Streb's FORCES to Open 5/16 at SLAM

Back home after an acclaimed tour, STREB, New York's Own Action Heroes spring into action with the spring edition of Forces at SLAM (Streb Lab for Action Mechanics), their Williamsburg playground. Elizabeth Streb and her Extreme Action Company have teamed with theater luminaries to give Action a voice and story in Forces, May 16th through June 22nd at SLAM, 51 North 1st St. Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

It's the theater of flight and impact, physics and courage, powered by pure adrenaline. Forces is co-directed by Robert Woodruff (Dog Days, ART), with music by longtime Streb collaborator, David Van Tieghem. It features a book by Jim Lewis (Fela!) and projection design by Wendell Harrington (Grey Gardens) and Erik Pearson. Spatial Rift video design is by Aaron Henderson. Robert Wierzel (Fela!) is the lighting designer and costume design is by Andrea Lauer (Bring It On, American Idiot).

The non-stop action includes Fly, in which a dancer is harnessed into a giant spinning claw that has a hefty counterweight at its opposite end. The company helps the dancer in the claw gain velocity while attempting not to get clocked by either end of it in the process. In Slice, a steel beam descends from the ceiling like an elegant shark; it spins at greater speeds while the dancers perform any number of remarkable moves with it and avoid its deadly, fleeting embrace. Turn features a spinning floor with which the dancers negotiate winning combinations and attempt not to get hurled into space. In Bound, the dancers don harnesses and navigate a wall with such grace that we wonder who's vertical here, the dancers or the audience? This white wall becomes a steep hill for Tumult and the dancers scramble, surf and ski all over the surface of this brand new planet. The grand finale contains the Whizzing Gizmo, a gorgeous hunk of metal like a huge hamster wheel, 12 feet in diameter and weighing 3500 pounds. STREB raises the stakes for the performers with this constantly spinning, specially-created funhouse ride. No seat belts allowed. Forces! is an onstage Action Adventure for the whole family.

Forces-- May 16th -June 22nd at SLAM (Streb Lab for Action Mechanics) 51 North 1st St. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tickets: www.streb.org or call 866-811-4111. Performances: Fridays at 8pm Saturdays at 3 & 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. Tickets: $40. Tickets: www.streb.org or call 866-811-4111. Running time: 90 minutes, 1 intermission.