BAM To Present Multimedia Theater Work 'Sunken Road'

Flemish director Guy Cassiers makes his American debut with Sunken Red-a multimedia theater work created in collaboration with and performed by one of Europe's leading stage actors, Dirk Roofthooft. This U.S. premiere also marks the U.S. debuts of two of the most vital European contemporary theater companies-Toneelhuis (Belgium) and ro theater (Netherlands). Sunken Red has been performed in The Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada (Festival d'Amériques) and France (Festival d'Avignon), and was selected for the 2005 Theaterfestival Vlaanderen (Flanders Theatre Festival). De Volkskrant (NL) raved, "Sometimes drama is hallucinatory. Like a trip, a dream that lifts you out of your theatre seat. It happens only rarely, but Guy Cassiers and Dirk Roofthooft have succeeded with Sunken Red."

BAM will present four performances of Sunken Red at the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St.) October 7, 9–11 at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced at $20, 35, and 45, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or online at BAM.org.

About Sunken Red

This solo performance is based on Jeroen Brouwers' 1981 autobiographical novel, Bezonken rood, an account of his family's internment in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. In 1943, the three-year-old Brouwers-along with his sister, mother, and grandmother-was imprisoned in the women's camp, Tjideng, in present-day Jakarta. The New York Times said of the novel: "Told with an aching beauty in a spiraling form that gradually reveals more and more, 'Sunken Red' is a cathartic achievement in which we watch Mr. Brouwers emerge from the walking dead." The author describes how his years in the camp destroyed his relationship with his mother, comparing the loss of maternal affection with the disintegration of each subsequent love affair in adulthood. On a set designed to evoke a formal Japanese garden and framed by multiple live-feed video projections, Cassiers stages Brouwers' devastating story and creates an emotionally intense piece that is a magnificent expression of love from a wounded man.

About the artists

In 2006, theater director Guy Cassiers became the artistic director of Toneelhuis, which is based in Antwerp, Belgium. Upon his arrival, Cassiers threw out the classical model of the civic theater: a fixed troupe of actors with one or more permanent directors. He reinvented this model by inviting six fellow artists from different disciplines to take up residence with him. Along the way Cassiers has developed a personal theatrical language in which technology serves to deepen and intensify human emotions. Cassiers also combines a fascination for technology with a passion for literature; he has garnered acclaim for stage adaptations of well-known novels.

Renowned Flemish actor Dirk Roofthooft has achieved success on the European stage as well as in his film roles. Roofthooft has won two Joseph Plateau Awards, Belgium's most prestigious honor for film and television work. He has collaborated with jazz musician Henry Threadgill in a work inspired by the poetry of Nobel Laureate Derek Wolcott. De Volkskrant raved of his performance in Sunken Red: "Roofthooft is a phenomenal actor … every breath, every movement of his voice is audible. This creates scope for an unprecedented subtlety. Even in a huge theatre, you get the impression that the story is told to you personally."

Artist Talk with Guy Cassiers

BAM presents an Artist Talk with Guy Cassiers on Thursday, October 9 at 6pm in BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Avenue). For tickets, priced at $8 ($4 for Friends of BAM and free for students with valid I.D., subject to availability), call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or visit BAM.org.

About the Next Wave Festival

BAM's Next Wave Festival, which enters its 26th season in 2008, has permanently changed the landscape of culture through breakout performances, landmark productions, daring experiments, and once-in-a-lifetime moments. The Festival originated as a fall series entitled "The Next Wave/New Masters." In November 1981, Philip Glass' new opera, Satyagraha, was presented as one of four productions under the Next Wave moniker. A more ambitious series followed in 1982, including a two-evening performance work by Laurie Anderson-United States:

From the seeds of these two rich years grew an idea for something bolder and riskier. The Next Wave Festival, dedicated to exciting new works and cross-disciplinary collaborations by promising young artists, was launched in October 1983. Pieces that previously had been presented in downtown lofts and small "black box" theaters were staged in the exquisite 2,100-seat BAM Opera House (later renamed the Howard Gilman Opera House), a renovated 1,000-seat playhouse (the Helen Carey Playhouse, now home to BAM Rose Cinemas), and a flexible 300-seat performance venue (the Lepercq Space). In 1987, with Peter Brook's Mahabharata, BAM opened another large stage-the 874-seat Majestic Theater-since renamed the Harvey Theater in honor of Harvey Lichtenstein (former president and executive producer). Since 1999, BAM has been led by President Karen Brooks Hopkins and by Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo, who curates the Next Wave Festival and served as the producer of the inaugural festival.
 
Credits
 
BAM 2008 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Leadership support for the Next Wave Festival is provided by The Ford Foundation.

Programming in the BAM Harvey Theater is endowed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Leadership support for BAM Theater is provided by The Shubert Foundation, Inc. and The SHS Foundation.

BAM thanks its many donors and sponsors, including:  The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; New York City Council; Estate of Richard B. Fisher; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; The Starr Foundation; Robert Sterling Clark Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; Carnegie Corporation of New York; Time Warner Inc.; The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Skirball Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; New York State Assembly Brooklyn Delegation; Friends of BAM and BAM Cinema Club.  Sovereign Bank is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. R/GA is the BAM.org sponsor. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.
General Information

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to Howard Gilman Opera House performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live nights on Friday and Saturday with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

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