Puppeteer Skipitares Presents 'Medea' at LaMaMa March 13-30

Acclaimed puppet artist and director Theodora Skipitares presents her world-premiere adaptation of Medea - an epic collection of myths about a betrayed woman and an adventuresome hero who travels to the edges of the known world, featuring five-foot Bunraku-style puppets, masks, live music and video projections - with previews beginning March 13, prior to an official opening on March 16 at La MaMa Annex (74A East 4th Street).

Designed, directed and adapted by Skipitares, "Medea is the latest in her series of plays based on Greek classics. Building on Euripides' iconic story of a spurned woman who kills her competition as well as her own children, Skipitares' Medea begins many years before: Medea is a child who lives at the edge of the Black Sea and has profound magical powers, falls in love with the handsome Jason, and helps him steal the Golden Fleece. The story moves forward in time to Corinth, where Medea is abandoned by Jason for the young daughter of the King," describe press notes.

The production features puppets, created by Cecilia Schiller and Skipitares, in various styles: colored shadow puppets, small rod puppets, as well as realistic life-size figures operated by actors; along with the use of video and live music, and a chorus represented by gigantic heads worn on the bodies of female performers. Medea has an original musical score by Tim Schellenbaum, lighting design by Pat Dignan, and video projections by Kay Hines.

Theodora Skipitares has been creating large-scale theatre works with puppets for more than 25 years, making her La MaMa debut with Underground in 1992. Ms. Skipitares recently presented Trilogy. Other credits include The Age of Invention, Defenders of the Code, Under the Knife and A Harlot's Progress. Her works have been produced throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. She has received numerous grants and awards, including Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships, six NEA grants, and a UNIMA Citation for Excellence in Puppetry. In 2005, Ms. Skipitares' adaptation of Euripides' Iphigenia won two New York Innovative Theatre Awards. In 2000, she received the American Theatre Wing Design Award for A Harlot's Progress and in 2004, she won the Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwriting Award. In 2000, Ms. Skipitares was a Fulbright Fellow in India where she created two original works.

Performances of Medea run March 13-30 at La MaMa Annex (74A East 4th Street), Thursdays-Sundays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets are $25. For reservations call 212-475-7710 or visit www.lamama.org

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