COSMICOMICS Comes to New Stage Theatre This Weekend

From April 17 to 29, New Stage Theatre Company, under the direction of Ildiko Nemeth, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a re-staging of its 2014 production "Cosmicomics," derived from the Italian novel of the same name by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver, adapted for the stage and directed by Ildiko Nemeth. The piece will be produced at The New Stage Performance Space, 36 West 106th Street (basement level). Its original production, presented by Dixon Place in April, 2014, cemented Ildiko Nemeth's place as "second to none in terms of the images she creates and the moods she spins with her ruminations on a wide variety of topics and themes." (Joe Meyers, CT Insider)

In the production, mathematical formulae and cellular structures take on human qualities to recall the evolution of the universe. Though the characters are non-human and the stories are based on scientific concepts, they convey the very essence of our human experience. A captivating series of stories show us a narrator named Qfwfq evolving across the history of the universe. Beginning with his innocent childhood before the Big Bang, when everything he loved was packed into a single point, he draws us through his love affairs into his nostalgic middle age. Along the way we witness wondrous things: the birth of light and color, the identity crises of creatures that move from sea to land, the inner lives of mollusks, and more. We recognize fundamentally human experiences in these whimsical, passionate tales: obsession, neurosis, love and transformation, played out against an exquisite cosmic backdrop. We see ourselves in the stories, realizing that the fundamental and archetypal dynamics that drive the universe also drive our everyday lives, and that elemental forces of attraction and repulsion are present from a molecular to a societal level.

Aurin Squire, reviewing the 2014 production in New York Theatre Review, cheered "Cosmicomics sings with humor and beauty, a delightful evening of theatre to see," adding that "There were several laugh-out-loud moments as heavenly bodies quarrel for affection and primordial ooze ascends to walking and forms caste systems that express disdain for those who still swim in the muck."

The production is adapted and directed by Ildiko Nemeth. Lighting design is by Federico Restrepo. Animation and Video Design are by Laia Cabrera, Isabelle Duverger. Costume Design is by Olimpia Dior and Egle Paulauskaite. Original scores by John Gideon, Steven Wallace, and Kaylin Lee Clinton.

Aerial work by Lisa Giobbi.

The actors are Danielle Aziza, Theodore Bouloukos, Justin Ivan Brown, Olimpia Dior, Lisa Giobbi, Tanner Glenn, Beth Griffith, Paul Guilfoyle, Markus Hirnigel, Yoni Kallai, Jude Kondik, Florencia Minniti and Jeanne Lauren Smith.

"Cosmicomics" by Italo Calvino is a group of twelve allegorical fantasy short stories, originally serialized in Il Caffè, a literary magazine, before being published as a collection in 1965. Calvino was one of the world's most unusual and idiosyncratic writers, winning many literary awards and prizes. Had he not died in 1985 at age 61, most scholars agree he'd have won the Nobel Prize for Literature eventually.

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