We Players Present Site-Specific RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER, Beginning Tonight

We Players presents an intimate sailing performance of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner aboard the historic scow schooner Alma this fall. This site-integrated production is produced in partnership with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park with whom We Players has a five-year cooperative agreement - the first partnership of its kind in the nation. In collaboration with National Park Service sailors and rangers, the performance will culminate with conversation inspired by the themes of the poem, immediately following each performance. We Players brings the language of Coleridge's classic work to life through movement, music, and site-integration with historic vessel, Alma. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner runs tonight, October 31 - November 16, 2014. Tickets are on sale now at www.WePlayers.org.

We Players takes this famous poem to sea aboard the scow schooner Alma, breathing life into the lines while sailing the bay. Through music, movement and the living word, audiences will experience the poem while engaging the San Francisco bay with all of their senses. The smell of salt tinges the air and westerly breezes guide us through cold Pacific waters.

The poem explores a violation of nature and the resulting psychological effects on the mariner and on all those who hear his tale. The mariner must grapple with the crushing weight of loneliness and guilt and ultimately, seek a path of redemption. Through the poem, we are confronted with man's fragile relationship with nature, and the humbling effects of the supreme elemental forces of the sea. There are myriad stories related to this same theme embedded in the history at San Francisco Maritime. In addition to the sailing site-integrated performance, audiences will be invited to participate in conversation with performers and National Park Service interpreters over refreshments while still aboard.

SYNOPSIS: The mariner recounts a fateful voyage at sea aboard a tall ship with some 200 sailors aboard. The ship is driven south to Antarctica by a vicious storm, they are pummeled by ferocious winds, ice and snow. An albatross, a beautiful and mighty bird, appears and seems to carry with it a kind breeze that ushers them out of the Antarctic.

The tale hinges on the mariners crime against nature: he shoots the majestic bird with his crossbow. The mariner is forced by the crew to wear the dead bird around his neck, a constant reminder of his sin. The spirits of the deep are incensed by the crime and pursue the ship, driving it into uncharted waters, where it is becalmed. For many days they drift, tormented by thirst and tortured by the relentless heat of the sun. The mariner faces a curse worse than death as he watches his mates die one by one, each turning to face him as they drop. The mariner must suffer alone and seek redemption if he is ever to return alive to his native land.

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO MARITIME NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK - San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park includes a fleet of National Historic Landmark vessels, Small Boat Shop, Maritime Museum, Visitor Center, and a maritime research center. The park offers regular programs, sailing tours aboard the 1891 scow schooner Alma, and hosts a Sea Music Festival aboard the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier. For more information, call 415-447-5000, or visit the park online at nps.gov/safr or at facebook.com/SanFranciscoMaritimeNHP.

ABOUT WE PLAYERS - We Players was recently recognized by Backstage.com as one of seven companies around the globe producing groundbreaking immersive theatre. We Players was also honored by San Francisco Magazine with the "Best of the Bay" pick for their unique site-specific performance work noting, "We Players didn't just break the fourth wall, it toppled the whole playhouse." We Players' mission is to create site-integrated performances that transform public spaces into realms of participatory theatre, in an effort to engage with history and the environment, build community, and inspire personal relationships with place. We Players is a Bay Area arts non-profit founded in 2000 at Stanford University by Ava Roy, and managed by Ava Roy and Lauren Dietrich Chavez since 2009. For more information about We Players, visit www.weplayers.org.

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