California Rep Stages TARTUFFE LAB on the Queen Mary, Now thru 3/9

California Repertory Company continues a season of innovative new work with Tartuffe Lab, an original, ensemble-devised production, performing tonight, February 15 through March 9 on the Queen Mary. The diverse group of actors and designers breaks the familiar French comedy Tartuffe into its most fundamental elements and builds it back up into a modern meditation on Moliére's themes that combines text, performance, and visual effects to create an unexpected theater experience.

Using Moliére's classic text as a starting point, internationally renowned guest artist Eberhard Koehler leads the Cal Rep ensemble in experiments on the nature of hypocrisy in the modern world. Through guided improvisations, writings, and provocations, the ensemble explores the themes that permeate the original Tartuffe--hypocrisy, loyalty, and family--into modern reality and pushes the audience to confront their own preconceived notions on everything from religious practice to the very experience of a night at the theater.

The onstage ensemble features MFA candidates from both the acting and scenic design programs at CSULB. Director Koehler draws from the recent movement of Post-Dramatic Theatre in the German-speaking world, "performances in which there are no actors at all, only so-called experts of daily life" who bring their individual biographies to the stage. In rehearsal and performance, design students the stage with actors, bringing a fresh and highly sensory quality to each improvisation in Tartuffe Lab.

Eberhard Koehler has directed more than fifty plays in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, including fifteen world premieres, six German premieres, and last year's Louis Slotin Sonata for Cal Rep. His work has been invited to international festivals in Russia and Switzerland. Koehler received his Certified Director diploma from Zurich Acting Academy. He currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

Cal Rep performances are in the Royal Theater aboard the Queen Mary. The production runs Wednesday through Saturday, February 15 - March 9 at 8pm. There will be a preview performance on February 14 at 8pm. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $20 for students, military, and seniors (55 and older). Parking at the Queen Mary is $8 for patrons of Cal Rep performances, $6 for CSULB students and patrons who have dinner aboard the ship. Long Beach Public Transit also runs directly to the Queen Mary. For tickets and information please call (562) 985-5526 or visit www.calrep.org.

The Queen Mary is home to a 314-room Art Deco Hotel, where guests relive the excitement of cruising in the style of the 1930s without leaving port. She has played many roles during her illustrious career- from an elegant ocean liner to a World War II troopship. Now permanently docked, yet still afloat, her operation and preservation are entrusted to Evolution Hospitality, a leading independent management company. Located at 1126 Queens Highway in beautiful Long Beach, California, The Queen Mary is a must-see attraction. The historic ship offers a variety of historical, paranormal and educational tours, unique shops, meeting & banquet facilities, three award-winning ocean view restaurants and much more. For more information, visit www.queenmary.com or call (800) 437-2934.