KLINGON TAMBURLAINE Warps Into Hollywood Fringe

The company that brought you Punch and Judy, or The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II and Hercules Insane returns to Hollywood Fringe with an exciting new take on the seldom-produced classic that inaugurated the Elizabethan theatrical renaissance.

Though Kahless himself, angry god of arms,
And all of Qo'noS's potentates conspire
To dispossess me of this new-won throne,
Yet will I hold it in despite of them
As great commander of all Klingondom.
Full bowls of bloodwine to the god of war!

-Tamburlaine the Great

Seldom in the annals of legend and song has a conqueror's rise been so meteoric as that of the emperor Tamburlaine.

Born a lowly shepherd he has risen to renown as dread bandit-warlord of the Central Plains of planet Qo'noS. By winning and enlisting the Imperial army dispatched to kill him, he has defeated and dethroned the emperor Mycetes.

Now Emperor Tamburlaine pushes out from Qo'noS in a bloody spasm of conquest, world after world falling before the self-proclaimed Scourge of God. But across the Neutral Zone, the Romulan Empire watches warily. Fearful, they forge an alliance with a former foe ... the Federation.

And so the stage is set for the ultimate battle, a clash to determine who rules the galaxy. Can the Romulans and Federation bury past hatreds? And if so, can they hope to stand against the raging martial tide of Tamburlaine?

The School of Night is proud to present Christopher Marlowe's medieval pageant of will, war and conquest re-imagined as epic sci-fi spectacle. Tragedy! Romance! Mighty verse! Great battles waged on land and in space! Honor and glory! Qapla'!

Klingon Tamburlaine is an unofficial fan production of Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II re-imagined in the science fiction universe created by Gene Roddenberry.

Christopher Marlowe (Playwright) attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge where he received a B.A. in 1584 and an M.A. in 1587. Upon graduation he relocated to London where he and roommate Thomas Kyd kicked off the era considered by many to represent the high point of English language drama. During his short life Marlowe was rumored to be an atheist, a brawler and murderer, a sodomite, a sorcerer, a Catholic, a counterfeiter and a spy in the service of Queen Elizabeth I. He died in 1593 at the age of 29, stabbed in the eye during a bar brawl for reasons that remain murky to this day. His credits as playwright include Dido, Queen of Carthage, Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II, The Jew of Malta, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II and The Massacre at Paris. In recent years scholars have concluded that he also co-authored Henry VI, Parts I-III and Edward III in partnership with William Shakespeare. A renowned translator of Latin classics, Marlowe's rendition of Ovid's Amores won the distinction of banning and burning by order of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Christopher Johnson (Director) is a co-founder of The School of Night for whom he has directed Punch and Judy, Hercules Insane, The Final Girl or The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II. Other Los Angeles directing credits include Marian or the True Tale of Robin Hood, Entropy and The Pity of Things - Desert Aria (all for Theatre of NOTE) as well as Henry VI, Part I (The Production Company). Before LA Christopher was the founding artistic director of Chicago's historic Defiant Theatre for whom he helmed productions of Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, A Clockwork Orange and Dope. Chris also penned and directed Defiant's world-premiere adaptations of Stephen King's Apt Pupil and Thomas Harris's Red Dragon (Joseph Jefferson Citation for Best New Adaptation). Other Chicago directing credits include Balacarita: The Adventures of Young Krishna (Silk Road Theatre Project), Cave Dwellers (North Avenue Productions) and Dulcitius (The School of Night, pre-LA). Christopher has appeared as an actor at The Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Redmoon Theater, The Building Stage, A Crew of Patches and Defiant Theatre.

Jen Albert (Producer/Fight Choreographer) is an actor, producer, award winning fight choreographer and martial artist. Jen is an emeritus company member of Babes with Blades, Chicago's first all-female stage combat theatre company. She is currently a faculty member of Art of Acting - the Conservatory of Stella Adler in Hollywood where she teaches stage combat. School of Night fight choreography credits are Hercules Insane, Final Girl, or The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II and Punch and Judy (LADCC award recipient.) Some Los Angeles fight credits include: Marian or the True Tale of Robin Hood, Year of the Rooster and Entropy (Theatre of NOTE) Romeo and Juliet, Normal, Conduct of Life and Down in the Face of God (The Vagrancy) Henry VI Part 1, Very Still and Hard to See and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (The Production Company). Some favorite roles have included: Inez - Women w/o Walls at Broads' Word Ensemble, Poison Inniman - Action Movie the Play for Defiant theatre, Gwen - Fifth of July at The Production Company and Yvonne - War at Theatre Banshee.

The cast features Daniel Adomian, Jen Albert, Dawn Alden, Colin A Borden, Jeremiah Crothers, Jeff Doba, Lili Fox-Lim, Matt Harding, Chloe Madriaga, Sierra Marcks, Josette Nordman, Skip Pipo and Jon Tosetti. Percussion and Foley are performed by Wendy Heimann-Nunes.

Production staff includes Linda Muggeridge (Costume Designer), Ryan Beveridge (Composer-Sound Designer), Jake Anthony (Choral Director) and Andrew Leman (Graphic Designer).

There will be one preview performance on Sunday 6/9 at 6:00pm. Regular performances are Friday 6/14 at 10:30pm, Sunday June 16 at 6:00pm, Friday June 21 at 8:30pm, Saturday June 22 at 4:00pm, Sunday June 23 at 4:00pm, Thursday June 27 at 8:30pm and Saturday June 29 at 4:00pm.

Tickets are $15 for Fringe participants and $22 for the general public. Tickets are available online at www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6010

All performances are at The Complex Hollywood (Ruby Theatre), 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038.

The School of Night is a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to the textual preservation and live presentation of the dramatic works of the European renaissance and their antecedents: the folk and religious dramas of the middle ages, the tragedies, comedies and spectacle entertainments of pagan Rome and the ancestral dramatic forms from which these derived.

The School of Night strives to employ a combination of the finest theatrical artistry and dramaturgical scholarship to create performances that evoke for a contemporary audience the same emotional immediacy, linguistic power, charged spirituality and theatrical vitality that these entertaining, artistically influential and culturally significant gems of world theatre provided audiences in their own times.

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