WHITE ELEPHANT Vignettes Plays At La MaMa 4/24-5/3

La MaMa e.t.c. in Association with Stepstone Media presents WHITE ELEPHANT
Written and Directed by Lake Simons & John Dyer at La Mama e.t.c. (74A East 4th Street)
April 24 through May 3, 2009

White Elephant features a series of poetic vignettes about animals, people and objects transforming from one plane to another. Inspired by the true story of an unwanted, white, weathered wicker elephant whose owner tosses it onto a roaring bonfire one chilly fall night, White Elephant is brought to life through puppetry, movement, mask, super 8 film and live music.

After the wicker elephant is thrown onto the bonfire, its tightly woven pieces prove durable; glowing, intertwined embers become white fragile strings. The elephant, now as light as a feather, rises up and hovers over the fire. A sudden drop destroys its beautiful shape as well as the complex system of threads that held it together, completing the transformation from object to ash/ghost. Thus begins the journey of White Elephant, a meditation on transition, memory and release.

White Elephant is performed by four puppeteers/physical storytellers: Lake Simons, Erin Orr, Luis Tentindo and Yoko Myoi alongside musician John Dyer.

White Elephant marks the fourth collaboration between John Dyer and Lake Simons. They developed the piece as part of LABAPALOOZA, the puppet lab at St. Ann's Warehouse; HERE Arts Center, CRS, and as artists-in-residence at Dixon Place. Dyer and Simons' previous work includes What's inside the egg?, which was praised for its "wonderment and imagination" by NYTheatre.com and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which was hailed as "very edgy indeed" by Time Out New York and "splendid...brings to life the rich life of Wonderland" by the Village Voice.

Performances of White Elephant are April 24 and 25 at 10:00 pm, April 26 at 5:30 pm, May 1 and 2 at 10:00 pm and May 3 at 5:30 pm at La MaMa e.t.c. (74A East 4th Street, between Bowery and 2nd Avenue; Subway: F to 2nd Ave.). White Elephant is suitable for adults. Tickets are $15 with $10 tickets for students and seniors at http://www.lamama.org. The running time is 60 minutes.

 

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