COMPAGNIA T.P.O. FARFALLE Comes to Three Stages, 3/8-10

COMPAGNIA T.P.O. FARFALLE will perform at Three Stages. FARFALLE ("butterflies" in Italian) is a production that traces the biological emergence of butterflies. Imagine the life of a butterfly; imagine yourself in a virtual world, touching a butterfly's wings. These thrilling "paintings in movement" mix theatre, sensory boundaries, dance, visual magic, interactive technologies and music. It is a sensorial journey inside the life of the butterfly, from its birth as an egg to its progression as a caterpillar to a butterfly.

"This performance will enthrall children, of course," notes Executive Director Dave Pier. "But the parents will be amazed. This is a delightfully engaging performance." The audience size is kept small-they join the performers on stage- as each member of the audience participates in a variety of ways, from composing songs and lullabies with their feet, to chasing caterpillars scooting on all fours, to using parts of their bodies and to using all five senses. They may be invited into the cocoon, to create a virtual painting with their arms, or to sit for a rest on an oversized flower.

COMPAGNIA T.P.O. FARFALLE will perform in Three Stages on Friday, March 8, 4 pm, 7 pm; Saturday, March 9, 11 am, 2 pm, 4 pm; Sunday, March 10, 11 am, 2 pm, 4 pm. Tickets are $27; they may be purchased online at www.threestages.net or from Three Stages Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Three Stages is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, Calif., facing East Bidwell Street.

Compagnia T.P.O. was founded in Prato, Italy in 1981 as a children's theater company devoted to creating works that are highly visual and multidisciplinary in the use of music, dance, art, sculpture, digital media, computer technology, lighting and sound. T.P.O. is an award-winning, internationally recognized company who believes in creating dance/theater works for children that are visual and conceptualized moving paintings which use movement, artistic objects, mechanical and digital devices and the interplay of lighting, all geared to a child's eye. FARFALLE is especially suitable for audiences between the ages of 4 and 8 but is also rich with suggestions for adults.

In 1999, Davide Venturini and Francesco Gandi became the Artistic Directors of T.P.O. With the emerging technology that has evolved, T.P.O. has grown more and more on the use of digital technology, graphics, video and how to combine these elements with the more traditional art forms of dance, theater and music. FARFELLE is presented by ArKtype in Association with Crying Out Loud UK in co-production with Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana.

T.P.O. has created new methods of interaction between performers, the audience, and stage spaces by applying computer sensors and triggers to images and sound. They have also found new ways to collaborate with a variety of artists: dancers, actors, directors, musicians, engineers, designers, writers and illustrators to create new works. These concepts have created fame and a reputation for T.P.O. throughout Europe, Australia, the United States, South America and Canada.

Martina Gregori (Performer) started her professional training as a contemporary dancer in Florence at Opus Ballet where she worked for the young dance company from 2006-2008. In 2011, she graduated in Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Florence and in the same year, alongside her work as a dancer, she started collaborating with the Centre for Contemporary Italian Studies in Florence as an Italian teacher to foreigners. Martina joined T.P.O. in 2012.

Angelica Portioli (Performer) graduated from M.A.S. (Music, Art, and Show) Academy in Milan in 1999. From 2000-01, she worked as a singer and dancer in Germany in the musical Dance of the World, directed by Jeanette Damant. Between 2002 and 2004 she was with the company directed by choreographer/performer Fabbio Ciccalé. She has been studying contemporary dance and singing in various cities including Rome, Salerno, Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Brussels.

Three Stages at Folsom Lake College presents touring artists from around the world; partners with the best regional arts organizations, and supports productions by FLC students and faculty.

Three Stages at Folsom Lake College is a $50 million performing and visual arts center that opened in February 2011. Located on the campus, Three Stages includes three intimate performance venues (850, 200, 100 seats), an art gallery, a recording studio, ample rehearsal and classroom space, a full service ticket office plus all the amenities of a state-of-the-art performance venue. Parking is free on weekends and for those buying tickets in advance.

A renaming of Three Stages is currently under way. The new name, Harris Center for the Arts, honors Dr. Brice Harris, Chancellor Emeritus of the Los Rios Community College District, for his many contributions to the Capital Region, including providing the vision and leadership that led to the opening of this regional arts center.

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