Skirball Center to Present U.S. Premier of THE REHEARSAL November 10-13

New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will present the U.S. premiere of The Rehearsal, playing the Dane, Dublin-based theater company Pan Pan Theatre's innovative and visually arresting take on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. This presentation is part of Imagine Ireland, Culture Ireland's year of Irish arts in America.

Performances will take place Thursday through Saturday, November 10-12 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 PM. Critics are welcome as of the first performance, which will also serve as the official opening of the run. Tickets are $25.00-$45.00 and can be purchased online at www.nyuskirball.org or by phone at 212.352.3101 (toll free at 866.811.4111). NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square.

Directed and designed by Pan Pan co-founders Gavin Quinn and Aedin Cosgrove respectively, The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane is a fast-paced deconstruction of the classic Shakespeare tragedy. Actors vie for the lead role, which the onstage director rations out Shakespeare's text, excavating its layers in a series of theatrical devices and conceits. The audience is physically tasked with making the choice of who is to be or not to be Hamlet, getting reseated in sections designated to each actor. The stage acts as its own Hall of Mirrors, and the play-within-a-play, which is performed by a cast of school age actors, is Hamlet itself.

The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane makes its U.S. Premiere after winning the 2010 Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Production and Best Design, and the Critics Choice as Best Show at the 2010 Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival. The show is Pan Pan first in New York since its critically acclaimed production of The Crumb Trail (P.S. 122's Coil Festival, 2009), which earned praise from The New York Times' Ben Brantley, among others.

The Rehearsal, Playing the Danefeatures an all-Irish cast, including Gina Moxley as Gertrude, Andrew Bennett as Claudius/Ghost, Daniel Riordan as Polonius, Judith Roddy as Ophelia, Bush Moukarzel as Hamlet or Rosencrantz, Conor Madden as Hamlet or Guildenstern and Derrick Devine as Hamlet or Laertes. The creative team also includes Costume designer Sarah Bacon.

Pan Pan Theatre was formed in 1991 by Gavin Quinn and Aedín Cosgrove. Over the last 18 years, the company has developed an individual aesthetic, which has grown from exploring new forms, approaches and experiments with time, space, music and performance. Pan Pan's recent productions include a Mandarin-language adaptation of Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in Beijing and an original musical take on a familiar myth in Oedipus Loves You, Gina Moxley's The Crumb Trial and the award - winning The Rehearsal, Playing The Dane. Their most recent production has been the critically-acclaimed radio play by Samuel Beckett, All That Fall.

Pan Pan acknowledges the support of the Arts Council, Culture Ireland and Dublin City Council.

The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for New York University and lower Manhattan. Led by executive producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and senior director Michael Harrington, the programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU's mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. A vital aspect of the Center's mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. For more information, please visit www.nyuskirball.org.

 

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