OVID'S METAMORPHOSES to Play at New York's Flea Theater, Jan. 2011

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation is proud to announce the winner of this year's The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the highest honor at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The winner of The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award was announced at the closing ceremonies of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Friday, August 27, 2010 at 10:30 AM GMT (5:30 AM EST).

This year, The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award goes to OVID'S METAMORPHOSES, adapted and directed by Peter Bramley with original music by Lucy Egger. The production is from the acclaimed London-based company Pants On Fire.

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation will present the winning production at the Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning The Flea Theater in January 2011.

The Metamorphoses are fantastical love stories that pursue the theme of physical transformation. In each magical myth, a human body is miraculously changed into a different form - a tree; an island; an animal; a flower; an ocean; a constellation...

The Guardian called PANTS ON FIRE's extravaganza "glorious" and "jaw-dropping!" OVID'S METAMORPHOSES relocates Roman mythology to 1940's wartime Britain. Cupid is an evacuee with a catapult. Narcissus is a Hollywood Matinee Idol drooling over his screen image. An Andrews Sisters Chorus finds close harmony amid cosmic chaos.

"This retelling of Ovid's myths set during the second World War is so inventive-the audience is left in wonderment. Each myth is told with different bits of music, song, video, Le Coq- style movement, marvelous costumes, puppetry and scene changes filled with magic," enthused Carol Tambor. "Enchanting and exuberant with the constant dark underpinning of war, and at the end, an oracle predicting more to come. Brilliant!"

To be eligible for The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the show must be an original work, never seen in New York City, and have received a 4-star or 5-star review from The Scotsman, Scotland's foremost daily newspaper.

Carol Tambor and members of her Foundation, along with The Scotsman Newspaper's Arts Writers Joyce McMillan, Jackie McGlone and Mark Fisher chose the winning production.

Now in its 7th year, The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award builds a bridge between New York City and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Created by Carol Tambor in 2004, the inaugural award winners were "Sister's, Such Devoted Sisters" and "Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles". This showcase resulted in both shows being picked up for productions in the US and Canada.

Carol Tambor is a portrait artist by trade and a theater aficionado. For over a decade prior to creating the award, she had traveled to Edinburgh to enjoy the Festival offerings. Dismayed that so many fine plays never transferred to NYC, she decided to create an opportunity for New York audiences to get a taste of the Edinburgh theater offerings.

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation was established to bring excellent dramatic work to the New York audience by funding the New York run. The mission to support artists in their desire to be seen and produced is carried out with no financial or commercial involvement in their future success.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, has been ongoing since 1947. Fringe 2010 featured over 34,000 performances of 2,098 shows in 265 different venues throughout Edinburgh. The 2010 Festival sold more than 1.5 million tickets during its 3 weeks, the sixth consecutive year the Fringe sailed past the one million-ticket barrier. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has served as a launching pad for the careers of renowned stars such as Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Jude Law and Eddie Izzard as well as renowned playwrights like Tom Stoppard.

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading Off-Off-Broadway companies. Founded in 1996, The Flea's mission is to raise the standards of Off-Off-Broadway for artists and audiences alike. From A.R. Gurney to Adam Rapp, from Mac Wellman to Will Eno, The Flea's two intimate spaces are home to established artists taking new risks, emerging artists developing their ideas, and mid-career artists building sustained identities. The Flea is known as a showcase for both well-known stars - Peter Eyre, John Lithgow, Bill Murray, Marisa Tomei, Sigourney Weaver, Irene Worth - and the esteemed young resident acting company, The Bats.

The Flea has been awarded a Drama Desk, an Otto, and numerous OBIEs for its commitment to adventurous theater. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's The Guys, six plays by A.R. Gurney (Office Hours, A Light Lunch, Post Mortem, O Jerusalem, Screenplay, and Mrs. Farnsworth), Mac Wellman's Cellophane and Two September, Roger Rosenblatt's The Oldsmobiles and Ashley Montana Goes Ashore..., Elizabeth Swados' JABU and Kaspar Hauser, Karen Finley's Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman, Yussef El Guindi's Back of the Throat, Julian Sheppard's Los Angeles, Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians, Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations, Thomas Bradshaw's DAWN, and Itamar Moses' Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used to It). To learn more about The Flea, visit www.theflea.org.

 

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