Danish Actress Dina Rosenmeier Set for August Strindberg Rep Double Bill, Now thru 11/17

Danish actress Dina Rosenmeier will play both Mrs. X in "The Stronger" and the Puppet Master's Wife in "Casper's Fat Tuesday" when August Strindberg Rep offers the plays in a double bill at the Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street, tonight, October 26 to November 17. They are Ms. Rosenmeier's first New York plays in a decade, during which she has been making high marks both as an international film maker and as an actress in European and L.A. theater.

Her documentary, "A Journey in my Mother's Footsteps" (Freya Films) won the Best Human Spirit Award at Chagrin Documentary Film Festival in 2011 and was presented at the Quad Cinema in NYC last December. The film examines why Rosenmeier's humanitarian mother, Jessie Rosenmeier, established orphanages, schools and adoption agencies throughout India, seemingly prioritizing orphaned Indian children over her own three kids. Latino Weekly wrote, "Rarely does a documentary film take you on a journey as extraordinary as 'A Journey in my Mother’s Footsteps.' Writer, director, producer Dina Rosenmeier tells a story so intimate and profound her documentary seems certain to change thousands if not millions of lives." Variety wrote, "Jessie Rosenmeier, the laudable Danish humanitarian whose amazing achievements the docu chronicles, is alive and well, charismatic and extremely articulate."

Dina just completed filming the feature film, "Reality Check," in Munich, playing the leading role of a Danish painter living in Germany with her son. The film's score is by Jofet Vicent (Spain), conductor of The World Orchestra.

She is no stranger to strong female roles. In 2008, she starred in "Hedda Gabler" by Ibsen at The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the production "provides Danish actress Dina Rosenmeier with a fiery vehicle for the barely restrained eruptions of her exotic beauty and erotic charisma." She appears on an ongoing basis as Gertrude Stein in the absurd comedy, “Bateau Laboir De Picasso," at the Palma Auditorium in Spain. Rosenmeier, who acts in six languages, jokes at the novelty of her being "a Viking woman" playing the dark character of Stein (she appears in a dark wig). The production will have a European tour in 2013 and the director has expressed interest in traveling to NYC with it.

"Casper's Fat Tuesday" and "The Stronger" are a "sweet and sour" pairing of two Strindberg one-acts, an undiscovered one and a novel adaptation of a more familiar one. "Casper's Fat Tuesday," the undiscovered one, is a Punch-and-Judy show, to be directed by Robert Greer as a sort of Commedia dell' Arte. The more familiar play is "The Stronger," is a monologue for two actresses, one of whom never speaks. The speaking woman, Mrs. X, concludes over the course of three-quarters of and hour that the friend she is having coffee with, Ms. Y, is her husband's lover. In an unusual adaptation, the latter will be performed by a man.

This is the second production of August Strindberg Rep, which debuted last Spring with Strindberg's comedy "Playing With Fire," adapted by Leslie Lee, a co-production with The Negro Ensemble that opened at the New School Theatre and moved to the Gene Frankel Theatre for an extended run. Robert Greer is Artistic Director of August Strindberg Rep.

Both shows run tonight, October 26 to Saturday, November 17, 2012 at the Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street (between Bowery and Lafayette, East Village). Presented by August Strindberg Repertory Theatre and Pink Pig Ballet in association with Theater Resources Unlimited. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM; Sundays at 2:00 PM.

Tickets $18 general admission; seniors and students $9. Box office: SMARTTIX, 212-868-4444; www.smarttix.com. Running time: 1:45. Critics are invited on or after October 28.

Pictured: Dina Rosenmeier in "Reality Check," directed by Stephanie Pedros. Photo courtesy of Motion Clear Productions.

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