Scandinavian American Theater Company (SATC) will present the World Premiere of BASTARDS OF STRINDBERG. This evening of short works inspired by Strindberg's iconic Miss Julie is written by four exciting contemporary playwrights: Dominique Morisseau (Detroit '67), David Bar Katz (Tony nominee for Freak), Andreas Boonstra (winner of Sweden's Thaliapriset award) and Lina Ekdahl (winner of Sweden's Werner Aspenström Award). Directed by Henning Hegland and Alicia Dhyan House, previews begin tonight, September 2 at Off-Broadway's The Lion Theater at Theatre Row. Opening night is set for September 5.
With BASTARDS OF STRINDBERG, the class and gender struggles Strindberg grappled with in Miss Julie find their relevancy today in an evening of four contemporary works. These stylistically different pieces are woven together through live music, dance, and the magic of a Swedish midsummer. Over 125 years later, will Miss Julie finally break free?
BASTARDS OF STRINDBERG includes:
• "High Powered" by Dominique Morrisseau: Two lovers, both Miss Julie's servants, confront the cost of ambition in a world that wants to keep them down.
•"Chanting Hymns To Fruitless Moons" by
David Bar Katz: Interwoven with Norse mythology and hot-blooded lust, Old Julie sets the record straight.
• "Midsummer at Tyrolen" by Lina Ekdahl: Three restless souls, Jean, Julie, and Kristin, meet in a run down restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Together they decide which path to take in life.
• "Truth about Fröken Julie" by Andreas Boonstra: Strindberg's characters comically deconstruct their own play and commence to write their own script, taking control of their destiny.
BASTARDS OF STRINDBERG stars
Zenzele Cooper,
Albert Bendix, Ingrid Kullberg-Bendz, Vanessa Johansson, Rikke Lylloff, Drew O'Kane, Kwasi Osei and Devin B. Tillman. The production features live music composed and performed by
Anette Norgaard &
Elyssa Samsel, costumes by
Nicole Wee, sound design by
Amy Altadonna, and casting by
Judy Bowman.
Dominique Morisseau is a writer and actress and the 2012 Playwright of New York award-recipient. She is an alumnus of the 2011 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, and the Lark Playwrights Workshop. In 2013, her play Detroit '67 received its world premiere at the Public Theater and won the Edward M. Kennedy Prize. Her play Sunset Baby had its world premiere at the Gate Theater in London in 2012. Dominique's work has also been published in NY Times bestseller Chicken Soup for the African American Soul. She is a
Jane Chambers Playwriting Award Honoree, a two-time NAACP Image Award recipient, a runner-up for the 2011 Princess Grace Award, a recipient of the Elizabeth George commission from South Coast Rep, a commendation from the Primus Prize by the American Theatre Critics Association, and the winner of the 2012 Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award by National Theatre Conference.
David Bar Katz co-wrote (with
John Leguizamo) and directed Freak on Broadway, which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and Katz was nominated for an Emmy Award for the HBO special. Katz is a member of The
LAByrinth Theater Company, which produced his plays
Philip Roth in Khartoum (at
The Public Theater) and The Atmosphere of Memory (starring
Ellen Burstyn). His play The History of Invulnerability premiered at The
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where it received the Acclaim award for Outstanding Play of the Year, the Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Outstanding Premiere and won the American Theater Critics Association Citation as one of the top three American plays of 2010 to open outside of New York. Katz is currently writing a television show for Showtime (produced by
Denis Leary).
Andreas Boonstra is a director, playwright, and actor from Stockholm, Sweden. He is co-artistic director at one of Sweden's most acclaimed independent theatres, moment:teater and won the Thaliapriset, the most prestigious theatre award in Sweden for his work there. His plays have been seen at Stockholm's Citytheatre and Östgötateatern, among other prominent venues.
Lina Ekdahl is a poet and playwright from Gothenburg, Sweden. She has been commissioned to write plays for Folkteatern (The People's Theatre) and Stadsteatern (The City Theatre) in Gothenburg, as well as for regional theaters across Sweden and many independent theater companies, including Teater Kolibri and Masthuggsteatern. She has published six poetry collections, the latest Collected Poems, was released in 2012. Her poetry has been translated into several languages, including German, Ukrainian, Macedonian and Khmer. Lina is the recipient of both the Werner Aspenström Award and the Gustav Fröding Society's Poetry Award.
Alicia Dhyana House is an international director, educator, and acting coach based in New York. Her work has been seen at such venues as BAM, Jermyn Street Theatre (London), Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Atlantic Theater Stage 2, and
Culture Project. Directing credits include: Medea (Official Selection Prague Quadrennial 2011); Spring Awakening (the musical), The Seagull;
Pierre Marivaux's The Game of Love and Chance,
Caryl Churchill's Top Girls;
Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice and In The Next Room,
Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, and
Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. She has led workshops at Barnard, Whittier College, and in Hong Kong and Thailand and is a regular guest director at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a directing mentor at Fordham University. Ms. House received her MFA in directing from Columbia University.
Henning Hegland has been working as an artist, performer, and director since 1997 in New York and Europe. Henning's directorial work ranges from new plays to shaking up the classics, devised work to opera and has been seen at 3LD, Atlantic2, Dartington College of Arts, Mousonturm in Frankfurt, Phoenix in Exeter, Barbican in Plymouth, Perseverance Theater in Juneau Alaska, NYU, Theatre Row's Lion, Kirk and Clurman Theaters, Scandinavia House, and Columbia University. He is a founding member and co-artistic director of Scandinavian American Theatre Company and a founder of Blind Ditch, a devised theatre company based in the UK. Henning has an MA in Devised Theatre from Dartington College of Arts and MFA in directing from Columbia University.
www.henninghegland.com
Scandinavian American Theater Company (SATC) is a collective of theater artists founded in 2009 to provide a Scandinavian perspective through the new generation of Scandinavian playwrights and theater artists. SATC presents contemporary plays and inventive takes on the classics from the Nordic region, which includes Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. Past productions include the US premieres of Gorilla by by Rhea Leman, Pinocchio's Ashes by Jokum Rohde (Denmark), The Fundamentalist by Juha Jokela (Finland), Home Sweet Home by Andreas Garfield (Denmark) and The Norway Plays: Drama Beyond Ibsen. For more info visit
www.satcnyc.org.
BASTARDS OF STRINDBERG runs September 2 - 21 on the following schedule: Tues. at 7pm; Wed., Thurs. & Fri. at 8pm; Sat. at 2pm & 8pm; and Sun. at 3pm. The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row is located at 410 West 42nd Street at 9th Avenue in Manhattan. Tickets are $45, available at 212-239-6200 or
www.telecharge.com.
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