'Peter Pan' to be First Show in New Irondale Center

Irondale Ensemble Project will indeed grow up this fall when they move in to their fancy new digs, The Irondale Center (at the historic Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford St, Bklyn, NY bet. Lafayette and Fulton Street). They will inaugurate their new Off-Broadway cultural center with a revival of their interpretation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan directed by Jim Niesen beginning October 22nd. Performances are through November 8th and run Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM, Sundays at 3 PM.

Tickets are $40/ $15 seniors and students and can be purchased by going to www.ovationtix.com or by calling 212.352.3101

This Peter Pan is the revival of Irondale's very own critically acclaimed interpretation of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan from a couple of seasons ago. This "terrible masterpiece" is one that we all think we know, but do we? Barrie said of Peter Pan that by the end the audience should be cheering Hook. In this deliberately dark rendition, Irondale probes the complexity of Barrie's 1904 play to discover why it continues to resonate "as long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."

"Nowadays, Peter Pan is mostly staged as a children's play, but it was not meant that way," says director Jim Niesen. "In its original form this is a dark look at childhood. Neverland is a dark place with drunken elves, and pirates to kill and be killed by. This is a story about growing up, and not growing up, and the desolation of adulthood."

The Irondale Project, established in 1983, is a theater company that creates and presents original work, through research and exploration of emerging themes in our society. The company has roots in improvisation, traditional Stanislavski techniques, extensive movement work, and collaborative writing techniques. The primary goal of the ensemble is to discover how theater can be utilized as an important or central aspect of daily life. Irondale has approached this mission from two different angles, through an exploration of what types of theater resonate most meaningfully with today's audiences, and through an application of theatrical techniques in non-theater situations (prisons, schools, shelters, etc.). Irondale has produced 42 major Off-Broadway shows including the American premier of Brecht's Conversations In Exile and 16 original pieces. During this time the company has mounted two international and three domestic tours.

Irondale is a constituent member of TCG ART New York and a founding member of the Network of Ensemble Theaters. It is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and many foundations and corporations.

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