Heather Christian presents ANIMAL WISDOM, 10/11 - 11/4

The Bushwick Starr is thrilled to collaborate with West Yorkshire Playhouse in presenting the world premiere of Animal Wisdom, a new music-theater piece by Obie Award-winning composer and performer Heather Christian (The TEAM's Mission Drift & The World is Round, BAM), in collaboration with acclaimed artist/performer Andrew Schneider (YOUARENOWHERE- 2015 OBIE award, 2016 Drama Desk nom.), director Mark Rosenblatt (Associate Artist, West Yorkshire Playhouse), and her genre-defying group, the Arbornauts.

Heather talks to dead people, gets freaked out and writes music. Animal Wisdom is a lo-fi, idiosyncratic, folk-blues Requiem written from theoretical or actual (you decide) conversations with the dead performed alongside poorly remembered Methodist hymns from the 1800s, hyperbolized family mythologies, and community rituals of the ridiculous in the form of a gothic catholic mass- because how else can you address your soul? Animal Wisdom is a musical offering created by sinners and science nerds for believers and non-believers alike.

The Company: Heather Christian (Mission Drift, The World Is Round), Eric Farber (FUTURITY, Good Person of Szechwan), Fred Epstein (The Skin of Our Teeth, FUTURITY), Sasha Brown (Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds), Maya Sharpe (the TEAM's Anything That Gives Off Light, HAIR), Mark Rosenblatt (The Fruit Trilogy, Assoc. Artist of West Yorkshire Playhouse), Andrew Schneider (YOUARENOWHERE, DANCE/FIELD), Stowe Nelson (Small Mouth Sounds, The Wolves), Heather McDevitt Barton (Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection).

Book & lyrics - Heather Christian director - Mark Rosenblatt guitar & vocals - Sasha Brown keys & vocals - Heather Christian bass & vocals - Fred Epstein percussion & vocals - Eric Farber violin, banjo & vocals - Maya Sharpe lighting design & art direction - Andrew Schneider scenic design - Eric Farber & Andrew Schneider sound design - Stowe Nelson costume design - Heather McDevitt Barton orchestration - Sasha Brown, Heather Christian, Fred Epstein, Eric Farber & Maya Sharpe The development of Animal Wisdom was undertaken as part of the Transform Festival at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Summer 2015 and a Bushwick Starr artist residency in Summer 2017.

The Bushwick Starr theater: 207 Starr Street, Brooklyn, NY [between Irving and Wyckoff]

Via Subway take the L Train to Jefferson Street, exit at Starr Street, walk against traffic on Starr, and the theater is 3/4 of a block on the right. For detailed driving directions visit: www.thebushwickstarr.org/DIRECTIONS Tickets available at www.thebushwickstarr.org *Tix go on sale Sept. 12

Heather Christian is an Obie Award winning composer/performer. Composing/Performing credits include Mission Drift Nat'l Theater London, The World Is Round BAM, Annie Salem Ars Nova/Sundance Theater Lab, Of Mice and Men West Yorkshire Playhouse, and North, LaMama ETC. She has recently emerged as a film composer (Lemon, Sundance and SXSW, open in theaters globally now, and Gregory Go Boom, Sundance Grand Jury Prize) and writes incidental music for plays: Emily Climbs (the Brick NYC), Daily Life Everlasting (LaMama NYC), the entire 2016 season at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Macbeth, As you Like It, Measure For Measure). She is a long time collaborator in devised theater with the TEAM, Jane Comfort Company, Salty Brine, Mac Wellman, Big Dance Theater, Taylor Mac, and Witness Relocation. She was recently named one of TimeOut NY's Downtown Innovators To Watch. She has recently been seen in Taylor Mac's 24 Decade History of Popular Music and in Toshi Reagon's Parable of the Sower. She is currently collaborating with Rachel Chavkin on new musical,Annie Salem (Sundance Theater Lab/ Royal Court London/ Ars Nova Uncharted), an adaptation of a Mac Wellman novel of the same name set to premiere next year in NYC and is an Ars Nova commissioned artist alongside Andrew Schneider with experimental music-theater piece currently titled Sum. She has released 8 records, taught an Atelier at Princeton, owns and operates her own recording studio in Beacon, NY, and can be seen all over the world as Heather Christian & the Arbornauts in concert halls and dive bars avant-torching. www.heatherchristian.com

The Bushwick Starr is an Obie Award winning non profit theater that presents an annual Season of new performance work. We are an organization defined by both our artists and our community, and since 2007, we have grown into a thriving theatrical venue, a vital neighborhood arts center, and a destination for exciting and engaging performance. We provide a springboard for emerging professional artists to make career-defining leaps, and we are a sanctuary where established performance companies come to experiment and innovate. Our past Seasons have included new work from groundbreaking artists such as The Mad Ones, Clare Barron, Dave Malloy, The Debate Society, the TEAM, and Half Straddle.

About West Yorkshire Playhouse: West Yorkshire Playhouse has a reputation both nationally and internationally as a leading UK producing theatre. The theatre is a cultural hub, a place where people gather to tell and share stories and to engage in world class theatre. From large scale spectacle to intimate performance the Playhouse develops and makes work for the stage, found spaces, touring, schools and community venues. Previous national and international tours have included Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and and Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom The Musical.

Alongside work for the stage the Playhouse is dedicated to providing creative engagement opportunities, building and running sustainable projects that reach out to a diverse range of communities. The theatre has won awards for staging the first Dementia-Friendly performance and become the UK's first ever Theatre of Sanctuary for refugee and asylum seekers providing a programme of work and creative activity. The Playhouse is proud to support new and emerging artists and the theatre provides creative space for new writers, directors and individual theatre makers to refine their practice. Through our Furnace programme we resource work-in-development allowing artistic innovation and creative risk-taking to flourish. We support a growing number of independent artists and theatre companies offering resources, mentoring, commissions, residencies and training opportunities and by co-producing and showcasing their creative work.

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