Ripe Time has announced that it will present the world premiere of Fire Throws, written and directed by Rachel Dickstein, based on Sophocles's Antigone, beginning Wednesday, February 18, at 8pm at 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street at Rector Street. Opening night is set for Sunday, February 22 at 8pm.
In Fire Throws a contemporary Antigone challenges her past, re-examining her own story of sacrifice through the kaleidoscopic frenzy of a fever dream. Through video projection, live music, and dance-inspired staging, Fire Throws explodes the classic text into a cutting-edge meditation on desire, drive, and what is at stake in breaking the rules.
Fire Throws features two Antigones: the one we know from the original story and the 2400-year-old symbol she has become, looking back on her story and searching for the person inside the icon. Antigone's brazen defense of the sanctity of burial takes a new relevance when staged blocks away from ground zero; and Creon's misguided use and abuse of power is a cautionary tale in a world of divisive politics. Ripe Time uses its signature physical and visual story-telling style to re-invigorate a great classic with a contemporary and relevant energy.
The cast of Fire Throws features John Campion (A.R.T., Theatre for a New Audience) as Creon; Erica Berg (Vienna: Lusthaus) and Laura Butler (Oph3lia) playing dual Antigones; Juliana
Francis Kelly (
Richard Foreman, Reza Abdoh) as Teiresias (on film);
Paula McGonagle (Innocents); Kiepboli Calnek; Jorge Rubio;
Leajato Amara Robinson;
Caesar Samayoa; and Kimiye Corwin.
The set and property design is by Susan Zeeman Rogers; costume design is by Oana Botez-Ban; lighting design is by Obie Award winner
Tyler Micoleau; sound design is by Jane Shaw; video and projections are by Maya Ciarrocchi. The dramaturg is Morgan Jenness. Casting is by Geoff Josselson, Calleri Casting. The original score-written for vocal trio, winds, cello, gamelan, and percussion-by Jewlia Eisenberg will be performed live by the ensemble Charming Hostess (www.charminghostess.us). The production stage manager is Joanna Jacobson. Fire Throws is based on Dudley Fitts's and Robert Fitzgerald's translation of Sophocles's Antigone. The show is produced by Ripe Time and developed as part of a residency this season at 3LD Art & Technology Center.
Rachel Dickstein, called "a maverick illusionist" by The New York Times, is a writer, director, teacher, and founding artistic director of Ripe Time for which she has devised, choreographed, and directed the world premieres of Betrothed (based on work by Jhumpa Lahiri, Chekhov, and Ansky) and Innocents (based on Wharton's The House of Mirth and adapted with Emily Morse). Other Ripe Time projects include The Secret of Steep Ravines, The Holy Mother of Hadley New York by Barbara Wiechmann and co-produced with New Georges, and The Palace at 4 A.M. (based on works by
Edgar Allan Poe and Sophie Calle). Other recent directing projects include Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd's In What Language? (Asia Society), Redcat (Portland Institute of Contemporary Art); and
Ellen McLaughlin's version of The Trojan Women (Fordham University). Rachel has created and directed other new works for New York Theatre Workshop, New Georges, SUNY-Purchase, New York Shakespeare Festival/Joe's Pub, Lincoln Center Theatre Director's Lab, Drama League Director's Project and Seattle's Annex Theatre. She has served as resident director at New Dramatists and assistant director to
Martha Clarke. She has received commissions and fellowships from NYSCA, the Rockefeller MAP Fund, P.S. 122, NEA/TCG, the Drama League, Ko Festival of Performance, and Yale University where she received a B.A. Rachel is currently developing Septimus and Clarissa (based on Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway) with playwright
Ellen McLaughlin.
Founded in 2000 by Rachel Dickstein, Ripe Time presents new works built on rich language, visual invention, and physical rigor. Acclaimed by The New York Times for its "stunning images" and "mesmerizing" ensemble acting, the company stages stories that offer potent allegories for our time, exploring such polarizing forces in our culture as money, power, and ambition, and the impact these forces have on women's lives. These works range from collaboratively created theatre pieces, to new adaptations of novels and stories, to dynamic stagings of classic plays. New works are developed though a multi-year, ensemble-based approach to project development, with extended rehearsal periods and production level workshops leading to full production. Productions include The Secret of Steep Ravines (2002, PS 122) an original work created with playwright Barbara Wiechmann; Innocents (2005, Ohio Theatre) adapted from
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth with Emily Morse; and Betrothed (2007, Ohio Theatre) adapted from works by Jhumpa Lahiri,
Anton Chekhov, and S. Ansky. The company has developed work at Clark Studio of Lincoln Center, the Ko Festival of Performance, Voice and Vision, La MaMa ETC, HERE, and New York Theatre Workshop.
Fire Throws plays Wednesday through Sunday at 8pm through Saturday, March 28, at 3LD (www.3LDnyc.org), 80 Greenwich Street at Rector Street (1, R, W to Rector Street; 4, 5 to Wall Street; J, M, Z to Broad Street; A, C to Broadway/Nassau; E to World Trade Center). Tickets are $25 ($15 for previews; $20 for students and seniors) and are available by visiting www.3LDnyc.org or www.ripetime.org or by phoning 212 352 3101. TDF accepted. For more information about Fire Throws and Ripe Time visit www.ripetime.org or phone 718 622 3650.
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