Rogue Artists Premiere HYPERBOLE, 10/30

It's the birth of the universe - live on stage! Los Angeles' award-winning art collective Rogue Artists Ensemble presents the world premiere of HYPEBOLE: origins at [Inside] the Ford beginning October 30.

SEE the amazing Origin Machine© and experience the fantastic Origin-torium©! Travel on a journey to the heart of humanity, inspired by some of mankind's most powerful stories. Witness a performance drawing from myth, science, humanity, and faith, set to an eclectic soundtrack from around the world, including contributions from Animal Collective, Josiah Wolf, The Very Best, Deerhoof, Oh No Ono, Max Tundra, The Ditty Bops and many more. HYPERBOLE: origins is an original, adventurous celebration of myth, music, movement, mania and the connection between all of us. Using masks, puppets and cutting-edge technology, The Rogues have created a truly exhilarating and Hyper-theatrical experience about the act of creation itself.

Celebrating the origin of all things, HYPERBOLE: origins is inspired by questions both physical (Where did our audience come from? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? How are earthquakes caused?) and esoteric (How was the first music invented? How did Native Alaskans explain the creation of man?).

"The feel of the show is largely inspired by the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and a retro-future aesthetic," explains director Sean T. Cawelti. "We want audience members to feel as though they're on a theme park ride. One of the actors wears a mask in which the eyes are actually speakers that are wirelessly controlled. He can use a remote to control the sounds that emanate from the mask, creating a language of his own. It's eerie and quite beautiful. Also, much of the evening will be interactive, so the show will never be exactly the same twice in a row. For example, audience members will contribute ideas and content that will actually end up in the performance, making it personal in ways that are unexpected."

"But," Cawelti emphasizes, "the real heart of the project is about the storytelling and about the importance of passing along stories from one generation to the next. It's about the cycle of life and death, the idea that when one thing ends, something else begins. As our world moves more quickly, we have to remember the importance of valuing where we've been."

Rogue Artists Ensemble differs from other theater companies in that it's run by a collective of multi-disciplinary artists and designers rather than by actors, writers or directors. By combining ancient storytelling techniques (music, dance, masks, puppetry) with modern technology (digital media, special effects and theatrical illusions), the Rogues cultivate a unique style of live performance unlike any other. They define The Combined use of these and other underrepresented art forms as Hyper-theater.

Last season, Rogue Artist Ensemble worked with playwright Kitty Felde to Hyper-theatrically adapt three short stories by Nikolai Gogol. Gogol Project was a Critic's Choice in the Los Angeles Times, winning four Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for adaptation and design and an LA Weekly Award for design. With their earlier production of The Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch, the Rogues delivered on their promise to "make audience members feel as though they had opened up the graphic novel and wound up trapped deep inside," earning rave reviews and garnering three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards; that production was also given an entire chapter in the book "Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman." Other Rogue Artist Ensemble productions include The Victorian Hotel by Angus Oblong, The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone, adapted from the book by Timothy Basil, and four prior HYPERBOLE productions including HYPERBOLE: epiphany and HYPERBOLE: changes.

HYPERBOLE: origins was written and developed by the Rogue Artists Ensemble, with special contributions by Sean T. Cawelti, Miles Taber, and Nina Silver, and stars Kris Bicknell, Julia Garcia Combs, Brian Kuwabara, Alex Levin, Shannon MacMillan, Diona Reasonover and Thu Tran, with Christina Aimerito and Gedaly Guberek understudying. Scenic Design is by Logan Wince; Lighting Design is by Ian Garrett; Costume Design is by Kerry Hennessy; Puppet Design is by Caitlin Lainoff; Sound Design and Music Supervision are by John Nobori; Choreography is by Nate Hodges; Video Design is by Dave Mickey; Mask Design is by Katie Polebaum; and Properties Design is by Sarah Krainin. Original music is being composed by Ego Plum, Ben Phelps and John Nobori.

Designer and Director Sean Cawelti graduated from the University of California Irvine, where he received his BA in Drama with honors in Stage Direction, and studied puppetry at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He was awarded a 2006 Technical Achievement Honor for Puppet Oriented Theater Design by the OC Weekly and a Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle award for his adaptation of Mr. Punch, a graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean, which he also directed. He serves as the Artistic Director for the performance group the Rogue Artists Ensemble, which creates Hyper-theatrical productions, incorporating puppetry, masked acting, original music scores and theatrical effects. Mr. Cawelti has designed puppets and masks for Cornerstone Theatre Company, International City Theater, The Rude Guerrilla Theater, Opera Pacific, NYU and many others. The Rogue's latest work, Gogol Project which Mr. Cawelti directed, was nominated for 12 Drama Critics Circle and LA Weekly awards including Best Direction and was honored with a UNIMA Citation of Excellence.

Hyperbole: origins is the opening production of the 2010-11 [Inside] the Ford New Play Series . The series is supported by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Ford Theatre Foundation, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. HYPERBOLE: origins was developed in part through a collaboration with the University of California Claire Trevor School of the Arts and is funded in part by a grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

HYPERBOLE: origins runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday @ 8pm and Sundays @ 2 pm and 7pm, October 30 through December 12. There will be one Saturday matinee @ 2 pm on November 13. There will be no performances on Thursday, November 25 (Thanksgiving) or Saturday, November 13 at 8 pm. Two previews take place on Sunday, October 24 (7 pm); and Friday, October 29 (8 pm). General admission is $20; Full-time students with ID are $12. The performances on October 24 and November 4 (8 pm); October 31 and November 7 and 14, (7 pm); and on November 13 (2 pm) will be Pay-What-You-Can.

[Inside] the Ford is located in the Ford Theatres complex at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068, just off the 101 Hollywood Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal Studios.  On-site, non-stacked parking is free.  For reservations and information, call the Ford Theatres Box Office at 323.461.3673 (323.GO1.FORD) or go to www.FordTheatres.org.

 

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