Photo Preview: SUPER MONKEY At The Guthrie

Ferguson's latest production, Super Monkey, is the impressive story of an elite group of individuals that inhabit a modern urban condominium and the people that serve them. A universal story of poisonous status obsession, miscommunication and fear of the unknown, Super Monkey barrels out of control to inter-personal catastrophe and the fall of a society. Highly visual, physical, poetic and comic with a sharp and dark edge, this modern farce by award-winning theater-maker Jon Ferguson explores the idea of personal and structural facade and the ever present potential descent into chaos.

Directed by Ferguson, this world premiere production is collaboratively created by Jon Ferguson and an ensemble of performers including Jason Ballweber, Tyson Forbes, Sophie Gori, Rebecca Hurd, Emily King, ELise Langer, Sara Richardson, Anthony Sarnicki, Paul Sommers and Dario Tangleson.

Jon Ferguson is from Durham, in the Northeast of England. He trained at Middlesex University in London with leading international physical theatre practitioner John Wright. He has worked with some of the leading physical theater and clown companies in the UK and US including Hoipolloi, Told by an Idiot, Trading Faces, Live Action Set and Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Work as a director, theater-maker, movement director and actor include: King Ubu - The Gate Theatre London, Moby Dick - National Student Drama Festival Scarborough UK, The Man Who Woke Up in the Dark -Trading Faces Theatre Company UK tour, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd and A Collier's Friday Night - Oxford School of Drama at The Battersea Arts Centre London, The Roaring Girl - Finborough Theatre London, Marry Maria - Hoipolloi Theatre UK tour, Shakespeare for Breakfast - Edinburgh, London, Warsaw, Toronto, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Edmonton & Victoria (2001/02), Everything and Nothing all at the Same Time - Minnesota Fringe Festival (2004), Please Don't Blow Up Mr. Boban - Minnesota Fringe Festival and The Loring Playhouse (2005), Miss Nelson is Missing - Stages Theatre Company (2006), We Are Ugly But We Have the Music - The Bryant Lake Bowl (2006), Kill The Robot - Stages Theatre Company, Minnesota Fringe Festival (2006), Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business - Stages Theatre Company (2006), Ligustrum Vulgare - The Bryant Lake Bowl (2006), The Sad and Lonesome Story of What's His Name - Sabes JCC Minneapolis (2007), Or The White Whale - The Southern Theater (2007), Aftermath - Mishka Productions at Bedlam Theater (2007), Deep Boy - Stages Theatre Company, Minnesota Fringe Festival at Theatre de la Jeune Lune (August 2007), Bull - Main Street School for Performing Arts and Stages Theatre Company (Oct 2007), Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol - John Hassler Theater (Nov 2007), You're my Favorite Kind of Pretty - The Southern Theater (Feb/Mar 2008), The Reluctant Dragon - Stages Theatre Company (April 2008), Your Happy Place - Stages Theatre Company, Minnesota Fringe Festival (August 2008), Bury My Heart at Dumb Ass Cowboy at The 2008 New York Clown Theater Festival (Sept 2008), Animal Farm at The Southern Theater (Oct-Nov 2008) and The Wizard of Oz - Stages Theatre Company (Summer 2009)

Jon was named "2005 City Pages Artist of the Year," and his production Please Don't Blow Up Mr. Boban, with Live Action Set, was chosen by the Star Tribune as the "Outstanding Experimental Theater Production of 2005" and named "Best Stage Production" by the City Pages - Best of the Twin Cities 2006. Other awards include: "Time Out London Critic's Choice" For King Ubu at The Gate, London, "Sunday Times Ensemble Award" for Moby Dick at the NSDF Scarborough, "Best Comedy Award" for Shakespeare for Breakfast at the Victoria Fringe, "Twin Cities Daily Planet's - Top Ten Play of 2008" for You're My Favorite Kind of Pretty at the Southern Theater, and "City Pages - Top 10 Play of 2008" for Animal Farm at the Southern Theater. Jon has taught physical theater, clowning, and collaborative play creation throughout the UK and US, including teaching extensively for The Theatre Royal Bath, The Bristol Old Vic, Stages Theatre Company, St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts, The Guthrie Theater, The University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, as well as teaching countless independent workshops. He has developed work at Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis and with Hoipolloi Theater and Told by an Idiot in the UK. Jon is the theater programming director at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. This summer he will be directing The Wizard of Oz at Stages Theatre Company. In December 2009 Jon will premiere a new, original and darker Santa Claus origin myth entitled S. Gunter Klaus and the Story Before, as the seasonal holiday show, at the Southern Theater.

Photo credit Eric Melzer