Cutting Ball Theater Extends ANTIGONE

Due to popular demand, Cutting Ball Theater announces that it will add an additional six performances of its current production of Sophocles' ANTIGONE. Associate Artistic Director Paige Rogers (Tontlawald and Mud) directs this new translation from Daniel Sullivan using music and movement techniques inspired by Poland's famed Teatr ZAR. Featuring Madeline H.D. Brown, Hannah Donovan, Emma Crane Jaster, Wiley Naman Strasser, Elissa Beth Stebbins, Jason W. Wong, Tim Green, and Paul Loper, ANTIGONE plays now through March 29 (added performances: Saturday, March 7, 2pm; Thursday, March 26, 7:30pm; Friday, March 27, 8pm; Saturday, March 28, 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, March 29, 5pm) at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets ($15-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205.

Two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes' civil war die fighting each other for the throne. Kreon, the new ruler of Thebes, has decided that one brother, Eteocles, will be honored, buried and sanctified by holy rites, and the other, Polyneices, will lie unburied on the battlefield. In this seminal Greek play by Sophocles, Antigone defies the royal edict sent out by her uncle, Kreon, not to bury the body of her brother, deemed a traitor. Exploring the struggle between the individual and the state, this elegant tragedy about tyrannical power and civil disobedience is considered to be Sophocles' masterpiece and has become synonymous with political protest. Written In 441 BC at a time of national fervor, ANTIGONE is as pressing for modern audiences as it was for those in the ancient world. ANTIGONE appeared as a staged reading as part of Cutting Ball's Hidden Classics Reading Series in 2013.

About ANTIGONE, Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle declared the production "a thorough, often seamless integration of music and choreography...deeply effective...dramatically rich," while Sam Hurwitt at KQED Arts called ANTIGONE "a lovely piece of theater that breathes new life into a classic," noting, "An intense performance style and dancerly movement make associate artistic director Paige Rogers' staging of this Antigone feel like a bold interpretation."

"What attracted me to Antigone was that the play is raw in so many ways," said director Paige Rogers. "Yet, it is also so ordinary; two sisters have a disagreement, a father and son jockey for status, each trying to make their point, a community is shocked. How incredibly common are these things? Both the heightened and the everyday make me love Antigone."

Continued Rogers, "I feel very lucky to have worked with this cast of Antigone for nearly a year. We did a lot of exploration with song and movement long before Daniel Sullivan's translation was finished. This allowed the actors to get to know their characters in a different way, from a physical and tonal perspective. They also participated in the development of the script for nearly half of the year that Daniel worked on it. Seeing Teatr ZAR's Gospels of Childhood at L.A. Live! in 2007 made me decide to put my focus on directing. The visceral presence of the company paired with their polyphonies sung from such a deep place made me feel like I was engaged, in body and mind. I feel like there is almost no way to be present for a performance like this and not have it snake its way into one's feeling life. I wanted to use this element of live singing and performance to help me reach my audiences."

"Antigone is the second play in our season exploring injustice. In many ways this is the original civil disobedience play. While this play was written over 2000 years ago, recent events make it plain to see that it is still as relevant as ever," said Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose. "Paige Rogers has continued the deep relationship with Teatr ZAR, the resident company at the Grotowski Institute, that she started with her inventive production of Tontlawald in 2012."

Continued Melrose, "This is Cutting Ball's first production of a Greek classic and I couldn't be happier with the way we are doing it. It was important to Paige to have access to the original Greek, so translator Daniel Sullivan worked closely with the original text and a team of scholars to get at the original meanings, sounds, and emotions of the play. He translated those original impulses and ideas from 441 BC Greece into a living, breathing, actable text that communicates with a 2015 San Francisco audience. It is not a literal translation, but it is not an adaptation either; it renders Sophocles' Antigone scene by scene in a way that is fresh and new and of our time."

Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. The company has commissioned, developed, and produced new experimental plays, and has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, and the Magic Theatre/Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. In addition to producing West Coast Premieres and re-imaging various classics, Cutting Ball Theater has produced nine World Premieres and seven World Premiere translations. Cutting Ball received the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts, and was voted "Best Theater Company" in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of the Bay issue. The company also earned the Best of SF award in 2006 and "Best Experimental Theater Company" in 2012 from SF Weekly, and was selected by San Francisco magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007. Cutting Ball Theater was featured in the February 2010, 2012, and December 2014 issues of American Theatre Magazine. In 2012, Cutting Ball was awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a three-year residency for resident playwright Andrew Saito. The American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards, awarded the company with a 2013 National Theatre Company grant. Cutting Ball was also featured in the February 2015 issue of American Theatre Magazine.

Following ANTIGONE, Cutting Ball presents the World Premiere of resident playwright Andrew Saito's MOUNT MISERY, directed by Artistic Director Rob Melrose. Rounding out the season, RISK IS THIS... The Cutting Ball Festival of New Experimental Plays returns with five new works in staged readings that push the boundaries of what theater can be.

Photo by Chase Ramsey

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