TRUCE to Play Theater for the New City, 4/9-19

Though world peace seems increasingly elusive these day, may we finally achieve it 50 years from now in an explosion of carnivalesque camaraderie among international soldiers holding a Christmas Truce in the Mato Grosso jungle of Brazil?

Truce, a futuristic musical for peace running April 9-19 at Theater for the New City, written by Gene Ruffini, with music by Barney Griffin and direction by Elizabeth Ruf, enacts this imagined possibility, inspired by recent collective imaginings of peace as the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of the World War One Christmas Truce of 1914 when soldiers converted the battleground to common ground, exchanging gifts and sharing songs.

In today's world, where human experience is too often filtered through electronic media, Truce suggests that communication and understanding become more viable when we embrace living arts like theater in a spirit of collectivity.

Truce playwright Gene Ruffini's vision follows current political trends 50 years into our future, to the year 2064, imagining the U.S. and Brazil embroiled in a bloody conflict.

The action of the play opens on soldiers from both sides kicking off a Christmas Truce with a tentative soccer match that culminates in a colorful outpouring of Brazilian martial arts (capoeira), samba (infused with Russian biomechanics), and lush harmonies sung by a chorus envisioned as saints (orixás) of the Afro-Brazilian pantheon.

Truce's cast of characters includes politicians, a television evangelist, media moguls, young activists, the Pope (now a Southeast-Asian woman), and Christ himself, whose apparitions will be achieved through the circus arts technique of aerial silks. The eclectic musical score by Barney Griffin incorporates dissonant tones, soaring melodies, and the popular rhythms of the Brazilian streets.

Playwright, Ruffini, and director, Ruf, collaborated last year on Color, a political thriller, also produced at Theater for the New City, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural center internationally recognized for its mission to keep participatory arts accessible to the community and to produce world premieres of up to 40 plays annually.

The international cast of Truce includes actors who appeared in Color, as well as opera singers and modern dancers. Among the musicians, who will be featured onstage throughout the performance, is Spike Polite, leader of renowned New York-based punk band Sewage. The acting ensemble include - Danny Yaiullo, Catherine Meringolo, Jim Dimunno, Joyce Laoagan, Sean O'Shea, Juan Luis Espinal, Mateo Lynch, Kerry Milliron, Adrienne Powell, Matt Angel and Samantha Kahn.

Truce offers no one-dimensional characters and no pat solutions. The production aims to spur audiences to more dynamic relationships within their own cultural and political communities and, above all, to entertain.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Ruf, Director. Ruf is a theater professional and a professor at Boricua College in New York City. She holds a Ph.D. in Theater from Columbia University. Her doctoral dissertation is on the theater of Cuba, where she lived for a year.

TRUCE

By Gene Ruffini

Music by Barney Griffin

Directed by Elizabeth Ruf

Set Design by Mark Marcante

Lighting Design by Alex Bartenieff

Costume and Prop Design by Lytza Colon

Visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net/truce.html for more information.

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