The Nosdrachir Sisters Makes NY Premiere at Clown Theatre Festival

The Nosdrahcir Sisters, a new comedy by noted Minneapolis physical theatre performers Sara and Kimberly Richardson (no relation), makes its New York premier this September in The New York Clown Theatre Festival at Brooklyn’s Brick Theater.   

The Nosdrahcir Sisters is a two-woman show that mixes clown, physical and object theatre.  Dubbed “sketch tragedy” by its creators, the play flows in a tangent of whimsical scenes that combine comedy with pathos.

The Nosdrachir Sisters follows Dusty and Hildegard Nosdrahcir in both their real and imaginative lives, and includes:

    * A mermaid in a shopping cart
    * Teacup rocket ships
    * A lonely melon balladeer
    * Dances from aerobics videos of the 80’s and early 90’s
    * Songs, such as the original “When People Do Nice Things it Makes Me Cry” accompanied by beginner Casio keyboard

 
The Nosdrahcir Sisters premiered in August 2008 at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the largest non–juried theatre festival in the nation.  It was a sold out hit, awarded a special Fringe Encore Performance for high attendance.  Audiences called it “quirky,” “smart,” and “hilarious”-- “inspired strangeness” with “a poignancy that sneaks up on you.”  The duo also received a positive review from Max Sparber of the City Pages, who praised their “superlatively daffy comic sensibilities.” (Please go to www.citypages.com/2008-08-06/news/a-guide-to-the-2008-fringe-festival/4 for the complete review.)

For more on the show, including video clips, photographs, and complete audience reviews, please visit The Noscrahcir Sisters’ web page at http://www.fringefestival.org/2008/show/?id=876.  

For more information on The New York Clown Theatre Festival, please go to: http://www.bricktheater.com/clown/

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Minneapolis Well Represented in this Year’s Clown Festival:

The Nosdrahcir Sisters is one of three pieces from Minneapolis performing in The New York Clown Theatre Festival, along with Jon Ferguson’s Burry My Heart at Dumbass Cowboy (featuring both Richardson’s in the cast) and Galen Treuer and Noah Bremer’s Big and Little (directed by Sara Richardson).  Drawn to Minneapolis by its huge theatre scene (second only to New York in live theatres per capita), strong dance community, and the Jeune Lune Theatre, this interconnected group of artists represents the next generation of Minneapolis physical theatre.   

The Artists:

The Nosdrahcir Sisters features Sara and Kimberly Richardson, “two of the funniest ingénues in town” (Galen Treuer, Live Action Set), in their first independent collaboration.

Sara Richardson has performed with an A-list of Minneapolis theatre artists including Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Jon Ferguson (co-creator You’re My Favorite Kind of Pretty), Genevieve Bennett (Nina in The Seagull), and Brave New Workshop.  She wrote and directed An Eminantly Practical and Useful Play for Red Eye’s New Works Festival, and was named “Best Actress” in the 2007 Minneapolis 48-Hour Film Festival.  Sara has performed her original plays and puppet plays internationally at Foolfest, Festival des Tombées de la Nuit, Le Bouquin Affamé, and Clastic Théâtre. A native of upstate New York, Sara trained at Sara Lawrence College and Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France.

Born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Kimberly Richardson earned a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah in 2000, and moved to Minneapolis to pursue a dance career. In 2006, she won a Sage Award (Minneapolis’ Bessie equivalent) for Outstanding Dancer.  Kimberly was introduced to clown by Jon Ferguson when she performed in his 2005 hit Please Don’t Blow Up Mr. Boban. Since then, she has become a frequent collaborator with Ferguson, and physical theatre artists such as Live Action Set and Shawn McConneloug. Also a puppeteer, Kimberly performed in Swedish puppet theatre Dockteatern Tittut’s collaboration with The Children’s Theatre Company, A Special Trade and in Open Eye Figure Theatre’s “Driveway Tour”.

To see a clip of Sara and Kimberly performing together in Jon Ferguson’s We are Ugly but We Have the Music go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=PnD1_34FB9s 

The Richardson’s (read the name backwards for special Nosdrahcir significance) have contributed to several ensemble-created theater pieces as actors, designers, choreographers, writers and directors, but with the The Nosdrahcir Sisters they get to call all the shots.  

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