Kim Whitener adds, "We're enormously grateful to the Danish Consulate of New York and the Performing Arts Council in Denmark for generously supporting our continued exchange with Sofie Krog, whom HERE first presented in 2009 with DIVA. While Sofie is with us, she will share her wonderful process with HERE's Resident Artists and other NYC puppeteers, as well as our eager audiences."

HERE's Dream Music Puppetry Program is one of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary adult puppet works. Dream Music provides performance opportunities to puppet artists and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration to develop new puppetry techniques. This program was inaugurated with the premiere of Basil Twist's OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998 and the opening of the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, an intimate space created specifically for intimate puppetry. Under the artistic direction of Twist, with producing direction from HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, the Dream Music aesthetic is geared toward puppet works that feature live music as a collaborative element. Dream Music seeks to secure the future of puppetry by providing increased development and performance opportunities to puppet artists, and by collaborating with artists from other disciplines to develop new puppetry techniques. Over the past ten years, Dream Music has presented in the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre many exciting artists ranging from eclectic international troupes to The Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry and has commissioned over 20 full-scale puppetry works from New York based puppeteers including the acclaimed Arias with a Twist in 2008 (which returned in September 2011 for a limited engagement at Abrons Arts Center).

Since 1993, the OBIE-winning HERE, Kristin Marting, Artistic Director and Kim Whitener, Producing Director, has been one of New York's premier arts organizations and a leader in the field of producing and presenting new, hybrid performance viewed as a seamless integration of artistic disciplines-theater, dance, music and opera, puppetry, media, visual and installation, spoken word and performance art. Standout productions include Basil Twist's Symphonie Fantastique and Arias with a Twist, Hazelle Goodman's On Edge, Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle's all wear bowlers, Young Jean Lee's Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, Corey Dargel's Removable Parts, Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge and Yoav Gal's Mosheh, among many others. HERE's work is challenging and alternative and offers audiences the opportunity to feel that they are part of something new and fresh.

The House plays Wednesday, March 12 - Saturday, March 15 at 7:00pm, with matinees on Saturday, March 15 and Sunday, March 16 at 2:00pm. There will be an "Open House" for The House after every performance, during which viewers are invited to take a close-up look at the intricate set. Tickets are $20 ($15 Youth Ticket, ages 10-18) and may be purchased at www.here.org, (212) 352-3101 or at the HERE Box Office (2 hours prior to curtain on show days). HERE is located at 145 Sixth Avenue, one block below Spring Street. For more info, visit www.here.org.