ArtsEmerson Presents Christiane Jatahy's JULIA

Internationally praised Brazilian theatre and film artist Christiane Jatahy brings her production of Julia to ArtsEmerson via its digital platform, premiering Tuesday, February 09 at 7:30PM ET, with on-demand streaming available through Monday, February 22 at 10:00PM ET. A multi-disciplinary, barrier-breaking piece of theatre interweaving film, live video, and performance to tell its story, Julia is being brought to online audiences by ArtsEmerson, Boston's leading presenter of contemporary world theatre and the professional presenting and producing organization at Emerson College.

"We are really proud to continue our commitment to our artists - especially our International Artists - during these incredibly challenging times, and Christiane Jatahy pushes us to see the possibilities for the future of contemporary world theater," shares David Howse, Executive Director of ArtsEmerson. "It is a true privilege to present her work for audiences here in Boston - and beyond, via our digital venue. Christiane is new to the ArtsEmerson family, but we see the presentation of Julia as the beginning of a long-arc relationship between

Christiane and the audience we serve."

The hypnotic production revisits August Strindberg's classic drama, Miss Julie, and re-imagines it in a contemporary Brazilian setting. As a moment of lust spirals out of control, a hot spotlight illuminates the dangerous power dynamics of race, gender, and class. The story unfolds before a live audience while a roaming camera operator captures close-ups and action that otherwise might go unexamined. Pre-produced film content is entwined within the action, taking audience members beyond the confines of the stage itself. Perspectives are blurred, creating unusual and mesmerizing encounters between actors, technicians and the audience.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Christiane Jatahy is an author, theater director and filmmaker. She graduated with degrees in theater and journalism, and she holds a postgraduate degree in Art and Philosophy. Since 2003, her works have been in dialogue with different artistic areas. She put on several plays that question the boundaries of reality and fiction, actor and character, theater and cinema. In addition to Julia, her works include The Lingering Now, Ithaca, Moving People, The Walking Forest, What If They Went to Moscow?, Utopia, Corte Seco and A Falta Que Nos Move. Jatahy is an associate artist of the Odeon Theatre de l'Europe, CentQuatre-Paris, the Theatre National Wallonie-Bruxelles and Schauspielhaus Zürich.

About Julia, Jatahy shares, "For this work I had to find a performance that 'fit' in both filmed and live media simultaneously" I wanted to preserve the restraint revealed in the point of view of the camera and the explosions of liveness that 'break' the screen and flood the theater. The real time of the scene, the body parts in motion, leaking through the cracks of the scene, amplified by the big screen that blows intimate details up in scale, all aim to create a visceral reality that meets the evident artifice of how it's assembled, transforming for the audience the content of the piece - Strindberg's conflict refracted through today's Brazil."

Tickets for Julia are Pick Your Price and can be reserved at ArtsEmerson.org. This performance is not recommended for those under 18 years of age, as the performance contains mature content, nudity and intense sexual situations. Julia is performed in Portuguese with English subtitles.

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